title: Peter Ferguson and his new Era: the second battery at Waiorongomai

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Peter Ferguson was an experienced miner who did not take kindly to criticism. After spending years mining at Thames he prospected Te Aroha mountain before it was opened to mining, but after finding that he had not discovered gold, as he had believed, he turned to prospecting nearby. He then spent most of his life as a mine manager at Waiorongomai, where he was prominent in the local community.
As Waiorongomai was handicapped by having only one treatment plant, investors, sometimes assisted by Ferguson, made several attempts to erect a second one. After these attempts failed, he formed a private New Era syndicate to erect a plant. Being under-capitalized, it struggled to meet the cost of constructing a road and a branch incline tramway to its site, far up the Waiorongomai Stream; some county councillors, led by Josiah Clifton Firth, who was suspected of trying to retain his battery monopoly, opposed providing financial assistance.
The most important member of Ferguson’s small syndicate was George Fraser, an Auckland engineer whose skills were vital for providing the appropriate machinery for a plant that used a different process to the norm. Visitors were impressed with the new plant in its dramatic setting and miners and investors held high hopes for it, but were quickly disappointed.
After his plant closed after working for only a short time, Ferguson went to Glasgow, where he formed the Ferguson Syndicate Company with the inventors of the new cyanide process. After two years’ absence seeking capital he returned, acquired a large area of mining ground, and erected a second plant, once again raising high expectations. The cyanide process was not, after all, used, and after his new plant quickly proved itself to be unsuccessful, the company collapsed.
After leaving Waiorongomai, Ferguson continued to experiment with new treatment processes, and also sought copper in Northland, in neither case with any success.

text: Peter Ferguson and his new Era: the second battery at Waiorongomai Peter Ferguson was an experienced miner who did not take kindly to criticism. After spending years mining at Thames he prospected Te Aroha mountain before it was opened to mining, but after finding that he had not discovered gold, as he had believed, he turned to prospecting nearby. He then spent most of his life as a mine manager at Waiorongomai, where he was prominent in the local community.
As Waiorongomai was handicapped by having only one treatment plant, investors, sometimes assisted by Ferguson, made several attempts to erect a second one. After these attempts failed, he formed a private New Era syndicate to erect a plant. Being under-capitalized, it struggled to meet the cost of constructing a road and a branch incline tramway to its site, far up the Waiorongomai Stream; some county councillors, led by Josiah Clifton Firth, who was suspected of trying to retain his battery monopoly, opposed providing financial assistance.
The most important member of Ferguson’s small syndicate was George Fraser, an Auckland engineer whose skills were vital for providing the appropriate machinery for a plant that used a different process to the norm. Visitors were impressed with the new plant in its dramatic setting and miners and investors held high hopes for it, but were quickly disappointed.
After his plant closed after working for only a short time, Ferguson went to Glasgow, where he formed the Ferguson Syndicate Company with the inventors of the new cyanide process. After two years’ absence seeking capital he returned, acquired a large area of mining ground, and erected a second plant, once again raising high expectations. The cyanide process was not, after all, used, and after his new plant quickly proved itself to be unsuccessful, the company collapsed.
After leaving Waiorongomai, Ferguson continued to experiment with new treatment processes, and also sought copper in Northland, in neither case with any success.

year: 2016

title: Novel polyoxometalates: Is antimony the new molybdenum?

authors: Nicholson, Brian K.

subjects: polyoxometalates

abstract: Polyoxometalates based on Mo, W or V have been known for a long time and present a diverse range of structures, with the [XMo₁₂O₄₀]ⁿ⁻ Keggin ions (X = P, Si ,…) perhaps the best known.¹ They are still subject to intense research with >4000 papers published in the past five years. Following on from our study² of aryl arsonic acids RAsO₃H₂, which are straightforward molecular species based on four-coordinate As(V), we became interested in the corresponding antimony compounds. Although aryl stibonic acids of nominal formula RSbO₃H₂ have been known for over 100 years,³ their composition has remained uncertain, as they form only amorphous solids, have complicated titration behaviour and only limited solubility. The presumption has been that they are polymeric, based on 5- or 6-coordinate Sb with Sb-O-Sb linkages, though direct evidence is sparse.⁴ Recently, it has been shown by Beckman that if very bulky R groups are used, then relatively simple dimers such as (2,6-Mes₂C₆H₃Sb₂O₂(OH)₄(Mes=mesityl) can be isolated, but these represent a special case.⁵

