Reporter’s diary

Press, 24 January 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

AN AIR of desperation prevails at the S.P.C.A. animal home in Wilmers Road. On the morning of January 14 the dog in the photograph above was found in Beckenham after being hit by a car. It had leg injuries and was in shock. A trainee inspector, Mrs Colleen Bates, thinks the dog had run away during the storm the evening before. It was obviously a cared-for pet and may have been in the care of friends or neighbours while its owners were away on holiday. Mrs Bates says this may explain why the dog’s owners have not responded to newspaper and radio advertisements. There is no identification on the dog, which is up to 15 years old and going blind. Mrs Bates hopes someone will recognise the female redgold German shepherd-type dog from the photograph and save it from being destroyed. Another elderly dog found in similar circumstances on the same day had to be destroyed yesterday because of its injuries. Historical SATURDAY’S Diary took on a somewhat jumbled apparticularly the first iter#. This told of a Christchurch agricultural machinery manufacturing

company, P. and D. Duncan, Ltd, which has retrieved a piece of its early history after a discovery in an Auckland second-hand shop. The company’s general manager, Mr Noel Saxton, heard from a friend that someone had spotted a cup presented to the firm by the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association for the “largest number of points in agricultural .implements” at the 1883 show. Mr Saxton bought the cup and it has been returned to the company. Born loser SOME READERS might wonder, as did a colleague, about a reference to Sisyphus in R. T. Brittenden’s report yesterday of New Zealand’s plight in the cricket test against England. Having said that a 232run partnership between lan Botham and Derek Randall had given England a stranglehold in the first test, our sports editor observed that New Zealand’s task was “likely to be that of Sisyphus.” A check revealed that Sisyphus was a mythical king of Corinth, condemned in the Underworld to roll uphill a huge adne, which always rolled crown again when it reached the top.

Serious business STAFF at the London branch of the Mitsui Bank are apparently not in tune with Japanese working habits. The management has reminded staff that although they can read magazines and newspapers during the lunch hour “after lunch hour you have to begin with your job.” It is suggested that food, drink and personal telephone calls should not then be allowed to distract anyone from the job in hand. The memo ends with the request “please don’t sing a song during working hours.” False papers AMERICA’S F. 8.1. has another major case on its hands. The cabbage patch dolls which have recently soared in popularity have become the innocent victims of a counterfeit project. Thouands of the dolls, which normally come with their own adoption papers, have been seized by the F. 8.1. which has charged two men with copyright and trade mark infringement after finding the dolls were counterfeit and their papers bogus. At least 30,000 of the fake dolls have been sold. Made in Taiwan they are said to have smaller heads than the official ones and to be made of cheaper materials.