Word of the day

Tolutiloquent – pertaining to a smooth talker; characterised by fluency or glibness of utterance; rapid and ready of speech.

Rural round-up

Century farmers receive awards – Sally Rae:

Farming is all John Thornton has ever known.

The 73-year-old Taieri dairy farmer has spent his entire life on the Momona property originally acquired by his grandparents in 1916.

Tonight, the Thorntons will be among 36 families recognised at the New Zealand Century Farm and Station Awards in Lawrence for achieving 100 or more years farming their land.

Originally from Wigan, in Lancashire, England, Thomas Thornton brought his large family to New Zealand in the late 1800s. . . 

Farmers’ support trusts go national – Kerrie Waterworth:

Maniototo farmer, Landcare Research board member and former National Party politician Gavan Herlihy was recently elected deputy chairman of the Rural Support National Council, a new national body representing 14 regional support trusts. Mr Herlihy has had a lifetime on the land and says the rural support trusts are a lifeline for many farmers “when the chips are down”. He spoke to Kerrie Waterworth.

Q When were rural support services set up and why?

The first one was set up in North Otago in the 1980s following successive crippling droughts. That period also coincided with the aftermath of Rogernomics that had major consequences for farming at that time. After a series of major droughts in Central Otago in the 1990s the trust boundaries were expanded to take in the whole of the Otago region. . . 

New medical centre proposed for Otorohanga – Caitlin Moorby:

Thanks to a $1 million donation, Otorohanga will get a new medical centre.

Sheep and beef farmers John and Sarah Oliver made the charitable donation towards the project, which it is estimated will cost $2 to $2.2 million.

Otorohanga District Council chief executive Dave Clibbery said the donation solves a looming problem  .  . .

Gains seen for SFF with China plan – Chris Morris:

An ambitious plan by China to reboot the ancient Silk Road trading routes could deliver significant benefits to Silver Fern Farms, the company’s chief executive says.

China earlier this month unveiled the latest details of its Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013, which will result in billions — and eventually trillions — of dollars being pumped into a new network of motorways, railways, ports and other infrastructure linking Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. . . 

Zespri 2016/17 grower returns sag despite big jumps in volume and turnover – Pattrick Smellie

(BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s statutory kiwifruit exporter, Zespri, achieved distributable profit for its grower shareholders of $34.8 million in the year to March 31 on a 19 percent increase in turnover of $2.26 billion.

The Tauranga-based business signalled a result roughly three times stronger than is expected in the current financial year, with prospects for an extra interim dividend being paid to growers in August, despite the outlook for total fruit volumes being lower for the season ahead. . . 

Rural people shouldn’t be second class citizens for health services:

A rural health road map which sets out top priorities for healthier rural communities is being explored as one avenue to addressing the challenges the modern day farmer faces.

The Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) got together this week in Wellington for their second annual “Rural Fest’, in partnership with Federated Farmers.

For farmers, focus was on increasing pressure related to industry compliance, and the stress from dealing with frequent and intense adverse events. . . 

NZ Pork welcomes Government focus on biosecurity:

The announcement of additional operating funding for biosecurity is a vital protection for the country’s primary industries, according to New Zealand Pork.

NZ Pork, the statutory board that works on behalf of local pig farmers, says that as one of the world’s leading high-health primary industries, the local pork production sector sees biosecurity as vitally important.

Over $18million of operating funding over four years was included in Budget 2017 to help secure the biosecurity system and protect New Zealand’s borders. . . 

Employment agreements crucial this Gypsy Day:

“In an industry renowned for seasonal averaging, it is important dairy farmers focus on ensuring all current and new employees have the correct employment agreements, especially with the introduction of new employment laws in April,” says Melissa Vining, Agri Human Resources Consultant with Progressive Consulting, the human resources division of Crowe Horwath.

With Gypsy Day just around the corner, it marks the start of a new season when farms are bought and sold, and new sharemilking contracts signed. . . 

Don’t text and rake.

Saturday’s smiles

A chemist, an engineer and an economist were stranded on a deserted island.

They found some canned food but have nothing obviously useful for opening the cans.

