Mr. William Crow, Private Secretary to the Hon. the Minister of Education, is a native of Lawrence, Otago, and was educated at the Lawrence District High School. He is an undergraduate of the New Zealand University, and after matriculating, kept two years' terms at the Otago University. Mr. Crow holds the Education Department's certificate for shorthand, having passed the examination four years ago at the maximum test of 150 words a minute. In 1877 he entered the Civil Service in the Post-office at Lawrence. Four years later he was transferred to the Dunedin Telegraph office, where for twelve years, with the exception of three sessions spent in the operating room of the Wellington Telegraph Office, he filled the position of telegraphist. Leaving Dunedin in June, 1893, he became assistant private secretary to the Hon. J. G. Ward, and remained with the Colonial Treasurer continuously from December of that year till his departure for England in January, 1895. After the session of 1893, Mr. Crow was for three months shorthand writer and typewriter in the Secretary's branch of the General Post-office. As a cyclist he was a frequent prize-winner, both on the road and on the track, and for a year held the position of secretary of the Dunedin Cycling Club. Mr. Crow has achieved distinction as a swimmer, having been thrice second in New Zealand Championships, twice in Christchurch at 100 yards, and once at Ashburton at a quarter mile, in addition to holding the championship of Otago for several years.