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Article: Pioneering salesman, importer, organiser
- Article from:
- The Press
- Article date:
- September 19, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Press. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Ed Harding, a pioneering irrigation and pumping engineer and
salesman, died recently. The son of a Welsh immigrant, he was named
Idris, which was shortened to Ed.
He had a tough early upbringing, being plucked from school in
Rangiora at 14 and sent away to labour on a series of Canterbury
farms. Work included driving a six- horse team, handling tractors
and farm equipment and caring for stock, at 17 shillings and
sixpence for a 6 1/2-day week.
He then managed the farm at Hanmer's Queen Mary Hospital, sole-
charge at 16, operating a tractor to provide green crops and winter
hay. He next tried goldmining and working underground as a trucker
at the Waiuta quartz mine in Westland in 1941, ...