Copyright © 1998 Brian Harmer
The view from "up there" is truly spectacular... with all the glorious bays and inlets spread out below, emerald green on sapphire blue, and the myriad colours of roofs and glinting windows. You look down on the Boeings and BAe146s approaching the airport, and the warmth convinces you that the world, or our corner of it, is a great place to be.
Out across the Cook Strait, the hazy outline of Tapuaeoenuku just North of Kaikoura towers silent and aloof against the washed out blue of the Western sky. I can imagine South Islanders coming up here and gazing wistfully at the rugged skyline of the Seaward Kaikoura range and thinking "that's halfway home".
Nestling down in the illusory shelter of the Tinakori Hills, our beautiful city gleams in the sun. Illusory? Well yes, when the Nor'wester blows those pine clad hills don't provide any shelter at all, but they do stand like a guardian against trouble from the West. On the harbour, the Arahura, far enough away to look clean and white, is plowing a furrow across the gleaming surface as she builds up speed for the harbour mouth. A smooth crossing to Picton can be anticipated today, and not one of those stomach churning rodeo rides that happens when I am aboard.
For the web capable among you, for a really good elevated view of Wellington, see http://www.vuw.ac.nz:80/scps/school/harb16ml.jpg And any Victoria alumni will enjoy http://www.vuw.ac.nz:80/scps/school/hill-top.gif My office is in the Hunter building immediately to the right of the Student Union in this view.
On with the news
Anger from family members of a boy who died while under anaesthetic administered by a doctor facing a manslaughter charge in the High Court at Rotorua today.
The family weren't told that the jury was about to deliver its verdict.
The jury found anaesthetist Margaret Huegel not guilty of the manslaughter of 13-year-old Ben Thorne in a knee operation in Tauranga in 1996.
The jury delivered its verdict in just over two hours - and members of Thorne family say they are furious they missed hearing the announcement and are too upset to talk to the media..
Dr Huegel's lawyers had argued she had taken all reasonable care during the operation.
(Apparently a filter on an oxygen feed was clogged. Dr Huegel reportedly failed to discover this during the half hour in which the patient was in difficulty. Another anaesthetist called to consult is said to have taken 30 seconds to spot the problem by which time the boy was dying. Although found not guilty, Dr Huegel has chosen to retire ... BH)
Collapsed garden centre chain Palmers has been sold to the Mitre 10 chain of hardware stores.
Palmers was placed in receivership in January as part of restructuring of the Maine group of companies.
Mitre 10 chief executive Mike Spraggon says the purchase complements the co-operative's strength in the home improvement industry.
He says the Palmers brand will remain.
The Conservation Minister admits the government has trodden lightly in dealing with the Maori protestors on DOC leased land near Lake Waikaremoana.
Nick Smith today told the protestors they must remove the two illegal structures on the site and leave by Friday or face eviction.
The protestors have been on the land for nearly two months.
Dr Smith says because it was a race relations issue, and because the group is actually on Tuhoe land leased back to the government, there have been a lot of issues to resolve.
(Nick Smith is reported to be furious over the intervention of the Minister of Maori Affairs, Tau Henare, into decisions which are the domain of the Conservation Minister. Sunday Star Times headlines allege that Mr Smith is used words akin to a resignation threat. - BH)
A lift left aloft an unlucky loafer thanks to Auckland's power crisis today.
The fire service was called to Auckland's Fay Richwhite building this afternoon by a woman who believed her husband was trapped in a lift on the 23rd floor.
He WAS on the 23rd floor.... but not in the lift, just waiting for it.... and had been, for nearly an hour, because he didn't want to walk down the stairs
Firefighters told the man that, due to the power crisis, he had no alternative.
(Phew ... the sub-editor at IRN is showing his/her age ... "Miss Otis regrets" was a song recorded by the late Burl Ives in the sixties, and even then was a remake of an old song, I think - BH)
Mercury Energy says full power to central Auckland will now not be restored for up to two months.
The shock announcement came at a media briefing this evening, where Mercury chief executive Wayne Gilbert said two of the four cables feeding the central city have failed during the final stage of testing.
Mr Gilbert is now urging big businesses to stay clear of the CBD, with a warning that it could take up to eight weeks for normal electricity supplies to be restored.
A ship's generator is being hooked up to the grid tonight.
