DIAMOND WEDDING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 168, 17 July 1924, Page 3

DIAMOND WEDDING.

MR. AND MRS. JOSEPH COLLINS. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Collins, of 78, Newton Road, Auckland, will celebrate the diamond anniversary of their wed- , ding on Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Collins ■ were married in the parish church of Ballymacarrett, County Antrim, on July ]!). 18t54. and came to-New Zealand the , j following year in the ship Ganges, the I immigrants being landed at Auckland I where the Queen Street branch of the Bank of New Zealand now stands. On the day that the Ganges arrived in the i Waitemata, the few houses in the newlyi i formed Shortland Street were on fire. • the majority being destroyed by the flames. The immigrants were welcomed i by Sir Georpe Grey. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have lived in I Auckland since their arrival from England nearly (>0 years ago. Mr. Collins was a member of the committee that : erected the iirst Church of St. Benedict's, the little wooden structure that formerly stood in the Symonds Street Cemetery. Mr. Collins also took the " first steps for the formation of a I Hibernian Society in Auckland, and is I now the oldest member of the society. j The old people have interesting reminis- , cences of Sir George Grey, Bishop Pompallier and Bishop Selwyn. Mr. Collins . is 87 years of age. Mrs. Collins being ! two years his senior. 8 "