 
 The price of Labour's decorum 
 TROTTER Chris 
  
 
 
Rank-and-file opinion often plays the role of the canary down a mineshaft 
-------------------- 
IT WAS one of the most reassuring features of pre-1990 Labour Party conferences: the little desk in the foyer selling $1 copies of 
the Labour Party constitution. 
Nothing spoke more eloquently about the party's democratic credentials than the easy accessibility of its rulebook. That it bred a 
special kind of bush lawyer, with a fondness for lengthy procedural arguments, was simply the price Labour paid for genuine 
rank-and-file participation. 
I haven't noticed any of those little tables at the party conferences of recent years. In fact, laying one's hands on a current copy of 
the constitution has actually become quite difficult. Not that it really matters any more. 
Following the 1989 split in the Labour Party (when Jim Anderton led away a substantial chunk of the membership to form the 
NewLabour Party) Labour's constitution was radically amended. The changes reduced the power of the elected annual 
conference, and increased the power of appointed policy committees. 
The days of 800-1000 delegates chewing over the raw remits of rank-and-file members are long gone. In place of those raucous, 
fractious, and very public debates, Labour's apparatchiks have substituted the rather pallid process of "workshopping". 
Huge, multi-clause remits, cobbled together by committees, are placed before relatively small groups of delegates who have the 
power to make recommendations _ but not decisions. The power to decide remains with the conference as a whole, meeting in 
plenary session to hear the reports of workshop participants. The leaders of the workshops (usually senior parliamentarians) 
"report back" these recommendations and the conference votes them up or down. 
Those of you with sensitive political antennae will already have spotted the undemocratic elements of this process. 
First and foremost: how can delegates who were not present at the workshop discussions adequately assess the validity or 
otherwise of the recommendations? Procedural pressure (delegates wishing to amend remits are allocated precisely one minute of 
speaking time) means that serious discussion of policy outside the workshops is next to impossible. 
Only once in recent memory has the conference asserted itself against "The Top Table". At Takapuna, in 1998, the Engineers 
Union, along with other unions affiliated to the party, coordinated a plenary revolt against the parliamentary party's opposition to 
an extra week of annual holidays. 
The shock of genuine debate was palpable _ not only among the senior officials and MPs up on the stage, but also among the 
delegates. For a few fervid moments some of the excitement and exhilaration of Labour's glory days hovered like a ghost above 
the Bruce Mason Theatre. And then it was gone, and middle-class political decorum _ with all its passionless civility _ reasserted 
control. 
Labour pays a high price for this prophylactic approach to robust political debate. The policy committee structure is a careerist's 
dream, and encourages all the sycophancy one has come to associate with "modern" social-democratic parties. 
In an environment which fosters political orthodoxy, the ambitious party member advances by mastering process _ not by 
articulating new or challenging ideas. 
The two candidates for the Labour presidency, Richard Northey and Mike Williams, who both claim an interest in strengthening 
the party and building up its membership, would do well to ponder this phenomenon. 
Rank-and-file opinion, expressed openly and without benefit of politically orthodox chaperones, often plays the role of the canary 
down a mineshaft _ alerting the parliamentary wing to the deadly gases of public opprobrium, and allowing a Labour government 
to back away from unpopular policies before too much electoral damage is done. 
To delegates at this weekend's Labour conference I would, therefore, declare (with apologies to Karl Marx): "Workshops of the 
Party _ Unite!" 
 
 
   
 Marine plan strays into deep water 
 SAMSON Alan 
  
  
 
A group of `undersea mountains', rich in marine life such as orange roughy and deep-water oreo, are to be put out of bounds to 
fishermen. Alan Samson reports on the resulting clash between science and commerce. 
-------------------- 
SOME sound romantic: "Cavalli", "Christable", "Diamond Head", "Aotea". Others _ such as "Pyre/Gothic" and "Rumble" _ seem 
dark and intimidating. None of them sit easily in the memory, even though there are hundreds of them around New Zealand. 
They are mountains, but of a sort most people will never see because they are underwater. 
And they are in the news now because 19 of the hundreds of deepwater "seamounts" around New Zealand are to be closed to 
bottom-trawl fishing to safeguard the marine life and habitats they support. 
Regulations enforcing the closures are expected to pass through the Cabinet process by early December. 
The decision to close off the 19, announced recently by Fisheries Minister Pete Hodgson, was a brave and controversial one 
because schools of nice-to-eat deep-sea fish _ including orange roughy and the deep-water oreo _ congregate around the 
landforms. 
Not surprisingly, commercial fisherman are attracted by the potential for big, quality catches. Even after big recent cuts to quotas, 
the orange roughy fishery remains the world's largest, earning $60 million a year. 
The decision is also controversial because the regulations _ to the dismay of the fishermen _ are expected to define seamounts as 
anything higher than 100 metres. 
Though only 19 are to be closed, the exercise is aimed at allowing further closures should special value of particular or all 
seamounts be shown. 
The potential exclusion from fishing could be immense. 
Many years ago, the deep sea was believed to be largely populated by strange-looking creatures with low food value and it 
attracted little fishing attention. But to science, the regions have long held interest, with diverse and rare species, fauna and flora, 
abounding. 
Many new species are yet to be scientifically described and it is certain that many remain to be discovered. Many of the fauna 
species are long-lived, slow-growing and slow to reproduce. 
In the deep ocean, the food supply is often sparse; around the seamounts, it is often dense. This is where science and 
environmental concerns clash with fishing interests. 
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research (Niwa) report that preceded the proposal to "rope off" the mountains 
argues strongly for preservation. 
Not least of these is a concession that there is a lack of knowledge about the fauna around some mounts and without such 
knowledge it is difficult to construct an effective plan for protecting biodiversity. 
The report says many seamounts have been fished heavily with bottom trawl gear. Many others have not been well researched, it 
says, so the degrees of diversity of habitat and fauna are not yet well known. 
Though the protection strategy is directed at particular seamounts, the report notes that much of the sea floor comprises small 
clusters of mounts, often just elevated parts of ridges. "It is unknown how biologically independent these structures are, or 
whether larger separate seamounts are discrete ecosystems," the report says. 
"Almost nothing is known about the functioning and dynamics of seamount ecosystems in New Zealand." 
Niwa recommends proceeding with caution: it is presumed a folly to allow unlimited sea-bottom trawling without a great deal 
more knowledge about effects on the ecosystem. 
IT'S nonsense, says Orange Roughy Management Company chief executive George Clement. The valuable and species-rich sides 
of steep mountains, Mr Clement says, are unfishable and any damage to the flatter, lower reaches would be "very minor". 
The closing, he says, effectively and needlessly shuts off valuable fishing areas that the New Zealand economy cannot afford to 
disregard. 
"There's very little science to demonstrate whether we're damaging these things. If we tried to manage land this way, they'd call 
us raving lunatics. 
"New Zealand can't afford to be so careless with its economic opportunities." 
It wasn't the steep sea mountains being fished, he says, but small parts of vast flats and more gradual rises. "If there's any 
damage, it is very minor in proportion to the total structure . . . 
"They're trying to create an image of Ruapehu covered in pristine rain forest, but these things are not. It's like saying, `somewhere 
in there, there's a Mt Cook, so we will have to close the bottom of the South Island so you can't get near'." 
According to Mr Clement, it is even more of a nonsense to define seamounts as any structure over 100m. Most of the sea floor, 
he says, is far too deep to fish. And, while there was obvious difficulty in estimating stock sizes of species such as orange roughy, 
the industry was doing all that it could to "err on the side of caution". 
Who's right? 
Niwa experts decline to discuss the issue because it has become "politicised". 
But a spokesman for the ministry says the alternative would have been to close everything, without consultation. 
"Our strategy has been to close a representative sample," he says. "It may take four or five years, but it's necessary to have a 
thorough research programme before making a conclusive decision." 
Are the New Zealand measures too much? 
In an article in American Scientist three years ago, American researcher Anthony Koslow concluded that the biology of deep-
water fish "defied assumptions about deep-sea life and ecology" _ and that the fish could be highly vulnerable. 
Australia, too, is now promising action, declaring its seamounts around Tasmania a "marine protected area". 
But its protected areas' legislation does not specifically preclude fishing, just requiring that such use must be "sustainable and 
consistent with the conservation values of the area". 
 
