My Old Man’s An All Black

Is there a word to describe not being able to find something on the web even though you remember encountering it recently?

Whatever it’s called it’s afflicted me because a week or so ago when I was drawing up my list of  10 quintessential Kiwi songs I came across a video of My Old Man’s An All Black which was one of the Howard Morrison Quartet’s classics but I haven’t been able to find it again.

I wanted to post it as a Saturday bonus for NZ Music Month but the best I could come up with was this background on it from NZ History online and this from NZ Folksong which has a recording of the first few lines.

Ray Columbus & The Invaders – Till We Kissed

A Saturday morning bonus for New Zealand Music Month – Ray Columbus and The Invaders with Till We Kissed.

This was the group’s biggest hit, selling 50,000 copies in 1965. It was still popular four years later because I can remember it being played at an Intermediate School disc dance.

Conference no-show cans candidate selection conspiracy theory

Remember the fuss earlier this week about Melissa Lee being described as the list MP for Mount Albert in the National Party’s Mainland Conference agenda?

Well, now she’s not attending because she’s too busy campaigning.

That supports the view that there was no conspiracy over her selection because had it all been stitched up she’d never have accepted the invitation to speak at the conference in the first place.

Blessed are those who give

Three acts of generosity in the last couple of days:

Julian and Josie Robertson from the USA have donated 15 major art works to the Auckland Art Gallery.

The appreciation shown by people when the Robertsons allowed 12 works from their art collection to be shown in an exhibition in Auckland and Wellington, motivated them to make this donation.

From the arts to sport – Eion Edgar donated $1 million to the New Zealand Committee when he retired as president this week.

Mr Edgar and his wife, Jan, have made several substantial philanthropic donations, notably to the New Zealand Olympic Committee, the Edgar Centre in Dunedin, the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes Research and Dunedin’s new stadium, which will be known as Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza.

And from sport to farming –  Ravensdown is offering  shareholders in drought affected areas interest free, deferred payment terms on fertiliser purchases plust free technical advice.

When drought hits, fertiliser often comes out of budgets which means when it rains again pastures don’t get grow as well as they should.

This offer will enable farmers to keep up their fertiliser programmes without increasing their overdraughts.

Who Benefits from Subsidies? – corrected

A post on Anti-Dismal about who gets what from agricultural subsidies concludes the biggest gains go to the landowner. * corrected below

That is backed up by this paper by Chris Nixon from NZIER which says that product prices are capitalised into land prices.

The findings Anti-Dismal points to, indicate it doesn’t matter if they are real market prices or ones artificially inflated by subsidies.

However, if the impact of the removal of subsidies and the ag-sag which followed that is any indication,  subsidies benefit those who depend on farmers too.

When subsidies were removed after the 1984 election, farmers were brought kicking and screaming into the real world and many feared there would be a mass exodus from farms. Farm values fell – adding credence to the view that product prices are reflected in land values – and some people were forced to sell, but most hunkered down and learned to stand on their own feet.

However, when the subsidies went, farmers’ incomes fell,  they stopped spending and jobs were lost downstream. The worst effects weren’t felt by farmers but by the people who processed what they grew, worked for, contracted to, supplied and serviced them.

If the removal of subsidies hurt those downstream more than farmers, they must have benefitted from subsidies too.

Correction: * Paul Walker points out in a comment below that it was the farmer not the landowner who benefits most.

Since it’s now two days after I made the original post, I’ll address that in a new post.

Ray Columbus & The Invaders – She’s A Mod

Day nine of the tune a day challenge for New Zealand Music month.

I remember watching this on black and white TV, sometime in the 1960s – probably on Happen Inn – it’s Ray Columbus and The Invaders with She’s A Mod.

Hine E Hine

Day nine of the NZ Music Month tune a day challenge.

The tune for E Hine E,  was introduced to many of us as the music for the Goodnight Kiwi.

This version is sung by Hayley Westenra and Teddy Tahu Rhodes: