Reporter's Diary

Press, 15 June 1979, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Red-faced IN HIS report to the North Canterbury Hospital Board earlier this week, the board’s fire-prevention officer (Mr Sid Hurst) listed a number of false alarms the fire brigade had received in the last month or so. One of them, he said, had been caused when a nurse at the Christchurch Women’s Hospital nurses’ hostel had fallen against an alarm box after doing a handstand. Her face.

needless to say, turned the same colour as the paint on the alarm box, IF/io gives way? WHO HAS the right of way in Hagley Park — joggers or cyclists? This is the question asked by one Christchurch woman after she was knocked off her bicycle in the park yesterday by six hefty joggers. She was cycling on one of the many cycling tracks in the park when the joggers swept across her path.

knocking her from her bicycle to the ground and ruining her panty-hose and bicycle basket m the process. What made her more annoyed was that they laughed at her and, as they ran on, told her it served her right. “They seemed to think I should have given way to them, at the crossing of the paths,” the woman said. “Perhaps I should have. I don’t know. But they didn’t need to knock me over.” It is an interesting poser — who should give way? Hot to handle

DURING the butchers’ two-day strike in Christchurch, a well known union secretary was attending his customary weekly watering hole and, as is his wont, took a ticket in one of the sports club raffles being held. “You want to watch that meat raffle,” one of his colleagues shouted from the other side of the bar. “That meat’s hot.” The union man looked nonplussed. But that was nothing compared with his embarrassment a few moments later when he discovered he had won the raffle. Outnumbered

HOW MANY residents of Lyttelton would like to call their home town Port Two? Very few, one suspects. Such a suggestion was part of a port-renam-ing scheme suggested to the Bay of Plenty Harbour Board by its deputy chairman (Mr R. A. Owens) this week. Instead of having the Ports of Auckland, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers, why not call them Ports One, Two, and three? he suggested. His idea resulted from a description of an incident earlier this year when a Korean ship tried to put in to Mangonui, in the Bay of Islands, instead of

Mount Maunganui, at Tauranga. Another foreign master, apparently, had made the same mistake five years ago. However, board members were not impressed with the plight of foreign sailors — Mr Owens’ suggestion was not followed up. Misleading

MILLIONS OF Japanese could have the wrong impression of the strength of New Zealand’s defence forces as the result of the publication of an article in one of their newspapers. The article was noticed by a Tauranga businessman, Mr K. R. Clark, who bought the paper to read while travelling from Kobe to Tokyo by train. It said: “The Government would reconsider its policy of admitting United States nuclear powered warships in ports in Wellington following the United States Navy’s refusal to allow a New Zealand nuclear submarine into New York harbour for safety reasons," the Defence Minister said. The Labour Party leader (Mr Rowling), said the New York ban was a vindication of the Labour Party’s and many other New Zealanders’ opposition to nuclear vessels stopping in harbours. The health of every New Zealander was every bit as important as any American who lived in New York or anywhere else, he said.” Mr Clark said his first reaction was to chuckle at the article because of its absurdity. “I wasn’t even aware we had a submarine, let alone a nuclear one,” he said. “And I doubt if even Mr Rowling could make such a strange statement.” Vo muster

BECAUSE aviation fuel is scarce in Queensland, the price of beef in Australia is going up rapidly. See the connection? No? Well, it is all explained by the

fact that Queensland farmers use small planes and helicopters to round up their cattle, and the avgas shortage has meant they cannot muster this year. Supplies of avgas are not expected until September, which could mean that not only, will the cattle not be mustered but the Flying Doctor may be grounded for a while. Back in

AN ITEM in last Friday’s “Diary” related the sad tale of a member of the Richmond Working Men’s Club, who, in spite of his life membership for the last 26 years, was told that he could not enter the club because he was a few hours late in paying a $lO levy. But at its annual meeting the next day the club decided to reinstate those who had lost their life membership and to refund the levy to those who had paid it.This will assuredly mean the retention of some solid support at the bar.

Seriously, theau. ~ BRITONS SPEND SIOM a year on mineral water, in spite of having quite drinkable tap water. In the United States, sales of mineral water have increased 20-fold. Observers believe that advertising has played more than its fair share in promoting these sales — and one must admit that some of the sales campaigns are clever. Perrier’s, for example, has been running a promotion campaign based on puns on the French word for water. First, there was the Perrier poster saying, “Eau la la.” Then the company put out one saying “N’eau calories." And now there is one saying, “H2Eau.” Seau it seems the mineral water market is bubbling.

—Felicity Price