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As I was getting considerable heat through the gearstick & the shift seemed stiff I decided to replace the shift boots. The top one was missing the centre which had dropped down. The lower boot looked o.k. but when I removed it I noticed that the oil reservoir was bone dry. After topping up the reservoir & re-installing the boots there was a marked difference in the shift movement due to the oil I would suspect rather than the new boots.

Yeah, the boots are a consumable on our cars & as you found the turret can be dry as they simply get overlooked. How did the white plastic cap on the bottom end of the gear lever look given the turret was dry?

Er white plastic cap? I may have made a small mistake. I didn't see one. What now?

Went down & ordered the nylon cup at my local Mazda Stealer. $8.62 for a nylon ring smaller than a tap washer. I am assuming that the cup had dropped to the bottom of the reservoir & that when I inserted the gear lever it just dropped into the cup & is still working albeit loosely. Anyway I will have the part tomorrow & will disassemble, drain the oil from the reservoir & go looking for the cup.

See the very last pic at this link for what they look like & where they should be fitted:
http://www.miata.net/garage/trans/everything.html
They do sometimes get brittle & deteriorate, especially if running dry.

I have been told to lube the cup & press down hard until it snaps into place. I will install it tomorrow & let you know how it went. Thank you all for your assistance.