Reporter’s diary

Press, 7 March 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Windfall " WILLIAM Harding Collins, or his descendants, could be in for an extremely nice surprise, if they are quick to claim it A letter has arrived from England addressed to “The Lord Mayor, Town Hall, Christchurch, New Zealand.” It reads: “Dear Lord Mayor, can you please help to urgently trace any members of the family of William Harding Collins, who was known to be in New Zealand in 1906, and whose family came from Chichester, England. A considerable sum of money is involved and claim must be established by April 1, 1984, hence the emergency.” The letter is from Mr R. W. W. Pantail, of Upper House, Staunton-on-Wye, Herefordshire, telephone 09817-249. Resting in peace "k YMRUi way-out bloke” has bought Ron Duckworth’s second hand coffin. Mr Duckworth had bought the black casket at a garage sale with the notion of turning it into a cocktail cabinet, (at one stage it was a telephone booth), but he abandoned the idea and decided to sell it. An item in the “Diary” revealed a ready market for secondhand coffins — even unlined ones of indeterminate age — and a man paid $395 for it “He was a fairly way-out bloke. I think he wanted to sleep in it. He was going to have a double one made, but he decided to settle for two singles,” said Mr Duckworth. The man who bought the old coffin did not get such a bargain any way. A

check with some city funeral directors yesterday showed that he could have bought a brand new, latest model, complete with lining and all the trimmings, for less than $370. Weil done HATS OFF to the Christchurch Transport Board bus driver who reversed for more than a block in Main Road, Redcliffs, yesterday to pick up an elderly lady who had missed her bus. For those on the bus and anyone else who was watching, it was‘a gesture which probably did. more for the C.T.B.’s public image than any expensive promotion. Carting cats CARRYING cats to the “vet” or elsewhere in custom built carrying cages is not cheap, and getting dearer overnight as a Christchurch woman has found. Two weeks ago it cost a refundable $2O deposit and $4 a week to hire the cages from a city pet shop. Last Friday the charge has risen to a $3O deposit and: $8 a week, a 100 Sr cent increase which she ought'a bit steep. It was explained to her that people were finding the cages so handy for cat carting that they were keeping them and writing off the $2O deposit, which 'was not enough to pay for a replacement cage. Negative search THE NELSON Provincial Museum is keen to locate a stash of old glass negatives of the 'Nelson region, now though to be secreted some«re in South Canter-

bury. The negatives by the well known Tyree brothers, are believed to date from the 1890 s. “We have a puzzling gap in our collection of Tyree negatives,” says Mr Maurice Watson, the museum’s photographer. “While some are held at the Turnbull Gallery in Wellington, we have a number of old prints with no known negative.” Mr Watson has heard that some Tyree negatives have found their way to South Canterbury, but he has been unable to follow up the lead. He would welcome any information about these or any other negatives of the Nelson area. “This could help to complete what is already an outstanding regional collection of historic photographs,” said Mr Watson, whose address is P.O. Box 2069, Stoke, Nelson. King for a day A WELLINGTON City Council work skills supervisor, Mr Norman Elliott, will find out today what it is like to be a millionaire. Mr Elliott, aged 64, got 1500 votes to win narrowly the “millionaire for a day" contest organised by a Wellington radio station. The station had asked the public to nominate persons whom they thought most deserved the title and its trappings in return for services to the elderly, youth, or the community. This morning Mr Elliott and a partner will have their hair styled in town, meet the news media at a celebrity lunch, receive $l3OO spending money, dine out with friends, and spend the night at the James ®Jok Hotel. T