 
   
 Ugly duckling grows up;MAKING A TOP TOWN 
 MULROONEY Paul 

 Wellington's opened-up waterfront is considered one of the city's prized assets 
  
  
 
START spreading the news! The Big Apple we're not, but Wellington is dining out on pages of publicity that a few years ago it 
couldn't buy. 
When North & South named the city its top town for 2000 it completed a reversal of fortune from a previous 1994 magazine 
survey when the capital didn't even rate a mention. 
Now its praises are also being promoted abroad with the Los Angeles Times urging travellers to check out Wellington's 
absolutely, positively pleasurable attractions over any that a city like Auckland has to offer. 
Backpacker bible The Rough Guide this year also bookmarked Wellington as a top destination. 
So what happened to transform the place? 
For every corporate heavyweight to leave the city in recent years, new industries, led by information technology companies, have 
taken their place. 
The relocation of Television New Zealand to Auckland had a long-term silver lining for production staff who stayed and set out 
on their own to become the leaders in their field and play a part in making Wellington New Zealand's film capital. 
Rob MacIntyre, the chief executive of Wellington City Council's tourism trust, Totally Wellington, says that investment in 
marketing the city became a top priority. "Our Send Yourself to Wellington campaign is the largest domestic campaign in the 
country and has helped us overtake Rotorua to become the fourth busiest tourism destination in New Zealand." 
Mayor Mark Blumsky says he was converted to the city's charms a long time ago: ". .it's not something that's news to me _ I've 
been convinced of Wellington's potential since I became mayor almost five years ago." 
North & South rated New Zealand centres on criteria such as economic growth, community amenities, health resources, natural 
beauty, vibrancy, arts, design and cultural festivals, property values, city features and climate. It could not have known in the five 
weeks of research leading up to its conclusions that the Wellington Lions would crown the achievement by winning the national 
provincial rugby championships first-division title. 
Writer Bill Manhire, who is director of Victoria University's internationally renowned creative writing course, says it feels like 
the city has had a heart transplant in recent years. At times, he says, the city exudes a little bit of New York's allure, "like a whole 
series of villages sort of stacked vertically alongside one another and Wellington feels like it could be one of those villages". 
Real estate agents are also rubbing their hands in glee as they cash in on that village feeling _ and house prices have jumped. 
As the public face of the city, Mr Blumsky's input has helped too, Manhire says. "He does a good court jester act on behalf of the 
city. He cheers people up. I think his spirit has been good for the city." 
Employers Federation president Anne Knowles says she arrived in Wellington from Christchurch in 1978 full of foreboding 
because of the closed-in hills and the city's grey reputation, but now cheerfully admits "I can't see myself living anywhere else". 
As a director of Lambton Harbour Management, she cites the waterfront as one of the city's prized assets. 
Mr Blumsky says: "Wellington is a great example of a partnership that works, and it's important to acknowledge the part that 
everyone has played. I'm privileged to be mayor of a city on a roll." 
-------------------- 
IN THE past year Wellington has achieved a 3.8 per cent increase in economic growth. Between 1991 and 1996 its population 
increased by 14 per cent, with 40 per cent aged between 20 and 39, where much of the city's productivity and vitality is 
generated. 
House prices have overcome a sluggish national trend to increase nearly 12 per cent in the past year, against a national average of 
1 per cent; 27.3 per cent of homes are freehold. 
Unemployment (5.3 per cent) is lower than the national average of 6.1 per cent. New industries have moved in to replaced those 
lost to Auckland and Australia. 
Wellington workers are better qualified, too _ 23 per cent have university degrees compared with 15 per cent in Auckland and 9 
per cent in Christchurch. 
The capital is also defying its reputation for being windy and grey. Sunshine hours (2173) are above the national average of 2000 
and rainfall (1273mm) is less than Auckland's. Cafes and restaurants _ more per head of population than New York _ continue to 
challenge the elements with more alfresco wining and dining. 
The proximity of the rugged south coast beaches and hilltops means escape from the city limits is just minutes away.  

