Reporter's Diary

Press, 30 March 1981, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Old tinier RECENT stories in “Reporter’s Diary” about the Lyttelton yacht Pastime have aroused some interest in the boat’s history. In particular, the owner, Mr Albion Wright, is keen to get in touch with Mr Jack Roberts, the retired sailor, who told us of Pastime’s voyage round New Zealand before the yacht was enlarged. Mr Wright said that he had always taken Pastime’s launching date as 1886, and voyages round New Zealand or the South Island were then “two a penny,” and so Pastime’s was not recorded in contemporary newspapers. He would like to hear from anyone who could provide more details of the boat’s past, when it was owned by the' Miller family. Disconnection THE King George Hotel in Madras Street has been a customer of the Christ? church Gas Company for niany years. Recently the hotel came under new management, and the new owners received a note from the gas company,

addressed to the "new customer.” The note was a standard form, telling the customer that, if he did not return the form after completing it, the gas supply would be disconnected. The hotel’s accountant, Mr David Barley, thought the note was ironic, considering all the recent publicity about the gasworks’ closing. Stuck up ANYONE who has used superglues to fix a broken vase knows how attached you can become to your handiwork. Detaching such unfortunate do-it-your-selfers can be a very sticky business so a superglue manufacturer, Bostik has started selling its glue with a releasing agent. “Relief comes within one to five minutes and the antidote has a smooth, silkily reassuring feel to it,” said a company spokesman. Royal joke

PRINCE Charles’s falls from his ’horse in two recent steeplechases , have caused an outbreak of princely puns: “Does Charles do much riding?”

—“Oh, on and off.” “The horse was just being polite; he let Charles go first over the fence.” “Prince Charles had a good day at the races today. He didn’t go.” Light show

PEOPLE’S faces are known to “light up” When they meet a friend, but, according to Soviet scientists, our bodies do much the same. Research with sophisticated X-ray equipment has revealed that our bodies radiate a luminescent aura. When two people meet, the glow brightens if they feel sympathetic towards each other, and darkens otherwise, Scientists found that if the subjects were in love, a “firework display” showed on their X-ray screens. They suggested the test should be used to measure the chances of success of a potential marriage, as 10 per cent divorces were caused by “physiological incompatibilities.” Rates ... THAT time of the year is fast approaching when ratepayers wait anxiously to find out how much their councils will want from them in the next year’s rates. No matter how short of money councils say they are, it is hard to see them following the trend of some British councils, which

have more than doubled their rates. The Scottish city of Dundee has struck its rates 150 per cent higher than last year’s, while Stirling’s rates are 122 per cent higher. Some London boroughs are asking ratepayers to cough up more than 50 per cent on last year’s figure. The Yorkshire town of Wakefield, however, has held its increase to 15 per cent, thanks partly to a team of vigilantes, called the Wakefield Watchdogs.'

. . . watchdogs THE Wakefield Watchdogs is a non-political group of 800 ratepayers, who keep a close eye on council spending: it demands and receives copies of every expense claimed by the 66 councillors, and has a network of “moles” inside the council offices who supply secret documents. One councillor “refunded £340 (about $815) in expenses when he was challenged through the district auditor. Other discoveries by the watchdogs included: the purchase of a new £13,000 ($31,200) car “hidden” in council minutes about garbage trucks; £85,000 ($204,000) earmarked for a pedestrian mall which could be achieved simply by banning cars in the area; new briefcases supplied to councillors costing £7OO ($1680).