4/10

4/10  in the Herald’s entertainment quiz- all but one of which were guesses.

Rural round-up

Complete control of supply chain impossible – Allan Barber:

Nuffield Scholar and recently elected Meat and Wool Director, James Parsons, has been promoting the need for an integrated supply chain from farmer to consumer, if farmers are to reap the rewards of their endeavours. His solution for New Zealand to get out of the commodity trap – which means farmers are far removed from the consumer and last in line to receive a share of the returns – is to redesign the supply chain . . .

 In reponse to that he also writes Supply chain debate :

Trudi Baird from Southland has written a very full response to my recent column in Farmers Weekly about the difficulty of controlling the supply chain and I have published her comments in full because I am very impressed by her arguments and the thoroughness of her analysis . . .

New Zealand to host ag-biotech international conference :

The Government is investing $100,000 to bring international agricultural biotechnology experts to New Zealand next year, Minister of Science and Innovation Wayne Mapp announced today.

New Zealand was announced as the host for the 2012 Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference at the closing of the 2011 conference in South Africa.

“This prestigious conference will bring hundreds of international delegates to New Zealand,” said Dr Mapp. “It is a chance to showcase New Zealand and Australian biotech capability.” . . .

North Otago couples’ little piggies got to market – Sally Rae:

North Otago pig farmers Gus and Sue Morton are not only bringing home the bacon – they are selling it direct to the public.   

Mr and Mrs Morton, who market their produce through the Waitaki Bacon and Ham label – focusing on a “farm gate to plate” experience for the consumer, have added a retail shop      to their business.   

A top dogs’ tale – Debbie Gregory:

EFFORTS to make the Whatatutu Sheep Dog Trial Club’s annual dog sale one of the best in the country are paying dividends with the good reputation of the East Coast dogs leading the way.

A top price of $5000 was paid for a three-year-old huntaway bitch offered by Graeme Cook and the top price in the heading dogs was $4600 among 40 dogs offered for sale at the club’s second annual sale during the weekend.

Among the dogs sold were two bought to become celebrities overseas. . .

Farmers urged to clean up act - Gerald Piddock:

Synlait boss John Penno is urging the dairy industry to do more to influence
farmers to improve their environmental record.

The industry’s dairy companies should play a major role in this by ensuring
their farmers produced their milk at a high environmental standard, he told
farmers and environmentalists at the Lower Waitaki River Management Society’s
annual meeting in Glenavy . . .

Good reason for optimism in dairying - Gerald Piddock:

Dairy farmers are going into the new season with a high level of optimism.
This is due to the extremely mild winter and the unchanged opening forecast
payout from Fonterra.

Good autumn growing conditions meant most dairy farms went into the winter
with good pasture covers and cows in good condition.

Covers at the start of calving in August around South Canterbury were high
and some farmers had to bring their cows back earlier from winter grazing to
keep pasture levels under control, Federated Farmers South Canterbury dairy
chairman Ryan O’Sullivan said.

Preparing ewes for triplets now the aim – Gerald Piddock:

Forty years ago a major topic of discussion among sheep farmers in New Zealand was would they be able to manage ewes with twins.

Fast forward to today and a similar debate is occurring over how farmers should be managing triplets, AgResearch scientist Tom Fraser says.

“I think we do have to come to grips with it and I’m not sure what the answer
is,” Mr Fraser told farmers at a Beef+Lamb field day held near Mt Somers.

Grass-fed beef a hit at major Tokyo festival:

Over three quarters of a million Japanese people attended the Super Yosakoi food, music and dance festival in Tokyo recently and many got a taste of New Zealand grass-fed beef. By the end of the festival, 400 kilograms of the beef had been barbecued and eaten.

Introducing Japanese consumers to New Zealand grass-fed beef was the point of Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) food stand at the festival and those who tasted the beef loved it, B+LNZ Market Manager Japan, John Hundleby said.

