Reporter’s diary

Press, 10 March 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Tracing your family THE CANTERBURY group of the New Zealand Genealogical Society will hold a one-day seminar for beginners and more experienced genealogists at the Heaton Street Intermediate School hall on Saturday, March 31. The first session will deal, among other things, with how chain migration to New Zealand occurred, encouraging family groups from specific areas of England to emigrate to this faraway land. The second session, on Irish research from New Zealand, will outline Irish genealogical resources and how New Zealanders may use them to trace their ancestry. Information and enrolment forms are available from the seminar convener, 242 A Main Road, Christchurch 8. Run, Dracula, run REMEMBER when Jane saw Spot run? Jane and Dick threw the ball to Spot and they both saw Spot run? Run, Spot, run. It was one of the many innocent adventures in Ladybird books, which introduced countless thousands of youngsters to the world of reading. Now, Dick, Jane, asd have

given way in Ladybird books to Dracula, Frankenstein, and other “nasties.” The books, which cost $l.lO, are luridly illustrated and labelled with red stickers warning that they are horror stories. Children are told of the discovery of Count Dracula in a dimly-lit crypt: “He was not breathing and had no heart beat, yet his face was gorged with blood. His lips were stained with it and drops ran down his chin ...” While admitting that the series was likely to provoke complaints, a spokesman for Ladybird books said that censorship of children’s reading was a matter for parents. Could we ever see Dracula bite Spot? Yelp, Spot, yelp. Scream, Jane, scream ... Mine bouse A GRANT of $l5OO has been made by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust to help with the restoration of the Blackball mine manager’s house. The director of the trust, Mr John Daniels, said the money would be used for roofing repairs essential to preserve the house. Built in the early 1900 s, the house is a feature of historic Blackball, and lives on as a centre for community activities. Members of the Community

Centre Committee are using their own funds to restore it. Population NEW ZEALAND’S population was provisionally estimated to be 3,269,500 at December 31, 1983. For the year ending on that date the population increase was 39,700, or 1.23 per cent. The estimate includes the Kermadec Islands (five persons), and Campbell Island (10 persons), but excludes the population of Niue, Tokelau, and the Cook Islands. Pushing the bright CHILDREN as young as 14 will be able to attend university if the Western Australian Government accepts a radical plan for teaching the state’s most talented students. The plan is the result of a government report which found deficiencies in the prsent system, and recommended a whole new approach to the handling of intellectually-tal-ented children. It says that schools should be restructured, with the abolition of traditional age-grading. Instead, students would be allowed to study at a level best suited to their abilities. If an 11-year-old was happier studying mathematics with 13-year-olds, he or she attend the 13-year-

old’s maths class. The report does not say what would happen to the not-so-bright students. Complicated fellow “AN INDUSTRIAL robot is a reprogrammable device designed to both manipulate and transport parts, tools, or specialised manufacturing implements through variable programmed motions for specific manufacturing tasks” — the British Robot Association.