Reporter's Diary

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Desperate men JOHN KENNEDY, editor of the “Tablet” magazine, and endowed with a thick head of hair, writes in the July issue of “Media Times” magazine that, in his opinion, journalists went overboard helping to promote the sale of Ma Evans’s herbal hair tonic, which purports ' to cure baldness in some cases. He was in full agreement, Mr Kennedy said, with comments by the director of the Consumers’ Institute (Mr R. J. Smithies) which suggested that journalists were well and truly ■ taken in by the Ma Evans publicity machine and were only too keen to jump at. the chance to give the hair, tonic free -and compelling advertising. One should not doubt the impact of this kind of article, Mr. Kennedy said. “I know, from personal experience, that people rush in.” He cited an example when, some years, ago, he reprinted an advertisement from a "Tablet” of the 1880 s, giving details of a baldness “cure” - and saying it could be obtained from an address in Melbourne. Six ■weeks .later, he received a 'terse letter from the managing director , of . Shell,

(Australia) whose building now occupied that site mentioned in the old advertisement, and who had scores of letters from New Zealanders asking for a cure for baldness. Bonza deal HAVE you ever tried to eat a hot pie with chopsticks? A Rotorua firm is shipping 12,000 pies to Japan this week. The pies are made in Rotorua by Bonza Pies to a special Japanese recipe, which consists mainly of beef. The director of Bonza Pies, Mr J. S. Guilford, says he is "absolutely elated” with the export order, which has been in the pipeline for eight months.

Caves to explore CAVERS in Canterbury are on the look-out for suitable caves to explore in the Banks Peninsula area. According to. Mr Tony Bridge, secretary of the Canterbury Caving Group, there are thought to be several lava tubes or caves on the peninsula, possibly, in the Diamond Harbour area, or further afield, but club members have not yet,been able to find.'them. They wonder if any ..resident of Banks ' t, '

Peninsula, who might happen to have a cave on his property, would let the group know so that its members can explore, and possibly chart them, if they are big enough. Such caves are plentiful in Auckland, which has a volcanic base, and the Canterbury cavers hope to find something similar closer to home. If anyone is able to help Mr Bridge, please telephone him in the evenings at 890-1 IL

Glorious Twelfth A PUB in Guildford, Surrey, won the race to be first with grouse on the menu on the “Glorious Twelfth” — the opening of the shooting season in Britain on August 12. Three members of the Red Devils parachute team, dressed as dhefs, dropped into the car-park of Guildford’s Oslbw Arms with the first brace of grouse just three hours after they were shot on Scottish moors. It was the Onslow Arms’ third success in the annual race. A rival bid this year by London’s luxury Ritz Hotel failed because its light plane was delayed by fog. The Onslow Arms spared no expense to get its birds on the table in time for a fund-raising charity luncheon. The birds had been flown by helicopter from the moors to Edinburgh :■ for a British Airways shuttle flight to Heathrow'. Ar

Then the Red Devils took

over -— and • the chef cooked the grouse in time for an early lunch.

Man apes dog PUNTERS demanding their money back queued at the totalisator win* dows at the Grafton greyhound races in New South Wales recently. They wanted refunds because their selection, Beach Secretary, marked to start from trap one, had been scratched minutes beforethe start. Officials explained afterwards that the scratching resulted from an unfortunate misreading of the runners’ list. The man who signed the list, Mr Bruce Beach, secretary at the track, said: “I was really looking forward to a run especially since I’d drawn the inside lane, but the stewards threw me out for weight variation.”

Political upheaval “WE ALWAYS knew that you needed a strong stomach for politics,” says a recent edition of “Straight Furrow,” the New Zealand farmers’ magazine. “But the slogan of the Liberal Party for the election in Britain in the early 1970 s cleaned all the others out. It was short and to the point: ‘One More Heave’.”