Reporter’s Diary

Press, 20 April 1979, Page 2

Reporter’s Diary

Electric cars ALL THE RECENT discussion about electric cars, as a result of the fuel crisis, has prompted one reader to recall two such cars he says he saw in Christchurch when he was a child. “Electric cars are not really anything new,” he said yesterday. “I remember that Dixons the butchers, in Cashel Street, used to have an electric meat waggon and trailer in 1912-13. It ran on solid tyres. And Mr J. p_. Edmonds used to have an electric car which he had brought back from the United States. I think the M.E.D. had one, too.” Bright idea NEW ZEALAND — and Christchurch in particular, in view of the number of cyclists in the city — would do well to follow an example set in Germany where light-reflec-ting bicycle tyres, which make cycling in the dark safer, will become available to children free of charge. North Rhine-West-phalia’s 1979 safety programme plans to equip several thousand children’s bicycles with the new' tyres at the state’s own expense. Children aged between eight and 14 will qualify for the new light-reflecting tyres in an effort to reduce the number of fatal accidents involving cycling children. Oops! WE HAVE boobed. After assuring residents of Castletown Place in yesterday’s “Diary” that the version we gave of the official changes to the name of their street was correct, we said that the southern part of the street was to be renamed Thurso Place. Unfortunately, it isn’t. It’s going to be called Caithness Place. This time, we hope, we have it right.

Matter of emphasis A RADIO announcer reading the news in Christchurch yesterday had to correct himself hurriedly when he realised what he had said. After all, there can’t be very many schoolteachers who get high. “Concern had been expressed,” he said, “at the number of high, school teachers.” After some humming and hahing, he cleared his throat and said: “I’m SORRY, I’ll read that again ... at the number of high-school teachers . s .” Help “Help” THE EDITORS of the Christchurch City Council service organisation directory called “Help” are in need of help them-; selves. By May 7 they want to know if all the names and addresses of those clubs and organisations listed in the current edition of the directory are still correct or if they have changed during the year. They also want to hear from any group that wants to be included in the directory, and May 7 is the deadline for the next issue. There is a pink form in the back of the current edition for people to fill in and post to the council to let the magazine editors know about their particular organisation and its contact telephone numbers and addresses and the editors would be most grateful if people could send these in as soon as possible. Apparently there are about 900 clubs, groups and committees as well as about 600 local and central government service organisations listed in “Help,” which means the editors have a lot of people to get in touch with before May 7. Go east! ONE READER completely disagrees with a piece of advice in the Health De-

partment’s “Fare Well” booklet for (Overseas travellers that was mentioned in Wednesday’s “Diary.”

The booklet advises people travelling by air to Europe to go from east to west, both going there and coming back in order to spend more time in darkness. “That is absolute rubbish," our informant said yesterday. “It is far better to travel from west to east. My wife and I have tried going both ways on vari. ous occasions and it was only when we went eastwards that we found we did not suffer any discomfort.” Costly crutches PEOPLE who fail to pay a rental fee for crutches and walking sticks are costing the North Canterbury Hospital Board several thousands of dollars each year. The board’s finance committee recently wrote off last year’s unpaid rental fees on the equipment from the hospital’s orthotic department. Crutches, walking sticks, elbow crutches and walking frames are issued from the department with two weeks free use. An account is then sent to the user, most of this being refundable when the equipment is returned. But innumerable people have failed to pay the accounts in the last few years and many hundreds of crutches have not been returned, adding to the bill. Exposed A SPLENDID riposte has come from a dinner held recently in aid of the Historic Buildings Council and Covent Garden, at the Guildhall, in London. Anxious to show off his knowledge of society, one guest pointed to a gentleman wearing a sash and confided to the young woman with him, “The Spanish Ambassador has arrived.” At that very moment the man with the sash announced. “Dinner is served.” “I see,” said the young woman, “that the Spanish Ambassador is in very good voice today.” —Felicity Price