Newsgroups: soc.culture.new-zealand
Subject: NZ news to 29 August
From: cctr123@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Alan Murray, CSC Operations, Uni of Canty)
Date: 3 Sep 92 13:39:05 +1200
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

News for the week ended Saturday August 29

Power probe details soon
Terms of reference and the membership of the Government's 
planned inquiry into the recent power crisis are expected within the 
next few days, says the Prime Minister, Mr Bolger. The details have 
been 90 per cent finalised and a little more work was needed 
before an announcement could be made. However the Labour 
Opposition has complained the Government has not honoured its 
promise to announce an inquiry. The crisis officially ended two 
weeks ago yet there was still no word of an inquiry, said Mr Clive 
Matthewson. He wondored why the Government was stalling.

Bolger denies divisions
Reports of divisions among the Government's MPs over the role and 
powers of the Waitangi Tribunal in resolving Maori grievances were 
denied by the Prime Minister. However he agreed there had been 
some questioning of what were the implications of the tribunal's 
recommendations on the Ngai Tahu fisheries claims around the South 
Island. "I don't see any major problems on that and I'd be pleased 
to see some news media commentators give a more careful analysis 
to the tribunal's report a few days later than some sort of knee-
jerk reaction that occurred the day it was released," Mr Bolger 
said. The Government had already indicated it would change the 
tribunal legislation si it no longer had the authority to make 
findings over privately-owned land.

Household spending falls 5.3% in year
Worsening financial circumstances for New Zealand families were 
shown by the 5.3 per cent drop in average weekly household 
expenditure, announced by the Government Statistician, Mr Len 
Cook. Between March 31 in 1991 and 1992, the amount households 
spent each week fell from $610 to $578 according to the Household 
Expenditure and Income Survey. It also showed that the average 
weekly before-tax income for a household had fallen almost 2 per 
cent, from $768 to $759, over the same period. This is the first 
drop in average household income recorded by the survey which was 
begun in 1973.

Shipment end wool 'drought'
The Wool Board will break an 18-month wool trading drought with 
the former Soviet Union when a commercial shipment leaves New 
Zealand next month. The board's chairman, Mr Pat Morrison, told 
the Meat and Wool Board's Electoral Committee yesterday that the 
first shipment of wool to the Russian Federation was being scoured 
and assembled in Christchurch and Auckland. "Getting trade going 
again with the former Soviet Union has been a top priority for the 
board as the loss of this market was one of the main reasons 
behind the downturn we've seen in wool prices since 1990-91," he 
said. "The board is very pleased to have made this breakthrough in 
restoring trading relationships with a customer that has 
traditionally purchased around 10 per cent of New Zealand's wool 
production."

Snow kills thousands of lambs
Thousands of newborn lambs perished, schools and roads were 
closed, and power and telephone services disrupted as a 
catastrophic snow storm whipped through Canterbury. Inland 
Canterbury and Banks Peninsular caught the full blast of the 
southerly cold snap and accompanying blizzard conditions. Snow 
drifts more than 1 metre deep closed many roads and isolated rural 
areas. Snow fell to sea level along the east coast from Balclutha 
to Marlborough and was reported in areas such as Timaru and 
Rangiora which rarely have snow. Timaru and Dunedin airports were 
closed for part of the day. The Meteorological Service warned that 
the bad weather would continue with another 20 to 30cm of snow 
expected in inland areas.

Govt to fund bid for Sealord
The Government will fund Maori interests to bid for half the 
Nelson-based Sealord fishing company in the first settlement of a 
major Treaty of Waitangi grievance claim. If successful, the 
Sealord bid appears likely to cost the Government around $175 
million, spread over three years, to fund a bid on behalf of 
Maoris by the Maori Fisheries Commission. It will also end the 
Government headaches over the sale of up to 40 per cent of Sealord 
offshore by its present owner, Carter Holt Harvey Ltd. An unnamed 
joint-venture partner is to pick up the other half of Sealaord. 
Existing commercial fishing interests will not be affected by the 
settlement.
The settlement will effectively give the Maori Fisheries 
Commission control of around 22.5 per cent of total fishing quota, 
since it already holds 10 per cent and will gain a half share in 
Sealord's approximately 25 per cent of total quota. The settlement 
will also give the fisheries commission automatic rights to 20 per 
cent of quota for new species as yet not covered by the quota 
system because of joint Maori court action which has been 
preventing exploitation of these non-quota species.

Peters sued for $4.25m
The Tauranga member of Parliament, Mr Winston Peters, is being 
sued for $4.25 million over claims he made about partners in an 
Auckland law firm, Russell McVeagh McKenzie Bartleet and Co. Mr 
Peters yesterday picked up the writ, which relates to comments he 
made about the partners' involvement in the joint venture film 
"Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" at a news conference early this 
month. The conference was outside the bounds of parliamentary 
privilege which protects MPs against legal action over statements 
made in the debating chamber. It followed comments Mr Peters 
made in Parliament in which he accused two partners of the firm of 
tax fraud because of the way they invested in "Merry Christmas Mr 
Lawrence" in 1982 1nd 1983. The law firm acted as solictors for 
the film's promoters.

Havoc as snow paralyses Chch
Christchurch teetered on the brink of disaster as the worst 
snowstorm in 30 years first papalysed the city, then caused 
widespread flooding. The storm, billed as the worst natural 
disaster for decades, caused havoc throughout the region. 
Thousands of stock have perished, while snow closed roads, the 
courts, shops, businesses, and Christchurch Airports. Reports that 
newborn lambs were surviving only 20 minutes in the blizzard were 
an exaggeration, one snow-stricken farmer said. "Twenty seconds is 
more accurate. The lambs are dropping and dying immediately," he 
said. Most of the lambs born in the last two days have died. The 
storm also claimed ewes which had not recovered from last month's 
snowstorm.
Christchurch residents awoke to 10-30cm of snow in the city with 
deeper drifts in the suburbs. Flooding in several areas added to 
the snow worries late in the afternoon. Water up to a metre deep 
closed roads in the New Brighton, Avonside and Heathcote areas as 
high tides hit about 5:30pm.

Trigger for snow
Temperature changes of only around 2 deg caused the extraordinary 
snowfalls in the last two days, a meteorologist for Blue Skies 
Weather and Climate Services, Mr Tony Trewinnard, said yesterday. 
Fairly simple weather patterns combined to produce unusual and 
extreme weather, he said. A depression of swirling winds moved 
east over the South Island on Tuesday. Temperatures fell to 
between 2 and 3 degrees as the stationary depression deepened 
throughout Wednesday and Thursday, generating south-easterly 
winds, rain and hail. An anti-cyclone formed over the Tasman Sea 
on Thursday and was anchored by the south-easterly air flow. The 
two systems drew cold Antarctic air on to the east coast of the 
South Island on Thursady night. Air temperatures fell another 0.5 
deg and early Friday the rain turned to snow.

Alan Murray
CSC Operations
University of Canterbury
a.murray@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
Newsgroups: soc.culture.new-zealand