Reporter's Diary

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 2

Reporter 's Diary

Bantion Point Week

The court decision to order the protesters off the land at Bastion Point is legally logical, but morally unacceptable, says Ms Maria Mclntyre, spokesman for the Christchurch Combined Bastion Point Supporters’ Committee. Her committee has declared this week Bastion Point Support Week, and is launching a public appeal for funds. It will conclude on Sunday with a public meeting, to be addressed by Mr Joe Hawke, leader of the Bastion Point protesters. Ms Mclntyre says the question of Maori land rights is basically a question of justice, and is therefore the concern of all people of good will. “At no point has the Crown and the European community in general come to grips with the reality of the land question and the Maori identity with it,” Ms Mclntyre said. She knew

“SARAH,” said a schoolteacher to a 12-year-old girl in her French class, “I want you to explain to me, in French, the difference between ‘Madame’ and ‘Mademoiselle’.” Sarah’s reply was brief and to the point: ‘‘Monsieur.” Extra duties OFFICE workers in Hartford, Connecticut, have been handing out prizes to their bosses — not to those who have proved the best employers, but tc those who have made the most outrageous demands on workers. Top prize went to the enterprising bank executive who required his clerks and tellers to sell dishware and towels to customers on his behalf. Second place in the petty office procedures

contest went to the divorced boss who ordered his secretary to fill in for him on “visiting day” with his children. Third was the pet-store owner who fired his bookkeeper

because she made mistakes counting live worms. Honourable mentions went to the New York publisher and scout leader who told his secretary to prepare information and maps for a camping week-end, and the boss who sent his secretary to clean his house and do his laundry before his wife came home from her holiday. Goodbye, and thanks THE CREW of the out ofwork cruise ship Australis enjoyed their stay at Timaru. Captain Ardavanis, the staff captain of the Chandris liner, has expressed his thanks and those of the skeleton crew for the hospitality they received while the ship was laid up at Timaru awaiting further instructions. The Australis has now left for Auckland on her way to new owners at New York. Vo joiners A READER who thought Felicity Price’s article about Freda du Faur, “the celebrated lady on Mount Cook in 1910,” was timely, wonders, however, if the Canterbury Mountaineering Club will now revise its rules and allow women to join. The club has a good answer — it changed its rules to admit women as members in September last year. But so far not one woman has joined. An officer of the club says he knows of one

voung woman who is “teetering on the brink” of joining, but is reluctant to be the first. Many female climbers whose boyfriends are members attend club meetings and instruction courses, though, and the club suspects that they are happy to receive all the benefits without becoming financial members. That’s a relief A NERVOUS visitor to the other Belfast nearly fell off his bar stool at the unmistakeable sound of an explosion. “That was a

bomb, wasn’t it?” he asked the barman. “Not to worry," said the Irishman. “If it had been as near as it sounded it would have been a damn sight loader.” proposal SOME Timaru people do not seem to agree with the breweries’ view that New Zealanders do not really want neighbourhood pubs. Messrs D. Mitchell, P. Connolly, and R. McCone plan to build one in Hobbs Street at an estimated cost of $270,000. They say its single-storey design will be far removed from the much-criticised beer-barn style. It will be Timaru’s second privately owned liquor outlet, and will include such novel community facilities as a barbecue area and a children’s play area. The site for the proposed tavern is bounded by holiday homes and a camping ground and is close to Ashbury Park and the city’s “motel boulevard.” Family hand

AS WELL as being the direct successor to the band of the Canterbury Regiment which played at the official opening of the

Bridge of Remembrance in 1924, the Band of the 2nd Battalion, Royal New Zea= land Infantry Regiment, which played at the bridge’s rededication on Anzac Day is something of a family affair. About a quarter of the membership is made up of family groups — Bandmaster John Geayley and his son Andrew; Alan Blackler and his son, Tony; Beaven Wright and his son, Douglas; and Rex Paulsen and his son, Phillip, and daughter-in-law, Jo-Anne. .411 revealed NOW THAT it is far too late for anyone to do anything about it, a North Canterbury reader reveals that a Rangiora milkman, now retired, used to play tricks on some of his customers. He carried a few back numbers of “The Press” with him, and when delivering milk to a friend’s house he would kick that morning’s issue of the paper under a bush and drop one of his old copies on the front doorstep. To gauge reaction he would seek out the luckless subscriber during the day and test his knowledge of the day’s news.

— Garry Arthur