A fistful of whiter than white wool - Jon Morgan:

Alan Johanson stretches down the side of the romney ram his heading dog Ozzie
has baled up for him and clutches a fistful of fleece.

“Feel that,” he offers. “You can squeeze it as hard as you can but you can’t move it. It won’t compress any further. It stays one big thick handful.”

He’s right. A grab of the greasy wool confirms this. It is a solid, unmoving mass . . .

Science still the key to our future – Jon Morgan:

Scientists by nature are cautious. The thoroughness of their methods teaches them that. Even when they arrive at a tried, tested and peer-reviewed result they are reluctant to speak in absolutes.

The word “breakthrough” is anathema to them. They would rather run naked across a Rugby World Cup pitch than use it.

So it was with some surprise that I saw “breakthrough” in the tag line of an email from the Crown science institute, AgResearch . . .

More deaths without 1080

Peter Dunne reckons the death of seven keas from 1080 poisoning is unacceptable.

“DoC currently spends less than $2 million a year on researching and developing alternatives. With that level of investment taxpayers dollars will still be killing kea for many years to come.”

“If we are to save our native bird populations we need to substantially increase the amount of funding available to develop anti-1080 alternatives. DoC and other agencies responsible for pest control need to significantly contribute to this out of their existing budgets,” said Mr Dunne.

DoC’s budget is already overstretched. One of the reasons for that is the large amount of extra land added to the conservation estate by the previous government in which Dunne was a minister.

Alternatives to 1080 would be good but until we get some using the poison is the lesser of two evils.

While no deaths of native birds should be considered acceptable, not using 1080 would result in more death and destruction.

Trapping and shooting is used to kill possums and other pests where possible but they can’t be used in dense bush and rough terrain.

At the moment 1080 is the best method of control in these areas. Without it uncontrolled populations of pests would kill many more native birds and trees.

He wants DoC

Money for irrigation and cleaner water

Agriculture Minister David Carter  has announced the opening 0f applications for the Irrigation Acceleration Fund:

“NZIER research suggests the fund could support 340,000ha of new irrigation, which could boost exports by $1.4 billion a year by 2018, rising to $4 billion a year by 2026.

“All successful projects will need to be committed to good industry practice that promotes efficient water use and environmental management, particularly around land-use intensification.  Irrigation good practice is essential if we are to protect our vital water resource for tomorrow,” says Mr Carter.  

The fund will support regional scale rural water infrastructure proposals that address:

• regional rural water infrastructure
• community irrigation schemes
• strategic water management studies.

Mr Carter says the Government will contribute up to 50 percent through the fund to successful proposals.  Applications will be assessed by MAF, with input from a panel of independent experts.  The final decision will be made by the Director General of MAF.

The same day Environment Minister Nick Smith announced the criteria and assessment panel for the new fund to help councils and communities clean-up nationally significant water bodies that have been polluted.

That fund was one of the recommendations of the Land and Water Forum which has been engaged by the Government to progress the next stage of policy work on setting limits on water quality, quantity and allocation.

“Progress on fresh water reform stalled for a decade because of highly polarised positions. The Land and Water Forum has done a great job bringing together farmers, environmentalists, industry and iwi to develop an agreed way forward. We are releasing today the Government’s high level response to the Land and Water Forum’s April report and are engaging the Forum to do further work on the complex issue of setting water limits and improving systems for allocation,” the Ministers said.

Federated Farmers says the announcements are about the cleaning up from the  past and looking after the future:

The Irrigation Acceleration Fund will help transform and future proof New Zealand agriculture on the same day another fund, the ‘Fresh Start for Fresh Water Clean Up Fund’, will help communities remedy the legacy of the past. . . .

Ian Mackenzie, Federated Farmers RMA and environment spokesperson said:

“There’s no coincidence that it is announced concurrently with the ‘Fresh Start for Fresh Water Clean Up Fund’. This is about the future every bit as much as the past.