 

  
  
A PARAPARAUMU reader writes that a red climbing rose she divided and replanted two years ago is "doing all the right things" 
and looks very well, though it did not flower last year. This year, the blooms are a pale apricot. Certain varieties of rose can have 
a very slight colour shift in different soils and conditions and occasionally an established rose bush may throw a "sport". The 
much-loved Peace rose, for instance, can vary depending on conditions, but in 1962, it threw a sport, the famous Chicago Peace. 
Peace is a creamy-yellow with a faint pink blush. Chicago peace is a much stronger primrose with a strong overlay of coppery 
orange. Peace's 1965 sport, Kronenbourg, on the other hand, has petals of solid, deep crimson, with an old-gold reverse. Both 
sports have the same growing characteristics as the parent plant and at first both the parent and the sport would have grown on 
the one bush. A remote possibility is that the red rose may have been grafted on to rootstock of a red rose and the rootstock has 
taken over from the graft buds. People we spoke to felt the possibility of a red rose changing to soft apricot was genetically 
impossible. 
* * * 
THE Waiwhetu Uniting Church Women's Fellowship has organised a nine-garden meander on Sunday from 1pm to 4pm. Tickets 
are $12 from Noella Dobson: Tel 569-8816 or e-mail: noella@ paradise.net.nz 
* * * 
Otaki Horticultural Society's Rose Show is on today from 2pm to 5pm and tomorrow from 10am to 4pm at the Presbyterian 
Church Hall, Mill Rd. Contact John McLennan (06) 364-7229. 
* * * 
READERS are welcome to write to Bethney McLennan, Editor, The Dominion Garden Page, Box 1297, Wellington, e-mail: 
becklenn@ actrix.co.nz 
 
 
  Bright ideas with lavender 

 Stoechas are the best lavender for decoration, as shown on this wedding cake, far left. Above left, Velda Frobarth and Betty 
Snell have joined forces to teach others how to make things with lavender, some of which are shown below left 
  
  
 
There's no end to the ways in which lavender can be used to delight the senses, Bethney McLennan learns at Velda Frobarth and 
Betty Snell's workshop 
-------------------- 
LAVENDER in every shade and shape is nearing the peak of its season, to the delight of garden visitors and bees. Unlike so 
many transient summer pleasures, its beauty and scent can be captured and enjoyed for months, and even years, to come. 
Velda Frobarth and Betty Snell, guest speakers at last weekend's Hunter's Garden Marlborough, have discovered countless ways 
of making lavender linger, from delicious preserves to lavender beads and bath lotions. 
Lavender should be harvested when the dew has dried but before the sun is too hot. If you want to dry flower heads, pick before 
too many florets have opened, but for lavender bags, open flowers are fine. Any of the English lavenders, the angustifolias, are 
best for making scented products because they have a pure scent. The stoechas, with their beautiful tufts of bracts, are lovely for 
decorative use. 
Bunch lavender tightly _ a firm rubber band is best because it shrinks as the stems dry and stops the bunches falling apart. Hang 
in a dark, warm place, such as the hotwater cupboard, to dry. 
When stripping the dry heads, it's a good idea to wear surgical gloves. It makes for a clean, quick job and prevents tiny splinters 
damaging your fingers. Some slivers are so fine they are impossible to see. 
Several of the recipes from Velda and Betty's Bouquet of Lavender booklet use lavender oil. They recommend careful shopping 
for a pure oil. Making lavender oil is an involved distillation process not possible at home. Only very small amounts of oil are 
needed. 
LAVENDER BEADS 
A lovely way to carry the lavender scent about and a very pretty accessory. 
1 cup flour 
3 tbsp salt 
2 cups lavender heads 
blue and red food colouring 
Grind the heads very fine (Betty recommends the food processor with the window open). Mix with the flour and enough water to 
make a plasticine-consistency dough, then add food colouring to get a good lavender shade and several drops of lavender oil. 
Knead till smooth and pliable, then roll into the size of bead you want. Thread on to oiled florists' wire and leave to dry for three 
or four days. The mixture can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge and is enough to make several necklaces. 
LAVENDER LIP SALVE 
Ideal for preventing chapped lips. To make a coloured version, add the last bit of a favourite lipstick. 
2 tsp beeswax 
1 tsp lavender oil 
4 tsp almond oil 
Melt the beeswax in a double boiler or bowl over a pot of boiling water, then add the oils. Pour into a little pot while still warm 
and leave to set. 
LAVENDER LIQUID SOAP 
Betty and Velda recommend Simple Soap because it melts well. They warn that this soap looks quite thin at first. Don't be 
tempted to add more grated soap because it thickens as it cools. 
6 tbsp of grated, unscented soap 
600ml water 
5 tbsp glycerine 
4 drops of lavender oil 
natural food colouring (optional) 
Melt soap and water in a bowl over a pot of boiling water, then add the glycerine. Remove from the heat and stir in the lavender 
oil and colour. Bottle and cork when cool but not too thick. 
LAVENDER BATH GEL 
This one is great for children because the ingredients do not sting and any colour can be used. 
1 cup of baby shampoo 
1 cup boiling water 
1 tbsp gelatine 
4 drops of lavender essential oil 
Add food colouring. Combine in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water. Pour into containers to set. 
BUBBLE BATH (for grown-ups) 
3<<1/2>> cups of clear, mild dishwashing liquid 
oil from five vitamin E capsules 
a drop of lavender food colouring 
2 tbsp glycerine 
1 tbsp sugar 
20 drops of essential oil 
Mix till sugar is dissolved and bottle. 
CANDLES 
Floating, coated and in all shapes and sizes, they are a great way to scent the air. Wick and candlewax are available from craft 
shops. Use grated crayon for colouring. An easy way to get candles out of patty pans, or whatever you have used, is to pop them 
in the fridge for a while before unmoulding. Use chocolate moulds to make tiny floating candles. When making shallow candles, 
pull the wicks through the set candles using a hot darning needle. If making lots of candles, make holes with a fine drill bit. Use 
the back of a warm teaspoon to set the end of the wick underneath and always wax the tip of the wick so it will light properly. 
Velda made pretty firelighters by setting small conifer cones in scented, coloured wax in patty pans. Put a few drops of the wax 
on the tip of the cone for easy lighting. 
Morning tea at the workshop was, naturally, all lavender-flavoured _ from lavender and mint jelly to muffins and shortbread. 
For a special treat, these lavender meringues are deceptively easy to make: Whizz 3 tbsp of dried lavender flowers and 3 tbsp of 
sugar in a blender to get a fine dust, then sift with 250gm of icing sugar into a bowl. In another bowl, beat 4 egg whites and a 
drop of lemon juice till peaked. Fold in the lavender and sugar mix. Put small spoonfuls on a lined baking tray and cook in a 
preheated oven at 100 degrees celsius for 2 to 3 hours. Join together with <<1/2>> cup of cream, stiffly beaten, mixed with 1 tbsp 
dried lavender flowers and icing sugar. 
 
