Reporter's Diary

Press, 11 August 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Priorities ■A STRAIGHT path and no tree? Or a bend in the path, and the tree is •saved? The answer to the problem was, as the photograph shows, the latter. The question of priorities arose in Cambridge. Terrace, opposite the Horticultural Hall, during realignment of the footpath, which runs alongside the Ayon River.

Fairy story NOBODY is perfect. From time to time, newspapers, like everyone else, have to apologise for their mistakes. But apologies as enchanting as the following one, printed in a Dublin newspaper, would be hard to find. It was sent in by a reader, who received the clipping from a friend in Britain. “We are assured by Mr Timothy Kelly, of Drumany, County Leitrim, that a -story concerning him was inaccurate. The story alleged that Mr Kelly had bulldozed three fairy forts on his land, despite warnings from neighbours that the fairies would take revenge on him, and that the ground had opened up causing tons of earth to cascade down on ‘ a hill on his farm. We now understand that Mr Kelly at no stage bulldozed any land containing fairy forts and

that .the landslide was of an ordinary nature and due to natural subsidence.”

Cost of littering AUCKLANDERS who carelessly drop a cigarette packet or a milk-shake container in a city street may find themselves having to fork out $5. The Auckland City Council is moving towards introducing litter infringement notices, which will be as easy to dole out as parking tickets. But there will be no attractive meter maids — the ticker writers could well be council staff themselves. The council’s works committee has recommended that various measures be introduced under the Litter Act, 1979. Small items of rubbish will cost the litterer $5; larger items, such as cardboard cartons, will cost him §lO- - council takes a stern view of bottles and cans — they will cost litterers $2O if they are left lying about the streets. Christchurch City councillors considered introducing a similar scheme here, but so far nothing definite has been put forward.

Economy measure THE USE of beet as an economy fuel is much more simple than scientists realise, says a reader

who works at the New Zealand Agricultural Engineering Institute at Lincoln College. “The following technique is failsafe for an economical fuel,” he says. “Take one rugged, small or mediumsized beet (not unlike a large potato in appearance). Hold tow bar or bumper bar of car in left hand, and ram beet hqr.d up . muffler exhaust with right hand. Engine will not start. Therefore, you cannot help but save fuel.”

Running expenses ENERGETIC people who run to work in the morning and home again in the evening, braving -smog and cold and traffic, may feel fitter for their efforts but are not necessarily saving themselves money. While running into work the other morning, one athletic reader did some mathematical calculations. He worked out that, with, a good pair of running shoes costing about $7O and lasting for about 1500 miles (at the utmost), he was getting 4.7 c a mile out of his footwear. A bicycle or a bus would work out about the -same cost, he realised, and would require a lot less phsical effort. ...

Jelicity Price