fstab problem with mount

[ftpuser]

I made a new partition on a 60GB drive that was the 4th primary 
partition on that drive.

Added this line to /etc/fstab
/dev/hda4               /pub                    ext3    
auto,user,dev,exec,rw,async     0 0

I checked /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit and the command is there to use 'mount 
-a' to mount the
dir at boot. But it fails to do so. mounting it manually does work and 
the dir is rw
accessible to all users, as I wanted. The permissions are set correctly.

As root command line 'mount -a' also fails to mount the dir.

I added a line          mount /pub            to /etc/rc.d/rc.local and 
the mount point is properly
brought up and dir is useable for all users.

But why doesn't 'mount -a' work at boot in the rc.sysinit script as I 
assume it should?

Wrong assumption? Bug? dumb user?

bill