“The $35 million Irrigation Acceleration Fund is a positive step forward to developing water as a resource. That’s because 95 percent of the water used in agriculture does not come from storage and when I use the term agriculture, I include horticulture and the wine industry too.

“Federated Farmers has enthusiastically pushed for a ‘new water’ policy because this is about storing what falls from the sky. Economic studies done on the Opuha Dam during the last Labour Government showed an 8:1 economic payback.

“The $35 million Irrigation Acceleration Fund could well unlock billions of dollars in benefits.

“What’s more, native fish and water fowl can’t prosper in dry river beds. Water also provides recreational and community gains. . . .

Those community gains are environmental, recreational and economic.

Water storage provides opportunities for fishing and water sports, it can enhance waterways to ensure they have a reasonable minimum flow during dry spells and also protect soils from wind erosion.

Storing water for irrigation safe-guards farms during droughts which ensures money keeps flowing through to the people and businesses who work for, supply and service farmers.

We had about 10 mls of rain yesterday, it’s the first significant precipitation since the two winter snow falls. Without irrigation we’d be starting to worry, with reliable water we know we can grow grass whatever the weather.

There is potential for more irrigation here and in other places. The Irrigation Acceleration Fund will help the development of new schemes while the work of the Land and Water Forum will ensure past mistakes are cleaned up and not repeated in the future.

More than Irish eyes smiling

The upset win by Ireland over Australia last night will have more than Irish eyes smiling.

Rugby World Tournament organisers will be delighted that the competition, which was warming up anyway, has been well and truly set alight.

Blue and white ruled in Invercargill where Argentina won 43 – 8 against Romania and the Springboks beat Fiji 49 – 3.

The Welsh players will no doubt be thinking of the death of four men after a flood in a coal mine near Swansea on Friday when they meet Samoa this afternoon.

I’m backing Samoa in that game, Canada against France and for what might be the only time in the tournament I’ll be siding with England when the team meets Georgia in Dunedin.

 

Tailing tells tale of snow losses

The rare falls of snow in Auckland and Wellington in August captured media attention and rural areas were overlooked.

However, now that tailing (or what they call docking in the North Island) is underway, large lamb losses are being noticed.

They’re not as bad as the devastating number of deaths in Southland last spring but with lamb prices expected to be high again this year the losses will make sizable dents in budgets.

September 18 in history

96  Nerva was proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian was assassinated.

324 Constantine the Great decisively defeated Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine’s sole control over the Roman Empire.

 

1180  Philip Augustus became king of France. 

1454  In the Battle of Chojnice, the Polish army was defeated by the Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years’ War.

1709 Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer, was born (d. 1784).

1739  The Treaty of Belgrade was signed, ceding Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire.

1793  The first cornerstone of the Capitol building was laid by George Washington.

 

1809 The Royal Opera House in London opened. 

1810  First Government Junta in Chile. 

1812  The 1812 Fire of Moscow died down after destroying more than three quarters of the city. Napoleon returned from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, which was spared from the fire. 

1837  Tiffany and Co. (first named Tiffany & Young) was founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City. 

1838 The Anti-Corn Law League was established by Richard Cobden. 

1850  The U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. 

1851  First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later became The New York Times.

1863  American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga.

1870  Old Faithful Geyser was observed and named by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition to Yellowstone.

 

1872 King Oscar II acceded to the throne of Sweden-Norway.

 

1873  The Panic of 1873 began.

1876 James Scullin, 9th Prime Minister of Australia, was born (d. 1953). 

1879 The Blackpool Illuminations were switched on for the first time. 

1882 The Pacific Stock Exchange opened.

1885  Riots broke out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.

1889  Doris Blackburn, Australian politician, was born (d. 1970).

 

1895  Booker T. Washington delivered the “Atlanta Compromise” address.

1895  Daniel David Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment. 

1895 John Diefenbaker, 13th Prime Minister of Canada, was born (d. 1979). 

1898  Fashoda Incident – Lord Kitchener’s ships reached Fashoda, Sudan. 

1900 Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius, was born (d. 1985).

