Reporter’s diary

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Akaroa’s link.

FLORENCE Green was born in Oamaru in 1862, and became founder of the largest girls’ boarding school in Australia, at Armidale, New South Wales. Some of her childhood was spent in Akaroa, where her father, the Rev. Samuel Dutton Green, ran a “school for young gentlemen.” The family moved to Napier, where Mrs Green died in 1872. Florence returned to Akaroa to stay with friends until 1876, while her father travelled overseas.

... witli Armidale MYSTERY surrounds the four-year gap in Miss Green’s past and her biographer is keen to find out about those years for the record. Who in Akaroa, for instance, took in the motherless 10-year-old girl, and cared for her, before she left for a life of dedication to women’s education in Australia? Could there be a diary languishing in a trunk or attic in the South Island, which refers to Florence Emily Green, or her family? She had an older sister, Agnes, and a brother, Arthur, who became an Anglican bishop. Any relevant information would be welcomed by

Edna Hough, at Christchurch 558-844.

Frisky fiscals A CHRISTCHURCH accountant was faced with the challenge of how to dress for an end-of-year-cum-April Fool’s Day party to be held this evening. Since it is a shindig forj fiscalazzi, invitations instruct the guests to “go as a tycoon, or any other sort of coon.” Our chap has side-stepped the issue neatly. He will wear an evening suit, and has hired a face-painter, who will dolly him up as a racoon. Late post WHEN you subscribe to a historical magazine, speed in delivery is not essential

— but there are limits. Alf, of Christchurch, receives a quarterly issue of “The Bulletin,” a magazine of the Military Historical Society in Britain. It usually takes six to eight weeks to arrive surface mail, but this week, Alf received his May, 1988, issue, 10 months late. The delay does not affect historical facts, but does hinder subscribers wishing to order books or attend seminars and conferences by a certain date.

Hats off to fashion IN 1945, Mrs Jess Cooper bought a smart, black Jaycol in Christchurch. On Monday, she was startled to see an almost identical hat in “The Press,” again

at the height of fashion as Mrs Sally Walker’s winning creation in the Easter bonnet parade at the Easter race meeting at Addington Raceway. It just goes to show how fashion comes round again, she says, rueing the fact that she has not kept her wardrobe from that era.

Trailer takeaways THIEVES (or a thief) picked up a handy do-it-yourself burglary kit on Monday evening when they removed a trailer outside a house in Avonhead Road. On the trailer was rubbish, but more importantly, a distinctive red-coloured wheelbarrow and sundry tools such as an axe, spade and so on. The owner, Mr Roly Chisholm, is not fussy about getting the rubbish back but the trailer and tools are definitely needed for legitimate gardening exercises. If anyone has any information about the trailer, registration plate 68-FOO, please contact the police.

Urgent message

BUMPER sticker seen in Oxford Terrace: "God Save N.Z. — but please hurry.”

—Jenny Setchell