Word of the day

Impawn – pledge; stake; wager; put in pawn.

Rural round-up

A Free Trade Deal must include Free Trade:

Federated Farmers says the Government must hold firm on a deal for agriculture at the Trans Pacific Partnership talks in Hawaii.

Federated Farmers’ Dairy Chair Andrew Hoggard is adamant that the reason for New Zealand being at the 12 nation talks is to establish free trade in the region, and a trade deal that doesn’t include meaningful access for dairy is not a free trade deal.

“Let’s be clear. Dairy is our largest export earner. It would be like the Japanese concluding a deal that didn’t have anything in it for automotive or technology trade.” . .

 

Like Uber but for dairy – Offsetting Behaviour:

There could be a lot of opportunities for Canadian dairy in opening up their markets to foreign competition, and in having foreign markets opened to their products. But there would be transitional costs.

The Globe and Mail reports on some relevant aspects here. But they miss the supply management angle. One important reason that Canadian dairy farmers oppose changes to the system is that they own a lot of quota rights. Under the Canadian system, the right to milk a cow costs money. And just like taxi permit owners in regulated markets hate Uber, Canadian dairy farmers hate New Zealand. But who can really blame them? If you were sitting on a big regulatory asset somebody proposed wiping out, wouldn’t you object?  . . .

Health and Safety — some way to go – Katie Milne:

The long awaited report back to the Select Committee on the Health and Safety Reform Bill has now occurred.

We don’t totally know what we are getting. The Labour Party will be opposing the legislation.  The Council of Trade Unions doesn’t like it. The Government has signalled a Supplementary Order Paper to amend the Bill before it goes through its final stages before becoming law and there are regulations to be drafted to sit under the eventual Act as well.

Besides this, WorkSafe New Zealand has considerable discretion how it implements the new Act and the interpretation courts put on the sections and regulations will keep a whole lot of lawyers busy for some years to come. . .

Farmers warned to prepare for more milk cuts:

National dairy industry body DairyNZ is warning farmers to prepare for further cuts to companies’ already low milk price forecasts.

It comes as ASB announced this morning it expects Fonterra to slash its forecast by $1 to $4.25 per kilo of milk solids when it reviews its payout next week.

However, the bank is predicting an end of season payout of $4.50. . .

T&G Global strengthens position as asparagus marketer –  Jonathan Underhill:

(BusinessDesk) – T&G Global, the fruit marketer controlled by Germany’s BayWa, has acquired assets from long-term Australian partner M&G Vizzarri, strengthening its position as a major asparagus trader.

T&G’s 50 percent-owned Australian subsidiary Delica will buy Vizzarri Farms, the asparagus marketer founded by Mario and Gina Vizzarri, from its Delica co-shareholder M&G Vizzarri. No price was disclosed.

The joint venture will be renamed T&G Vizzarri Farms and will become “one of the leading asparagus traders in the southern hemisphere,” T&G Global said in a statement. Targeted revenue from the enlarged business is about $40 million in its first year and more than 5,000 tonnes, it said. Currently Delica handles export sales for Vizzarri Farms, which owns 29 properties with a combined 1,900 acres. . .

Treble Cone’s Busiest Ever Start to a Snow Season:

The South Island’s largest ski area – Treble Cone (Wanaka, New Zealand) has enjoyed its busiest ever start to a snow season and has set new records for both its ‘busiest week overall’ and ‘busiest July ever’.

With fantastic pre-season and early season snowfalls the entire mountain including the Home and Saddle Basins, the right-of-passage Summit Slopes, the revered expert only Motatapu Chutes, and the Matukituki Basin were all open from Opening Day.

Over the first week of the New Zealand school holidays Treble Cone enjoyed its busiest ever week of skier visits, with all terrain open spreading guests across the entire mountain enjoying the cold dry snow.

 

Saturday’s smiles

A couple bought a new fridge.

Not wanting the old one, they put it on their front lawn, just inside their gate, and hung a sign on it saying free to a good home, as is where is, if you want it you take it.

