Reporter's Diary

Press, 10 November 1978, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Omihi upheaval THE EARTH moved at Omihi on October 10. About three hectares of earth. to be precise, moved about 35 metres into the sea on the coastal .oundary of a farm at Omihi. Fishermen, who were working near the coast at the time, reported they saw a "mini tidal wave" when the land fell into the sea. A geologist, whe knows the Omihi area where the earth movement occurred, says there have obviously been similar movements in the area before — though perhaps 100 years ago. “‘Of course in geological history. this is a very short space of time,” he said. The size of the October 10 movement might seem quite startling, but this piece of land had been slowly slipping out to sea for years. Fingal's Cave THE TINY uninhabited Scottish island of Staffa — the site of the legendary Fingal’s Cave immortalised by Mendelssohn in his famous overture — has been bought by an anonymous buyer for about $lOO,OOO. P.O. poser A YOUNG MAN who took his old Post Office Savings Bank book into the oank yesterday to have the interest brought up to date provided more than a

match for the Post Office computer. The last entry : n his savings book was in 1964, the balance being L’l 17s Bd. He was told that the job was more than the computer could handle in one day and would he please leave the book with the bank overnight so that the computer could have time to work out the interest on the small imperial sum. Prive of philately A KEEN stamp collector who had overlooked buying last year’s mini-sheet of six health stamps went into a stamp dealer’s shop yesterday to ask the price of the set. Th e Philatelic Bureau at the Post Office had already sold out of the mini-sheet, which was selling last year at its face value of 62,c. The stamp dealer told him the set would cost $5, which was more than the stamp-col-lector had with him. He wen’ round the corner to another dealer’s shop to ask the price of the same set. “That will be $2.50,” the dealer replied. One wonders, if the stamp collector had gone to further shops, how much lower the price might have gone. Translations AN ITEM in the "Diary” several months ago about a Japanese-English version of instructions accompanying some Japanesemade tyre chains bought

in Christchurch has been quoted in the “Far Eastern I Economic Review.” It has [ been used in an article exhorting importers of Japanese goods to insist “not only on high-quality products from Japanese manufacturers but on ac- [ companying instruction booklets written in perfect ; English.” The article sug- | gests that such an insist- . ence might be an effective counter-measure against Japan’s restrictive import [ lists. Imports into Japan are still very effectively restricted by the exacting standards required by overpernickity customs officials, the article says. Presidential jog PRESIDENT CARTER in the last few weeks has [ taken up jogging to unwind from his work. Wearing a red tracksuit and sneakers, the President of the United States : collects his Secret Service [ bodyguard at twilight, two ; or three nights a week, and jogs several laps around the White House grounds. Challenge AS IF the Wizard did not have enough to say' for himself in Cathedral i Square at lunch-time. : someone has issued a | challenge to him through the classified columns of the newspaper to a debate ; on any agreed subject in a public hall at a date and lime to be arranged. The ! challenge is signed by one. R. B. Steele, and says that proceeds from the public debate will be given to charity. —Felicity Price j