(Stunned disbelief from all quarters when a clearly distraught Mr Gilbert broke the news of this new disater. The ship providing power is the Union Rotorua ... a great slab-sided 23,000 Tonne Ro-ro vessel which can supply 4.5 or so MW ... about 8% of the energy shortfall. One assumes that the ship is being chartered at rates which pay the Union Co as well as if it was in service... but without the need for a seagoing crew - BH)
Max Bradford has put in another plug for the purchase of a third ANZAC frigate.
Announcing that another 30 million dollars worth of work on the current frigate has been won by Whangarei, he says the government must decide soon what the Canterbury's replacement must be.
He says logic suggests it should be another ANZAC frigate.
Melbourne company TENIX Defence Systems has decided to complete the work at Whangarei bringing a huge boost to the local economy.
(The last bit of news anyway was received with rejoicing in the North where the added jobs will be welcome. I guess Mr Bradford must keep plugging away at this, but the mood of the country does not appear to support him - BH)
Labour's Maori Affairs spokesman Dover Samuels says it looks as though Lake Waikaremoana land protesters will win the argument with the Government...
Mr Samuels says the Government has made a fool of itself by meeting with the protesters while they are still occupying land...
He says they now look as though they will win the argument which he says is outrageous while they are still breaking the law...
The protesters have been given until Friday to vacate the land or they will be removed by the police...if they do leave the Government has promised them an inquiry into their concerns...
(Huge anger that those who protest through the proper channels get fobbed off and stalled, while the lawbreakers get their way. This is contrary to every precedent, and sends an appalling message to every other would be protester, and hijacker - BH)
Auckland Mayor Les Mills says a strong streak of independence among central city businesses may explain a slow reaction to the emergency relief fund.
Two million dollars has been set aside to help those businesses affected by the current power crisis - however only 80 thousand has been claimed so far.
The average grant is around seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Les Mills says he had expected a faster application rate.
But he says it may be that some businesses have decided to survive by themselves or don't like taking handouts.
The New Zealand Business Round Table has released a scathing attack on the Government's Budget Policy Statement.
Treasurer Winston Peters released the Policy Statement in late January, setting out the Government's intentions for this year's Budget.
In a submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee, the Roundtable says the Government's economic strategy is risky to the point of imprudence.
It says the Government's growth figures are overly optimistic given they have been overtaken by the Asian financial crisis.
(There are people on the news groups like this who live life in a perpetually angry state, negative towards everything ... it's a shame that the country doesn't have a filter that can separate out the noise... BH)
Conflicting messages today about how long Auckland city will struggle along with a sub-standard power supply.
The latest estimate, which is also the shortest, is for between 21 and 28 days.
Auckland city businesses are still reeling from the news that full power won't be restored for than a month.
Mercury bosses today said it would be a major challenge to have a new overhead line built in under five weeks, even with staff working around the clock.
But now energy minister Max Bradford says he has sealed a deal with Mercury, the main contractors, and Tranzrail, which will see the line built in three to four weeks.
Meanwhile Tranzrail is telling Aucklanders all its services are running normally at the moment.
It has agreed to help out with the power crisis, by closing the section of the rail corridor the overhead power line is going to run along.
Tranzrail says it'll be a day or two before those closures start.
It says they will be publicised and alternative transport will be provided.
Auckland's big corporates are now making contingency plans after news the power crisis could keep them away from their offices for longer than expected.
A number of law firms have spent the last two weeks working out of the Ellerslie Convention Centre.
One of those firms, Phillips Fox, has about 70 staff based in the members stand and press box.
Managing Partner, Malcolm Shelton-Agar says the latest delays for getting power back to the central city is extremely disappointing.
But he says he is confident work can carry on as close to normal, once they find out whether they can stay on at Ellerslie.
Cold water has been poured on the story that two precious greenstone mere have been given back to Tainui.
The mere were snapped up by a mystery buyer for 90 thousand dollars at an auction in New York last month.
New Zealand First MP Tuku Morgan says the collector has now gifted the mere back to Tainui.
But Tainui say they don't want the mere back.
The tribe employed an agent to bid for the mere on behalf of them, but a tribe spokesman Robert Mahuta says the high level of public interest forced the price up.
He says the significance of the greenstone has been misinterpreted, and the issue has caused serious embarrassment to the tribe.
(It's a little hard to see how the tribe's embarrassment is alleviated by their apparently graceless refusal to accept the generosity of the anonymous benefactor - BH)
Assurances from the Health Minister that the national breast cancer screening programme will get more money when it needs it.
