Reporter’s Diary

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33962, 1 October 1975, Page 3

Reporter’s Diary

'Footling' bridge | THE CHRISTCHURCH ar- | chitects, Warren and i Mahoney, come in for some unaccustomed criticism in the latest issue of "Designscape,” published ; by the Industrial . Design I Council. They have designed what the magazine ' calls a “footling footbridge to link Wellington’s civic centre with the harbour. The bridge, suspended from a central framework, has been approved in principle by the j Wellington City Council, I but the design council publication says that, in a typical Wellington wind, pedestrians might feel in danger of being blown off it. and into the sea. There will be enough sway to test the stomachs of seasoned sailors, it says, and furthermore, the flights of steps at each end will bar the way for senior citizens, the disabled, and mothers with prams. Sign allowed HEATHCOTE County Council, which has been known to order people to pull down advertising hoardings, has given permission to the CanterburyWestland branch of the National Party to put up a 6ft by 4ft hoarding at No 1 Dyer s Pass Road, at the foot of Cashmere Hills. The hoarding will promote Miss Colleen Dewe, the National Party candidate for Lyttelton, and will be

allowed to stay there until rhe day after the General Election. Coni ni nn icat ions A CHRISTCHURCH girl who has applied for a job on the Pacific island of Nauru has been advised to bring a car with her if she gets the job. Nauru is only 12 miles in circumference — about four miles across — but its tiny size has never stopped the inhabitants from keeping each other at a distance. The first Europeans to call there found that the native inhabitants had divided Nauru into a dozen ' districts, which were engaged in tribal warfare against each other. Even their language had developed into a number of dialects, and speakers of one dialect had difficulty understanding the speech of others. ' Keeping natch SURVEYORS have been taking accurate measurements at the Cathedral Square end of the Government Buildings to see if they are sinking. The old stone building is considered an earthquake risk. Some years ago the Ministry of Works took the precaution of removing the overhanging stone parapet in case it was shaken down into the street. There is a crack in the front wall, and the

engineers have been keeping an eye on it since it was detected. The District Commissioner of Works, (Mr P. F. Reynolds), said yesterday that they were checking again to see that the crack was not getting any bigger, with all the pile-driving that had been going on in the Square for the foundations of new buildings. There had been no change for the last two or three years. Bean cheating EAGLE-EYED judges weeded out cheats in this year's contest at Yelverton, England, for the longest runner bean. One hot favourite seemed strangely dry, and its owner admitted he had ironed the bean to lengthen it. Another red-faced gardener confessed that he had put a weight on his entry to stretch out its curve. The first prize — a packet of vegetables — was won by a former Navy man. Commander Robert Green-wood-Penny, who grew a I9fin bean. Rowing speed ARGUMENT has been raging in “The Times” about the speed at which the ancient Greeks could row 7 their triremes — long fighting ships with three tiers of oars on each side. Some of the correspondents have become quite testy on the subject, but the last word seems to have gone to Professor J. E. Gordon, of the University of Reading's department of engineering and

cybernetics. Using the methods of naval architects, he calculated that a trireme rowed in still water by 170 ordinary fit young men could reach 11.5 knots for 10 minutes, and sustain a cruising speed of 8.5 knots. As a check he calculated that a modern rowing eight manned by the same kind of rowers (not highly trained athletes) would achieve I 9.5 knots in still water, which he said was borne. ' out by actual experience. No-one seems to have timed a Maori war canoe, waka taua. over a measured distance, but Elsdon Best quotes the “Journal of the Polynesian Society" on the' subject of their paddling speed. “They were very fast and could, in favourable weather, travel 10 miles an hour (8.7 knots) under the rhythmical dip of over a hundred paddlers”. Stigma money

PRINTERS working for the weekly tabloid, “Truth”, are demanding “stigma” pay because of the publication’s editorial policies. They have told “Imprint”. their union newspaper, that they are tired of being the target of public abuse and even bomb threats. They were often ashamed to admit that they worked for “Truth”. .People who get annoyed about some of the newspaper’s attitudes and utterances tended to blame the workers who produced the newspaper, and some workers had even been threatened with violence.