Reporter’s diary

Press, 8 July 1982, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Conflict ALARMED citizenry poured into the office of this department yesterday in the sad belief that the Christchurch Transport Board had given up an unequal struggle and was about to go out of business. The caller based his mourning on the little green badge appearing, apparently on most of the board's buses, which says: “Recycle, it’s not all rubbish.” Not far away is the board’s own legend “Let the bus go first.” To check the accuracy of our visitor’s observations, we took a walk in Cathedral Square. He was right, in detail; but the bus we looked at had, beneath the green “recycle” badge, an advertisement by an engineering firm: “Don’t scrap it. We’ll repair it.” Bootleggers ON July 10, 1932. the Christchurch Tramping Club held its first trip. It was a modest stroll, compared with some of the club’s later activities. Members went by train to Motukarara and then tramped back to Gebbies Pass, along the Summit Road to the Rhodes Spring near Cooper's Knobs. After lunch some members climbed Cooper's Knobs, the rest walked on to the Sign of the Bellbird, the Sign of the

Kiwi, and then to the Takahe. There most caught the tram back, although a fgw walked all the way home. The tram fare was Is lOd. The club will celebrate its jubilee at the Labour Day week-end, and will publish a magazine to mark the occasion. Frost over N.Z. THE PRICE freeze is still settling in New Zealand; in Sweden, price control of goods and services has been abolished. The only commodity excepted is milk. State interference with companies’ prices will be reduced, according to' a Government decision. The Minister of Trade (Mr Bjorn Molin) said that the price policies of the 1970 s had been ineffective as a means of restraining price increases. “One of the basic principles of a market economy is that prices are the outcome of an interplay between manufacturers and consumers,” he said. “A liberal price policy creates the best prerequisites for the effective utilisation of the resources of individual companies and society as a whole, to the benefit of consumers,” Frozen assets

WORKING for a hardware firm for 40 years does not

exempt a man from being the butt of practical jokes. One such stalwart was away from work for a couple of days after the announcement of the price freeze. He came back and his wages were presented to him by his boss — in a block of ice. Hunter IN THE EYES of a good many young children, grandparents are thought to have wide powers, with wide knowledge (as befits their years) and ample experience. They are capable of solving any problem. When an Otago farmer (who is very good at shooting) and his wife spent a recent holiday in the North Island, they came home by the Cook Strait ferry and drove south. At Kqikoura, they bought a large crayfish to take to their son in Christchurch. This present was unwrapped. Wide-eyed, the three-year-old daughter of the house asked: “Did Pop shoot that?” Keep trying THERE is a faint hope for all of us. Last week Shigechiyo Izumi celebrated birthday number 117. He lives on the pollution-free Japanese island of Tokunashima, and says that the best way to longevity is “not to worry.” It is encouraging,

for those with endurance, to note that his white hair has begun — naturally — to turn black again. Rapid repentence A READER of the "Daily Telegraph” in London saw the following sign outside a Texas church during a holiday tour: “Drive-In Confessional and Quick Lunch Counter.” Shh! GREMLIMS have had their sport with typography since the days of Caxton. One of their more notable successes was in the British Institute of Health Service Administrators’ magazine. It contained a report of “a bleak future for the N.H.S'. unless health authorities displayed positive leadership in the face of current industrial unrest and low morals of staff.” Words

IT MAY be old hat to some, but our Definitions Department would be upset if we did not list the following: Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a coal cellar. Economics is looking for a black cat in a coal cellar which isn’t there. Marxism is looking for a black cat in a coal eellar which isn't there and shouting “I've got it.”