For three days the fridge sat on the lawn without anyone looking  twice. The owners eventually decided that people were too mistrustful of this deal.

They changed the  sign to read: ‘Fridge for sale $50.’

The  next day someone stole it.

 

I  stopped at Mc Donald’s and ordered some  fries.   The  girl behind the counter said “would you like some  fries with that?”

 

One  day I was walking down the beach with some  friends when someone shouted…. ‘Look at that  dead bird!’

One friend  looked up at the sky and  said…’where?’

 

While  looking at a house, the would-be buyer asked the real estate  agent which direction was north because he  didn’t want the sun waking him up every  morning.

He asked, ‘Does the sun rise in the  north?’

The would-be buyer explained that the sun rises in the east and has for sometime.

The agent shook his head and said, ‘Oh, I don’t keep up with all  that stuff……’

 

My  sister has a lifesaving tool in her car which  is designed to cut through a seat belt if she  gets trapped. She keeps it in the boot.

 

I  was going out with a friend when we saw a woman  with a nose ring attached to an earring by a  chain.

My friend said, ‘Ouch! The chain must rip out every time she turns her head!”

I  had to explain that a person’s nose and  ear remain the same distance apart no matter  which way the head is turned…

 

I  couldn’t find my luggage at the airport baggage  area and went to the lost luggage office and  reported the loss. The woman there smiled and  told me not to worry she’d find it for him.

Now,’ she said, ‘Has your plane arrived  yet?’

 

A  man ordered a small pizza to go.

The server asked him if he would  like it cut into 4 pieces or 6. He thought about it for some time then said ‘Just cut it  into 4 pieces; I don’t think I’m hungry enough  to eat 6 pieces.

 

A  noted psychiatrist was a guest speaker at an  academic function where an aspiring politician turned up.

He took the opportunity to  schmooze the good doctor a bit and asked her a  question. ‘Would you mind telling me,  Doctor,’ he asked, ‘how you detect a mental  deficiency in somebody who appears completely  normal?’ ‘

Nothing is easier,’ she replied.  ‘You ask a simple question which anyone should  answer with no trouble. If the person hesitates,  that puts you on the track..’ ‘What sort  of question?’ asked the would-be MP. Well, you might ask, ‘Captain Cook made three trips around  the world and died during one of them. Which  one?” The political aspirant thought a moment, and then  said with a nervous laugh, ‘You wouldn’t happen  to have another example would you? I must  confess I don’t know much about  history.’

 

A man was driving when he saw the flash of a traffic camera. He figured that his picture had been taken for exceeding the limit, even though he   knew that he was not speeding.

Just to be sure, he went around the block and passed the same spot, driving even more slowly, but again the camera flashed.

Now he began to think that this was quite funny, so he drove even more slowly as he passed the area again, but the traffic camera  again flashed. He tried a fourth time with the same result. He did this a fifth time and was now laughing when the camera flashed as he rolled past, this time at a snail’s pace…

Two weeks later, he got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt.

NZ – a user’s guide

New Zealand is the most beautiful country in the world, as is clearly stated in the UN Charter. (I think it’s in Article 17). The land is nourished by warm sunshine each morning and receives the benediction of good rainfall around lunchtime. It is an egalitarian nation made up of well over four million rugged individualists and naturally gifted sportspeople and is run on alternate days by the government and whoever bought the national infrastructure.

Like Australia, New Zealand was established as a colonial economy by the British. This meant they bought our wool and our meat, although not for our benefit. It was purchased from the farmers by British companies, shipped on British ships and processed in British factories before being sold in British shops in British currency. The money then went into British banks. I think we can probably all see the problem here. The British made more out of New Zealand than the New Zealanders did. This changed slightly in the early 1970s when Britain went into the Common Market. Kids had been doing school projects about this throughout the 1960s but it came as an enormous surprise to the New Zealand government and it has taken them some time to adjust. The principal business in New Zealand used to be sheep but the country has now moved into milk in a big way and if you’d like to enjoy the beautifully clean swift-flowing New Zealand river system, you should make every effort to get out there before the dairy industry gets any more successful. New Zealand also produces a large quantity of fruit, wine, fish, coal, wood pulp, flightless birds, cups of tea, middle-distance runners and other people’s film industries. . .

