"I RECOLLECT—"

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 171, 10 October 1927, Page 13

"I RECOLLECT— "

PIONEERING DAYS OLD COLONISTS’ REUNION MEMORIES AT TOWN HALL Memories were stirred in hearts that have known the hardship, the suffering and the joy of pioneering in a new land, at the Old Colonists’ reunion at the Town Hall this afternoon. It was a venerable audience that stood reverently when the National Anthem, followed by the “Old Hundredth,” pealed from organ and choir in the opening stages of the service. VOW an institution, the old colonA’l iats’ reunion dates back to a pact made in 1842, when the Jane Gifford and Duchess of Argyle brought the first settlers to infant Auckland. The pioneers then agreed to celebrate their venture with regular reunions, and that arrangement has been faithfully carried out, even unto the second generation. THE STOUT OF HEART So it happens that among the people who attended to-day’s reunion are many sons and daughters of original settlers. As colonists of more than 50 years’ standing, they are qualified for membership in the New Zealand Old Colonists’ Association, which sponsors the reunions. Others who exchange reminiscences with their contemporaries of other occasions were settlers in their own right, stout-hearted citizens who relinquished the security of familiar Britain for the attractive uncertainty but positive freedom of colonial life. Bowed down by the weight of years, silver of hair and beard, frail and bent of limb—the old people still retained pride in the glory of the past. Their recollections this afternoon were fired by the satisfaction of years worthLy spent. PRIMATE'S CONTRAST

The hall was an impressive picture, about 700 were present and the Mayor, Mr. G. Baildori, presided. During the service prayers were lecl by the Rev. Evan R. Herries. MissFhyllis Gribbin and Miss Edna Peace contributed solos and his Grace the Archbishop of New Zealand, Dr. Averill, compared conditions now—and the lot of tho immigrant boys who arrived yesterday by the Rotorua, with their advent to the city of skyscrapers heralded by radio —with the circumstances surrounding the arrival of early settlors, who knew nothing, of New Zealand, save that it was peopled by Maoris and was at the end of the earth. After tea had been served the gathering was entertained at a concert to which Miss Phyllis Gribbin, Miss Edna Peace, and Messrs. Maughan Barnett and McElwain contributed. Red, white and blue, the colours of the first ships to arrive in Auckland, were flaunted by the old colonists as a symbol of their long association with New Zealand.