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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Mr. Edward Brendon Parsons

Mr. Edward Brendon Parsons, the Secretary of the Auckland Gas Company, has for fully thirty years been a devoted servant of the company, and has during the whole of that time carried out his onerous duties in a manner which has gained for him, on the one hand, the entire confidence of the directers, and of the public on the other. Mr. Parsons has not only refrained from seeking civic power for himself, but has constantly declined to exercise the voting power of the company registered in his name. Inasmuch as the Auckland Gas Company holds property in every ward of the city and in most of the suburbs, this self-denial is creditable in the highest degree. Mr. Parsons was born at Launceston, Cornwall, England, and was educated at Plymouth. He served under indentures, and on the completion of his apprenticeship left his native town for London, where he was engaged in a wholesale house until 1862. In that year he left for New Zealand by the ship “Devonshire,” and landed at Auckland on the 7th of February, 1863. Mr. Parsons went to Dunedin, where he was employed as corresponding clerk and ledger keeper in the firm of Messrs Dalgety, Rattray and Co. He entered the service of the Auckland Gas Company as accountant in February, 1868, and in the following year was appointed to the secretaryship, in consequence of the removal to Sydney of his predecessor, Mr. J. N. Wark. When Mr. Parsons joined the company, the staff consisted of the manager and secretary, Mr. Wark, the accountant (Mr. Parsons himself, who did the whole of the clerical work of the office), the foreman and four men, of whom one was but a casual labourer. Of that old staff Mr. Parsons only remains, though a fair number of the 200 men now employed have been for many years in the company's service.