Reporter’s diary

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Time capsule WHEN Rex Wilson was bulldozing piles of earth near Port Hills Road the other day he found a box at the side of a heap. The sealed lead box had been unearthed by contractors excavating the Christchurch Hospital redevelopment site. The box had been in sandy soil and may have been shallowly buried since sand comes near the surface on that part of the site. Mr Wilson decided to open the box when he heard something rattling. He used a hacksaw to break open the box, which was a mistake, he said, because 1894 copies of “The Press” and the “Lyttelton Times” were sawed in half. The box top had not been sealed properly, and the papers were brown and cracked. Coins buried in the box could have been a week’s wages for someone if some had not been medallions. A note left in the box was illegible since it was too dark and crumbling. No barometer A CHRISTCHURCH woman who takes an interest in results of elections that may point towards the public’s feeling about the Government in power was surprised by the Palmerston North mayoral by-election report. The acting Mayor soundly beat four contenders. Paul Rieger took over as Mayor earlier this year, after Brian Elwood resigned to become chairman of the Local Government Commission. The woman said the report was incomplete, since it did not

show the party affiliations of winner and losers. How could one find which way the political wind was blowing? Palmerston North, like many other New Zealand local bodies, conducts its elections without candidates being pinned to a political allegiance. The new mayor ran against two fellow councillors among his opponents. Both were known to lean towards Labour, so that if you wanted to assume that their local body views were the same as their national ones, you might say the Labour mayoral vote was split. Unfortunately, local body politics are not that easy to tag. But officer ... A MID-CANTERBURY woman in her mid-40s was fined $45 for her first speeding offence. If she could just have waited a fortnight to step on the gas — she was

clocked at exactly 100 km/h on the open road. Masterton jokers A FORMER Masterton man who lives in Christchurch said yesterday that Rick Long, the Wairarapa butcher who has a Chief Roast Office sign outside his shop, comes from a line of practical jokers. His grandfather, Tui Long, was well known in the 1920 s as a man who would stop at almost nothing. One Friday evening, during the shopping rush, he let loose a bunch of pullets that he had dyed a range of. colours. One day, a man came into the butchery and asked for “a bob’s worth” of saveloys. In those days, you got 13 or 14 savs for a shilling. When Mr Long laid them out, the customer asked “if that was all he got for a bob?” Since the customer appeared dissatisfied Mr Long walked to a rack and took down a

necklace of 60 to 70 saveloys, which he draped around the man’s neck. Then he told him, with the toe of a boot for good measure, to “get out, he had his right weight.” Mr Long was used at track and field sports as a human amplifier because his booming voice carried far. He brushed off the offer of a tin trumpet as a loudhailer. Babies switched RICK LONG, the present butcher, said his grandfather once had to wait while two women chatted in the shop. Tired of waiting, he went outside and swapped the women’s babies in their prams. The switch was not discovered until' the women returned home. Some people complained to the police, across the street, about Mr Long’s antics. What many did not know ’was that the station sergeant and Mr Long were

good friends. The sergeant would march over and give the butcher a round, of the kitchen, but with a twinkle in his eye. A wealthy woman in Masterton used to travel round town in a horse-drawn trap with her small, white fluffy dog. Every time she stopped outside the butchery, the dog would snap and snarl at the meat in the window. One day, Mr Long got tired of such nonsense and sneaked the dog out back. He dipped it in saveloy dye, and replaced it on the trap seat, all red. Rick Long carries on the tradition of his grandfather and father, who was also a character noted for his jokes. Rick got headlines when the new post office building was finished. On the formal opening day, with chairs and bunting set up across the street, he climbed up on the butchery roof with all his staff. He was disguised with a moustache and beard, and had a loudspeaker system. Minutes before the official opening started, he started to mime a recording of Peter Ustinov as the Governor of Gilbraltar, who was opening a sports car race. Many people gravitated across the street for the entertainment, some thinking they were seeing the opening ceremony. Shade is missing DOGWATCH, the Christchurch group that tries to save as many stray or unwanted dogs as it can, was particularly concerned recently by the disappearance of a small terrier-whippet-cross named Shade. The dog had gone to a new home after being nursed by a Dogwatch volunteer. She had been found originally by a Waimairi dog ranger in a cemetery — sick, in heat, and surrounded by a pack of male dogs. She was in pup, and Dogwatch had the pregnancy terminated before she was spayed. She was given exhaustive medical tests and found to have a thyroid deficiency, which causes an unsightly skin problem. She has a very thin coat and coarse, scaly skin, but the condition is not contagious. Her new owners took off her identification collar because it seemed to be irritating the skin, and she escaped from the property after a tradesman let her out. Dogwatch said she was probably one of the worst examples they have had of a neglected dog. After persevering with her, they would hate to think she could not be found and sent to a good home. Shade is dark grey and fairly timid. She was lost in the area of Christchurch Airport.