Reporter’s diary

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

“Half-cat, half-hare” THE “PANTHER” of Whitewash Head was small fry indeed, as strange beasties go. A Lincoln reader has sent us a clipping from an “Otago Daily Times” of about 1954, which describes how at least a dozen Omakau residents saw a “wild, ferocious, and terrifically strong animal,” with “the head of a cat and the body of a hare or large rabbit.” The creature had been captured in a culvert by four boys who had stunned it with a blow on the head, but it apparently escaped from its box “by forcing up a batten which was being held down by a man.” (In fact, dur informant, who was living in Omakau at the time, says that the creature jumped out and escaped when someone lifted the lid of the box to have a look.) While in captivity, the animal was inspected, by at least 12 adults, including Father J. Halley, the Catholic priest at Omakau. It was described as having cat’s paws in the front and a hare’s hind legs and feet: “Although its head resembles that of a cat, its nose is like a rabbit’s. It is the colour of a rabbit. One peculiar feature of the animal is that, although it is reported to have climbed a

tree — peculiar by any rabbit’s standards — it is not mobile to any great degree,” said the newspaper. One Omakau resident thought it would attack a human, “given half a chance,” and another said it looked like “the denizen of another world.” Not flattering THE STORY in last Thursday’s “Diary” about a Christchurch barrister losing his wig reminded a reader of a wit who once remarked of a gentleman’s wig: “It looked more than anything like a small, furry animal which had crawled on to the top of the wearer’s head and died there.” Short haul MOVING HOUSE is never a small matter, even if you are only moving a few metres away, as a young Christchurch couple discovered recently. They had to move flats within a big old house in Salisbury Street, because the landlady’s daughter wanted theirs. They spent a weekly painstakingly packing their belongings into cartons, only to carry them about six metres along the upstairs balcony to their new residence. The next week was spent unpacking the cartons.

Mystery leak ALTHOUGH it happened some time ago, freezing workers at Belfast have not forgotten how one of their number rang his brother-in-law in bewilderment, complaining that although he had not washed his car recently, or left it out in heavy rain, water had somehow managed to get inside the battery. Believe it or not, the same man once looked for the radiator in a Volkswagen. Nose for trouble A SWEDISH trade union newspaper carries the following cautionary tale: “On the way home from his first May Day celebrations, six-year-old Johann is full of questions: “Daddy, what does ‘comrades’ mean?” — “Well, that’s what you and I are.” “But what is ‘the people,’ then?” — “Ah... mummy is the people.” “What did uncle Yuri mean when he was talking about ‘the future’?” — “Oh, the future is your little sister,” the father replied, pleased that he had managed his teaching duties rather well. In the middle of the night little Johann dashed into his parents’ bedroom. “Comrade, comrade,” he cried. “Wake the people. The future stinks!”

—Peter Comer