Read the rest at Mr John Clarke.

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

I know nothing of hatred, intolerance, racism, sexism, bigotry, indoctrination, homophobia and prejudice. I don’t yet understand things like love, compassion, integrity, tolerance, human decency and truth. For the first and most important formative years of my life, all I will know is what you teach me. Choose  wisely.

August 1 in history

30 BC Octavian(later known as Augustus) entered Alexandria bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.

10BC Claudius, Roman Emperor was born (d. 54).

69 Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolted under the leadership of Gaius Julius Civilis.

527 Justinian I became the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

607  Ono no Imoko was dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China.

902 Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, was captured by the Aghlabid army.

1203  Isaac II Angelus, restored Eastern Roman Emperor, declared his son Alexius IV Angelus co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.

1291  The Swiss Confederation was formed with the signature of the Federal Charter.

1461  Edward IV was crowned king of England.

1498 Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.

1545 Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer (d. 1622)

1619 First African slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia.

1664  The Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.

1774 The element oxygen was discovered for the third (and last) time.

1798 French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay) began when a British fleet engaged the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.

1800  The Act of Union 1800 was passed which merged the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1828 Bolton and Leigh Railway opened to freight traffic.

1831  A new London Bridge opened.

1832  The Black Hawk War ended.

1834  Slavery was abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 came into force.

1837 Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, American labour organiser, was born (d. 1930).

1838 Non-labourer slaves in most of the British Empire were emancipated.

1840 Labourer slaves in most of the British Empire were emancipated.

1842 Lombard Street Riot erupted.

1855 First ascent of Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa), the second highest summit in the Swiss Alps.

1894 The First Sino-Japanese War began between Japan and China over Korea.

1902 The United States bought the rights to the Panama Canal from France.

1907  Start of First Scout camp on Brownsea Island.

1914 Germany declared war on Russia at the opening of World War I.

1916 Anne Hébert, French Canadian author and poet, was born (d. 2000).

1927 The Nanchang Uprising – the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China. This day is commemorated as the anniversary

1936 Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer, was born (d. 2008).

1937  Tito read the resolution “Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH” to the Croatian Communist Party in woods near Samobor.

1941  The first Jeep was produced.

1942 Jerry Garcia, American musician (The Grateful Dead), was born (d. 1995).

1944  Anne Frank made the last entry in her diary.

1944  Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation began.

1949 Kurmanbek Bakiyev, President of Kyrgyzstan, was born.

1951 Tommy Bolin, American musician (Deep Purple), was born (d. 1976).

1957  The United States and Canada formed the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

1959 –  Joe Elliott, English musician (Def Leppard), was born.

1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declared independence from France.

1964  The Belgian Congo was renamed the Republic of the Congo.

1966 Charles Whitman killed 15 people at The University of Texas before being killed by the police.

1966  Purges of intellectuals and imperialists became official Chinese policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

1967  Israel annexed East Jerusalem.

1968 The coronation of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.

1975  CSCE Final Act created the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

1980  Buttevant Rail Disaster killed 18 and injured dozens of train passengers.

1981 MTV began broadcasting in the United States and aired its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles.

1987 Maori became an official language in New Zealand.

1993  The Great Flood of 1993 in the US Mid-West  peaked.

1995  The first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

1996  Michael Johnson broke the 200m world record by 0.30 seconds with a time of 19.32 seconds at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

2001 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore had a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.

2004  A supermarket fire killed 396 people and injured 500 in Asunción, Paraguay.

2007  The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge collapsed during the evening rush hour.

2008 – Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.

2009 – Gay centre shooting in Tel Aviv.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia