Reporter’s diary

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

On the buses MOTORING history is prominent in 1986, and 100 years of the car was celebrated during February. Interest extends to bus and service car companies which ran by the dozens in the Canterbury province and further afield until relatively recently. Many people will recall companies such as Clements Motors which have disappeared from their regular runs to Oxford and Rangiora. The stories of such companies and their employees are being compiled. One writer, who can be reached through us, would like to hear from anyone who has informationn and photographs on the following companies: George Lowis, George Manhire, Goulds, Hollands, Jeals, Harris, Days, Midland Motorways, Currans, Mocketts, Rink Taxis, Ramsays, Reads, Gibbs, and Dalzell.

Clairvoyant sought PEOPLE WHO knew a clairvoyant named Katherine Stanton are sought by a woman writing a family history. Mrs Stanton is listed as a clairvoyant living in Lichfield Street, Christchurch, in the late 19205. Her husband, Alfred, was the youngest son of William and Mary Stanton, who arrived in Nelson in 1842 in the ship Clifford. Alfred married Katherine Smith, the clairvoyant, in 1888 at

Tauranga. They moved to Christchurch in 1893. Alfred died in 1923. Katherine remained in Christchurch. Anyone who may have known her can reach the compiler through us.

Aversion therapy SOAP OPERAS are being used to help curb population growth. In Mexico, the writers of the American television series, “The Waltons,” were enlisted to write a serial about a family with 16 children. It won high ratings, and brought an “overwhelming rush to family-plan-ning clinics,” says the Population Institute in Washington. Similar programmes for radio and television are planned for 11 more countries.

Ad money WHEN AMERICAN companies want to advertise on television shows that combine class with popularity, or just pander to popular taste, they have to lay down a bundle of money. The latest survey of costs for a 30-second commercial on primetime network programmes shows that “The Cosby Show” is the most expensive. It costs $270,000 ($468,750) to buy 30 seconds. Second most costly is “Dynasty,” at $235,000 ($407,986). The average prime-time network advertisement price is $118,840 ($206,319).

Grateful firemen EMPLOYERS do not get thanks from their employees too often, but the officers and firemen of the Lyttelton Volunteer Fire Brigade want the public as well as their employers to know how much they appreciated the fact that they were allowed to assist flood relief in South Canterbury from March 13 to March 19. Thanking local body and private employers at the port, the fire-fighters said that if they had not been allowed time off, with pay in most cases, they would not have been able to roster shifts, and the workload would have fallen on a few.

Fungi collecting READERS WHO have sweated to pick the edible “Ear fungus” which is the subject of research at the University of Canterbury know just how much it takes to fill a sugarbag of it. A man who, as a lad in the 19205, used to send loads of it to the Chinese in Auckland was paid 4d a pound. It was sent by ship and “by the time we paid freight we made 2d a pound and we thought we were made.” In the King Country in the late 1920 s they got £1 for a sugarbag full, according to a Christchurch woman, who vividly remembers the amount of fresh fungus which, after drying on the woolshed floor, was needed to fill a sugarbag to the brim. A

Sweeney Todd ACCIDENTS happen, but with luck they can be turned to good advantage. The inclusion of a space for indicating “occupation” on the Court Theatre “Sweeney Todd” preferential booking order form was not an attempt to sort theatregoers into professions (barbers to the left, butchers to the right), it was a hangover from a similar form being prepared for an incorporated society, where prospective members must state their occupation. The 28,000 Sweeney Todd forms being delivered in Christchurch inherited the word by mistake. But the Court is taking the chance to find out more about its audiences, for future productions.

Watchkeepers RUSSIAN sailors are keen to buy more than just sewing machines. In the last two weeks a Lyttelton appliance business has sold more than 100 $l2 watches to seamen who are also eager to snaffle up spare batteries and Walkman sets. The proprietor, Neville Johnson, says the Russians are queueing to get the goods. About222y 2 years ago the shop experienced a similar craze for Pink Floyd records, which the Russians back home could then sell on the black market for about $55 a record. Even Western decadence has its price. —Jenny Clark