Reporter’s Diary

Press, 6 July 1977, Page 2

Reporter’s Diary

Top people IF CHRISTCHURCH were Paris, all those empty offices at the top of city buildings would be flats and bed-sitters. Instead of having a dead heart, central Christchurch would be throbbing with life. There is no reason why that could not happen here, and to prove that it is possible, David Shepherd, a city architect, has just converted 2000 sq ft of space at the very top of one Cathedral Square building into a modern penthouse apartment. He is seen here showing the results to his friends at a completion party this week. Four large rooms and a small internal balcony have been created where there was just dust, steel girders, and peeling paintwork before. Two parts of the penthouse open on to sundecks with views across the city rooftops. Home win

SEVERAL West Coasters have written to say that

the Lions did not have it all their own way on the Coast. Although they beat Buller-West Coast 45-6, on the rugby field, their representative for the curious card game called 45s was soundly trounced. The Lions’ man was Moss Keane, an Irishman who won the 1976 County Cork 45s championship. He recklessly asked for a game of 455, and crew Mr Bill Craddock, the Mayor of Westport, as a partner. They lost by three games to nil. Apparently the game was brought to the West Coast by Irish goldminers in the 1860 s. Mr R. M. Tinnelly, the president of the New Zealand 45s Association, says that although it is a West Coast game, former Coasters return to Greymouth from all over the country for the annual championships each September. Enigmatic

BARRY Townrow of Westport has kindly supplied a potted version of the rules of 455, which he concedes is an enigma

to everyone but the West Coasters. The main points seem to be that each game consists of four “legs”; a leg lasts two or three hands; a team that gets a “jink” qualifies for a “leg”; the top trump is called “five fingers”; and the ace of hearts is always called the “Maggie” (unless, of course, hearts are trumps). "From this point on,” says Mr Townrow, “it becomes more conflicted.” He’s promised to teach me. All sides

"WHAT are you going to do for Sydenham?” That is the question local pbliticans will be expected to answer at a public meeting organised for this evening by the Sydenham Community Committee. It will be held in the Samoan Congregational Hall on the corner of Brougham and Colombo Streets, diagonally opposite the strip of land earmarked by the Christchurch City Council for a relocatable Sydenham community centre building. The idea, says Robert Forrester, the committee chairman, is to hear candidates from the three parties contesting the next local body elections, and at the same time to expand membership of the proposed Sydenham Community Association. Mr John Kirk, the member of Parliament for Sydenham, will also address the meeting. Gone fishin 9

ALL THOSE temporary ponds in Hagley Park brought two kingfishers into the Hagley Golf Club yesterday to see what they could catch. They were still looking when our bird-watcher cycled past. High tee

GETTING back to the search for the perfect tee, our golfing historian, Mai Cochrane, recalls that the last outstanding innovation in tee design was suppressed by the powers that were. It was at the end of the roaring 20s when Dr H. C. Gillies, a London surgeon and golfer, began using tees from four to six inches high. Although he was not a front-rank golfer, he achieved remarkable success off the tee with shots that had hitherto been the preserve only of trick-shot golfers such as the Aus-

tralian Joe Kirkwood. But once others started copying his method, the Royal and Ancient Club of St Andrews, the ruling body of golf, decided to step in. Possibly mindful, however, of the bad effects of their premature ban on the centre-shot putter, they approached Dr Gillies cautiously. They simply asked if he would mind not using his tall tee any more, and the good doctor sportingly agreed. That was the last that was heard of it, although there has never been any rule limiting the height of a golf tee. Mai Cochrane says the accepted height is that which makes half of the ball visible above the head of a wooden driver. Heap of roubles

IF LEONID BREZHNEV is drawing a salary for each of his new jobs, his income must be at least 4000 roubles a month, or the equivalent of more than $NZ66,000 a year. Not bad, as the “Financial Times” points out, in a country where the average wage is around $2150 a year. The British Prime Minister (Mr Callaghan) gets $35,800, but President Carter is on an annual salary of $200,000. Brezhnev earned an estimated 1000 roubles a month as head of the Communist Party, but after Nikolai Podgorny’s departure he would qualify for another 1000 roubles as President. His big rise, however, would have come from his promotion to the rank of Marshall of the U.S.S.R. That rank carries a salary of 2000 roubles a month. Cuckoo-lqnd

NO MATTER where they are, Englishmen cannot resist taking part in the race to claim having seen the first swallow, the first cuckoo, or the first mini skirt of the season. A letter recently appeared in "The Times” saying: "I heard today the first cuckoo of this year. Is this a record for Outer Mongolia?” It is dated June 4. and signed by David Mallon, who gives his address as the Department of Foreign Languages, Mongolian State University, Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

—Garry Arthur