Newsgroups: soc.culture.new-zealand
Subject: News for the week ended April 4
From: cctr123@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Alan Murray, CSC Operations, Uni of Canty)
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:44:49 +1200
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

News for the week ended Saturday April 4.

Monday March 30
---------------
Lung transplants out for smokers
Smokers can forget any hopes of joining the queue for lung transplants when
the  country's new organ-swap programme starts this year. "It would be quite
unacceptable to perform transplants on people who have ruined their lungs by
smoking when the dangers of that are so well known," said Dr Toby Whitlock,
chief of medical staff at Auckland's Green Lane Hospital. Someone who had
smoked to the extent of destroying their lungs would clearly be addicted to
cigarettes. "The chances of them giving up would be negligible and so the same
thing would be likely to happen to the new lung. If that offends smokers, so be
it," said Dr Whitlock.

Gatt success prospects '50-50'
The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Falloon, says there is now only a 50 per cent
chance of a successful conclusion this year to Gatt talks aimed at freeing up
world trade. "There is still a chance," he said from Paris. "But I would say it
is 50-50 at the moment, and that's much worse than it was six months ago." Mr
Falloon's assessment came after a two-day meeting in Paris of Agriculture
Ministers from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

NZ 'a model` in cot-death work
Overseas countries want to use New Zealand's experience as a model for reducing
cot death, says tha Canterbury Cot Death Society's education officer, Mrs
Stephanie Cowan. She was one of four Canterbury cot death workers who attended
an international Sudden Infant Death Syndrome conference in Sydney last month.
New Zealand had the fourth equal lowest infant mortality rate after being 19th
in the world in 1989.

McKinnon warns of time-bomb
Population growth rates and a high unemployment rate for Pacific Islanders
could become a social time-bomb, says the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs,
Mr McKinnon. At a Pacific Island researchers' seminar he urged participants to
set research goals and set up an information network. "I think one can start
from the point that Pacific Island people in New Zealand feel they are being
treated as second class citizens, and perhaps there is some justification in
this," Mr McKinnon said.

Tuesday March 31
----------------
Killer bug may close university
One person is dead and several students are in hospital as a meningitis
outbreak sweeps the University of Canterbury. The university may have to close
for a week to control the outbreak. The Canterbury Area Health Board's medical
officer of health, Dr Mel Brieseman, warned last night that any students
suffering from headaches, sore throats, a rash, arthritis, and general aching
should see a doctor immediately for antibiotics to counter the infection that
can lead to the disease. "If you have an outbreak of meningitis, then deaths
are not rare. Deaths are always a possibility," Dr Briesman said.

Lawyers remanded on bail
Two Upper Hutt lawyers, Patrick John Renshaw and Keith Edwards, appeared in the
Wellington District Court yesterday on fraud charges. Renshaw faced 36 charges
involving about $6 million of clients' funds. Lawyers for the Serious Fraud
Office told the court more charges, involving a further $500,000, would be laid.
Edwards faced 17 charges involving $1.2 million. The court was told 42 more
charges involving $1.8 million were pending. Both men were remanded on bail and
ordered to report to the police once a week. They have both surrendered their
passports.

US owners of Telecom deny Kiwi Share bid
Telecom's American shareholders scrambled yesterday to scotch speculation that
they should seek the Government's permission to raise householders' telephone
charges faster than the Kiwi Share arrangement allows. The investment committee
of Bell Atlantic could, however, be expected to raise the issue of the Kiwi
Share in discussions with both the Government and Opposition this week, their
New Zealand public relations director, Mr Miles Kotay, said. The committee was
in New Zealand for its annual review, he said.

Wednesday April 1
-----------------
Scared students swamp doctors
Christchurch medical centres were swamped yesterday as thousands of people 
sought reassurance about the meningitis outbreak that has killed a student at 
Canterbury University. About 500 students deluged the university's medical 
centre. Other medical centres said they were inundated with students and 
members of the public concerned they may have the disease. Christchurch 
Hospital has opened a day ward round the clock to deal with the outbreak.

Low lakes worry Electricorp
Unusually low storage levels in the South Island hydro lakes are concerning 
Electricorp. The lakes are at only 50 per cent of their available storage 
capacity. In previous good years they had been 100 per cent full at this time, 
said Electricorp's South Island Hydro Group's environmental manager, Mr Mark 
France. Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki, which together account for two-thirds of the 
country's hydro storage capacity, are both below average for the time of year, 
because of below average in-flows last spring.

Workers, over-60s face impact of Govt changes
Workers will find less in their pay packets and anyone turning 60 today will 
have less to celebrate as Government policies take effect. April 1, the start 
of the tax year, is a traditional time for Government policies to begin and 
today is no exception. Making their debut will be many of the funding changes 
to accident compensation, including the earners' premium of 70c per $100 gross 
earnings. The eligibility age for national superannuation will rise to 61 years,
accompanied by a ban on age discrimination in employment, and a new "55 plus 
benefit," with no redundancy after stand-down.

