Reporter’s diary

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

No questions asked

PLENTY of stolen road signs are finding their way back to the Automobile Association, Canterbury, under the present amnesty. A typical case this week involved road works signs belonging to the Heathcote County Council returned by an innocent county resident, via the A.A. They were found secreted at the back of her garage after she bought the property years ago. Another case was that of the missing A.A. sign which had pointed the way to Mount Grey in North Canterbury. It mysteriously reappeared on its post after the A.A. said it was considering not replacing the sign, since it had been stolen so often. The amnesty will continue until May 18. No questions are asked of those who return signs, and no action is taken against anyone involved.

Breakthrough

ANYONE who wondered at the relevance of some of the research in the Antarctic may be interested to learn that two Australian scientists monitored the nail growth of 28 personnel at Mawson Station for 11 months, and 14 personnel on Macquarie Island for 10 months, according to the “Australian Journal of Dermatology.” They reached the staggering conclusion that fingernails and big toenails grow at much the same rate in Antarctic regions as in temperate regions. The toenails of some of those on the “ice” grew slightly faster than under temperate conditions, a phenomenon that the researchers put down to the “hothouse effect” of insulating footwear. We wonder what project they will get their teeth into next. Rally, girls! THE CANTERBURY Girl

Guide Association will celebrate its sixtieth birthday this month. The guides’ history in Canterbury began with the girl peace scouts, founded by LieutenantColonel and Mrs Cossgrove at Tuahiwi. Cossgrove had enrolled one of the first patrols of boy scouts in New Zealand, at Kaiapoi, in July, 1908, and within weeks his wife and daughters had persuaded him to set up a patrol of girl peace scouts. It was not until May, 1924, that the Canterbury girl peace scout troops became girl guide companies, and the uniform changed from khaki to the present blue. Although no effort has been spared to find surviving members of the earliest companies, the organisers are concerned that there may be women in Canterbury who would like to attend the birthday celebrations, but who have still not been contacted. Former girl guides are encouraged to telephone 370-516 for more information.

Descendants

sought

MRS W. H. HUDSON, of Australia, is trying to trace descendants of her ancestors in New Zealand for a family history she is writing. She would be grateful to hear from any descendants of Charles Plaisted, who emigrated with his wife, Elizabeth Hale, from East Dean, Gloucestershire, in 1878, to settle “somewhere near Lyttelton.” Mrs Hudson’s address is P.O. Box 18, Berwick, 3806, Victoria, Autralia. Open secret HAVING STUDIED the menu at a certain restaurant, a diner told the waitress that he would like to start with the pate maison. “I think it’s off, sir said the girl, “but I’ll find out.” She returned soon after. “You’re in luck,” she said. “The chef has found another tin.”