Reporter's Diary

Press, 9 April 1977, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Too late? I TWO AUCKLAND re- > searchers say that earlier ' sex education in schools i might have prevented ! some young women hav- ; ing unwanted pregnancies, [ and abortions at the pri- ) vate clinic in Auckland. In i a survey published in the ,) “New Zealand Medical ! Journal," they say that [ most of the patients referred to the clinic over I the two-year period studi ied did not have a very ; j high level of educations. ■ ! Just over 48 per cent had [ not reached School !) Certificate level. “Most of !) the sex education in New i Zealand schools is. in the

sixth and seventh forms," they say. "Perhaps earlier sex education in schools would have reached this group seen at the Auckland service." Told His Grace THE DUKE of Wellington met the Mayor of Wellington in London this week to hear about another Waterloo victory. The Duke, eighth holder of th- title first bestowed on the conqueror of Napoleon. 'was visited by Mr Michael Fowler who was Completing ’ "Operation Waterloo" —Wellington City Corporation’s compaign to raise funds for the city’s planned cultural centre. He and his team have been canvassing businesses and institutions in America and Britain which have links with New Zealand. “We’ve been successful beyond our expectations,” Mr Fowler said, but he would not sav how much money he had raised. The team’s target when it left Wellington was SI.3M. Curious mixture HAVING interviewed two Prime Ministers — Messrs Fraser and Muldoon — and attended the Centenary’ cricket test at Melbourne Cricket Ground and been recognised as "a Pom,” Terry Coleman of the ‘‘Guardian" has now reached New Zealand on his roving assignment. (He’s the one to whom Mr Muldoon alleged that the Soviet Union was financing certain New Zealand trade unions). His -first subject was Timaru’s pioneer aircraft . designer Richard Pearse, and it is reported that his next two New Zealand subjects will be Katherine Mansfield and Fred Dagg — an illassorted bunch. Easter Is. link FOUR Auckland Maoris have just returned from a trip to Easter Island, off the coast of Chile, to retrace the steps of their ancestors. The Chilean Government financed their trip after it was discovered at last year’s South Pacific Festival that Hoturoa, commander of the Tainui canoe which arrived in New Zealand about 1350, may have been a half-brother to Hotu-Matu’a, ancient king of the Easter Island Polynesians. Mrs S. Meierhofer, a direct descendant of Huturoa, led the Maori delegation. They were welcomed by the island’s 2000 people, and were ’ presented with the "key" to the island, and honorary Chilean citizenship.

Sculptor’s memorial JOHN PANTING was a New Zealand artist who made a big contribution to modern sculpture in a very brief career. He began teaching at the Royal College of Art in London in 1967, but was killed in a motor-cycle accident in 1974. Now the Arts Council of Great Britain, together with the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council in New Zealand, have assembled a retrospective memorial exhibition which has been shown in Britain and is now at the Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery in Gloucester Street. John Panting studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Art. before going to Britain. He made his name in Britain, where he became principal lecturer in sculpture at the Central School of Art and Design. The memorial exhibition covers sculntures completed between 1966 and 1974. According to the catalogue, the sculptor dismantled much of his work in his studio to make room for more, and sometimes reused section of earlier pieces. Many had to be reassembled for the exhibition. .4 similar lot

SOME of these contributions from readers can be checked in the telephone books; the rest deserve to be true—Mr Bug, the Wanganui health inpsector; Mr Bugbee, the Kaikoura health inspector; Mr Molar, an Ashburton dentist (retired): Mr Hair, an Invercargill barber; and Mr Russel Grubb who used to rustle up snacks in his food shop at Waikouaiti. Mr Jim Pollard (no connection with the chook-food business) says that when he was a lad at East Christchurch School, the pen nibs

he used were manufactured by Hinks and Wells, Ltd. England. He enclosed a copy of a bill for £1 14s Od “To unblocking W.C. oan” from Passmore Bros. ’Dry water’ DURING part of the year, Mr P. J. McWilliam, the Drainage Board’s chief engineer, told a board meeting, a certain open drain took “a dry water flow". It took a minute or two for that to sink in. Then one puzzled member asked whether that technical term could be explained: exactly what was dry water? What he meant, said the engineer, was that in dry weather no water flowed down the drain at all. —Garry Arthur