 
  The rough with the smooth 

 Snow gums have grey or reddish-brown bark that peels in irregular strips to reveal white and beige under-bark 
  
THERE'S something about trees that makes people want to touch them. Often, it's the stout, tall trunk that seems to be waiting for 
someone to pat the solid structure. 
Even more touchable are those with unusual bark. Interesting bark is a bonus that some trees add to their qualifications as 
worthwhile garden specimens. Who cannot resist the peeling bark of the cinnamon-brown paper bark maple (Acer griseum) or 
the silvery paper birch (Betula papyrifera). Other birches also peel attractively, like the black birch (Betula nigra), whose flaking 
and curling bark is pinkish brown on young trees and blackish red on older specimens. 
Colourful bark is always a plus. The birch bark flowering cherry (Prunus serrula) is prized for its polished, mahogany limbs and 
peeling bark. Patterns in bark are also fascinating, like the green and white stripes of the snake bark maple (Acer davidii). 
Trees with interesting bark usually need the lower limbs trimmed off at an early stage so that the bark can be seen and large 
wounds are not left to mar the effect. Regular shaping is the key to revealing the full potential of the bark. 
The trees I have mentioned all have other worthy features as well, being deciduous and therefore having colourful autumn leaves. 
Prunus serrula also has the bonus of white blossoms appearing with the new foliage in spring. 
However, they are definitely trees that require shelter to be at their best, and should be planted in the lee of tall windbreak trees in 
coastal gardens. 
If you're looking for a tough tree that has great bark and can handle coastal conditions, you might find an answer among the 
gnarled and rugged trunks of pine trees. Before you say, oh no, not the ubiquitous Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), think of smaller, 
more interesting pines to choose from. 
These evergreen trees are character actors rather than raving beauties, and their bark is often furrowed and cracked. One whose 
reddish-brown bark is cracked into thousands of plate-like shards is the maritime pine (Pinus pinaster). Then there's the Japanese 
black pine (Pinus thunbergii), which has purplish-black bark. In its native country, elite gardeners carefully trim the horizontal 
branches to an open, airy framework. If you suffer from hay fever, the late winter pollen of pines may irritate the eyes and nose. 
Another evergreen that tolerates some salt wind, though it's not as resistant as the pines, is the heart-leaf silver gum (Eucalyptus 
cordata), whose smooth, white bark develops green or purple patches. 
One of the best eucalypts for fascinating bark is the snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora), but it's not coast-hardy, so give it shelter 
from salt winds. Its reddish-brown or grey bark peels in irregular strips, revealing white and beige under-bark. The trunk may 
twist and form unusual distortions when grown in exposed high-altitude areas. 
 
Text your pal - it's equally as buzzy 
  
 
VICTORIA University's Professor of Politics, Margaret Clark, asked me at the annual meeting of the National Press Club to put a small nail in 
the coffin of a particularly annoying expression: saying or writing equally as. 
Professor Clark says she finds people increasingly say situations or things are equally as good. 
Now that she's mentioned it, I'm on the lookout for instances of this tautology. 
Dear old Fowler goes further and calls it illiterate tautology, pointing out that you can say equally good or as good, but not both at once. 
Nothing wrong with saying just as good, of course. 
THE presumptuous fuss over my using e-mail as a verb has prompted Matt Powell to nail a new verb used by yuppies whose cellular phones 
permit them to send one another text messages. 
Why they should want to do this I can't imagine, but there it is. And when they do, they recall the event to others similarly equipped by reporting, 
"So-and-so texted me". 
They should stick with message, newly recognised by Oxford but not by some other dictionaries as a verb in its own right. 
TIM ADAMS spotlights one of the worst excesses of fashionable gobbledegook either of us have seen in quite a while. 
He found it in a report about compliance, the burdensome duty imposed on corporations to abide by legislation. 
The report, quoting Energy Minister Pete Hodgson on the responsibilities of gas producers, referred to the use of mandatory optimised deprival 
methodology for the way they value their assets. 
Tim suggests someone in the industry has discovered an unusually powerful and sophisticated piece of equipment generating buzzwords. 
But I tried it on a chap who makes a living out of telling corporations how to comply with their compliance obligations, and he didn't bat an 
eyelid, claiming it "would be right". 
I AM indebted to Greg Fleming for passing on these mock-definitions from the Washington Post, whose staff should have better things to do than 
persuade readers to make up words by adding, subtracting or changing one letter and supplying a new definition. 
Intaxication is the euphoria you feel on getting a tax refund, which lasts till you realise it was your money to start with. And karmageddon is, like, 
when everybody is sending off all these bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer. 
frankhaden@wordsonline.co.nz
 
   Winston and the wild bunch 

 Winston Peters with Rodney, one of his two Kaimanawa horses . . . `Rodney [named after ACT NZ's Rodney Hide] is the quieter one and the 
better-looking one.' The other horse is called Richard, after ACT leader Richard Prebble. 
  
Helen Bain finds out what has become of some of the 1000 Kaimanawa horses sold at auction in 1997, two of which where adopted by NZ First 
leader Winston Peters 
-------------------- 
WINSTON PETERS may have been called a cowboy on occasions, but at least he's a cowboy with a horse. Two horses, in fact. 
Mr Peters adopted two Kaimanawa horses, Rodney and Richard _ named after his ACT NZ foes Rodney Hide and Richard Prebble _ in 1997, 
when hundreds of the wild horses were sold following concerns that they were damaging the environment in the Kaimanawa Ranges. 
These days you would never recognise Rodney and Richard as the two sorry-looking chaps they were when they first arrived, Mr Peters says. 
"They were in very bad shape when they arrived and they are looking great now. But they aren't overweight _ they exercise themselves running 
around the paddock for half an hour at a time and playing." 
Now "living in paradise" on a Northland farm, Richard will be six and Rodney four this year. The pair are part-broken, and are soon to embark on 
the next stage of their education. 
"We are taking it very slowly; we want to do things right. I'll probably get them broken after winter, so in the Christmas holidays I can go horse-
riding," Mr Peters says. 
"They are a very sociable horse. They come running when I call them _ when Rodney sees even my car he comes running across the paddock. 
Rodney is the quieter one and the better-looking one. Richard is quite solid, and Rodney is the more athletic one." 
The ponies are not very big at just over 14 hands, but they are very strong and "they could go all day and night", Mr Peters says. 
"When they arrived they were unbelievably wild. We got them off a stock truck into a pen, and they tried to jump out. It took nine days to get 
them to come up to us. We did it by feeding them every day _ grass, bran and treacle, because we discovered they have a real sweet tooth. But 
they are a bit like journalists _ if you give them too much they just get out of control." 
And, no, they don't display any of the character traits of their namesakes, Mr Peters says. 
"As I have with the ones in politics, I've trained it out of them." 
Golden Bay rare-breeds farmer Matthew Benge is also well-pleased with his Kaimanawa horses. He bought two stallions and several mares, and 
bred five filly foals this year. 
Most of the mares are being ridden, usually in recreational riding, and one is doing well in pony club competition. 
His aim is to maintain a small herd of the Exmoor-type ponies _ small, and dark brown, with a light muzzle _ which made up the wild herd in the 
northern Kaimanawa Ranges. 
"They are wonderful horses. They are very strong to carry anyone and agile," Mr Benge says. 
Their hooves were so hard he couldn't put normal horseshoe nails through them, so had to use specially hardened nails. But mostly their hooves 
are so tough they don't need shoes. 
"They are very playful, just like dogs. I can get one of my stallions to jump up on the back of my ute and stand there. They are very clever and 
confident and have a lovely nature, and they are just incredibly good jumpers," he says. 
"My first stallion arrived in the truck and I put a rope on him. Within 10 minutes I had him leading, and by the next day he would nuzzle me like I 
was his mum. People assumed they would be really wild, but they are easier to break in than tame horses." 
In the wild, as many as 80 per cent of the foals die in their first year, Mr Benge says. "That's why the survivors are so good _ it's survival of the 
fittest. They don't get sick, they don't injure themselves." 
Another advantage is that the horses "live on almost nothing", and never lose weight, he says. 
One of the mares was so old that she had to be put down, leaving a motherless newborn foal, Mistress, but that story had a happy ending. "I read 
in an old book that you could use a goat to feed foals. I didn't believe it, but I thought it was worth a try, so we put the foal in with our goat, 
Bayley, and she went right up and started to suckle and never looked back. It was freaky. The goat and the foal became good mates _ they still 
hang out together." 
The Kaimanawa horse auction was also a special event for Lisa Garrod and her partner, Bryan Ramage. It wasn't quite a case of their eyes 
meeting across a crowded stockyard, but they did meet at the auction and were a couple less than two months later. 
Since then they have had a daughter, Tara, two, and keep 11 Kaimanawa horses on their Taranaki farm. 
In "shocking" condition when they arrived, after worming and grazing in a 20-hectare (50-acre) paddock of "good tucker", the ponies quickly put 
on weight. 
Now they are proving excellent as "bombproof" children's ponies, and Ms Garrod expects they will go on to do well in showjumping and 
eventing. 
The couple plan to set up a trekking business, and expect that the fact that the horses are Kaimanawa ponies will be a drawcard.