The chemist suggested gathering some wood and starting a fire and then holding the cans over the heat, counting on the expanding contents to burst open the cans.

The engineer thought it would be better to try smashing the cans open with some of the rocks lying around.

The economist said, “Assume we had a can opener…”

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.

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. – Anthony J. D’Angelo

May 27 in history

893  Simeon I of Bulgaria crowned emperor of the first Bulgarian empire.

927 Battle of the Bosnian Highlands: Croatian army, led by King Tomislav, defeated the Bulgarian Army.

927  Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria, died.

1120  Richard III of Capua was anointed as prince two weeks before his untimely death.

1153 Malcolm IV became King of Scotland.

1328  Philip VI was crowned King of France.

1626 William II, Prince of Orange was born(d. 1650).

1703 Tsar Peter the Great founded the city of Saint Petersburg.

1798 The Battle of Oulart Hill took place in Wexford.

1812  Bolivian War of Independence: the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba fought against the Spanish army.

1813  War of 1812: In Canada, American forces captured Fort George.

1837 Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter, was born  (d. 1876).

1849  The Great Hall of Euston station in London was opened.

1860  Giuseppe Garibaldi began his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian Unification.

1863  American Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at theSiege of Port Hudson.

1878 Isadora Duncan, American dancer ws born (d. 1927).

1883 Alexander III was crowned Tsar of Russia.

1895  Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for sodomy.

1896 The F4-strength St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado killed at least 255 people and causing $2.9 billion in damage.

1905 Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima began.

1907  Bubonic plague broke out in San Francisco, California.

1908  Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Din was elected the first Khalifa of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

1909 – Tasmanian-born confidence trickster Amy Bock was sentenced in the Dunedin supreme court.

1911  Hubert H. Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States,  was born (d. 1978).

1912  John Cheever, American author, was born (d. 1982).

1915 Herman Wouk, American writer, was born.

1919  The NC-4 aircraft arrived in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

1922  Sir Christopher Lee, English actor, was born.

1923 Henry Kissinger, 56th United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born.

1927  Ford ceased manufacture of the Ford Model T and began to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.

1930  The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.

1933 New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

1933 – The Walt Disney Company released the cartoon The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?“

1933 – The Century of Progress World’s Fair opened in Chicago.

1935  New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declared theNational Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).

1937  The Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.

1940  World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit were shot after surrendering to German troops.

1941 World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed an “unlimited national emergency”.

1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck was sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.

1942  World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated in Prague.

1943 Cilla Black, English singer and presenter, was born (d. 2015).

1954 Pauline Hanson, Australian politician, was born.

1957 Toronto’s CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) became  Canada’s first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n’ Roll music format.

1958 Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter (Split Enz, Crowded House), was born.

1958  The F-4 Phantom II made its first flight.

1960  In Turkey, a military coup removed President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.

1962 The Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire started.

1965 Vietnam War: American warships began the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

1967  Australians voted in favour of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.

1967  The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy was launched  Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.

1968  The meeting of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (National Union of the Students of France) took place. 30,000 to 50,000 people gathered in the Stade Sebastien Charlety.

1971 The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, killed 46 people and injured 25.

1975 Jamie Oliver, English chef and television personality, was born.

1975  The Dibble’s Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire killed  32 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.

1980 The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retook the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207.

1987 Artist Colin McCahon died.

1995 Actor Christopher Reeve was paralysed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.

1996 First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin met Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiated a cease-fire.

1997  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Paula Jones could pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he was in office.

1999  The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

2005 Australian Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Kerobokan Prison for drug smuggling by a court in Indonesia.

2006 The May 2006 Java earthquake devastated  Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing more than  6,600 people.

2009 – A suicide bombing killed at least 35 people and injured 250 more in Lahore, Pakistan.

2009 – Soyuz TMA-15 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

2016 – Barack Obama was the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Word of the day

Brannigan – a drinking spree; binge; brawl or violent argument; noisy or confused quarrel.

Friday’s answers

Thanks to Teletext and Rob for posing Thursday’s questions.

If they’ve stumped us all they can claim a virtual chocolate cake by leaving the answers below.