He arrived in Auckland Harbour on board the passenger ship Bombay in December 1862 and on his return did six months of surgical training at St Thomas' Hospital in London.
[1] He read for his licentiate in theology at Hatfield Hall, Durham and was ordained in 1873, going on to spend three years serving as a curate in Grantham.
[2][3] Becoming a missionary in the South Pacific, he served successively in Emae from 1877 to 1880, San Cristobal from 1880 to 1894, and Siota from 1895 to 1902.
In 1893 Comins was on board HMS Curacoa as it visited each of the Solomon Islands so its commander, Captain Gibson, could make the formal declaration of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.
[3] He was the Archdeacon of Northern Melanesia from 1900 to 1910 and additionally served as the Chaplain to the Norfolk Islanders from 1903 to 1912, after which he retired to Shannon, New Zealand.