Reporter's diary

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 2

Reporter's diary

Stamp collection NEW ZEALAND’S contribution to an exhibition of stamps from throughout the world at the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington D.C., has been set up in the Philatelic Sales Bureau of the Christchurch Post Office. The stamps shown in America depicted parts of New Zealand’s history. Also on display in Christchurch is a collection of rugby stamps on loan from the Christchurch Philatelic Society and mounted to mark the week of the Lions match against Canterbury. Many of the first day rugby covers have been autographed by well-known players and teams. Memories NEWSPAPER clippings from “The Press” on the opening of the Hall of Flame at Ferrymead have brought memories flooding back for a former Christchurch resident, Mr Harold Kay, aged 83, of Orewa, North Auckland. Mr Kay paidforthetransportingofthe Merryweather manual pump from Palmerston North to Ferrymead. The pump, which has been depicted on postage stamps, is one of the chief exhibits on

display at the hall. The pump was used in Christchurch from 1860 until it was sold to the Manaia Volunteer Fire Brigade in the early 19205. Mr Kay was a member of the brigade at this time and in a letter to the Mayor of Christchurch,

Sir Hamish Hay, he retold several amusing incidents which have marked his lifelong interest in the Fire Service. ... Motives

VOLUNTEERS were not difficult to find for the Manaia Fire Brigade in the early 1900 s. Almost everyone in the small Taranaki town became a member of the brigade, not only for fire fighting, but to wash down the Manaia Hotel every three months for practice, for which the proprietor always obliged with drinks on the house. “We had to pump pretty hard though to get the water right to the top storey of the pub, about 20 foot up,” Mr Kay said.

... Maverick CHRISTCHURCH was saved from a possible power blackout by the swift action of Mr Kay in 1939 as he headed out on an assignment for the Post Office. He was travelling along the Old West Coast Road when he noticed a fire on one of the power poles on the main Coleridge line. Using a gun which he always carried while travelling in the country in case a few rabbits appeared, he was able to shoot the burning bark off the pole. Several weeks later he received a letter from the district electrical engineer of the Public Works Department. “I arranged to replace the 25 cartridges you used and

these I understand were delivered on Friday. I would not like to give the impression from this letter that the use of firearms near the poles is looked on favourably owing to the risk of damage to the insulators, but in this case your action was to be highly commended.”

Beating the odds A TEXAN oil tycoon who was becoming increasingly nervous of air travel because of the number of hijacks is the focal point in a story in the “BP Library Bulletin.” According to the story the tycoon summoned his chief engineer and strategic planner. “What,” he asks them, “are the odds of my stepping aboard a plane which also carries a bomber or hijacker?” Three days later they delivered their answer, 312,545 to 1. “And what can I do to improve those odds?” he inquired further. “Well, sir,” explained the chief engineer, “we calculate that if you were to carry your own bomb aboard, the odds of there being another bomb or a hijacker in the same plane are in the neighbourhood of 28 million to 1.” Best dressed MICHAEL FOOT, the Leader of the Labour Party in Britain, has, according to “The Times,” been voted the Best Dressed Man of the Year... the year is believed to be 1930.