Reporter’s diary

Press, 9 March 1982, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Hedging bets...? IN THESE times of falling tonnages at several New Zealand ports (including Lyttelton), the Timaru Harbour Board seems to be looking to the future. A report to the board’s monthly meeting that the new security fence enclosing the port had reached 85 per cent of its' designed length prompted the chairman, Mr B. J. Petrie, to remark: “If the tonnages drop too drastically we can always turn it into a game farm . . .” Era ends THE VOLKSWAGEN passenger car is dead — at least in Australia. The once-proud German “people’s car” was. at one time assembled in Australia, and held 12 per cent of the passenger car market. Now, the VW badge will be found only on some of the most expensive light commercial vehicles in the country., The death-knell of the descendants of the übiquitous “Beetle” was sounded by the. .general, manager of Volkswagen Aus--tralia, Ltd (Mr W. R. Higginbottom), when, at the unveiling; of the company’s new Koinbi and Microbus range, he announced that no more orders had been placed for VW Golf or Passat petrol and diesel-engined vehicles. The only. VW passenger cars still available in-. Australia

are a limited number of diesel Golfs, imported last year and still languishing unsold in dealerships. Mr Higginbottom blamed the demise of the “people’s car” on the appreciating German Deutschmark, and “continuing Australian Government control and interference in the car industry.” Ship's birthday YOUNG for a human, but getting on for a warship. That is the Royal New Zealand Navy frigate H.M.N.Z.S. Taranaki, which will celebrate her twenty-first birthday on March 28. A week-end of festivities in Auckland will mark the milestone in the history of the 2600-tonne frigate, which was launched by Lady Freyberg. in 1959 and was formally, commissioned as a unit of the R.N.Z.N. on March 28,1961. The Taranaki is only slightly, younger than the oldest of the navy’s four frigates, H.M.N.Z.S. Otago, launched in 1958. Several former commanding officers of the Taranaki are expected to attend the “birthday party,” including her first captain, Vice-Admiral N. D. Anderson, the present Chief of Defence Staff. Two other former commanding officers of the Taranaki' Rear Admiral L. G. Cart:and Rear Admiral K. M.‘Sauli; have risen to become Chiefs of Naval Staff ■ : * '

Laying it on THE NEW ZEALAND Poultry Board has announced that from April 5, the boundaries of its egg marketing area in Christchurch will be extended to take in the boroughs of Kaiapoi and Rangiora. The board’s general manager, Mr Glenn Kermode, believes that the move will result in “a better and more equitable distribution of eggs in the - over-all Christchurch area. It will, allow a greater control on the quality of eggs sold through retail outlets to consumers in the Kaiapoi and Rangiora areas,” said Mr Kermode. There has been no comment from the New Zealand Hens’ Union. Close call NOVA, a young police dog stationed in Wellington, almost ended his promising career recently when he swallowed a tennis ball during a training session. Nova’s handler, Sergeant Colin Guppy, said that instead of holding the tennis ball in his mouth, the dog had swallowed it. A veterinarian was at' the scene within 10 minutes, expecting his patient to have expired, but Nova was still breathing — just. He made a quick recovery after the '.veterinary su-aonn had. punctured the

ball and extracted it with forceps. The good oil NEW ZEALAND’S envied fishery resource may have a hitherto unknown use — that of preventing the high level of heart disease in this country. Extensive research at the University of Oregon.has indicated that fish oil can greatly, reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood and help to prevent the formation of blood clots. After 10 days on salmon diets, normal subjects experienced an 11 per.cent decrease in cholesterol and a 33 per cent drop in tryglycerides, a form of fat found in the blood. Researchers believe the evidence raises hopes of preventing coronary heart disease with, simple dietary such as eating more . .fish, and reversing heart-disease, once it has arisen', with new drug treatments. Perhaps the Russians, Japanese, and Koreans know something we don’t! After falling... FRENCH businessmen 1 are not slow to cash iq on variations on a popular, theme, as witnessed by bottles of embrocation in a Paris sports shop boldly labelled “L’apres skid.” . .