Audi turns safety into a cool look 

Audi TT Coupe . . . its rollover bars are a design feature 
  
 
AUDI says it has built the roadster version of its TT Coupe to be driven with the roof down and without sacrificing safety, comfort or 
performance. 
The TT Roadster makes a design feature of its two rollover bars, which Audi says are an integral part of the body and make a big contribution to 
safety and structural rigidity. 
The doors, windscreen frame and A-pillars are reinforced, too, and there are dual front and side airbags as well as pyrotechnic seatbelt pre-
tensioners. 
Standard equipment includes anti-lock braking with electronic pressure distribution, an electronic differential lock and electronic stability control. 
Front-drive versions have traction control. The turbo-charged, four-cylinder, five valves-per-cylinder engines produce 132 and 165 kilowatts. The 
quattro has the more powerful version, which has a larger turbo with an intercooler. 
The 132kW engine used in the $82,990 front-drive roadster is said to be good for a 0-100km sprint in 7.7 seconds, compared with 6.7 seconds in 
the $99,990 quattro. 
Peak torque of 235 and 280 Newton-metres is available from 1950 to 5000 revs in the 132kW engine and from 2200-5500 revs in the 165kW 
version. 
Equipment includes a power-operated hood with a large, heated rear window, an electrically retractable glass windbreak, central locking and 
lockable compartments for smaller items in a panel behind the seats.

 Powerful Ti suits me fine 
 LAMB Rae 
  
THE leather-upholstered Nissan Maxima Ti test car is handsome enough, in an afternoon soap opera star sort of way, and is just as hard to 
remember after a while. 
The Maxima's performance is a whole lot better than your average soap star's, however, and if I was into large cars with powerful engines, the 
Maxima would suit me fine, especially if it was a company car. 
It is well built and five adults can fit into it without fear of knocking knees, rubbing shoulders or scrambling for luggage space in the cavernous 
boot. They also get three adjustable headrests. 
The body still looks a lot like the previous model's, but there are new head and tail lights and the front and rear screens have been raked more 
steeply to give the big sedan a sleeker look. 
The front seats are comfortable and supportive and the back seats have three lap-sash belts. 
Safety features include dual airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners and load limiters, anti-lock brakes and side impact beams in the doors. There is 
also a "zone body", which Nissan says absorbs, or deflects, front and rear crash impacts and provides a safety restraint zone that acts as a 
protective shell around passengers. It sounds impressive, but after travelling up and down State Highway 1 at Easter, I would like to see another 
safety feature _ a device in the front that slows the car down when the driver gets too close to the vehicle ahead and another in the back that has 
the same effect if a following vehicle gets too close. 
There are good road safety reasons for this, but it would also stop my husband complaining about tailgaters.
 
 Changes bring Maxima effect 
 WILLIAMS Murray 

 Customers get more metal for their money with Nissan's new Maxima 
  
 
NISSAN'S Maxima has long been a strong seller in the large car segment, outselling six-cylinder versions of the other front-drive Japanese cars, 
the Toyota Camry and Mitsubishi Diamante. 
The latest version offers even more metal for the customers' money, as it will need to with Toyota's Avalon replacing the Camry V6 this winter, 
and is longer (160 millimetres) and higher (20mm). 
The Maxima is priced from $41,995 for the entry-level ST to $45,495 for the more luxurious Ti, and has different grilles to distinguish the 
models: the Ti has an Infiniti design from Nissan's luxury car division and power controls for the driver's seat. A $3500 luxury pack adds leather 
upholstery and power controls for the passenger seat. 
The 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine, a revised version of the previous model's, is more powerful, too, and the changes have boosted power by 15 
kilowatts to 157kW, and torque from 278Nm at 4000 revs to 291Nm at 3600rpm, not that it really needed the extra grunt. 
The quad cam 24-valver has been judged one of the 10 best engines in the world for the past five years, one of only two to make the Ward's Auto 
World list five times. 
Changes to what the American publication's editors called "the smoothest, rev-happiest V6 on the planet" include a variable-length manifold and 
management system revisions. The engine is good for a 0-100kmh sprint in about eight seconds and cruises at around 2500 revs in fourth. 
The rear suspension has been redesigned, too. The lateral link has been relocated behind the torsion beam and there is a thicker anti-roll bar. 
The longer wheelbase and wider, lower profile tyres improve ride and handling, but the Maxima is still more of an executive express than a 
driver's car. 
Its engine is wonderful and the four-speed automatic transmission shifts up and down smoothly. 
However, the steering remains light and not very communicative and though the handling is secure, it does not induce drivers to look for the 
winding way home. 
The cabin is now 150mm longer, with 35mm more legroom for front and rear passengers plus 18 per cent more luggage space, thanks to a higher 
boot lid. 
Standard equipment in the ST includes anti-lock brakes, air-conditioning, alloy wheels, leather-covered steering wheel and gear selector, power 
windows and mirrors, cruise control, remote central-locking and a six-speaker sound system with a six-stack CD shuttle. 
Ti additions include climate control air, 16-inch alloys with lower profile 215/55 VR16 tyres and velour trim. The ST runs on 15-inch alloys with 
205/65 VR15s. 
The driving position is comfortable, with front and rear height adjustment for the driver's seat and lumbar adjustment. The steering wheel and 
power window controls have been moved forward and the shift selector back. Switches and controls are easy to find and use. 
SPECIFICATIONS 
Engine: 2988cc quad cam 24-valve V6. 
Power: 157kW at 6400rpm. 
Torque: 291Nm at 3600rpm. 
Transmission: Four-speed automatic. 
Suspension: Front strut, rear multi-link beam with lateral link. 
Brakes: Disc, front ventilated. ABS. 
Dimensions (mm): Length 4930, width 1780, height 1435, wheelbase 2750.
 