 1905  Agnes de Mille, American choreographer, was born (d. 1993).

1905  Greta Garbo, Swedish actress, was born(d. 1990) .

1906 A typhoon with tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.

1910  In Amsterdam, 25,000 demonstrated for general suffrage.

1911  Russian Premier Peter Stolypin was shot at the Kiev Opera House.

 

1914 The Irish Home Rule Act became law, but was delayed until after World War I.

1919 The Netherlands gave women the right to vote.

1919 – Fritz Pollard became the first African-American to play professional football for a major team, the Akron Pros.

1923 Queen Anne of Romania was born.

 

1928  Juan de la Cierva made the first autogyro crossing of the English Channel. 

1931 The Mukden Incident gave Japan the pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.

 

1937 David and Mary McGregor moved in to New Zealand’s first state house.

1939 Jorge Sampaio, President of Portugal, was born.

 

1939 World War II: Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki fled to Romania.

 

1939   William Joyce made his first Nazi propaganda broadcast.

1940  World War II: Italian troops conquered Sidi Barrani.

1942  The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was authorized.

 

1943  World War II: The Jews of Minsk were massacred at Sobibór.

1943 – World ar II: Adolf Hitler ordered the deportation of Danish Jews.

1944  World War II: The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoed Junyō Maru, 5,600 killed.

 

1948  Communist Madiun uprising in Dutch Indies.

1948 –Margaret Chase Smith of Maine became the first woman elected to the US Senate without completing another senator’s term, when she defeated Democratic opponent Adrian Scolten.

 

1948 – The Donald Bradman-led Australian cricket team completed the unprecedented feat of going through an English summer without defeat. 

1952 Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones), was born (d. 2002).

 

1959 Vanguard 3 was launched into Earth orbit.

1961  U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the war-torn Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1964  Constantine II of Greece married Danish princess Anne-Marie. 

1971 Lance Armstrong, American cyclist, was born. 

1972  First Ugandans expelled by Idi Amin arrived in the United Kingdom.

1974 Hurricane Fifi struck Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing 5,000 people. 

1975 Patty Hearst was arrested after a year on the FBI Most Wanted List.

 

1976 Mao Zedong‘s funeral in Beijing.

1980 Soyuz 38 carried 2 cosmonauts (including 1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station.

 

1981 Assemblée Nationale voted to abolish capital punishment in France.

1982  Christian militia began killing six-hundred Palestinians in Lebanon.

1984  Joe Kittinger completed the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic.

 

1988 End of pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. 

1991 Yugoslavia began a naval blockade of 7 Adriatic port cities.

1992  An explosion rocks Giant Mine at the height of a labour dispute, killing 9 replacement workers.

1997  United States media magnate Ted Turner donated $US1 billion to the United Nations.

1997 – Voters in Wales voted yes (50.3%) on a referendum on Welsh autonomy.

1998  ICANN was formed.

 

2001  First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

 

2006 Right wing protesters riot the building of the Hungarian Television in Budapest. 

2007 Pervez Musharraf announced he would step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he was re-elected president.

2007 Buddhist monks joined anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting the Saffron Revolution. 

2009 The 72 year run of the soap opera The Guiding Light ended as its final episode is broadcast.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Gastrosophy – the science of good eating.

Another 5/10

5/10 in the Herald’s travel quiz.

Brave Blossoms yesterday, backing blue today

Headline of the day: Brave Blossoms no match for All Blacks.

Is this the first time in the history of the English language that that adjective and noun have been used together?

There was no surprise in the All Blacks win last night, but Japan deserves credit for improvement and it’s a good sign for rugby that the game  didn’t end up with a cricket score.

Today I’m backing blue again taking the Pumas in their game against Romania.

