OBITUARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 9, 11 January 1934, Page 3

OBITUARY.

MRS. MARY HUTTON.

MR. R. H. WATT.

Born in Shortland Street, Auckland, nearly 83 years ago, Mr. Robert Henry Watt passed away at liis late residence, "Ravelstone," Great South Road, Ellerslie. He was the eldest son of the late James Haldane Watt, goldsmith and engraver, of Auckland. His two younger brothers, Bruce and John, predeceased hinj some years ago. Educated at Wesley College, he had a clear recollection of Auckland in the early days, its primitive buildings, streets and wharves, Wynyard pier being the scene of the daily swim. After leaving school Mr. Watt was apprenticed to a firm of grocers, who also conducted the first post office in Newton. His duties included carrying the mails on foot from the Shortland Street post office. At the age of 23 years he joined the constabulary, and remembered many incidents in connection with the capture of Te Kooti. He commenced farming on the Great South Road, Ellerslie, CO years ago, and later married the eldest daughter of the late Thomas and Elizabeth Bushell, of Birmingham, England. Mr. Watt was for some years in the grocery and gum trade in the Northern Wairoa, and at Whangamata, where he was also postmaster and J.P. Thirteen years ago he retired from business and returned to Ellersiie, where lie lived until his death. Mr. Watt's father and Sir John Logan Campbell were close friends, and together tliey selected two blocks of land, the One Tree Hill property and an area extending from Garland Road to Penrose. Sir John Logan Campbell first took up the Ellerslie block, and Mr. Watt the One Tree Hill property, but they afterwards exchanged, as Sir John had a preference for what is now known as Cornwall Park. Mr. Watt was one of the founders of the Ellerslie school, and was for many years secretary of the committee. He always 'took a keen interest in cricket, racing and other sports, and until recently attended all the meetings at Ellerslie and Alexandra Park. Mr. Watt is survived by his widow and a family of three sons and five daughters— Messrs. J. H., R. B. and J. N. H. Watt, and Mesdames H. Widdison, A. C. Cruicksliank, A. L. Fraser, T. C. Gill, all of Auckland, and Mrs. J. R. Burr, of London.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) DARGAVILLE, Wednesday. The death has occurred of Mrs. Mary Hutton, widow of the late Mr. Wyndham Hutton. Born in 1851 at Mount | Albert, she well remembered canvas town at Point Chevalier, where British eoldiers were camped during the Maori war. She came to the Northern Wairoa about 60 years ago, living at Redhill and Tatarariki for a period, and afterwards removing to Aratapu, where she took up farming with her sons. When the Great War broke out the sons went to the front, and Mrs. Hutton went to live in Auckland, where her two youngest daughters had taken up nursing. She lived in Auckland for about 15 years, and returned to Wairoa in 1931 to live with her daughter, Mrs. W. C. Bradley, at the experimental farm, Mangatara, Dargaville. Mrs. Hutton is survived by two sons and two daughters.