Reporter’s diary

Press, 30 May 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Flying tuck WAS HE trying to fly? It looked that way, a Ministry of Transport officer told the District Court in Greymouth yesterday when he described the actions of an 18-year-old man who had reached a speed of 140 km/ h on his motor-cycle before cutting back to 120 km/h. The officer said the rider had then taken both hands off the handlebars and put his arms out from his body like wings. He had forced other drivers to take evasive action. The man was fined ?300 and disqualified for nine months by Judge McAloon on a charge of dangerous driving. His defence counsel told the Court that the man had been trying to tuck in the back of his shirt when his arms went astray. Ingenuity WEST Coasters are renowned for many fine traits, and ingenuity is high among them. The guests’ tea-room at the Westland Hotel in Hokitika has been identified in an unusual way. Someone has transferred a’ fibreglass sign from the door of the TV room and doctored it by blacking out the letter “V.” The ultimate OBTAINING money from a bank machine became a spectator sport in Riccarton yesterday. A man found himself short of cash, so he decided to try his machine card. As he was getting read} - to punch his number, an elderly woman and a man came up and commented on the marvels of modern science. They wanted to see how to get money out of one of “the things.” No problem, madam, tjie man replied as

he talked them through the steps. After he punched his number, the machine said to select a blue button. Then it said to select a green button. Then to dial in the amount required from his cheque account. Then the machine suddenly said: “Insufficient funds. Transaction cancelled.” The woman thought it was wonderful. It was the ultimate rejection, to be turned down by a machine. In threes THE CANTERBURY Hospital Board now has the distinction of having three of its top men in three of the top posts in the hospital world. Dr Ross Fairgray, the board’s medical superin-tendent-in-chief, has recently been elected president of the Medical Superintendents’ Association. He joins Mr Tom Grigg, the board’s chairman and president of the Hospital Boards’ Association, and Mr Ron Parker, the board’s chief executive and president of the Chief Executives’ Association. Testing consciences JUNK artist Frank Womble is getting some raised-eye-brow looks from viewers of his latest project in Auckland’s Aotea Square. The growing combination of junk has a special message during the Auckland clean city campaign, which has commissioned it. The artist says that some people seem offended by the work, each piece of scrap metal is “like a skeleton of their past," and it is as if their consciences are being hurt. He says the final sculpture will be “something from science fiction.”

Greetings RECENT visitors to Goldfields Park near Cromwell must have wondered whether they had worn out their welcome. Suddenly, they were nearly showered with poisoned rabbit bait from a' plane under contract to the Upper Clutha Pest Destruction Board. The area had been checked to see if it was clear of visitors, but people arrived after the pilot had been given clearance to fly. Born again DON’T COUNT out the Cromwell town centre just yet. The picturesque centre will be drowned by a new hydro dam lake, but local businessmen have been scouting round for a real tourist attraction for the Central Otago town. Plans for an Old Cromwell Town have been drawn up, and fund-raising has begun. The most ambitious plan shows most of the old town recreated near the lakeshore. Rightward leaning THE ETON College school magazine has conducted a survey of daily newspaper readership among its pupils, and has been disturbed by some of the results. No newspaper was read by 40 per cent of the schoolboys, and the “Daily Mail” (261) and “The Times” (248) headed the list of those who did. Another 73 read the “Daily Telegraph,” which the magazine said was “mind-numbingly dull,” must have had such a high readership because many new boys were given no choice by their fathers. The magazine described the “Daily Mail” as “posing as a

serious newspaper with poorly concealed sensationalism.” It said that the “Sun,” read by 58 schoolboys, had the desirable quality of being able to be read cover-to-cover in three minutes. “The Guardian,” read by only 15 pupils, was “the most boring paper, possibly, in the universe.” The magazine came to this conclusion: “Considering that the old school tie network becomes more reactionary as they grow older, the more interested in holding on to their increasingly insecure position and cash, rather than uplifting the ‘street-credible’ Left-wing theories that adolescence exhorts, this plague of conservatism is worrying.” Punga pioneer AN HISTORIC cottage at Wakari, a Dunedin suburb, is being put up for sale by the City Council. The 136-year-old cottage is the only known remaining pioneer house made of punga. It is on the same historical significance level as Dunedin’s famous Larnach Castle. Sceptical BRITAIN’S first professor of parapsychology has been appointed, and will take up his post at Edinburgh University next year. The post was set up with an endowment from the wills of the writers, Arthur Koestler and his wife. Dr Robert Morris, an American psychologist who is a research scientist at Syracuse University and chairman of the ’ International Parapsychological Association, has been appointed to the post. He said it was important to keep an open mind on causes of apparent psychic phenomena. A