Reporter’s diary

Press, 31 May 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

The tar story THOSE enjoying an afterbreakfast cigarette this morning may be interested to learn that the tar in the cigarettes smoked by New Zealanders last year was enough to reseal five kilometres and a half of a twolane highway. To put it another way, more than 80 tonnes of pure tar went into New Zealanders' lungs during the year. The director of A.S.H. (Action on Smoking and Health), Ms Deidre Kent, who is a former mathematics teacher, made these nasty calculations from the figures available. "An average cigarette has 11.6 mg of tar in it, and you need 15kg of tar to reseal eight square metres of twolane road,” she said. Ms Kent consulted reading engineers for the figures. She notes, however, that tar is no longer used to seal roads, having been replaced by Marsden Point bitumen. A total of 6.3 billion cigarettes and 527 tonnes of roll-you-own tobacco were sold during 1984. Supreme effort

CONTRARY to what some might think, there are some

mighty hard-working men toiling on the railways. Years of cruel criticism from the motoring public, however, might have led some to exaggerate their own working deeds. We hear that “Jumbo,” a giant on the tracks of North Canterbury, told fellow workers that he had put so much “grunt” into turning a spanner that his bootlaces had snapped with the strain. There was an awestruck silence. Noone thought to examine his boots. Gone? ARE WE still being governed by the real Mr David Lange? A Japanese publication carries a picture of him with Japan’s Prime Minister. Yasuhiro Nakasone, at an agricultural research station near Auckland during Mr Nakasone’s official visit. Part of the caption reads: “After that, the Prime Minister planted a memorial tree and Prime Minister Lange.” Murphy’s Law MURPHY’S LAW, (if something can go wrong, it will) is alive and working well. A couple from Cobden, on the

West Coast, bought a Murphy’s Law poster on a recent trip to Rangiora. They arrived home to find that the husband had left the poster on the roof while they were loading the car, to be lost for ever along the way. On their next trip to Canterbury, the man's wife bought him another Murphy’s Law poster. They got the round container home this time, only to find that it was empty. They have not decided whether to test Murphy's Law again. Sole shoes?

SURROUNDED as they are by water and fish, enterprising Kiwis should be quick to cash in on a possible fishskin shoe boom. Apparently there is a shortage of raw material for exotic shoes, and a Canadian company has found a way to make leather from waste fishskins. Although the process is still at the experimental stage, potential markets are being researched in Canada and abroad. The skins of 14 different kinds of fish are being processed, not to mention sharks. As well as men's and women's shoes, the firm has turned out fishskin wallets and brief-

cases. It is anxious to point out. that none of these items smell like fish. Build your own ARANUI High School and Christ's College have both entered secret projects for the national build-a-car competition, the regional final of which will be held in Tirnaru on October 5. We understand that neither entry looks much like a car yet. The competition, organised by the New Zealand Technical Teachers’ Association and sponsored by 8.P., has not been held nationally before. A 1983 competition in Wellington was won by a snazzy little two-seater with a lOOcu cm engine, brakes and a reverse gear. This year’s entries are expected to be considerably more sophisticated. Victims

THE United States Army, after accidentallv shooting to death 38 head of cattle during war games, intends to use helicopters from nowon to shoo away strays. A lesson in what a cow looks like might also be helpful. —Peter Comer