Reporter’s diary

Press, 23 April 1987, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Capital idea EVEN IF the National Party has not been able to get its indirect taxation proposal up in lights, it wants to see it in capital letters. Apparently the party is smarting when it sees GST all in capitals while its own Extax plan appears in more modest lettering. The party’s Yaldhurst candidate, Mr James Bacon, has politely taken “The Press” to task for this taxing textual discrepancy. The party’s disadvantage is that it has chosen a name that begs to be printed in small letters, since it is made up of the words "expenditure tax.” The goods and services tax demands to be nothing less than GST. Getting Extax into capital letters might take more than an act of Parliament. Plug for peace ELEVEN - YEAR - OLD Douglas Young is saving his pocket money to help pay for a big phone bill. He is trying to whip up support for world peace and hopes that in a few months he will have enough supporters to phone the White House and the Kremlin with his message. Helping him in this enterprise is Shodie Milne, a classmate in Standard 4 at Aranui Primary School. The lads saw an “Our World” programme about another boy who tried the same thing three years ago, and they think it is time to try again. “When I go to bed at night I think of what would happen if there was a nuclear war,” said Douglas. Supporters can write to him at 125 Marlow Road, Aranui.

Celebrity status HECTOR’S DOLPHINS, which will be front-por-poises on a Cousteau television episode, are featured on souvenir stamp sheets issued to raise funds for the National Youth Philatelic Exhibition in Dunedin in August. One sheet shows the dolphins and a Hooker’s sea lion. The second sheet shows royal albatrosses and a yellow-eyed penguin. All are rare or endangered species. The stamps, designed by Jane Kerr, of Dunedin, are not for postage but are issued only as souvenirs. The two sheets sell for $4.40. Young people under 21 are eligible to enter the youth exhibition. More information is available from Stampex ’B7, P.O. Box 6222, Dunedin. Fuming A MOTHER of three in

Coventry has been jailed for a week after refusing to cut down on her smoking to pay fines. Margaret Bales, aged 36, who smokes 20 a day, had been fined twice for being caught without a television licence, and had paid off nothing towards penalties totalling SNZ2BO. She was asked to cut down smoking to pay the fines, but said she would rather carry on with the habit, and her husband could look after the children. He had been out of work for six years and was not surprised when she was jailed. “We simply couldn’t afford the fine,” he said. His wife was a nervous person, who used to smoke 30 cigarettes a day. Smoking and watching television were the only pleasures she got from life, he said. Sell out WHEN THE safe playing

campaign began on April 6, 11,500 of the booklets called "Safe Playing Club, a Storybook Starring Your Child” were ready for distribution in Canterbury. The give-aways are virtually all gone now, with the campaign not quite over. The booklets relied on reward stickers and lots of positive reinforcement to try to get the message about good, safe playing areas through to preschoolers. Sweet dreams A COLLEAGUE who is finding money a little tight had his financial worries intruding on his sleep a night or two ago. He dreamt that he checked his mailbox to find it chock full of bills — all but one envelope, that is. The exception was a letter from his bank, inviting him to apply for a Visa card. He awoke before succumbing to that temptation.