It is our melancholy duty to record the death of Mr. Edward Stone Parker, who expired at his residence, at Franklinford, yesterday morning. His age was 63. The cause of his death, as certified by his medical attendant, Dr. Daniel, was dropsy, supervening on rheumatic gout. His funeral will take place to-morrow, at the Franklinford Cemetery.

The death of Mr. Parker breaks a link that connected the present with a past generation. He landed in Sydney in 1838, having been appointed by the Home Government Protector of the Aborigines. From Sydney he went to what is now Melbourne, thence to what is now Sunbury, thence to Bryant's station, or Baringhup, as it is now called; and thence to Mount Franklin, where he lived for more than twenty years, and where he has died, and where he is to be buried.

He has played no unimportant part in the history of the colony, though not obtrusively. He was a nominee member of the Council under the old regime, and we believe that we may safely say that his sympathies were always with the popular cause - that is, that he exerted himself to procure the independence of Victoria from New South Wales. In other directions he exerted himself for the public good.

The Wesleyan Church justly regards him as one of its earliest champions in this colony, and we believe we are not mistaken in saying that he was one of the original trustees of the Wesleyan church property in Victoria. He was a magistrate of the colony, and in this, as in every other department of life in which he had to act, Mr. Parker established a claim to public reverence - and in no respect more strongly than in his ministrations as a preacher in connection with the Wesleyan body.

We understand that the deceased gentleman leaves behind him a large mass of MSS, in which he has recorded his experiences of life in this colony. We trust that his executors will preserve these records, for they cannot but be valuable as a contribution to the early history of Victoria. - "Daylesford Mercury," 28th April.