Reporter’s diary

Press, 30 October 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Tomato prices WE HAVE given up trying to understand the weird and wonderful world of food prices and their often complicated justification. Glass-house-grown tomatoes are still in the luxury price bracket in Canterbury at this time of year, costing between $5.99 and $7.98 a kilogram in Christchurch shops last week. Imagine our surprise to find that Canterbury glasshouse tomatoes of excellent quality were selling in Greymouth last Thursday for a mere $2.99 a kilogram, freight included presumably. With a saving like that, it would almost pay to drive to the West Coast to buy Canter-, bury tomatoes in bulk. Third time lucky? THE TAIT FAMILY, of Retreat Road, Avonside, has not had much luck with above-ground swimming pools. Less than two years ago, thieves spirited away a Koi that Mr Tait had installed for his on the lawn of his

home. It was not insured. Mr Tait received many offers of a replacement pool, and eventually bought another. Last week, the new pool was destroyed by a fire in the Tait’s garden shed, where it had been carefully stored for the winter. The cause of the fire is not known, but the heat was so intense that it melted the pool’s metal frame, and destroyed everything else tin the shed. The second pool was insured, but the family has not yet decided whether or not to buy another one. “We are starting to wonder what will happen to the third one,” said Mrs Alison Tait, yesterday. Hawk project THE NATIONAL Science Foundation has come to the rescue of a research project at the University of Canterbury. A student in the zoology department at the university is researching the energy use of the native harrier hawk. Equipment used last year in the project was getting a little and staff at the departmefj re-

membered that a similar experiment had been conducted in the Antarctic with penguins. That work was done by an Israeli scientist who spent a month at the University of Canterbury, on his return, in the mid--19705. The zoology department staff asked the N.S.F. if the gas analysing equipment was still at McMurdo Station, and if it would be available for the hawk research. The equipment has now arrived in Christchurch, on loan to the university from the N.S.F. Kiss of death? MANY CRAYFISHERMEN would have been surprised to read in a news item about an Auckland company’s plans to Export live crayfish to Japan, that the live crays must be kept in freshwater tanks for two days before shipment to get rid of natural chemicals. As any fisherman will tell you, crayfish are usually drowned in fresh water before cooking. Death usually occurs within minutes, and

always well short of two days.

Shantytown loco

THE KAITANGATA, Shantytown’s main steam locomotive, will be unveiled in all its restored glory at New Year after being out of commission for the last two years. The old locomotive is being overhauled and restored at a Greymouth foundry. In the meantime, equipment from the Old Brown’s Creek sawmill is being assembled at Shantytown. When reassembled, the Ruston engine, wheels, breastbenches, saws and pulleys will give the town a working sawmill. Missing bull

WANTED URGENTLY: The two-year-old Hereford bull that bolted from Mrs Nola Bamford’s “Con’s Hills” property on the main road just south of the Hurunui Hotel, in North Canterbury, last Tuesday. The $lOOO animal was last seen heading north towards the Hurunui River bridge. He may be hiding in

the riverbed — a search there found some likelylooking hoof-prints — or may have taken up residence with a herd of cattle somewhere north of the river. The bull was wearing a brown ear tag. Apart from his monetary value, his services are required. Anyone with information on the runaway bull should telephone Hawarden 44-217. Sex change

FEMINISM has extended its tentacles into the examination room, giving poor old Farmer Brown a sex change in the process. In the 1982 and 1983 New South Wales Higher School Certificate mathematics papers, one question’s calculations involved Fanner Brown building a fence round HIS paddock. The 1984 paper had a calculation involving Farmer Brown packing HER unsalted butter into boxes. There was. no mention of that other wellknown farmer, old Ms McDonald ...

— Peter Corner