Reporter’s diary

Press, 23 February 1987, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Buyer beware AN ELDERLY woman saw an amber necklace in a Christchurch jeweller’s shop recently. It cost several hundred dollars. Although she depended solely on a pension and it was more than she could afford, she decided to indulge in her life-long wish to own amber beads while she could, Unable to pay in full, she put the necklace on lay-by, paying it off regularly. By the time she had paid the final instalment, however, she had decided that she could not really afford the necklace, and asked the jeweller if she could have her money back. He refused, and so she decided to sell it. On advice, she had it valued first, only to be told that far from being amber, her necklace was plastic. She returned to the shop where she had bought it, where the staff at first denied it was plastic. The next day they telephoned her, however, to say she could have her money back. Milk in demand CONSUMERS IN Asia are paying up to 10 per cent more for Australian and New Zealand milk products because of. fears that European brands

have been contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear accident The ‘‘Farmer’s Weekly” reports that two Australian exporters have reported greater demand since many European products were taken off the market in October and November. Several milk products were banned in the Philippines and seven baby foods were withdrawn from sale in Thailand after they were found to have excessive radioactivity. Money for the poor TWO PUBLIC interest groups and nine members of the United States Congress have gone to court to try to stop the Administration diverting money normally used to provide food to 18 million needy Americans. Our Washington reporter says that President Reagan told Congress he intended to divert SUS2B.6 million this year to help pay for salary increases at the Agriculture Department. The money was for a fund which provides the poor with surplus dry milk, butter, cheese, rice, flour, and honey and also reduces America’s huge stockpiles. The suit asks the court to declare the President’s action illegal

Patience IN THE MIDST of one of its busiest and most difficult winters of helping motorists, the British Automobile Association has received its first callout by letter to restart a car. The “Daily Telegraph” reports that an elderly woman from Plymouth wrote in the most polite terms, inquiring whether someone could mend her Mini. She wrote after she had repeatedly failed to get through on the association’s jammed telephone lines. The car has now been fixed. What really matters A DINNER-TABLE conversation with friends and their three children turned to the topic of death, reports a reader. What would happen to the children if their mother and father should die at the same time? 'The mother’s will also came under scrutiny, and on being told that ail the jewellery was left to her, the 12-year-old daughter could only comment with a stunned “Oh, Mum!” Then she thought silently for a moment before asking, "Who gets the Soda Stream?”

—Jenny Feltham