Reporter's Diary

Press, 16 November 1977, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Coincidence

THE REVEREND Andrew Sullivan has flown off to the Chatham Islands with something on his mind. On the Sunday before the disastrous fire at Cathedral Grammar School, Mr Sullivan preached in the school chapel. By way of making a point, he confessed to his own attempts as an infant (more than 40 years ago) to ignite his ancient wooden school at a point where it was dry and chippy Insurance HAS the Mayor changed his mind about it being cirtually unnecessary to hold elections in the Pegasus ward in future? Mr Hamish Hay expressed that view at the installation of the nexv City Council. He said the local voters appeared to have voted a straight party ticket, regardless of who the candidates were. It was a clean sweep for Labour in Pegasus. But since polling day, a Citizens’ Association electioneering poster has reappeared at the corner of Travis and Barkers Roads, suggesting that the Citizens are starting campaigning for the next elections already. Lucky day? A RETIRED professional man from Southland cannot decide whether Show Day was his lucky day or not. He xvas ready to go to his boxx’ling club, when his xvife said it was about time they xvent to their first Christchurch A. & P. Show. But being unfamiliar with the territory, they xvent in the gates to the Addington Racexvay instead. That was $2 “down the drain.” They decided that as they were there, they would watch one race, so the husband ventured $1 for a place on

horse number 12, thinking that was the date. But it xvas really November 11. Number 11 came into a place and paid a good dividend, but number 12 came last. Another $1 gone, the pair found their way to the showground gates, and as they were about to go in a young man offered them two free passes for which he had no further use. That put them $1 ahead. A'o magic from Bert “1 HAVE been told several times in recent weeks that it’s all very well for me to preach about problem families and problems within families," said the Minister of Social Welfare (Mr Walker) in a talk to National Party women in Papanui yesterday. “But what am I going to do about it? Well, I’ve got no miracle cure. My name’s not Merlin the Magician, it’s Bert Walker, Minister of Social Welfare.” Top shaker? NORRIS MCWHIRTER, editor of the “Guinness Book of Records”, is likely to have his editorial policy questioned by Rodney Bryant when he attends a literary luncheon in Christchurch tomorrow. The former television personality plans to buttonhole Mr McWhirter and request very firmly indeed that his claimed world hand-shaking record be included in the next edition of the book. Rodney set the record as a Canterbury University fund-rais-ing effort at capping time in 1963. Calling himself Carrington Minge. he trudged around Cathedra! Square al! day and totted

up 20,700 handshakes, breaking the previous xvorld record by 6200. But the “Book of Records” has not recorded it; it feels the record has become meaningless, thanks to aspi-

rants xvho arrange circular queues and shake the same hands repetitively. Rodney, however, shook thousands of different hands — except for one drunk who kept staggering out of a bar, clasping his hand, and claiming to have found the notorious escaper George Wilder, who was missing at the time. Because his record was a genuine one, Rodney Bryant hopes to persuade Mr McWhirter to change his mind. Illegal immigrant A FOREIGN body, resembling a very large clove of garlic but looking suspiciously noxious, was found recently by a reader who bought a bunch of bananas. Curious as to its identity, she brought it into “The Press”, and we referred it to an expert — Mr Anthony Savill, an entomologist who works for the Canterbury Museum. It proved to be a spider’s nest, but when it was opened up all the eggs were, fortunately, quite dead. Mr Savill said it was probably the nest of a banana spider. A retailer had brought a live banana spider into him for identification a month ago after it had crawled out of a case, and he had seen several live geckos that had come out of banana shipments, he said. Mr C. H. Cooper, regional port inspector, said that not all banana shipments into New Zealand had been fumigated. Shipments from Ecuador were treated before they left that country, so it was most likely that the dead spider’s nest had come from Ecuador. However, bananas sent from the Islands were not fumigated, but were subject to inspection when they arrived in New Zealand. Not all cases could be inspected, although every shipment was looked over and certain checks were made, he said. “Every consignment has something in if,’* Mr Cooper said.

“Spiral” ALTHOUGH it is still facing financial problems, the women’s magazine “Spiral” has not been dropped, according to one of its promoters, Ms Heather McPherson. As soon as the printer’s bill for the last edition has been paid, the next issue — xvhich is ready to be typeset — will be sent off to the printers. Meanwhile, the women’s collective behind the poetry magazine is working on fundraising. They will be selling copies of the last edition of “Spiral” at the preview of the film “I want to be Joan” — made by Stephanie Robinson about the Women’s Convention, its workships and .social events — at the James Hay Theatre on November 26. Hot tip YOU CAN please some of the people some of the time. . . but others are just downright fussy. A special Cup dinner was held at the Russley Hotel on Tuesday evening after the New Zealand Trotting Cup, with a photograph of the race’s finish on the menu cover. The dinner xvas such a success that the hotel manager (Mr John White proposed to have a similar race dinner after the Nexv Zealand Cup at Riccarton on Saturday. The novel menu cover won the approval of all the guests on Tuesday — except one, who suggested that if the next race dinner was to be done properly and be of full value, the Saturday menu should be available on Friday, complete with photo-finish. Inherited THE LAST word in parental disillusionment is expressed in a car bumper sticker seen in America: “Insanity is hereditary. You get it from your children.”

—Garry Arthur