It’s a bit harder to choose between the Wallaibes and Ireland but I’ll go for our southern neighbours as I usually do unless they’re playing us.

I’m sticking with neighbours in the other game too, backing Fiji against the Springboks.

 

5/10

5/10 in Stuff’s Biz Quiz.

Not what accused did but way police did it

The charges against the bulk of people arrested in the 2007 Urewera terror raids were dropped not because of the evidence but the way it was gathered.

. . . the Crown case relied heavily on video footage taken of the accused carrying out what was alleged to be “armed military training exercises” held in 2006 and 2007.

Police had gained search warrants to enter private Maori land and then installed hidden cameras. But they did not have authorisation for covert filming and so it could not be used as evidence in court.

Shame.

Milk price probe premature – Feds

The select committee investigation into the price of milk began this week.

One of the first submissions came from Federated Farmers who say says the  process is premature.

“Unsurprisingly, Federated Farmers recommends that the inquiry find New Zealanders are not paying too much for milk relative to other countries and that our market is operating effectively,” says Willy Leferink, Federated Farmers Dairy chairperson.

“The fact is MAF, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Treasury are doing work that could vitally inform any future Select Committee. This work was started some months before the Commerce Select Committee decided to look into milk and will continue well after this Committee reports. . .

“Federated Farmers knows there’s a huge amount interest of interest in the price of milk. This interest has come from members of the public concerned about the retail price of milk. Its also come from independent processors concerned about the price they have to pay for raw milk.

“However, our submission shows that milk isn’t some smoking gun. Despite public concern, the retail price of milk has not increased by more than many other foods, many non-food items in the consumer price index.

“The Commerce Commission has also considered this question and found that such an inquiry ‘was not warranted’.

“The Commission also noted, “it is questionable whether Fonterra has scope to exercise substantial market power in relation to the supply of raw milk to other processors. The [Raw Milk] Regulations provide an access regime for raw milk and are designed to counter Fonterra’s market power.”

“There’s also nothing stopping other processors from entering the consumer milk market.

“While we do not agree this inquiry is necessary, it gives us a chance to put some facts across from the farmer’s perspective. New Zealanders are not paying too much for milk relative to other countries and our market is operating effectively,” Mr Leferink concluded.

Anyone who does grocery shopping will have noticed the price of food has increased.

But the price of milk hasn’t gone up more than other food.

I think part of the problem is that milk is compared with other liquids like soft drinks. But milk is a food containing protein, calcium and other nutrients. Soft drinks are just water, flavour and colour.

Feds’ submission on the price of milk is here.

Its submission on raw milk regulations is here.

September 17 in history

1111 Highest Galician nobility led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and the bishop Diego Gelmírez crowned Alfonso VII as “King of Galicia“.

1176  The Battle of Myriokephalon. 

1462  The Battle of Świecino (also known as the Battle of Żarnowiec) during Thirteen Years’ War.

1577  The Peace of Bergerac was signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots.

1631  Sweden won a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War.

 

1683  Antonie van Leeuwenhoek wrote to the Royal Society describing “animalcules“: the first known description of protozoa.

1778  The Treaty of Fort Pitt was signed, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware Indians).

1787 The United States Constitution was signed in Philadelphia.

1809  Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War, the territory which became Finland was ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.

1859 Joshua A. Norton declared himself “Emperor Norton I” of the United States.

 

1862 American Civil War: George B. McClellan halted the northward drive of Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history.

1862  American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion resulted in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.

1883 William Carlos Williams, American writer, was born (d. 1963).

1894  The Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War.

 

1900  Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeated Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.

1908  The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashed killing Selfridge who became the first airoplane fatality. 

1914  Andrew Fisher becamePrime Minister of Australia for the third time.

1916 Mary Stewart, English novelist, was born.

 

1916   World War I: Manfred von Richthofen (“The Red Baron”), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, won his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.