The programme is due to be running by December, giving women between the ages of 50 and 64 free mammograms.
However, it is thought that if 70 per cent or more of eligible women sign up to the programme, it will run out of money after a year.
Bill English says the funding difficulty comes because they did the estimates for the programme three years ago, and no-one knew how much it would really cost.
However Mr English says the government will address the issue, because there is no use in running half a programme
The National Party is defending its method of selecting a candidate for the up-coming Taranaki-King Country by-election.
Today it announced the five nominees for the candidacy.
Electorate chairman Ross Wisnewski says he takes exception to Act leader Richard Prebble's claim that National's candidates are being chosen by the party hierarchy.
He says while there has been some outside input, the majority of members on the committee are from the electorate, and it will be solely up to the electorate to choose the candidate.
The candidates are list MP Roger Maxwell, Shane Ardern, Wallace Bain, Chester Borrows, and Stephen Parry.
Huge disappointment from retailers that the Ministry of Health will continue to use children to illegally buy cigarettes.
The Ministry has been ordered to pay costs to shopkeepers who were stung by the scheme, which aimed to catch retailers selling cigarettes to underagers.
But it is adamant court action won't stop the practice.
The Retail and Wholesale Merchants Association says they believe the programme is unfair.
It says shop keepers will continue to voice concern about the scheme, until the Ministry sees the error of its ways.
(Unfair! What rot! If you don't want to go to court, don't sell to minors - BH)
The Australian law firm representing retailers affected by the Auckland power crisis, has outlined details of the legal action it could take against Mercury Energy.
Slater and Gordon says Mercury has until Wednesday to come up with an adequate financial offer to its clients.
A spokesman says around 300 retailers could be part of a class action law suit.
The firm says if nothing is forthcoming by the middle of next week, the Auckland power supplier will face an unprecedented legal battle.
(Lawyers operating on a contingency basis is a relatively new phenomenon in New Zealand. At one stage the Law Society would not permit it. Obviously things have relaxed a lot. - BH)
Lake Waikaremoana protestors have pulled down their buildings, and have left the protest site.
In return, the government says it will go ahead with its inquiry into how DOC has managed the Urewera National Park.
A few protestors are cleaning up the last traces of the lengthy occupation.
Our reporter says the flagstaff has been dismantled, and along with the Maori independence flag, will be erected on Maori reserve land across the bay from the protest site.
It is expected the flag will remain there, unless there is an objection from the Maori trust boards which own the land.
Mercury Energy is flying-in more heavy duty generators, to supplement power supplies to Auckland's central business district.
A freight plane will fly in the seven generators from Singapore and Perth on Monday.
Mercury Energy hopes to have the machines pumping power into the CBD by Tuesday afternoon.
Another three New Zealand generators are being freighted to Auckland from project sites in the North and South Islands.
Mercury spokesman Patrick Strange says the additional machines will increase the reliability of the power supply to the CBD.
An aluminium dinghy has been seized by police investigating the disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope.
Detective Inspector Rob Pope says the dinghy was found at Shakespeare Bay in the Marlborough Sounds, and had earlier been towed behind the sloop, which is at the centre of the inquiry.
Meanwhile, Mr Pope says police have had a very good response to their call for information on the suspected assault of a woman, in the early hours of New Year's Day.
Police believe the man who fought with the woman, is the same person who was last seen with Ben and Olivia.
Date: 5 March Brian Dooley
Wellington New Zealand
CURRENCIES
The currency codes given below conform to ISO 4217, which
can be found at http://www.xe.net/currency/iso_4217.htm.
The rates given are for telegraphic transfer and are
as given in the Wellington Evening Post today.
To Buy NZD 1.00
USD 0.5882
AUD 0.8696
GBP 0.3572
JPY 74.79
CAD 0.8364
FRF 3.5968
DEM 1.0725
HKD 4.5653
SGD 0.9670
ZAR 2.9080
CHF 0.8727
INTEREST RATES (%)
Call : 8.60
90 Day: 8.77
The prices below are given in cents.
To buy NZ Investment Trust:
21 June 1993 409
Today 450
To buy TeNZ:
1 June 1996 103.7
Today 116
Another week begins ... see you at the end of it
Brian Harmer "Our luck is even better than I expected Don Quixote exclaimed ... I'm going to attack those mighty giants and slay them in their tracks" - Cervantes http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~bharmer/
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