text: Novel polyoxometalates: Is antimony the new molybdenum? Polyoxometalates based on Mo, W or V have been known for a long time and present a diverse range of structures, with the [XMo₁₂O₄₀]ⁿ⁻ Keggin ions (X = P, Si ,…) perhaps the best known.¹ They are still subject to intense research with >4000 papers published in the past five years. Following on from our study² of aryl arsonic acids RAsO₃H₂, which are straightforward molecular species based on four-coordinate As(V), we became interested in the corresponding antimony compounds. Although aryl stibonic acids of nominal formula RSbO₃H₂ have been known for over 100 years,³ their composition has remained uncertain, as they form only amorphous solids, have complicated titration behaviour and only limited solubility. The presumption has been that they are polymeric, based on 5- or 6-coordinate Sb with Sb-O-Sb linkages, though direct evidence is sparse.⁴ Recently, it has been shown by Beckman that if very bulky R groups are used, then relatively simple dimers such as (2,6-Mes₂C₆H₃Sb₂O₂(OH)₄(Mes=mesityl) can be isolated, but these represent a special case.⁵

year: 2012

title: "That's the price we pay": Kaupapa Māori Programme stakeholder experiences of external evaluation

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

subjects: Evaluation

abstract: This thesis takes a critical approach to the evaluation of Māori social and health service provision progammes through an in-depth exploration of the dynamics, impacts and politics of such exercises within Māori communities, and upon relationships between Māori and the Crown, and its agents. Since the mid 1980s, New Zealand government devolved responsibilities that heralded a change in economic focus and provided a pathway for targeted service provision, such as social and health programmes, amongst communities. The combined shift to Neoliberal economics and the virtual hegemony enjoyed by right wing economic commentators, policy-makers and business leaders meant that newly anointed Māori service providers were not fully prepared for the subsequent rise in demand for narrowly defined accountability requirements that did not reflect Māori aspirations or values.

This study sought to critically engage with the experiences of stakeholders affected by an external evaluation of “By Māori, for Māori” services. Qualitative data capturing stakeholder narratives, demonstrated the complex relationships and range of emotions experienced by programme stakeholders. Four case studies contain stories that highlight: service provider relationships built on betrayal that contributed to programme tensions and influenced the design of the evaluation; different stakeholder information needs that shaped their expectation of an evaluation; service provider vulnerability when implementing cultural values with their funder, who then seeks financial gain from that knowledge, and; the close links of Kaupapa Māori programmes and their evaluations to socio-cultural and political agendas.

The cases highlight ways Māori evaluators operated from a reflexive approach that recognised two worldviews (Mātauranga Māori and the dominant models of Western social science) and sought to facilitate engaged evaluation relationships with different stakeholders. A proposed Cultural Confluent Evaluation model lays out the dynamics and tensions in an attempt to make visible the underlying agendas, but also the glossed ideologies of power and control attached to conventional evaluations. As existing programmes continue to be examined for their cultural responsiveness, and as new culturally-centred programmes are proposed, the need for culturally embedded evaluation is even more evident.

text: "That's the price we pay": Kaupapa Māori Programme stakeholder experiences of external evaluation This thesis takes a critical approach to the evaluation of Māori social and health service provision progammes through an in-depth exploration of the dynamics, impacts and politics of such exercises within Māori communities, and upon relationships between Māori and the Crown, and its agents. Since the mid 1980s, New Zealand government devolved responsibilities that heralded a change in economic focus and provided a pathway for targeted service provision, such as social and health programmes, amongst communities. The combined shift to Neoliberal economics and the virtual hegemony enjoyed by right wing economic commentators, policy-makers and business leaders meant that newly anointed Māori service providers were not fully prepared for the subsequent rise in demand for narrowly defined accountability requirements that did not reflect Māori aspirations or values.

This study sought to critically engage with the experiences of stakeholders affected by an external evaluation of “By Māori, for Māori” services. Qualitative data capturing stakeholder narratives, demonstrated the complex relationships and range of emotions experienced by programme stakeholders. Four case studies contain stories that highlight: service provider relationships built on betrayal that contributed to programme tensions and influenced the design of the evaluation; different stakeholder information needs that shaped their expectation of an evaluation; service provider vulnerability when implementing cultural values with their funder, who then seeks financial gain from that knowledge, and; the close links of Kaupapa Māori programmes and their evaluations to socio-cultural and political agendas.

The cases highlight ways Māori evaluators operated from a reflexive approach that recognised two worldviews (Mātauranga Māori and the dominant models of Western social science) and sought to facilitate engaged evaluation relationships with different stakeholders. A proposed Cultural Confluent Evaluation model lays out the dynamics and tensions in an attempt to make visible the underlying agendas, but also the glossed ideologies of power and control attached to conventional evaluations. As existing programmes continue to be examined for their cultural responsiveness, and as new culturally-centred programmes are proposed, the need for culturally embedded evaluation is even more evident.

year: 2015