 

1923 Hank Williams, American musician, was born (d. 1953).

 

1924  The Border Defence Corps was established in the Second Polish Republic for the defence of the eastern border against armed Soviet raids and local bandits.

1928  The Okeechobee Hurricane struck southeastern Florida, killing upwards of 2,500 people. 

1929 Sir Stirling Moss, English race car driver. ws born. 

1931 Anne Bancroft, American actress, was born (d. 2005).

1939  World War II: A German U-boat U 29 sank the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. 

1939  Taisto Mäki became the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6.

1941 New Zealand abolished the death penalty for murder.

1941  World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, was issued

1944  World War II: Allied Airborne troops parachuted into the Netherlands as the “Market” half of Operation Market Garden.

 

1945 Bruce Spence, New Zealand actor, was born.

1948  The Lehi (also known as the Stern gang) assassinated Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the UN to mediate between the Arab nations and Israel.

1949 The Canadian steamship SS Noronic burned in Toronto Harbour with the loss of over 118 lives.

1956 Television was first broadcast in Australia.

1976 The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, was unveiled by NASA.

1978  The Camp David Accords were signed by Israel and Egypt.

1980  After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity was established. 

1980 Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle was killed.

 

1983 Vanessa Williams became the first black Miss America.

 

1991 – The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) was released to the Internet.

1992 An Iranian Kurdish leader and his two joiners were assassinated by political militants in Berlin. 

1993 Last Russian troops left Poland.

2001  The New York Stock Exchange reopened for trading after the September 11 Attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.

2004 Tamil was declared the first classical language in India.

2006  Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupted, marking the first eruption for the long-dormant volcano in at least 10,000 years.

2007  AOL, once the largest ISP in the U.S., officially announced plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Blossom – a flower or mass of flowers on a tree or bush, the flower of a plant, especially of one producing an edible fruit.; to produce a flower or mass of flowers, the state of flowering.

C’mon Black

Russia scored first in their first Rugby World Cup game last night but my pick the USA finished ahead.

Tonight of course I’m backing black though if Japan was playing anyone else but New Zealand I’d be tempted to opt for them.

Blokes who are men enough to call themselves the Blossoms deserve support.

Black and white questions miss opportunity for multi-coloured answers

The University of Otago marketing department has been contracted to research on Highlanders’ fans, in particular the vexed issue of the colour the southern men should play in.

As is often the case, the questions in the on-line survey are pretty black and white which misses the opportunity to learn from multi-coloured answers.

They ask if you attended or watched games this season, but don’t ask why you did or didn’t and if you went more of less often this season than in the past.

They also didn’t ask why the colours a team play in is important.

We used to go to most home games when the Super however-many-it-was started, made several trips to Christchurch to watch them play there and watched most other away games on television.

But we’ve been going to fewer and fewer games. We went to none this season and while my farmer watched most on television I didn’t sit through any.

There are several reasons – we’re busier and have more competing options for entertainment.

There’s also been a reduction in emotional attachment. I used to know the names of most players and would often read about them doing things other than rugby – visiting children in hospital, helping in the community but in recent years I’ve seen far less of those stories .

Now I can name the captain only because Jamie Mackintosh is interviewed regularly on the Farming Show and I’m not sure I know any other players’ names.

The furore over team colours is a symptom of this – the team has lost connection with the provinces it’s supposed to represent.

Sure, a lot of players come from other areas but that didn’t used to matter. They became southerners, the south embraced them as their own because they were part of the southern team and they wore the colours of the south.

Players come and go but the team and its colours endured.

The Playing strip might vary from year to year as a marketing ploy to get fans to buy new jerseys each year, but the colours remained the same, the blue and gold with a touch of maroon of the provinces which are proud to be on the right side of the Waitaki.

The survey asked if the colour of the jersey would influence whether you went to a game.

My answer is that the colours by themselves wouldn’t stir me to go to a game but if they were colours I couldn’t relate to it would further loosen the already tenuous emotional attachment I have with the team.

