Electric luggage truck
Considerable interest was aroused on the Dunedin railway station yesterday afternoon by a demonstration given with the Railodock electric truck which has been purchased by the Railway Department in order to facilitate the handling of luggage. Other trucks of this make are in use at Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, where it has been found that it reduces labour and time considerably.
The truck, which is driven by a 21-cell Exide battery, can carry a load of one ton with ease, and can describe circles of 11ft in diameter without difficulty. A charging plant has been installed, and the recharging of the batteries is automatic. Mr F. W. Poole, who was in charge of the demonstration, manoeuvred the truck with surprising ease, and the test showed what an improvement the use of such platform trucks will make in the ready handling of luggage.
The driving mechanism is very simple, a feature being that the man who controls the truck from his seat in front can stop it promptly by either releasing the handle which he grips or by rising from his seat, which cuts off the power instantly. Thus, if by any chance the driver fell, the current would be cut off and the brakes applied automatically.
James Jeffery memorial
The ex-pupils of the Anderson’s Bay School, wishing to perpetuate the memory of their teacher and friend, Mr James Jeffery, who was head master of the school from 1886 to 1914, have decided to erect a brass memorial tablet in the school and also to collect a sufficient sum of money to provide an annual prize for the school. In instituting this prize, they were impressed with the desirability of encouraging the acquisition by pupils in the school of a knowledge of every-day events, and thus of preserving one of the ideals of their late head master, whose practice it had been to use the daily papers as a medium for the instruction of his classes and for the stimulation in them of an interest in the events that were occurring not only in New Zealand, but throughout the world. The project was taken up with enthusiasm by the ex-pupils, and a committee appointed on their behalf has been able to carry out their wishes that the tablet has been erected and the Jeffrey Memorial Prize for this year has been awarded. The editors of the daily papers were asked to conduct the examination for the Memorial Prize, which was open for competition by any boy or girl of the Fifth or Sixth Standard. So that every pupil might have a fair chance, it was agreed that writing, composition, and spelling were not to be reckoned in the marks. Subject to this, the conduct of the examination was left entirely to the examiners.
— ODT, 19.12.1923