Thursday April 2
---------------
Debt burden of $16m-plus for students
Christchurch students will owe more than $16 million if they use their maximum 
entitlement under the student loans scheme, according to figures released by 
the Opposition last night. Student representatives in Christchurch believe 
student debt will go even higher as students also borrow money from other 
sources. This year 27,178 loan contracts worth more than $100 million have been 
processed by the Ministry of Education for students throughout New Zealand. 
The ministry has finalised up to 1600 contracts a day.

GP attacks fees system
The doctor of a Christchurch man denied a high-user health card, despite having 
a heart by-pass and both legs amputated, says the case highlights the anomalies 
in the new health charges. Dr Clive Hunter, a partner in the Christchurch South 
Medical Centre, said chronically ill patients who visited specialists and 
outpatient clinics should have these visits counted towards a high-use card. 
His patient was denied a card because he had not made the required number of 
visits to his general practitioner. He had, however, made several visits to 
specialists. "This guy is so clearly unwell, but he has not been to see me all 
that often because GPs do not do cardiac surgery or cut legs off."

NZ to join sanctions
New Zealand would abide by the United Nations' call to impose sanctions on 
Libya, the Minister of External Relations, Mr McKinnon, said yesterday. The UN 
Security Council has called for civil air, arms, and partial diplomatic 
sanctions against Libya over its refusal to co-operate with the inquiry into 
the Lockerbie bombing. The sanctions - due to take effect from April 15 - were 
passed under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter and are mandatory on all members.

Friday April 3
-------------
Milford Track race impact worries group
A proposed endurance race over the Milford Track could jeopardise the track's 
future as a world-class walk, says the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.
The race organiser, Mr Robin Judkins, says such concerns are unfounded. "I find 
them totally loony, quite frankly." Despite this Mr Judkins said he supported 
the society's general aims, and applied to join it yesterday. A field officer 
for the society, Mr Mike Harding, said the 1000-entrant race, scheduled for 
April next year, would detract from the experience of thousands of tourists who 
walked the track. A major concern was the impact of runners practising on the 
track. Mr Harding cited the Coast to Coast race, also organised by Mr Judkins, 
which had encouraged the use of Arthurs Pass National Park by runners outside 
the event.

'Twister' lifts workshop roof in Greymouth
Five men had a fright when the roof of a building was lifted about a metre by 
strong winds lashing the West Coast yesterday. Greymouth was particularily 
hard hit, with parts of buildings sent flying, windows shattered, and fences 
destroyed. One of the owners of Greymouth's GJ Beynon Contracting, Mr Jim 
Beynon, said five employees watched as the roof of his company's Alexander St 
workshop was "lifted about three feet in the air and then plonked straight back 
down again." A roar preceeded the worst of the storm about midday. "The guys in 
the workshop were running into each other and over each other as they tried to 
get cover."
[The casual reader may wonder what makes this story so important. Well quite
frankly - nothing except that the afore-mentioned Mr Beynon is my
brother-in-law and I can't wait to hear him actually tell the story :-)]

Mail to be sorted right-handed only
New Zealand Post has told posties to sort mail with their right hands only and
at least one left-handed worker has been ordered to switch hands. The
right-hand only rule is part of new instructions to posties on how to do their
jobs. The instructions are a result of a company study on posties' work
practices, which concluded, among other things, that it was quicker to sort
mail with the right hand rather than the left. The instructions were given to
staff at one Wellington post office on Wednesday.

Saturday April 4
----------------
Wyllie to coach S African club
Alex Wyllie, the former All Black coach, will leave next week to take up a
coaching position in Eastern Province, South Africa. He will coach the
province's second XV, but is likely to be enlisted by the first XV coach to
help coach the forward pack.

Extra police for war on gangs
The time for talk is over, the Minister of Police, Mr Banks, said in Timaru
yesterday, announcing that six extra police will start work in the gang-plagued
city on Monday. "We are not going to let these mongrels hold this town to
ransome any longer," he told about 50 people who took part in a march to
reclaim their city. "We are not going to talk to these people any longer. We
have talked long enough," he said.

'Social goals' in housing SOE
Social objectives would continue as part of the Housing Corporation's brief
even after it was turned into a State-owned enterprise, the Minister of
Housing, Mr Luxton, and the chairman of the Cabinet Social Assisstance Reform
Committee, Mr Birch, said yesterday. The issue had blown up after reports
suggested Mr Birch was riding into Mr Luxton's portfolio area to head off
unintended social consequences from reconstituting the corporation as an SOE.
The reports produced jubilation amongst lobby groups and prompted the
Opposition's housing spokesman, Mr Paul Swain, to claim a victory from his long
campaign against the housing policy.

Price of labour too high - business head
The combination of relatively high pay rates and relatively low productivity
makes low-skilled workers in New Zealand too expensive without subsidies at the
moment, the Business Roundtable chairman, Mr Douglas Myers, has told Australian
businessmen. "We would do better to acknowledge honestly that the price of
labour for this category of workers needs to fall, and to supplement incomes
where necessary through the tax and transfer system," Mr Myers said. "If the
Government was serious about tackling unemployment there was still a great deal
it could do, including cutting the minimum wage and limiting the time people
spent on the dole." 

Alan Murray
CSC Operations
University of Canterbury
a.murray@csc.canterbury.ac.nz