Reporter’s diary

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Forsooth

RADIO CAROLINE announced during the Easter week-end that the Timaru Spiritual and Psychic Association’s meeting had been cancelled. It did not say if the cancellation was due to unforeseen circumstances.

Sitting members unhappy

WESTLAND County councillors, at their meeting in Hokitika last week, called for a report on whether the “lumpy” chairs in which they sit should be refurbished or replaced. Cr Mick Sullivan felt that “even a sack would be better than some of the chairs.” Cr Margaret Moir suggested that sheepskins would make some improvement. “At least they would stop the chairs from sticking to you,” she said.

Tragedy recalled MRS STEPHANIE Macarthur, of Australia, wants to get in touch with relatives of her late father, Mr

John Salt, who died in a house fire at Arthur’s Pass in 1959. Mrs Macarthur’s mother took her to Australia as a young child soon after the tragedy. Mr Salt was a Railways employee, and the family was living in a Railways house at the time of the fire. Relatives of Mr Salt, or anyone who knew him, may write to Mrs Macarthur at Burnside, Memorial Avenue, Kellyville, 2153, Australia. She has been trying to find relatives of her late father for 10 years without success. Inverted ensign A KAIAPOI resident thought that there was something odd about the New Zealand flag flying at half-mast on the Kaiapoi Post Office in Charles Street on Tuesday. A closer study revealed that the flag, hoisted in honour of the Anzacs’ sacrifices, was up-side-down. “I thought, ‘this is just not on,’ so I went in to tell them about it,” said the woman. “I spoke to a girl in the Post Office, but

she couldn’t do anything. Eventually a man came out and fixed it.” There was, of course, the possibility that the Post Office might have been in trouble — an inverted flag being an inter-nationally-recognised distress signal — but everything was in order. Car fire

CURIOSITY, while fatal to the cat, might well have saved the life of Mr Vern Newcombe, of Coal Creek. Mr Newcombe, an inspector with the Department of Health in Greymouth, was welding the underbody of his wife’s car when he heard a roaring noise “like an approaching train.” “Curiosity got me out because I knew there were no trains on Sundays,” said Mr Newcombe. Having scrambled out from under the vehicle he saw not a train, but a roaring fire in the car’s interior. The car was burnt out. Mr Newcpmbe does not care to think Aabout what might have happened had he stayed\2flder it.

( Owl and chips,

please.. /

A VISIT by the men from the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Department has forced Hong Kong’s Flying Fish Restaurant to remove from its game food menu grey crane, white bear’s paw, and two protected species, owl and pangolin (otherwise known as the scaly anteater). Gourmets will not be forced to descend to toast and eggs, however. Still on the menu at the Flying Fish are dia-mond-backed tortoise, spotted and barking deer, cape buffalo, wild pig, teal, masked palm civet, and camel’s foot. Catch-all

THE DEPERSONALISATION of humanity continues apace... The New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, in announcing a dinner meeting for graduands at Heatherlea, on May 2, extends a special invitation to “spouse-equivalents.” {That certainly covers the field. —Peter Comer