RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31043, 26 April 1966, Page 30

RANDOM REMINDER

BIRD WITH A BROKEN WING

From time to time there are stories in the newspapers about unfortunate people who are without nationality, and who have been shuffled from country to country, never being allowed to disembark or stay anywhere. There are one or two instances of men spending years at sea in this fashion, living in a sort of mercantile limbo. Although they have thousands of clever people working for them, it may be that astronauts share,.

something of the same lost feeling when they are in orbit. . . It may be, as they say, a shrinking sort of world, but there are some awful gaps sometimes. A North Canterbury man travelling overseas sent to his parents a piece of Portuguese pottery—a long-necked swan. It arrived in several irreparable pieces. But it was preceded by advice of its condition. The recipients, rather naturally, sought compensation and were informed by the Post Office

that their representations had been forwarded to the Portuguese postal authorities. About 14 weeks later, the Post Office wrote again. The Portuguese postal authorities, they said, had declined to accept responsibility for the damage. And as there was no evidence to suggest that the damage occurred in New Zealand, the New Zealand Post Office could not agree to meet any claim for compensation. Further correspondence seems useless. So do efforts to repair the swan.