THEY'RE a discerning, snobby lot in the East Yorkshire burgh of Pocklington. The Diary merely wanted a whistle-whetter in the Black Bull hostelry when the Rules of the Inn were pointed out.

"No thieves, fakirs, rogues or tinkers" proclaimed the ancient sign standing sentinel over the bar.

"No skulking loafers or flea-bitten tramps; no slap'n'tickle o' the serving wenches, no banging o' tankards on the tables, no cockfighting," ordered the sign, allegedly printed in 1786.

It was even more offensive: "Flintlocks, cudgels, daggers and swords to be handed to the innkeeper for safe keeping."

Well, what's a man got to do these days? Which got us thinking: It's a good job the Black Bull is not in York's Micklegate, otherwise nobody would ever get a drink. As for the exorbitant prices being asked in York for next year's Ascot race meeting, forget millionaire students' penthouse flats.

If you are stuck, call in at the Black Bull. A bed for the night is only one shilling and stabling for yer horse is a mere four pence.

BIG cats are stalking the people of York. Sightings have flooded in since two Lilac Avenue residents saw the black panther-like beast, "bigger than a labrador", five feet long with green eyes, in their garden on Wednesday night. Intriguingly, at about the same time the Cornish Guardian reported that a cat "between five and six feet long, completely black with a head similar to that of a puma or panther" was spotted at an airbase in Cornwall.

Does this mean that there are panthers all over the shop? Or just one fleet-footed creature?

One thing seems certain. They are treating the southern sighting with more gravity. In York, the witnesses called the police but said "I don't think they took us very seriously".

By contrast in Cornwall, the RAF base has called in zoologists to scour for giant paw prints and is using military surveillance equipment to look for the creature.

But what should you do if you come face to face with a panther? The Diary is contacting the British Big Cats Society and will let you know.

A READER down Gillygate way has been feverishly tapping at his calculator, and sends the Diary this financial bulletin.

"Accompanying the recent 2004/2005 City of York Council tax demand is a brochure on Value For Money. It contains exactly the same number of pages as it did during the previous five years.

"But compare the sudden change

in how much this one magazine costs to print:

"2000/2001 5.4p per York resident - we're not told the total cost.

"2002/2003 5.37p per York resident - a total cost of £9,552 (ie 177,877

residents)

"2003/2004 5.24p per York Resident - a total cost of £9,500 (ie 181298

residents

"However, for 2004/2005, we're not told the individual cost per York resident . But the whole project comes in at a total cost of - wait for it - £11,906.

"Assuming that the rate of population is increasing at a similar rate,

York has 184,719 residents... which means - at least - a whacking great

23 per cent increase to 6.45p per resident.

"If the population is stationary or

decreasing it means an even greater rise.

"Twenty-three per cent - 'Value for Money'? What happened?"

Updated: 11:42 Tuesday, April 13, 2004