Reporter’s Diary

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34089, 28 February 1976, Page 3

Reporter’s Diary

Moriiifi pictures

CITIZENS whose memories go back a bit can spend a pleasant half-hour these days studying the history of Christchurch i picture theatres in a dis- : play at the Canterbury i Public Library. Quite a ; few will be reminded uf ; the time when lhe CineI rama was lhe Mayfaff, lhe [ Carlton was the Crystal i Palace, the Savoy was the ' Liberty, the West end was the Tivoli (and earlier Everybody's), and the Odeon was the St James (before that, lhe Opera House). Mr Bob Jackson, secretary of the CanterI bury film Society, has unearthed some interesting ; material about the history i of cinema in Christchurch, which happened to be the first city in New Zealand to see a screening of Edison's Cinematographe, on November ,7. 1896. Some - will recall from the display picture theatres that I have gone for good — such as the old Grand (not very affectionately known as the Bughouse) whei e the Government Life building stands today. The | same insurance company I plans to dispose of the Carlton, too, when its lease runs out. I'uaiisuei able “BEN SCOTT,” called the doctor’s receptionist. NoI body moved. She looked ! p’uzzled. consulted her I card again, then walked ; out to the middle of the- : waiting room and called i the patient’s name a seci ond time. “Ben Scott?” I she inquired. Again there i was a tong pause, then > suddenly a mother gave a i start and pushed her small ‘ son forward. He knew he : was Ben, but perhaps not ; that he was a Scott — I and anyway he wasn’t yet a talker. His- mother had { somehow lapsed into a brown study — perhaps : hypnotised by the waitingroom aquarium. Shorbchaiigecl ONE leap-year baby who I has his birthday tomorrow is Mr Roa Senior, a for- ; mer secretary of the ; Christchurch Drainage : Board. He will be SO tomorrow. He was born >n Februarv 29. 1896. which gave him'an ex en rougher ■ deal with birthdays than , most, leap-year babies. Bei cause of the inexactness

of the calendar it was decreed in the sixteenth century that three of every four centesimal years (those ending in 00) must oe common years and not leap years. So 1600 was a ieap year, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. The year 2000 will he. '1 he rule is that leap years are those divisible by four, except tor .centesimal years, which are common unless divisible by 400. As 1900 was not a leap year, Mr Senior has had only 18 birthdays, instead of the 19 he might otherwise have. had. • Trial of Pyx NEW ZEALAND'S decimal coinage was subjected to the Trial of the Pyx in I. b udon’s magnificent Goldsmith’s Hall this week. The trial is a 700-year-old ceremony in which 33 jurymen check the size and weight of coins of the realm. Other money being tested was the specially minted silver niaundy money coms traditionally distributed to the poor oil Maundy Thursdav befoie Easier* 2000 gold sovereigns inut legal tender in Britain, but often used to pay foreign manufacturersi. and nearly 100,000 British cupronickel coins. Coins being tested were placed in a series of sealed boxes known as the Pyx — derived from the Latin word for box, pyxis. Master Jacob, the Queen's Remembrancer, who wore a costume of black . stockings and breeches, a black velvet cat and a white lace jabot, was in charge of the ceremony. The coins were handed out in bags of 50 to the jury, which counted, measured, and weighed, them, both in bulk and in sample groups. They are later weighed and measured scientifically in the assay office at the hall. The jury will meet again on May 21 to deliver its verdict to Master Jacob. In the ca-e of British coins, if they fail to meet the legal requirements in any particular then all Britain’s 1975 coinage would have to be recalled. The last time this happened was in the seventeenth century. Doom threatens THE WIZARD blew back into Christchurch yesterdays fresh from his triumphs in Nelson, where he says the r

townspeop'e have been lauding him for his humour, sagacity, and general excellence. But he has not forgiven the city for its cavalier treatment in refusing him the title of official Wizard of Christchurch. "I’m like the Pied Piper,'’ he said. "I’ve driven all yout spiritual rats avvay, but they ! 1 be back if 1 leave.” Unless Christchurch saw the error of its wavs, the tires of wrath would descend — a terrible punishment would be visited upon the cowardly officials of lhe city. His plan was to forge a ring of supporting towns — Nelson, Westport, Greymouth, and Timaru — around the evil of Christchurch and snuff it out. In rhe meantime he will be taking part in the Christchurch Aris Festival, principally as master-of-cere-monies in lhe Square. Fifth twbbath MINISTERS of religion have to work overtime this month. Tomorrow is the fifth Sunday of February, the last February of this century to . have so many. The next February with five Sundays will not turn up until, the year 2004 Five-Sunday February's occur roughly every 28 years. YnA.’ NOT EVERYONE a. res with .our condemnation (admittedly without a tooth test I Of those SV. t el' which look ike -vc of artificia! teeti; Ont vear-old girl in Rockinghorse Road regards them as a real hit according to her grandmother She was familiar with Grandad’s skill in flicking his dentures in and oil', and was specially impressed one day' when they flew right out and landed on her. “Dubby'ts teeth bited my bottom,” she is reported to have squealed. Later, when her grandmother brought home some of the aforementioned candy dentures, the child very seriously inserted them between her clenched teeth, dashed over to Grandad, >pat them in his lap and cried: "Now my teeth bit ed Dubby’s bottom ” Left out ’IHF. LISI of Privv Councillors issued from Wellington this week had one notable omission — the name of Mr Hugh Watt, New Zealand High Commissioner in London. They can’t have sacked him from the Privv Council — that’s a lifetime appoint-