 PIT STOPS 
  
 
 
* FORD has upgraded its Mondeo range adding a new model with a new name: Zetec. It replaces the GLX Mondeo. The range starts with the 
2.0-litre LX sedan, which now has anti-lock brakes, and there are petrol and diesel LX wagons. The Zetec liftback is available in manual 
($36,450) or automatic ($37,950). Its twin-cam 96-kilowatt/180-Newton-metre engine has an alloy ladder frame between the block and crank 
case. This is said to increase powertrain assembly rigidity by 30 per cent. 
The strut front-quadra link rear suspension has been upgraded and safety measures include dual airbags, front seatbelt pre-tensioners, anti-
submarining front seats, a wide angle driver's mirror and a three-point belt in the rear centre seat. Equipment includes a rear spoiler, front 
foglights, alloy wheels, a remote-control CD stereo and a two-step remote central locking. 
* THE Subaru Legacy was the only one of seven medium-size models to get a top rating in a crash-worthiness survey run by the Insurance 
Institute for Highway Safety in the United States. The test was a 65kmh frontal offset crash. 
The Legacy also topped a J D Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey in Britain with the highest score of 115 models. Another 
Subaru, the Impreza, was runner up. 
* HONDA'S prestige Acura has topped the annual J D Power initial quality survey in the United States. Acura models are sold in New Zealand as 
the Honda Legend, NSX and Integra. Honda was seventh overall, behind BMW and Porsche but ahead of Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Audi and 
Volvo. 
* A NEW car-to-car crash test will emulate about 60 per cent of fatal collisions, unlike fixed barrier tests which Honda says simulate impacts 
between vehicles of the same weight only. 
The test is a 50 per cent frontal offset crash with a two-tonne vehicle with both vehicles travelling at 50kmh then 55kmh.
 
  
 
A 1920s five-bedroom brick house at 10 Maire St, Eastbourne, has been sold by Madeleine Fraser of Leaders for more than $700,000. The two-
storey house designed by William Gray Young is on a landscaped section and has a garage with studio above it. The property has a $580,000 
government valuation. 
* * * 
A home with character and a large modern kitchen at 90 Wexford Rd, Miramar, has been sold by Michael Gray of L J Hooker Miramar for more 
than $230,000. The property has three to four bedrooms, with a drive-on and garage. The government valuation is $230,000. 
* * * 
A home with more than a hectare of land at 34 Tieko St, Otaihanga, north of Paraparaumu, has been sold by Harcourts for $324,000. Ross 
Dowdie was marketing agent for the cedar-clad three-bedroom home. The property has a $242,000 government valuation and outstanding views. 
* * * 
A modern two-bedroom apartment in The Tea Store, a converted warehouse building in Egmont St, Te Aro, has been sold by Bethunes for more 
than $246,000. The unit has heart matai floors and brick exterior walls. It was the third apartment in the development sold by Bethunes in recent 
weeks. All were sold to owner-occupiers. A government valuation is yet to be issued. 
* * * 
A Fountain Court apartment, 12A, at Oriental Pde, has been sold by Everard Aspell of Leaders for slightly more than its $255,000 government 
valuation. The art deco apartment is across the road from the Wellington City New World supermarket. 
* * * 
A 1970s three-bedroom home at 57 River Rd, Masterton, has been sold for $59,500 by Richard Schoefield of Guardian First National Greytown. 
The property has a $46,500 government valuation, quality chattels and a 716 square metre section. 
* * * 
A rural one hectare plus section at Kensington Drive, Peka Peka, has been sold by Harcourts for $112,000. Lot 19, which was marketed by 
Andrew Pearce, has sweeping views. A government valuation is yet to be issued.
 
 Warmth, charm in a picture-book garden 
 MORAN Paul 

 The Wadestown bungalow, surrounded by greenery 
  
 
 
THE comfortable character bungalow has that extra touch of charm. 
In its cul-de-sac setting at 23 Margaret St, the 1920s Wadestown bungalow is framed by trees and hedges, with a lavender-bordered cobbled 
pathway and lawns inside its front gate. 
Owners Geoff Vogel and Carol Storer have thoroughly enjoyed the house and its surroundings. 
The sunny, pretty section and greenery, coupled with the bungalow's older features and refurbishment, add up to an attractive residential 
environment. 
Mr Vogel and Ms Storer moved in six years ago and have carried out upgradings since then. 
"We had been looking for properties in close proximity to the central city, and the moment we walked in here, we both liked it," Ms Storer said. 
"The home had sun, a lovely indoor-outdoor flow, and it had a warm feeling . . . it's a very warm home." 
Mr Vogel said the privacy and flat section also appealed. "It's a friendly little street . . . lots of kids." 
A profusion of greenery, including camellias, rhododendrons and a lemon tree, provides a backdrop to the two compact front lawns. A picture-
book lawn also lies at the back of the section. 
Next to the back lawn is a spacious paved patio with a covered deck leading into the house. 
The house, built of classic 1920s bevel-backed weatherboard, roughcast concrete and a Colorsteel roof, has bay and leadlight windows, picture 
railings, polished matai floors, and Oregon pine doors. It has views to the hills. 
The lounge has an open fireplace and is separated from the dining room by an entrance that can be closed by bifold and single doors. The open-
plan kitchen and family room open to the back deck. The family room has big windows, and the kitchen a stainless-steel bench and halogen 
lights. 
There are three double bedrooms with generous built-in wardrobe space, and a stylish bathroom with oval bath. There is a tandem garage at the 
front of the house and another garage at the rear. 
Marketing agent Nicholas Reeve, of Leaders, said the home should have wide appeal. The land is 469 square metres, the floor area 150 square 
metres, and the 1999 gv $433,000.
 
