RAILWAY INNOVATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19844, 17 July 1926, Page 17

RAILWAY INNOVATION.

PROVISION FOR SHINGLING PARLOUR ON RAILWAY STATION. (Fbom Odd Own Cobbesponohht.i AUCKLAND. July 16. The new business methods of the Railway Department have been responsible for so many unusual departures from timehonoured practice that almost any new idea now fails to excite surprise. However, the proposal of the department to have a hairdressing parlour as one of the features of the new Auckland railway station proved almost too much for members of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday when Mr E. Casey, North Island Divisional Superintendent, mentioned it in his address on the Auckland improvements. He said that, in view of the present craze for shingling, a barber’s shop should be a boon to lady passengers, while the male passenger waiting for a train would also find it convenient to have his shave there instead of going to the city. The members enjoyed the novelty of the proposal, but one of them expressedthe fear that the vogue of the shingle would have long passed before the station was an accomplished fact. The only assurance Mr Casey could give was that, provided Parliament granted the necessary yearly grants, the station would be ready in about three years.