Reporter’s diary

Press, 4 June 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Third time unlucky THE BIGGEST true fish story in Nelson at present is that of a Picton fisherman, the aptly named Mr Dave Fishburn, who has caught the same groper three times, in the same place, from the same boat. The unlikely sounding tale can be verified because the fish had been tagged by a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries officer, Mr Alex Johnston, aboard Mr Fishburn’s boat. “I tagged this particular fish in December, 1979, as part of a study of groper migrations and’ growth. That was probably its first time out of the water,” said Mr Johnston. The groper again again found its way aboard Mr Fishburn’s boat Nimrod in February, 1982. Mr Johnston, who was also on board on that occasion, put a new tag on the fish and let it go. On May 27 this year the groper came aboard the Nimrod for the third and final time. It had grown 23cm in the five years since it was first .tagged. Mr Johnston believes it is the first time in New Zealand that a tagged fish had been recaptured twice, although it is not

unusual for groper to live in the same area for a long time. In this case, the fish should certainly have moved on to other pastures. Tapanui flu THAT much publicised mystery ailment - known as Tapanui flu or M.E. — will be the subject of a public meeting at the Aranui High School at 8 j).m. on Wednesday. The speaker will be Professor R. Murdoch, of the Otago School of Medicine, who is one of the few authorities on the ailment. The organisers hope that interested healthy members of the public, as well as those suffering from Tapanui flu, will attend. 6A ball

PETE RAINEY’S Big Band and the Orchestral Society will provide the music at a charity ball to raise funds for the 6A Organisation which has been helping young people in trouble or at risk in Christchurch for the last 12 years. “There are many many young people who could be placed in a caring family if only the funds were available,” says a spokesman. 6A hopes that people will take the oppor-

tunity to have a good evening out and do something for disadvantaged young people at the same time. The charity ball will be held at the University Ballroom, Ham Road, on Saturday, June 16. Tickets, at $2l a single, available from the Town Hall, include a continuous supper and drinks. Odd companions CAROL Maciejewski, of Illinois, has a right foot two-and-a-half sizes bigger than her left, so she trades shoes regularly with a Michigan woman saddled with the same, but exactly opposite, problem. When Mrs Maciejewski shops for shoes she always buys two pairs of shoes, size eight and size five-and-a-half, and sends one from each pair to Nancy Johnson of Houghton, Michigan. Only once has Mrs Maciejewski bought one pair of shoes, her custommade bowling footwear. The women were brought together by the National Odd Shoe Exchange, a 41-year-old organisation with 14,000 members based in Indianola, lowa. The organisation’s motto: “When odd shoes are left, to send them is right.”

Open day ANYONE who has wondered what lies behind the hallowed gates of Christ’s College may find out today, when visitors will be welcome from 10.30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Port renamed? SPIRITS were high at a birthday party last week to celebrate the first year of trading between Lyttelton and Wellington of that monument to modern private enterprise in Canterbury, the Pacifica Shipping Company’s Spirit of Free Enterprise. The company’s marketing manager, Mr Len Anthony, told the story of a motorist who, while waiting to drive through the road tunnel to Lyttelton, was told that he would soon be entering the “McKenzie Country.” The reference was no doubt to Brooke McKenzie, the Christchurch man whose vision and determination got the privately owned Spirit of Free Enterprise service off the ground, or the water in this case, in spite of many difficulties and almost unanimous pessimism from shipping pundits.

— Peter Comer