Reporter's Diary

Press, 24 February 1977, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Wired WORKERS in the wiring section of the Municipal Electricity Department have given their time and labour free to install wiring and electrical fittings in the Sumner Lifeboat Institution’s new lifeboat shed. When the institution inquired about having the work done, it was esti< mated to cost $250 in materials and $332 in labour and transport. The wiring section workers, who have established the custom of doing one job a year in their own time for charity, decided the institution was a deserving cause. Not to be outdone, the M.E.D. agreed to supply the materials free. Hard core ALL THAT sugar and spice has fallen on deaf ears in Peking, where Julie Andrews appears to be on a par with Linda Lovelace. The staid ‘‘People’s Daily,” which gives the official Government line, this week accused Mao Tse-tung’s disgraced widow, Chiang Ching, of importing pornographic films. ‘‘The Sound of Music” was cited as an example. Monochrome A PHOTOGRAPHER who has spent 27 months in detention has become the first black South African to win the country’s highest journalism award. Mr Peter Magurane, aged 43, has been presented with the $2600 Stellenbosch Farmers Winery Award for his coverage of the Soweto riots last year. The American journalist

and television commentator, Walter Cronkite, presented the award at a dinner attended by South Africa’s top journalists. After covering the disturbances for the “Rand Daily Mail” for more than 10 weeks, Mr Magurane was held in detention without charge for four months, and released only after Christmas. He had previously spent a total of 23 months in jail, 17 of them in solitary confinement. Punctured

A CANTERBURY man. an acknowledged expert in irrigation and hydrology, was invited several weeks ago to join an international team of advisers on an aid mission to Haiti, in the Caribbean. The prospect of two weeks in such surroundings was almost the only thing that made bearable the series of inoculations for what seemed to him to be every disease known to man. He arrived home on Monday evening with an arm like a pin cushion, stiff and aching, to find waiting a letter from the aid organisation sponsoring the mission. Deep regrets, etc.,, but problems of finance had necessitated pruning the mission, and now only the United States members would be going to Haiti. It is now even more unlikelv that he will contract cholera or smallpox while pottering around Canterbury, however. Dog’s life A F I V E-MONTH-OLD mongrel pup has left her life in a Landon stray dogs’ home far behind her. She was chosen from 500

dogs at the Battersea dog’s home by an oil sheikh from Abu Dhabi, Sultan Al Dhari, and left Heathrow Airport with him yesterday to spend the rest of her dog days in a palace. Ewe flu AN ENGLISH pop singer and part-time farmer, Roy Harper, ended up in a hospital isolation ward after giving the “kiss at life” to one of his sick sheep. Harper, who contracted toxoplasmosis, has just been released from a hospital near his farm on the Welsh border so he can begin a tour of Britain next week. “One of the pregnant ewes on the farm became ill and couldn’t breath, so I decided to give her the kiss at life,” said Harper. Soon after he had the symptoms of raging flu. Toxoplasmosis, a disease which affects cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and rabbits, has been diagnosed in humans only rarely. Brood of mayors ROYAL confusion would be understandable when the Queen meets local dignitaries in Christchurch next week, for among the nobs will be two Mayors of Christchurch. The Mayor of Christchurch, Dorset, England (Cr Eric Spreadbury) will arrive in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand, with his wife on Tuesday, and will be here during the Queen’s visit. On his agenda are some of the regal occasions which will also be attended by the local Mayor of Christchurch (Mr H. G. Hay). Chow time CHICKEN chow mein Is among a range of Chinese

frozen foods made in Brit= ain that has been ordered by Hong Kong importers. The first shipments of the “coals to Newcastle” trade will leave Birds Eye factories early next, month. No slug A BRITISH landlord is claiming a world record for eating snails. Mr Keith Butcher set the mark in London this week by devouring 140 large French escargots in 28 min 41 sec.