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Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 251, 22 October 1926, Page 6

At a meeting of the Waitemata County Council, held to-day, the clerk reported that a peculiar position had arisen regarding the boundaries between the Birkenhead Ridin? and the Borough of Birkenhead. He stated that the county boundary, as acted upon for the past thirty years, was along the western boundary of lot 57, Parish of Takapuna, at Onewa Road. The Valuation Department now claimed that an error had arisen in that the gazetted boundary ran diagonally across the section, which has now been subdivided into quarter-acre lots. The position was that a ratepayer had his front parlour in the county of Waitemata and his back kitchen in the Borough of Birkenhead, and now had to pay rates to both bodies—one on capital value, and one on unimproved value. It was decided to represent the matter to the Minister of Internal Affairs.

"Students who have been several years at a grammar school and want a commercial education quickly cannot come to use because they must start with the first year's course"," said Mr. G. J. Park, at a meeting of the Seddon Memorial Technical College Board of Managers yesterday afternoon. The director added that if the college were to be overcrowded, it would be better to let pupils go to the secondary schools, and make arrangements so that they could return to the Technical College to receive a condensed education in their third year. He believed that this was bound to come sooner or later.

When the proposed course of instruc- j tion for 192" was discussed by the Seddon Memorial Technical College board ! of managers yesterday afternoon Mr. \ C. A. Watts said that there was a ten- ! deney to widen the breach between the ! college and the primary schools, and he disapproved of the training of pupils for literary and commercial lines, as a commercial course could be obtained outside of the college. He said that some of the boys did not receive the trade training that they required; they left the college -half baked." and manufacturers could not hold up their work to teach them. The principal said that the proportion of pupils taking the high school course was gradually decreasing. The chairman said that the Minister of Education was of the opinion that in order to relievo congestion at the college it would be best to refuse admission to pupils who were able to attend a grammar school. They had no written communication on the subject, and he considered that the matter should be deferred until they heard further from the Minister.

Some months ago it was announced that a decision had been reached to fit Xew Zealand carriages with an emergency brake, and in a day or two a start will be made to metal the device on express coaches. Afterwards the suburban and branch-line cars will be fitted. The emergency brake cock is enclosed in a box with a thin glass front, which may easily be broken by a passenger, and the turning of the cook a-pplies the Westinghouse brake. The cocks are connected to the train brake pipes, which extend from engine to the last vehicle on the train. When the emergency cock lever is pulled down the compressed air in the train brake pipe escapes, and this causes the Westinghouse brake to apply instantaneously and with its full force to the whole train. It is intended to introduce a form of communication cord into sleeping cars of the transverse compartment type. By an. amendment of the Government Railways Act, passed last session, any passenger who stops a train except in case of extreme emergency will be liable to a fine of £10. Marvellous cases of devotion came before the members of the Relief Committee of the Hospital Board yesterday, in regard to those who have in many cases lost both of their legs. Owing to their helpless condition these unfortunate people are very dependent on help received from others. The chairman said he believed a kind-hearted public only required to know that old invalid chairs, which were sometimes stored away in cellars, would be of the greatest value to men and women who were minus their limbs. Only this week a man with both his legs off, had to crawl about the floor because he was unable to procure a chair, and climbed on to a box when he wanted to sit at the table to get his food. It was still a glorious thing connected with poor people that they helped one another, and this man was being maintained by a kind-hearted friend who did the best possible for him. If people who had old invalid chairs, which they did not require, would only let the secretary of the board know about them, they would receive the blessings of many helpless people, and brightness would be brought to many people whose cases seemed very sad indeed.

Attention to the fact that the Newmarket Borough Council was compelled to remove an old house from the reserve in Newmarket by an Act passed last session was drawn by a correspondent. Hβ complained that the council was now proposing to place that house on the Outhwaite Park estate, and pointed out that if the building was to be removed from one reserve it should not be placed on anothe-r. Inquiries this morning elicited the information that nothing definite had been arrived at with regard to the erection of a caretaker's house at Outhwaite Park. It was stated that two .acres of ground would require attention, and if a house was erected it would be in keeping with the surroundings. During the last few weeks some visitors to tie Carnegie Free Library at Onehunga have turned their liberty into licence by cutting pictures and word puzzles out of the periodicals and newspapers. Last Saturday evening the "Star" had not been in the library half and hour before some one had cut out the crossword puzzle and some reading matter. Miss Talbot, the librarian, and j the committee are aggrieved at these acts of vandalism and are determined to make an example of anyone discovered, tampering with anything in the library.! Anyone found guilty of euch conduct is liable to a penalty of £20. A substantial reward will be given to anyone whose evidence will lead to a conviction of the offenders.

A peculiar accident occurred recently at a Hastings garage. A motor tyre had been inflated and two employees were engaged in fitting it with a split rim, when they found that the rim did not adjust itself. A lever was used to knock the split parts into place, when at the first stroke the tube burst with a loud explosion. One of the employees was blown back some yards against a motor car behind the "scene of operations, and the lever was hurled through the heavy plate-glass window in front with such force that it was landed in the chanelling leaving a large clean hole in the window, whilst fragments of thick glass were sent across the road. The employee received a deep wound in the lower part of the left leg, together with cuts and bruises, in addition to which he suffered severely from shock.

Mr. J. D. Chalmers, a very old Waiuku resident and the representative of the Franklin County on the Hospital Board who was in Auckland this week, says that never in the history of the province has the country looked better than it does at the present time. The city people may grumble at the rain, but it has done incalculable good to the country, and it is a safe prediction to make that production this year will be greater than ever, more especially because of the ex.ra amount of topdressing which has been applied to the land and washed into the soil by the continuous rain

rS n receiving advice that he had won £0000 in an Australian sweepstake a !New Zealander recently travelled across the Tasman in a steerage berth to collect. On Tuesday he returned to Wellington in. a steerage berth on the Makura from Melbourne—presumably with the prize money in his possession Whether it was thrift, a natural caution, or a national trait which prompted his voluntary confinement to steerage is not explained.

The New Zealand railways tvorKtng account for the four-weekly period ended September 18 showed a" "working profit" of £45,056, compared with £85,587 for the same period last year. The North Island lines showed a profit of £42,169, while there was a loss of £7517 on the South Island lines. Miscellaneous services showed an excess of receipts over expenditure of £13,704.

In 14 Chrietohuroh city and suburban schools, one-third of the children in standard classes have banking acijr.ntj, and many others saving m money, boxes. j