Reporters Diary

Press, 10 April 1979, Page 2

Reporters Diary

Money-scramble A SHARP-EYED schoolboy in Cleveland, Ohio, touched off a mad scramble for money when he spotted a faded $lOO bill in the rubble of an old demolished house. As word of his find spread, hundreds of people swarmed over the site and sifted about $BO,OOO from the debris in two days. The money, mostly in $5O and $lOO bills, had been printed during the Depression but is still legal tender. It apparently belonged to a rich businessman, who died in 1969. The house was one of seven he owned and the second to provide unexpected wealth. Relatives found $200,000 in another of his houses. None of the money found last week has been turned over to the authorities. One of the girls? MEN OUT ern drinking binges who pride themselves on being “one of the boys” had better keep a sharp eye on their boozing buddies. They could be turning into girls, according to an item in the latest edition of “Brew News” — the house journal of Lion Breweries, Ltd. According to the article, men who drink large amounts of alcohol for prolonged periods are reported to develop some female characteristics. “American research reveals that three-quarters of chronic alcoholics are unable to have normal sexual relations, and 20 per cent of alcoholics tested have enlarged breasts. Three-quarters of these are physiologically incapable of producing children,” it says. “But the research did conclude that moderate drinkers do not undergo hormonal changes.”

First man?

THE ELECTION last week of Chicago’s first woman mayor, Mrs Jane Byrne, poses some interesting questions. What will she be called? And, even more problematical, what will her husband be called? Stories in newspapers refer to Mrs Byrne as “the wojnan mayor” so, it seems, she will take on the title of Mayor Byrne. But what will her husband be called? He can’t be the mayoress. A reader telephoned yesterday to ask what would happen, in the light of the Chicago election if Mrs Mollie Clark one day should become Mayor of Christchurch. We can only assume that, in the event, she would be the Mayor of the city and, when attending functions with her husband, the couple would be referred to as the Mayor and Mr Clark. Man at the top THE PRESIDENT of the multi-million dollar American company, International Harvester, who was in Christchurch at the week-end, is reputed to be earning $475,000 a year — nearly twice as much as the President of the United States. Full-scale search BUT IN SPITE of his impressive salary, we hear that the visiting president of International Harvester encountered great difficulty on Sunday in finding a suit to wear to meet the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) in Christchurch in the afternoon. The suit had been sent to the drycleaners, and through some mix-up, had not been picked up. With only a very short time to go before the meeting with the Prime Minister, the police, fire and traffic de-

partment were contacted, and efforts were made to find the head of the drycleaning firm, who was was at that time driving his car. Calls were even made on the radio. Eventually he was found, the suit was returned to its owner in the nick of time, and the day was saved. Understandable THE SUBJECT of a story last week sent out by the Press Association is now the subject of an understandable correction. A message received yesterday from NZPA says: “The name of the New Zealand Trade Commissioner in the Philippines was incorrectly given as Mr John Bedcover in a story from a staff correspondent in Manila. He is, in fact, Mr John Bedkober.” Play money CHILDREN at a preschool centre in Chicago looked as if they were playing bank, according to the school’s assistant principal. Mr Don Conn. “A hundred for you, a hundred for me, a hundred for you,” the pre-schoolers were chanting as they dished out the bills. But the money was real — almost $lB,OOO in $5O and $lOO bills. It had dropped from the jacket pocket of one of the fathers, who had just left his daughter at the school gate for the day. While the man, w'ho believed the banded cash packets were still in his pocket, was on his way to make a bank deposit,' his child and about a dozen playmates were playing bank themselves. The money was soon on its way to a real bank. Melting moment A LITTLE girl, sitting next to a retired Christchurch businessman on an aeroplane recently, noticed that he was perspiring rather heavily, and said to him: “Why are you melting?” ~Felicity Price