Hat Tip: Credo Quia Absurdum Est

Friday’s answers

Thursday’s questions were:

1. Who said: “Rugby football is a game I can’t claim absolutely to understand in all its niceties, if you know what I mean. I can follow the broad, general principles, of course. I mean to say, I know that the main scheme is to work the ball down the field somehow and deposit it over the line at the other end and that, in order to squalch this programme, each side is allowed to put in a certain amount of assault and battery and do things to its fellow man which, if done elsewhere, would result in 14 days without the option, coupled with some strong remarks from the Bench.” ?

2. Who holds the Women’s Rugby World Cup and how many times have they won it?

3. The anthem of which country begins:   Oíd, mortales, el grito sagrado: Libertad! Libertad! Libertad!

4. It’s jouer in Frnech, giocare in Italian, jugar in Spanish and purei in Maori, what is it in English?

5.  Who hosts the Farming Show and on which radio station did he begin it?

Points for answers:

James wins an electronic bunch of freesias with four right.

Andrei got three and a bonus for the question.

Richard got three and a bonus for generating a smile.

PDM got 2 1/2 and a bonus for being the only one to name Jamie Mackay - Hugh is still on National Radio, I think.

Swinestein got half with a bonus for being the only one to know Hokonui Gold.

Answers follow the break:

Did Great grandma/pa sign the suffrage petition?

If you’ve ever wondered whether your relatives signed the petition seeking women’s suffrage, you can now check on the NZ History website.

This database is a digitised version of the main suffrage petition submitted to Parliament in 1893. . .

The ‘more’ link goes to a page where extra information can be added. Members of the public are encouraged to submit further information via community contributions or you can email us at info@nzhistory.net.nz . . .

Note that some places are under-represented on this database as women may have signed smaller regional petitions which have not survived. Read more about the petitions here. . .

We are grateful to Archives New Zealand and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs for making the original petition transcripts available to us.

The  site  has the names and addresses of about 24,000 people age 21 or older who signed the petition.

I couldn’t find any of my ancestors there but I’m not sure exactly when they arrived in New Zealand and those I know of lived in smaller centres not cities.

Hat Tip: TV3

High tuition fees cost of interest free loans

New Zealand tertiary tuition fees are the seventh highest in a list of 42 countries in an OECD report.

It doesn’t say anything about study assistance but I would be surprised if interest-free student loans aren’t among the most generous in the world too.

When there’s a limited amount of money spending more directly on assistance to individual students leaves less to spend on institutions which impacts on fees.

The more that is spent on encouraging students to study, helping them financially while studying with little incentive to repay loans quickly, the less there is to spend on staff salaries.

That means there’s a tension between the quantity of students and the quality of tuition.

Is it just coincidence that five of New Zealand’s six universities dropped in QS global rankings?

 Auckland, the only one in the top 100 dropped 14 places to 82. Otago went up five palces to 130.

QS vice president John Molony said the New Zealand universities had performed well since the ranking list began in 2004 but appeared to be losing ground this year.

“Even if New Zealand universities are maintaining their investment and performance or improving slightly this does not appear to be enough to keep up with the global pack in the current environment.”

The rankings are based on four quantitative areas; research, teaching, employability and internationalisation.

The research ranking, measured in terms of citations per faculty, dropped across all six universities, and the universities are not doing well in the teacher-student ratio or the international student ratio said Mr Molony.

Tertiary education union national president Sandra Grey said one of the reasons behind the slide was the trend of more students to every teacher after a tightening of university budgets.

“In New Zealand over the last few years, as the squeeze has gone on in terms of financing and the money that’s going to these institutions, we’re seeing staff more and more pressured and unable to give a good balance to the work that they’re doing.”

Would that have anything to do with the balance between money going to the institutions and financial assistance for students shifting in the students’ favour?

When money is limited more for students means less for institutions which have to charge higher fees or make cuts which impacts on the students-staff ratio and quality of teaching.