Reporter’s diary

Press, 30 March 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Far-off friend

NEW ZEALAND’S cause is being ably championed in Scotland, from the Isle of Skye. In a letter to “The Scotsman,” published in Edinburgh, the Very Rev. Dr James Matheson rebukes the British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, for her attack on New Zealand while she was visiting the United States. He asks: “In whose name does she presume to do so?” He goes on to say: “I know New Zealand well, having lived there for 10 years. There is nothing that we in Britain could teach her people about courtesy or hospitality, still less about loyalty to traditions or treaties. Moreover. New Zealanders do not like bullies. When the great Powers return, as, pray God, they will, from their present slide into barbarism, it will be countries such as New Zealand

that will appear to have kept the way Of civilisation.”

Getting aboard

WE WATCHED for the umpteenth time a. curious ritual on the Rangiora bus the other morning. A passenger got on at Kaiapoi, and offered a $2O note for the 90c off-peak fare to Christchurch. Politely asked if she had anything smaller, she produced that New Zealand phenomenon, the purse within a purse, within a purse... From a big string bag she wrestled a slightly smaller shopping bag, from which came a bulging handbag, from which came a purse. (Sometimes there is a smaller change purse inside this one). A few small coins are extracted from the smallest purse, and all the bags are put back inside one another. Usually, some of the money falls on the floor

of the bus and rolls down to the bottom step, necessitating complicated retrieval. This did not happen in this case, however, and we were on our way again after a delay of what seemed to be only a few minutes. Rutherford lecture COMPUTERS, it seems, may have as profound an effect on physics as the unravelling by the New Zealand scientist, Ernest Rutherford, of the structure of the atom. That, at any rate, is the theme that will be explored by this year’s Rutherford Memorial lecturer, Professor R. J. Elliott, of Oxford University, when he delivers the lecture at Rutherford’s old university, the University of Canterbury, at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, in Room Si. The public is invited to attend the lecture, which is sponsored by the University of Canterbury and the Royal Society of New Zealand. Protected? WE HEAR that Bishop Maurice Goodall was concerned about the theological implications of the photograph in “The Press” this week of him playing in the cricket match for clergy at Burnham. The Bishop has denied the faith attributed to him in the report accompanying our photograph, which suggested that he was keeping wicket without the protection of gloves or pads. “I was hiding in slips so that I would not have to run after the ball,” said Bishop Goodall. “We had four well equipped wicketkeepers, and I consider that keeping wicket to our demon bowlers without every possible protection would be a sign of foolhardiness, not faith." John Dory

FRENCH, Greek, Italian, and Spanish fishermen might not agree with a suggestion in the “Dining Out” page of “The Press” that the dark spots on the John Dory are the thumb

and fingerprints of Jesus, impressed while helping his fishermen disciples in the Sea of Galilee. They have other explanations which give the credit to St Peter or St Christopher, and provide names for the fish. The most popular explanation, according to Alan Davidson, an English authority on Mediterranean seafood, is that the marks were left by the fingers of St Peter after he had thrown back into the sea a fish that had aroused his sympathy by making distressed noises. Another explanation is that St Christopher, while carrying Jesus on his shoulder through the waters, stooped down and picked up a John Dory on the sides of which his finger marks remained ever after. So John Dory is now Saint-Pierre in French, Christopsaro in Greek, Pesce San Pietro in Italian, and Pez de San Pedro in Spanish. Lincoln complement

STUDENTS from Sudan, Iceland, Ecuador, and Mauritius are among the 130 overseas enrolments at Lincoln College this year. The overseas students come from a total of 38 countries, eight more than last year. The biggest contingents are from Malaysia, Australia, and the United States. The students are at Lincoln under bilateral aid, on study awards, or privately. The overseas student adviser at the college, Dr Kuan Goh, said that some of the private students had attended high schools in New Zealand, which had helped them to become accustomed to the language and.conditions here. Dr Goh hopes that Canterbury people will invite overseas students into their homes to help them to learn more about New Zealand life and to make them feel at home. Anyone who might be able to help should telephone Dr Goh at 252-811, Christchurch. Hard sell

A CANDIDATE for “salesman of the year” must be the vacuum company repret-

sentative who has been convicted of assault in London, Ontario. He started to demonstrate a cleaner to a housewife in spite of her protesting that she was not interested. Her husband arrived home, and a fight broke out. The husband came off worst, suffering cuts and broken dentures. The salesman told the court that his boss had told him: “Believe me. When someone says ‘no,’ they really mean ‘yes’.”

—Peter Comer