DIAMOND WEDDING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 February 1940, Page 2

DIAMOND WEDDING

♦ MR AND MRS T. JOHNSON. CELEBRATION AT CARTERTON. At the Carterton Catholic Church on February 7. 1880, Kate Ann Buchanan was married to Thomas Johnson, the officiating clergyman being the Rev A. Halbwachs, S.M. On Wednesday, at their residence, Belvedere Street, Carterton, Mr and Mrs Johnson celebrated their diamond wedding with a quiet family gathering. Many telegrams of congratulation were received from all over New Zealand.

Still hale and hearty, and in possession of all their faculties, Mr and Mrs Johnson are able to enjoy life to the full. As Mrs Johnson remarked, they had watched Carterton and the Wairarapa develop and they are quite satisfied. with the share of that development which had failed to their lot.

Mr Johnson is 88 years of age, and was born in Kent. England, coming to New Zealand in the full-rigged ship Waikato. Mrs Johnson, at that time Miss Buchanan, was born in County Longford, Ireland, and arrived eight years later in the barque Hudson. Two years later they were married in the Church which in those days stood at the southern end of the township of Carterton.

Four children survive, Mrs A. Lipinski,', Carterton, Mr Tom Johnson. Levin, Mrs Booth, Petone and Mr William Johnson, Palmerston North. There are 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. For 48 years of their married life Mr and Mrs Johnson have lived in the district, the remaining 12 years being spent in the Taranaki district, where they were engaged in farm work. Although in his early days and later Mr Johnson was a baker, he also did some bushfelling. For a period he was in charge of the wharf at Opunake. For seven years the family lived at Riversdale, Waihakeke.

Mr and Mrs Johnson have spent quiet lives with little excitement, but those days were happier than now, according to Mrs Johnson. There was no war to worry them, and although wages were low, £1 per week, when they were married, they were able to be comfortable and rear a family. Contrary to popular belief, prices were not as low for some commodities as they are now. Sugar was sixpence per pound, the cheapest tea three shillings. Kerosene, a very necessary commodity then, was a shilling a quart.

Mr and Mrs Johnson travelled in the days when the railway from Wellington did not go further than Featherston. the remainder of the journey to Carterton being covered by coach. One of their most vivid memories is that of the train smash on the Rimutaka hill, when a passenger train was blown from the rails and hurled down the hillside. When Mr Johnson arrived in Wellington he stayed for the first few days at the Empire Hotel,, and relates that the sea came up to the walls of the building. Both Mr and Mrs Johnson are remarkably active, Mrs Johnson does all her own housework, and can knit, and read without the aid of glasses. In fact she states that she at one time needed glasses, but. cannot now be bothered with them. Mr Johnson keeps his own garden, and finds considerable enjoyment in the work. Their many friends in the district and further afield will wish them continued health and happiness.