Reporter's Diary

Press, 1 August 1977, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Past masters CAPTAINS have gone under in the new merchant shipping regulations introduced in Britain. The master of a ship will henceforth be called a Certificated Deck Officer Class One (although he can still call himse’f a master mariner); the first mate becomes, presumably, CDO2; the second mate CDO3: and two lower rates of deck officers Class Four and Five. From 1981, when the regulations come into effect, coasters and even pleasure craft above 80 tonnes must carry a qualified officer, as is the case already wnth shipping in northern Europe. So, as "The Times" sadly suggest. Sir Henry Newbolt's stirring line must become "Certificated Deck Officer Class One, art tha sleepin’ there below?” Crosswords galore MORE than 2000 entries have been received by Whitcoulls for the Oxford crossword competition, which closes next Friday at 5 p.m. The first correct entry to be opened on Monday August 8, will earn the contestant an

Oxford reference library valued at over $2OO — which should give him or her a good edge when the next crossword contest comes along. Say that again PENSIONERS who correspond with the Department of Social Welfare have to grapple with an odd kind of logic practised by its officers. A recent circular signed by Mr M. Lyons, the department’s director, concludes: "If you did not receive payment of national superannuation prior to 31.3.77 you should not include it in any tax return you may file with the Inland Revenue Department.” Amnesty art

SOME well-known artists will be represented in an “Artists for Amnesty” exhibition to be held in the Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery at the end of this week. It will be opened by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr Hay) on Thursday evening and continue to August 14. The artists, who include Ralph Hotere. Don Peebles, Elizabeth Stevens, Yvonne

Rust, Gennie de Lange, and Pat Mulcahy, will be giving a percentage of the sale price to the work of Amnesty. The exhibition is one of several cultural events organised by the local group of Amnesty International to mark Prisoner of Conscience Year. Forty of Eileen Mayo’s Australian and New Zealand stamp designs will be auction after the exhibition, and the proceeds from the sale of a painting by Austin Deans will go to the cause. Race against nuts BIBLE translators in the New Hebrides are pacing themselves against Nature. Three young coconut trees were planted on Santo Island in February to mark the start of the translation of the Old Testament into Bislama — the language spoken by most people in the New Hebrides. The translation team is vrorking to complete its task before the coconuts on the trees ripen, probably five or six years from now. Translation of the New Testament has just been completed. Threat to blackberries BLACKBERRY pie may be harder to come by as a result of the Budget.

Farmers are likely to make strong efforts to eradicate brambles in such tangled districts as the West Coast and Northland now that they can be included on the noxious weeds subsidy list. A’o rust in space OBJECTS which have survived light-years of journeying through space, followed by an extremely hazardous trip through the Earth’s atmosphere, are in danger of being eaten away by the enemy of the most mundane iron things — common rust. Mrs Margaret Bradshaw, curator of geology at the Canterbury Museum, says in her halfyearly report that rusting is a continual problem with all the meteorites in the museum’s collection. She is trying storing them under perspex domes, and experimenting with different methods of sealing them. Earlier this year the major part of the Dunganville meteorite was transferred to the museum from the New Zealand Geological Survey. It weighs 49.5 kg and was found in a riverbed near Greymouth last year. The main fragmen has been cleaned, polished, and etched to show the crystalline structure of the nickel-iron. Another recent acquisition is a small slice of a meteorite found in

Antarctica last season. It was given to the museum by an American helicopter pilot, and is now on display. Inventors award JUDGING has started on the record 36 entries received for the fourth annual inventors award, instituted by D. D. C. Finance, Ltd. The organisers say the contest has attracted a wide range of ingenious ideas ranging from a medical incubator for children to a device for extruding cheese. This year’s award sought environmentally acceptable inventions likely to secure valuable export earnings, while making better use of the country’s natural resources. Yodelling, too

JAWBREAKERS are on the menu at Andreas Meier’s Gentian tearooms in Tuam Street today. This is the Swiss national day, and as a good Swiss he is catering for other expatriates with the national dish — Geschnetzeltes mitrosti. It is a veal specialty, prepared in white wine, and served with potatoes. To make sure the non-Swiss get the message, Andreas will be there in the national costume and giving out with the Swiss tonsil music — the yodel.