 Setting the right tones 
 NORMAN Gil 
 
 The colours of 33 Blue Pacific Pde reflect the twilight hues of the area 

 
 
 
COLOUR has been used without inhibition on a notable house on a prime beachfront section at Riversdale, on the Wairarapa coast. 
Situated at 33 Blue Pacific Pde the house is almost hidden from view, but hints of the twilight colours used on the exterior are visible down the 
short driveway between trees and shrubs. 
The five-bedroomed house, which includes a separate guest suite and a sleep-out, is about 100 metres from the water's edge which is reached 
through a well-developed sunken garden and the sand dunes. 
It has undergone various upgrades since it was built about 27 years ago as a home with room for holiday stays or weekend bed and breakfasts. 
The main entrance is reached up a flight of wooden steps which lead to a painted front deck and glass doors that open into a spacious living area. 
A second deck on the eastern side of the room overlooks a sunken garden and the sea. 
The bold colour concepts adopted by the owner, poet-artist Jacqui Elers, on the exterior continue inside but with tonings which capture the sea 
and the sky. 
The living area is framed by big windows and glass doors that open on to the decks and flows through to a modern kitchen area in one corner and 
a dining room in the other. 
A sea-green carpet covers the living area floor and the timber floors in the kitchen area are lightly stained. The living and kitchen area walls are a 
pale cream, but the dining area breaks out into bold inky blues. 
A two-level stair well runs between the kitchen and the front door down to the ground level bedroom, bathroom and guest suite area. 
The owner said she had used the colours on the exterior to capture the morning and evening beach area twilight colours with indigo blue 
reflecting the sea, the plum colours the sunsets and sunrises, and a purple-like scarlet the shaded areas. 
The property is being marketed by Lorraine Ramsey of Ray White Real Estate at Riversdale Beach and has a 1998 government valuation of 
$200,000, which was set before alterations were made. The property has since been valued at $250,000. Rates are $724 and the asking price is 
$265,000.

Fraud's many faces 

 Jo-Anne Cole assumed many different looks for her false identities . . . police involved with the case say she was proud of her ability as a 
fraudster and she treated her offending as if it was a job. 
  
Jo-Anne Cole knew how to spend other people's money with style, but yesterday she paid the penalty_four-and-a-half years in prison. Melanie 
Carroll reports. 
-------------------- 
Jo-Anne Mary Cole spun a complex web of deceit as she lived the high life using an elaborate filing system to keep track of the 22 separate 
identities that allowed her to carry out her $452,000 fraud. 
Her catalogue of identities had grown so large that when she was admitted to hospital earlier this year and her daughter tried to send her flowers 
they were returned. Cole had been admitted under one of her false names. 
It was not till Cole's American friend, Adrienne Benson, tried to leave the country earlier this year on a passport fraudulently obtained by Cole 
that police were able to arrest Cole. 
Police say they had been on to Cole, but unable to find her till Benson was picked up at Auckland International Airport with the passport. 
The police version of the events that led to the unravelling of her web of deceit had Cole offering Benson the chance to meet her birth mother, 
though in reality there was no birth mother here. 
When Benson arrived in New Zealand Cole showed her what she told Benson was her birth certificate on arrival. Benson applied for a passport 
using the birth certificate believing it to be legitimate. 
The immigration service picked Benson up at Auckland International Airport on April 2 using a passport that shared many details with Cole's 
four other false passports. 
Three days later Benson told police Cole's Whitby address, which they searched later that day. 
Benson was later convicted and discharged on three passport offences arising from her use of the fake passport. 
Timaru-born Cole, 43, was sentenced yesterday to four-and-a-half years' imprisonment after being convicted on 138 charges of fraud, 10 passport 
offences and 17 breaches of the Electoral Act in Porirua District Court last month. 
Cole used the same techniques to manufacture false identities as those used by the assassin in Frederick Forsyth's Day of the Jackal, taking over 
the names of dead babies. Copies of his novels were found by police when they searched her house. 
Detective Sergeant Roy Parker of Auckland's fraud squad says police were on to Cole, operating out of Auckland, by the end of last year but did 
not know where to find her. 
"Cole's scam was very clever. But she knew very well it would have come to an end sooner or later if she kept on with it," Mr Parker says. "She'd 
moved from her Auckland address and we wanted to find her quickly because the fraud was on-going." 
When police arrested her at her Whitby home on April 7, retailer Newbolds rang about delivery of a new 41-inch projector television. Police told 
them not to bother. 
Mr Parker says he can give no explanation for Benson's inclusion in the secret. "I can't understand why she let someone else in. The less people 
that know the better." 
Detective Constable Rob Gold, of Waitangirua, talks with grudging admiration about Cole, described as a student on her charge sheet, who 
racked up almost $500,000 in fraud. 
Her motive was greed, and she treated the fraud like a job. She admitted to a large part of the offending when confronted by police almost two 
months ago. 
COLE is a veteran, and pioneer, of the 0900 phone line business, setting up the first in Christchurch, though she insists she was not actively 
involved with the sex lines. When Telecom changed laws governing the 0900 phone lines she left for Australia in 1996 under her married name, 
because she had already committed the first of her crimes_insurance fraud worth about $50,000. 
She returned in December 1998 on a fraudulent English passport under an assumed name, telling friends she was living off the proceeds of the 
successful phone business in Australia. 
She moved to Whitby in January to be with her daughter, who had been adopted out at birth and who was now pregnant. 
Cole launched her system of identities at an Auckland graveyard, noting the names on babies' headstones born in the late 1950s or early 1960s. 
She used their birth certificates and, along with two identities created from scratch, she forged documents to obtain credit cards, bank accounts, 
furniture and jewellery. 
She used a simple computer drawing program to create overseas birth certificates, driver's licences and a degree from an American university. 
She also invented an advertising business that provided references for her identities. 
To tide herself over during lean times, she enrolled five identities as students, living off the allowances and three student loans as a student of 
psychology and media studies. 
A large woman, she was skilled in exploiting the powers of appearance. 
"She said people don't look big people in the eye, they look everywhere else but. That doesn't mean she deliberately put on weight, but she knew 
how to use it to her advantage," Mr Gold says. 
Cole is a proud woman, he says, and loves to be told she is New Zealand's premier credit card fraudster. 
To paraphrase a quote about American billionaire investor Warren Buffett, most of what Cole did could be copied by the average person, but her 
genius was largely a genius of character_of patience, discipline and rationality. 
Cole's discipline netted her $452,471.75 in 16 months. 
About $100,000 of that was cash advances on credit cards which will be nearly impossible to track down. 
"I'd been looking back through the folders when I saw a piece of paper we'd missed, for a car worth $16,000," Mr Gold says. 
Cole dumped one car, a new Honda Prelude, at Auckland International Airport when she left on a $125,000, six-week overseas holiday with her 
mother late last year. "She told us she had a peek out of the airport bus when she came back to see if it was still there, and had a bit of a chuckle." 
She also took a new car on a one-way trip to the Sky City casino, another beneficiary of her ill-gotten gains. 
Police say she took an evening gown to prison, and at a police interview she wore about $15,000 in jewellery, including a gold Rolex watch. 
While overseas with her mother, she spent $5000 in a day at Saks Fifth Avenue, and similar amounts at Harrods and department store Nordstrom, 
as well as just over $4000 on two days' accommodation at Euro-Disney at New Year. 
She told police that while in London she cut up credit cards for 10 of her identities and scattered them over the M1 motorway. 
Mr Gold has several large boxes containing Cole's files, and charts drawn up by police to keep track of her identities and spending. 
Police found her complex filing system hidden behind the fridge at her home, complete with photos, cue cards outlining the important facts for 
each identity, and a checklist of the spending capability for each, including which credit cards had been declined. 
Auckland police originally asked Porirua to investigate Cole for a suspected $100,000 of fraud after she moved down to Wellington, an 
investigation police dubbed Operation Snowball. 
"We thought it might go over $150,000, then over $250,000, and it just went up and up. Taking into account the Christchurch fraud it's over 
$500,000." 
The 165 charges are only a representative portion of the real list of charges, which would be in the thousands, police say. 
Police have recovered $81,435.17 and filed an application to seize her property. Whatever is left over from debts or can be traced back to owners 
such as finance companies will be given to the Crown. 
Speaking several weeks before her sentencing yesterday, Mr Gold said he expected Cole would get three years' prison maximum, and probably 
two. 
"If she gets two years, it's not much for the amount of fun she had. She had a great time."
 
