Reporter’s diary

Press, 11 September 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Lost family

SIXTY YEARS ago, on August 30, lan Bruce Rattray was born in Sydenham. He was the fourth son of Leslie John and Agnus Gardiner Rattray (i)ee McKechnie) — and he had one sister in addition to his three brothers, none of whom he ever met. Raised in an Anglican boys’ orphanage called St Saviour’s Boys’ Home in Morgans Road, Timaru, Mr Rattray left the home, aged 14, in 1941. And that is all he knows. Even now he does not know the names of his brothers and sisters, so he can trace therij,; He is guessing that one or two of them may still be living in Canterbury. If anyone can help, Mr Rattray can be contacted through us.

Guardian angles HANDLERS AND guardians of priceless treasures such as the Chinese warriors soon to visit Christchurch can be excused for feeling a little nervous about the articles in their care. Accidents can be distinctly embarrassing, as staff at the Victoria National Gallery in Australia discovered. Four years ago a 2000-year-old sword — part of the same entombed warriors exhibition — was broken. Three years later a gallery official accidentally plunged his screwdriver through a picture by Picasso which was insured for $600,000. Compensation was paid for both accidents. As a gallery employee said later: “Whoops.” Fawlty IT COULD be interesting to see if New Zealand restaurants have anything similar to the “Fire Action List” displayed in the restaurant of a Plymouth Hotel. The first four items are: 1. Close all doors and windows. 2. Switch off all electrical equipment 3. Secure bars, remove bills, check all staff rotas and take all cash from tills. 4. Assist guests to evacuate.

Metal fatigue?

ALTHOUGH well-loved, and known to her human colleagues as Josephine, an industrial robot has killed herself in North Baltimore, Ohio. It is believed to be the first case of a machine committing suicide. Josephine was laying a long and complex bead of adhesive and working “with precision and a neatness that only robots can achieve,” says the firm of Budd and Company. Then Josephine suddenly ignored the glue, picked up a fistful of highly active solvent, and shot herself in her elec-tronics-packed chest. Even robots are replaceable, and now Ruth works where Josephine died.

Theft control

PADLOCKS, weights and thick chains firmly anchor to New Regent Street a huge sign which says “New traffic control.” Nothing short of a fourman demolition team would remove the yellow sign, and the heavy precautions against its theft speak volumes for the times we live in. It is not surprising that it should be a target for thieves; what is more perplexing is how anyone could lightly sneak off with such a trophy in the first place. It is taller than many people, and certainly wider: such booty could not be trundled down a street without arousing suspicion. Or could it?

For the richer ... AT A RECENT wedding in Ireland, the father of the bride discovered that $3OOO was lifted from his pocket during a reception in a local hotel. So short of cash did this leave him that he now has to mortgage his house to pay for the party, reports the “Irish Times.” A week after the wedding, when a video recording of the event was played to a family gathering, the bridegroom was seen rifling his father-in-law’s jacket “The happy couple are on honeymoon,” says the paper. “They are due back .-next week-end. A very . different reception awaits' them.”

—Jenny Feltham