Mr. John Watt , formerly Headmaster of the Hampden Public School—before it was raised to the status of a District High School—was born in the parish of Daviot, Inverness-shire, Scotland, in 1838. He was the son of a schoolmaster, was brought up in the Island of Lewis, educated at the Normal School, Edinburgh, and at Glasgow University, and was engaged for two years by the Edinburgh Ladies' Association for the extension of education in the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. Watt arrived at Port Chalmers on the 23rd of March, 1866, by theship “Helenslea.” He joined the Education Department, and till 1874 he was headmaster at Palmeraton South school. After a page 459 year at Waitahuna, Mr. Watt was appointed to Hamplden on the 10th of January, 1876. Mr. Watt is Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the district, and has been secretary to the school committee for many years. He was married, in 1875, to a daughter of the late Mr. D. Herbert, of Currie, near Edinburgh, and has two sons and one daughter.