Reporter's Diary

Press, 24 November 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Duck for dinner?

ON SEVERAL occasions, staff of the Chateau Regency’s ritzy restaurant, the Camelot Room, have had to shoo away a fearless drake that persists in waddling in to watch the diners. He usually resides on the hotel’s central moat, lording it over the ducks there. But every now and then he seems to. fancy something a little more luxurious than a duck pond. The last time he visited the restaurant, he was shooed away as soon as he was spotted. But no sooner was he outside than he flew over the top of the hotel to the front door, waited there for guests to arrive and set off the automatic door, and then waddled inside behind them, heading straight for the restaurant again. "If he’s not careful,” joked one hotel worker, “he’ll end up p duck with orange sauce. ’ /Ven? scare

NO MATTER what you do, it seems, you will be faced with the possibility of being exposed to can-cer-causing substances. The' latest scare . comes, appropriately enough, from the International Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Alert System in the United States, where recent laboratory

findings have confirmed that “exposure to a solvent that is widely used in the application of coatings and in the production of printing inks and adhesives causes cancer in animals and is therefore likely to be a human carcinogen too.” The potentially hazardous substance is 2-Nitropropane (2-NP). Limited appeal PEOPLE in Britain and Europe who think of New Zealand as a country given over to mountains, farm animals, and rugby will discover that our national library, the Alexander Turnbull Library, has a world-ranking collection of books on John Milton, acknowledged by many as England’s national poet, says the chief librarian, (Mr J. E. Traue). The library’s Milton collection was begun by Alexander Turnbull in 1892 about the same time that he decided to create the national librarv. The Milton and the New Zealand collections are still .the two specialties of the library, Mr Traue says. Kathleen Coleridge. of Victoria University. has compiled “A descriotive catalogue of the Milton Collection in the Alexander Turnbull Library. Wellington,” which has' just been published by the Oxford University Press. Ms Coleridge has

been working for 14 years on the catalogue, which lists 224 editions of Milton’s works published up to 1800 and 223 works relating to Milton. It is aimed at the literary and bibliography scholar and makes no concessions to the general reader. New Zealand sales of the catalogue ate expected to be about 25 copies. Most copies of the edition of 750 will sell in Britain and the United States, where there are several other excellent Milton collections.

Museum piece AN OLD, 1942 V-8 fire engine which was once the mainstay of the Otira Railway Fire Brigade has been found a new home. The Railways Department has given the engine to the Westland Fire Service Historical Society’s museum at Shantytown. The society intends restoring the engine with the Railways and Otira Railway Fire Brigade emblems emblazoned on its doors.

Healthy nor kern ANOTHER hard day at work? Instead of going home this evening and slumping in front of the television, you should be out jogging. playing tennis, or squash or indulging in some other form of physical exercise. The only trouble is that few of us have the selfdiscipline to do it. A big industrial firm in Sweden has found a way to strengthen the will-power of its sedentary employees *

by incorporating a fitness programme into the daily routine of the factory. The firm, Saab-Scania, has built a modern gymnasium and sports centre and. so far, 2000 of the 7000 workers, as well as their families and some former staff members, have joined in the scheme. Each staff member joining in is given a personal assessment, and the firm’s preventive medicine team draws up a personal health profile for each one, based on life style, including exercise habits, smoking habits, the kind of job done, and the frequency of stress situations.

Justly proud the’ Canterbury branch the New Zealand Historic Places Trust has reason to be proud. In the last year, it has stimulated a 30 per cent increase in membership in the region, the biggest membership increase of anv of the branches in New Zealand. Canterbury now has more than 1300 members. The regional secretary', Mr J. R. Allison, says that the growth in Canterbury is part of a trend that has seen membership here increase tenfold since 1965. The trust hopes to increase membership nationally with , a Christmas gift membership scheme. It has worked out that if every member gives one gift membership this Christmas, membership will double overnight*