Reporter’s diary

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

To the rescue A SYDENHAM COUPLE might still be stuck in their hotel in Barcelona, victims of a Spanish thief, were it not for the speediness of the Bank of New Zealand’s credit card replacementemergency cash supply scheme, within three hours of advising the manager of the B.N.Z.’s Sydenham branch that their credit cards had been stolen and they were confined to their Barcelona hotel, the couple were able to pick up, in Paris, a ?NZ7OO cash advance, and temporary credit cards. The Sydenham bank had been told of the theft by the couple’s daughter, who said that her parents were unable to leave their hotel room because they had no way of settling their account other than by credit card. Swift action was needed, because the hotel’s only English-speaking employee was about to go off duty. “Situations like this do not arise very, often, and procedures for every case are different, said the manager of the B.N.Z. Visa centre in Wellington, Mr Brian Bluck. “But we were able to research the appropriate procedures, and advised the Sydenham branch 15 minutes later to telephone, collect, a Visa travel service centre.” The Sydenham branch followed up with a telex to the hotel, giving a guarantee that the account would be paid, and the relieved travellers were allowed to leave and fly to Paris. Trees safe THE TREES round,, the boundary of the Process Margaret Hospital wijfeiot

be chopped or topped, and the Canterbury Hospital Board wants to get this message across to intending buyers of property in the area. A number of owners of sections adjoining the hospital have asked to have trees within the hospital grounds removed or topped to allow more light into, or improve the outlook of, their own properties. With increased subdividing of the area, the number of such requests is expected to increase. Some of the hospital board’s good reasons for preserving the trees are that they are something of a local landmark; that they help to give stability to much of the land; that the hospital buildings are so big that anything such as trees which helps to soften the landscape should be retained, and that mature trees are very difficult to top in such a way that their conformation is kept. Not light reading A NIGHTMARE for hypochondriacs, and surely the world’s most depressing newsletter, is the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centre for Disease Control of the United States Health Administration. In one issue we find reports on an international A.I.D.S. conference, the present syphillis situation in the United States, and an account of the experimental infection of chimpanzees with various plagues. “The editor welcomes accounts of interesting cases, outbreaks, environmental hazards, or other public health prob-

lems of current interest to health,” says the report. Mouse hurling THE MOST RECENT bizarre "sporting” event to surface in Australia is the world mouse throwing competition. A college lecturer, Mr Douglas Stewart, has written to the Wagga Wagga Shire Council with the idea after repeated invasions of his classrooms by mice. The mice plague is so bad in Wagga Wagga that Mr Stewart has had to remove up to 100 dead mice from his classroom every day. “The mice may be thrown any way — underhand, overhand, or, my favourite, discus-style. We are speaking of dead mice only, of course,” said Mr Stewart. He believes that rodent tossing could become a big tourist money-spinner. “If cow-pat throwing can succeed in drawing crowds and dollars, why should mousethrowing not?” asked Mr Stewart Dead giveaway THE HANDIWORK of the “hunters” who shot and mutilated a Hereford heifer on a North Canterbury property recently has left locals in no doubt that the culprits were trigger-happy “townies.” Having shot the unfortunate beast through the neck, they clumsily hacked off the hind legs — and left all the best meat, including the back and rump, behind. “If I’d done that, at least I’d know what to take and what to leave,” said anannoyed farmer. — t?eter Comer