HUTT AND PETONE NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 502, 8 May 1909, Page 3

HUTT AND PETONE NEWS.

• ' , ; (?BOH 008 SPECIAIi BBPOETEB.) . —« a— '• ANOTHER "X" LOCOMOTIVE;- , The erecting - shop at' Petone Railway • Workshops has been o busy place during the •last threo weeks. Quito a largonvunbor of •hands have been engaged fitting-together'tho parts of another !'X" locomotive, • built" at lAddington works. This is the third powerful engine for the stiff grades of the Main Truhk : line, Taihape-Taumarunui .Wtiom; five more are coming. Tho first reached Potone just .before Christmas of last year, .and.tho second went to service about a month ago. The type haa an eight-wheel couple.' There are lead,ing and trailing bogies, and thewheolsare 3ft. 6in. in diameter. ; Fitted with a speed recorder, which indicates the mileage run, and. apparatus for. heating the'passenger cars during winter, ..the locomotives are of very modorn construction.' : The boilers are tested for a pressure of 250 pounds per square inch, and the consumption of coal is about fivo tons por day. ..The speed limit is 35 miles an hour. Tho tenders (which are being built and finished at Petone)-hold 2200 gallons of water and five tons of coal. Three new devices are fitted, oh these locomotives. Tho ; relief cocks are worked by a'pneumatic cylinder; one of Dhe latest sight-feed lubricators is provided for oiling the high and low pressure cylinders; and a loin. Westinghouse pump supplies air for the brakes. The third engine, after being' "stripped, l ,' ' .'will bodrawn into Wellington to-day, and proceeds to Tafbape to-morrow. TECHNICAL SCHOOL BOARD. The recent stormy meetings of Potone Technical Scliool Board, at which tho subject of representation was discussed, were duo to tho receipt of a pronouncement from the Education Department, setting out tho contributing bodies entitled to have a'repre•sentativo on the board. The Rev. A. Thomson (chairman) found flat the Wellington Meat Export Company, whom ho had hitherto represented on'-tho board, had no place on tho Est, A donation of £10 has now been received from the company, and it is understood that the' Education Department will viow this as a contribution for last year This means that Mr. Thomson will retain his seat on the board. The chairman has expressed tho decided opinion all along thai; the Department had no power to interfero with the constitution of the board three months after the election had token place and when a quantity of business had been transacted.. Then there is the case of Mr. R. Mothes, representative of the Boys' Institute.. .When the list of contributing bodies was forwarded/by tho Department, it was stated that the position of the Boys' Institute was under consideration, and no-later communication has reached the board.' The letter also pointed/out that Hutt Borough Council would be entitled this year to. two representatives,'and tho conucil will bo asked to appoint ono of thoir number'to act with Councillor H. Baldwin, who has been' sole representative in, the past. •- Tho ■ resignation of tlhe secretary of the board, Mr. J. 6 Castle, has', been sent' to- Petone Boroueli Council. Ex-Councillor Castle, who was defoated at the: recent council election, will most likely bo reappointed as one of the council's representatives.