Gray, William, formerly Legal Manager, Mercantile Chambers, Queen Street, Auckland. Mr. Gray hails from the Shetland Islands, where he was born in 1859. He arrived with his mother at Wellington in December, 1874, and in the following February went into the Government Audit Office. In 1883 he was transferred to Auckland page 466 land, when he was engaged, in conjunction with Mr. John Lawson, in looking after insolvent estates. In 1890 Mr. Gray joined Mr. William K. Cook, under the style of Cook and Gray, as accountants and trade assignees. The business, which was founded two years previously, grew with wonderful rapidly, the firm establishing offices In Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invereargill, and agencies in all the smaller towns. The firm is referred to at length on page 561 of the Wellington volume of this work, but it no longer exists, and Mr. Gray now (1901) carries on business on his own account as an auditor and accountant in Hunter Street, Wellington. Mr. Gray is a Fellow of the Institute of Accountants of New Zealand, and a member of the council of that body. He is married and has seven children.