The Rev. William Laycock, Superintendent of the Alexandra Street Circuit, was appointed to his present charge in 1898. He was born in Lancashire, England, in 1858, and educated there. Though brought up in the Church of England, and confirmed in the Wharton parish church, Lancashire, he ultimately joined the Primitive Methodists and was converted among them. Mr. Laycock studied engineering for some time, and came to New Zealand in 1880. Subsequently he studied for the ministry under the Rev. Joseph Simmonds, as a private scholar, at the Wesley College, Three Kings. In 1884, he was appointed by the Conference to the Bluff circuit, and was successively transferred to Christchurch, Auckland, Westport, and Dunedin. He remained five years at Dunedin, where he was very successful in his ministrations. Mr. Laycock is the editor of “The New Zealand Primitive Methodist,” an illustrated sixteen-page monthly magazine, circulated throughout the entire Colony. He is also one of the examiners of the Primitive Methodist probationers on psychology, comparative religion, and political economy. Though of page 234 an unassuming disposition, Mr. Laycock is a man of quiet dignity, and as a diligent student, he spends a considerable portion of his time in his study, which is well stocked with the standard works of the day. Mr. Laycock married a daughter of the late Mr. Robert Deakin, of Adelaide, and has one daughter.