title: A newly-available resource for historians of early New Zealand: The Marist Missionary Letters (1838-54)

authors: Jennings, William

abstract: The 7000 pages of primary documents of the Lettres reçues d’Océanie constitute a vast new source for the study of the Pacific during the period 1838-54. Published in 2009 after sixteen years of transcription, the Lettres are the collected correspondence of the first French Marist missionaries to New Zealand and other Pacific islands. In the words of Pacific historian Hugh Laracy, they are ‘the single most important foundational contribution to Pacific history in its fullest extent since J. C. Beaglehole’s magisterial editions of James Cook’s Journals. About 2000 of those pages are transcripts of letters written in New Zealand that open up a fresh perspective of life before the wars of the 1860’s. This paper will locate the early French Marist Māori mission within the context of New Zealand public history before exploring how the Lettres reçues d’Océanie can complement existing views of early colonial New Zealand. To better contextualise the correspondence, it would be useful to begin with a brief background of the Marists’ presence in New Zealand.

text: A newly-available resource for historians of early New Zealand: The Marist Missionary Letters (1838-54) The 7000 pages of primary documents of the Lettres reçues d’Océanie constitute a vast new source for the study of the Pacific during the period 1838-54. Published in 2009 after sixteen years of transcription, the Lettres are the collected correspondence of the first French Marist missionaries to New Zealand and other Pacific islands. In the words of Pacific historian Hugh Laracy, they are ‘the single most important foundational contribution to Pacific history in its fullest extent since J. C. Beaglehole’s magisterial editions of James Cook’s Journals. About 2000 of those pages are transcripts of letters written in New Zealand that open up a fresh perspective of life before the wars of the 1860’s. This paper will locate the early French Marist Māori mission within the context of New Zealand public history before exploring how the Lettres reçues d’Océanie can complement existing views of early colonial New Zealand. To better contextualise the correspondence, it would be useful to begin with a brief background of the Marists’ presence in New Zealand.

year: 2012

title: Maori internal and international migration at the turn of the century: An Australasian perspective

authors: Bedford, Richard

abstract: At the beginning of the twenty-first century there were two major national clusters of Maori: New Zealand, the ancestral home for Maori, and Australia, home to a much smaller Maori population from the early years of the nineteenth century. In the 2001 censuses of New Zealand and Australia, the usually resident Maori populations were, respectively, 526,281 (ethnic group classification) and 72,956 (ancestry classification). In this paper we examine four dimensions of Maori population movement between 1996 and 2001 using the census data from New Zealand and Australia: 1) internal migration between rural and urban areas in New Zealand; 2) internal migration between rural and urban areas in Australia; 3) migration into New Zealand of Maori resident overseas in 1996; 4) migration into Australia of Maori resident overseas in 1996. There has never been a comprehensive assessment of Maori migration in an Australasian context before, but in the light of developments in population exchanges between New Zealand and Australia this sort of analysis is critical if one wishes to understand contemporary Maori population dynamics.

text: Maori internal and international migration at the turn of the century: An Australasian perspective At the beginning of the twenty-first century there were two major national clusters of Maori: New Zealand, the ancestral home for Maori, and Australia, home to a much smaller Maori population from the early years of the nineteenth century. In the 2001 censuses of New Zealand and Australia, the usually resident Maori populations were, respectively, 526,281 (ethnic group classification) and 72,956 (ancestry classification). In this paper we examine four dimensions of Maori population movement between 1996 and 2001 using the census data from New Zealand and Australia: 1) internal migration between rural and urban areas in New Zealand; 2) internal migration between rural and urban areas in Australia; 3) migration into New Zealand of Maori resident overseas in 1996; 4) migration into Australia of Maori resident overseas in 1996. There has never been a comprehensive assessment of Maori migration in an Australasian context before, but in the light of developments in population exchanges between New Zealand and Australia this sort of analysis is critical if one wishes to understand contemporary Maori population dynamics.

year: 2004

title: Voluntary Disclosure of Listed Chinese Companies~2008-2012: An Empirical Study

authors: Qin, Tao

subjects: Voluntary Disclosure

abstract: The Chinese stock exchanges are an integral part of Chinese and global economy having a combined market capitalization of 3697 billion USD at end of year 2012.  Due to their size and economic impact it is important that they maintain growth and stability.  Writers have maintained that voluntary corporate disclosure can help to achieve growth and stability thus the aim of this research is to examine recent Chinese listed companies’ voluntary disclosure practice. 

The purpose of this study is to investigate voluntary disclosure level of top 50 listed Chinese companies on Shanghai Stock Exchange during 2008-2012 period.

This study primarily utilizes a quantitative approach.  The author constructs a Voluntary Disclosure Index (VDI) based on legislative/regulatory consideration, investor demand, investor sophistication and previous studies.  This VDI score is then used to measure companies’ voluntary disclosure level.

The results of this study indicate that the overall voluntary disclosure level did not increase during 2008-2012, rather it dropped.  Some interesting findings about disclosure level and individual disclosure item scores in certain disclosure categories stood out; for example, nearly all companies detached their CSR report or sustainability report from their annual reports in 2010, resulted a sharp decline in voluntary disclosure level in certain related disclosure category.  Further there was little employment information disclosed particularly of note are the areas of minority and gender, and little forward looking corporate focused financial information as opposed to general economic expectations was disclosed. 

By using more recent data and considering the changes in China’s corporate disclosure regulation system in recent years, this study addresses certain gaps from previous Chinese studies.  This study also explores some regulatory loopholes in China’s disclosure regulation system and certain insufficiencies in investors’ education, thus this study can be of value to policy makers.  Overall it is hoped that this study can lead to greater engagement between Chinese corporations and investors particularly in the area of voluntary disclosure.

text: Voluntary Disclosure of Listed Chinese Companies~2008-2012: An Empirical Study The Chinese stock exchanges are an integral part of Chinese and global economy having a combined market capitalization of 3697 billion USD at end of year 2012.  Due to their size and economic impact it is important that they maintain growth and stability.  Writers have maintained that voluntary corporate disclosure can help to achieve growth and stability thus the aim of this research is to examine recent Chinese listed companies’ voluntary disclosure practice. 

The purpose of this study is to investigate voluntary disclosure level of top 50 listed Chinese companies on Shanghai Stock Exchange during 2008-2012 period.

This study primarily utilizes a quantitative approach.  The author constructs a Voluntary Disclosure Index (VDI) based on legislative/regulatory consideration, investor demand, investor sophistication and previous studies.  This VDI score is then used to measure companies’ voluntary disclosure level.

The results of this study indicate that the overall voluntary disclosure level did not increase during 2008-2012, rather it dropped.  Some interesting findings about disclosure level and individual disclosure item scores in certain disclosure categories stood out; for example, nearly all companies detached their CSR report or sustainability report from their annual reports in 2010, resulted a sharp decline in voluntary disclosure level in certain related disclosure category.  Further there was little employment information disclosed particularly of note are the areas of minority and gender, and little forward looking corporate focused financial information as opposed to general economic expectations was disclosed. 

By using more recent data and considering the changes in China’s corporate disclosure regulation system in recent years, this study addresses certain gaps from previous Chinese studies.  This study also explores some regulatory loopholes in China’s disclosure regulation system and certain insufficiencies in investors’ education, thus this study can be of value to policy makers.  Overall it is hoped that this study can lead to greater engagement between Chinese corporations and investors particularly in the area of voluntary disclosure.

year: 2014