Briefs

Press, 15 September 1988, Page 8

Briefs

Obscene exposure A man obscenely exposed himself to a girl, aged 10, while she took part in a school run in Woolston on Tuesday. The girl was at the rear of a group of children running through Woolston park about 2.30 p.m. when she was beckoned over by a male Maori standing in the centre of the park. As she approached him the man exposed himself. The girl ran off arid reported the incident to a teacher. The man, aged between 20 and 30 years, was 173 cm tall, of medium to fat build with shoulder-length dark hair. He was wearing a yellow Tshirt and blue jeans. Storeroom burgled Over $lB,OOO of property was taken from a storeroom at Mitre 10 in the Hornby Mall on Tuesday night. The offenders cut a hole in plastic roofing at the rear of the mall and forced open a rear door to remove the property. Included in the items taken were Precision saws, planes and drills, cameras and wall clocks. Drugs taken A small quantity of drugs was taken from the South Brighton Pharmacy in Estuary Road yesterday. The offenders threw a gutter grate through the front window of the shop to gain entry. Shed set alight A shed at the rear of the Selwyn Fish Supply, in Spreydon, was set alight early yesterday, the latest in a series of arsons in Christchurch. Firemen were called to the Selwyn Street property about 1 a.m. The storage shed had been broken into and bread and plastic baskets stacked together inside and set alight. The fire caused extensive damage to the shed. The recent spate of arson attacks in Christchurch featured on “Crimewatch” on Tuesday evening and drew a good response from the public, according to the police. A reconstruction of several arsons in Addington and a picture of a man seen in the area at the time of the fires prompted about 40 calls. Detective SeniorSergeant Mike Muddiman said the response had been better than expected and they were inquiring into several of the calls. Dinner disliked A young man pulled a knife on his mother apparently because he was dissatisfied at the dinner she had served on Tuesday evening the police say. Faced with the knife, the woman offered to cook a second offering. The police were called to sort out the disagreement. The woman was unhurt. A man, aged 19, was due to appear in the Papakura District Court yesterday charged with assault with a weapon.—PA Tractor victim dies A man who fell off the back of a tractor last weekend died in Waikato Hospital yesterday. He was Pita Taingahue, aged 33, single, of Rangiwaea Island, Tauranga. He was riding on the back of a tractor on Matakana Island last Sunday when he fell on to the bitumen road. Mr Taingahue was flown to Tauranga Hospital in the Trustbank air ambulance before being flown to Waikato Hospital. —PA. Purchasing power up The after-tax purchasing power of the income of fulltime wage and salary earners rose by 1.2 per cent in the June quarter: The Government Statistician, Mr Steve Kuzmicich, said three factors had contributed to this. The 2.6 per cent in average gross incomes had more than offset the combined effects of an 0.8 per cent increase in the Consumers Price Index for the quarter and a 1.9 per cent increase in average tax rates over the same period. Airline’s surprise Singapore - Airlines’ 65 employees in New Zealand received a pleasant and unexpected surprise yesterday — a bonus equivalent to two months salary. The airline decided to reward all of its 10,000 employees world wide with the bonus as a mark of appreciation for their part in helping produce an after-tax profit of $436.7 million. The airline’s New Zealand manager, Mr Chew Tai Lu, said the airline had experienced a number of "firsts” in the last financial year. The bonus payment was a reflection of those achievements, he said. They include an after-tax profit exceeding sSing6oo million, revenue exceeding sSing4 billion, capacity production surpassing five billion tonne/km, accumulation of shareholders’ funds in excess of sSing3 billion, and the elimination of net debt. The airline will be increasing its services to New Zealand next month with an additional direct Boeing 747 flight to Christchurch each week.