Reporter’s diary

Press, 19 May 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Is this an unregistered Ministry of Transport motor-cycle? See “Faulty stickers.” Faulty stickers SHOPPERS were startled to see what appeared to be an unregistered Ministry of Transport motor-cycle in a road safety display in the Gables Arcade, Rangiora, yesterday. Closer inspection showed that the machine had a current registration sticker, but that the sticker had lost all of its blue colour, thereby making it almost invisible. Many motor-cyclists will have noticed by now that there is a fault in the colouring in the present batch of stickers: It quickly bleaches out when a machine is washed, or even in the rain, according to a Ministry of Transport spokesman. “This happened to quite a large number of stickers, but {he

problem has apparently been sorted out now,” he said. Provided that they show proof that their machine has been licensed, motor-cyclists can get a replacement sticker — one that will stay blue — from the Post Office for a mere 20 cents. It would pay to do so. According to one traffic officer, some lawfully registered bikes have already been stopped because they appear to be unlicensed. Non-believer ANNOUNCING a visit by the Governor-General, Sir David Beattie, to H.M.N.Z.S. Pegasus in Montreal Street yesterday, a Ministry of Defence press release said that Sir David would be entertained by the captain and officers of the ship. A colleague, while aware of the Navy’s custom of giving shore establishments a seagoing status, still thinks it a little silly that the address at 419 Montreal Street should be called a ship. She adds: “I live two doors away from it, and I don’t call my place a ship.” Just as the United States Army describes some establishments as “forts,” which do not fit the ordinary understanding of a fort, the Navy here uses the term “ship” with regard to the nature of the organisation rather than to the nature of the place. The shipboard chain of command applies in such places ashore; so do the rules and discipline of a real ship. Mutiny at Pegasus might be just as serious as mutiny at sea. Things are, perhaps, different a couple of doors away.

Manx exiles THE CANTERBURY Manx Society is alive and thriving, but Mr Jack Riddle, of Hereford Street, is concerned that some interested persons might not know about it. He says that the society welcomes not only former Manxmen and women, but also anyone with a “fervent interest” in the island. “A most friendly atmosphere exists, and the traditional Manx functions are faithfully duplicated here,” said Mr Riddle. Anyone interested in joining the Canterbury Manx Society may write to Mrs J. A. Radcliffe, 56 London Street, Lyttelton. Cosmopolitan THERE WOULD be something wrong if a child left St Joseph’s School in Manuka Street, Nelson, not knowing how to get on with those of other races. A recent count by the principal, Sister Maureen Lawson, showed that the school has no fewer than 21 nationalities: Hungarian, Dutch, Canadian, Italian, Yugoslavian, Swiss, French, Pakeha, Maori, English, Burmese, Greek, Rarotongan, Samoan, Finnish, Irish, Fijian, Czechoslovakian, Nuiean, Scottish, and American. “We fit into, and make up, a very united and close-knit multi-cultural school community,” said Sister Maureen. There would have been 22 nationalities, but the school’s Polish representative was sick. Retired A RECENT cable story about Hong Kong’s Inland

Revenue Department compuuter sending out tax returns to famous dead composers reminded a reader of Sir W. S. Gilbert’s reply to the old lady who asked him in the 1880 s whether “dear Mr Bach is still composing?” “No, Madam,” replied Gilbert. “I fear he is decomposing.” —Peter Comer