 The fine art of making tiny `sammies' 
  
 
 
Our kitchen deals daily with hundreds of cocktail sandwiches_a specialised member of the sandwich family. Other cocktail food designed to be 
eye-catching, like skewered salmon ribbons with a Japanese marinade or little omelette rolls with crab and mango, pale into insignificance in the 
punters' eyes when there is a tray of tasty cocktail sandwiches circulating. 
I personally despair of all the clumsy big sandwiches in cafes. You need to be in the bath before you eat them and they play havoc with a girl's 
lipstick. 
Many cooks believe that little sandwiches have to be made just before eating, but we have developed tricks so we can make sandwiches the day 
before. 
Begin with the freshest ingredients, including the bread, and store sandwiches in the fridge in plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. 
Put sandwich liners, or greaseproof paper, between each layer of sandwiches and don't combine more than one variety in a container. 
Take the container out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving sandwiches so they are not "fridgey" cold. 
To prevent sogginess, seal the bread with butter and mayonnaise. Slice wet items like tomatoes or cucumber, lightly sprinkle with salt and place 
slices on paper towels for 15-20 minutes so that the moisture drains before you put the slices in a sandwich. 
We make do with the white sliced sandwich bread available in supermarkets, but were part of the protest when thinner-sliced white sandwich 
bread was withdrawn from product ranges. Sandwiches have never been quite the same. 
Did you know that Prince Charles travels with a little black box stacked with cocktail sandwiches? 
-------------------- 
Little Onion Sandwiches 
(Makes 30 cocktail sandwiches) 
Ingredients 
10 slices white sandwich bread 
About cup sandwich mayonnaise 
1 small onion (peeled and sliced very thinly) 
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground pepper 
1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley 
Method 
Using a 3.5cm straight-edged cookie cutter, cut six rounds out of each slice of bread. Spread each round generously with mayonnaise. Place onion 
slices on half of rounds, season and use the other half to complete sandwiches. Spread remaining mayonnaise on to a chopping board. Sprinkle 
parsley on to a plate. Hold each sandwich lightly between the thumb and finger so that it will turn like a wheel. Roll edge of sandwich into 
mayonnaise, then into parsley. Store till required. 
Hipi Iti, Sun-dried Tomato and Pesto Sandwiches 
(Makes 28 cocktail sandwiches) 
In 1994 I cooked dinner for Prince Charles at Premier House. With the drinks before dinner, the prince enjoyed this sandwich so much he asked 
me for the recipe. I hope his chefs included it in the black box. 
Ingredients 
butter for buttering bread (softened) 
14 slices white sandwich bread 
about cup mayonnaise 
fancy lettuce 
450g (5 rounds) Hipi Iti Cheese* 
100g sundried tomatoes (finely chopped) 
about cup basil pesto 
Method 
Butter all slices of bread. Spread a layer of mayonnaise over half the slices and cover with lettuce. Cut Hipi Iti into 4mm thick slices. Place four 
slices (in a single layer) on top of the lettuce. Sprinkle the sundried tomatoes over the Hipi Iti. Spread the remaining slices of bread with basil 
pesto and use to top the sandwiches. Using an electric knife, remove the crusts and cut each sandwich into four triangles. Store until required. 
* Hipi Iti is a ewe's milk feta cheese from Kapiti Cheeses. 
Roast Chicken, Herb Stuffing and Bacon Sandwiches 
(Makes 20 cocktail sandwiches) 
This is the ultimate chicken club sandwich. At Christmas time substitute turkey for chicken. 
Ingredients 
400g chicken breasts 
olive oil 
freshly ground pepper 
250g or about 9 slices bacon (finely chopped) 
butter for buttering bread 
15 slices white sandwich bread 
lettuce of your choice (washed) 
Maldon sea salt, freshly ground pepper 
1 recipe Herb Stuffing (sliced) 
about cup mayonnaise 
quince jelly 
Method 
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Spray chicken with olive oil and place on a low-sided baking tray, season with pepper and roast for 15-20 
minutes or tlil cooked. Cool, chill and then slice. Reduce the oven temperature to 150C. Place bacon on a low-sided baking tray and cook for 10-
15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Drain on paper towels, cool and then chill. Butter all the bread slices on one side only and spread five 
slices with mayonnaise and cover with lettuce. Sprinkle bacon on to lettuce. Spread mayonnaise on to another five slices of bread and place this 
bread on to bacon. Now butter and mayonnaise the upper side of those five slices and cover with chicken. Season. Cover chicken with slices of 
stuffing. Spread mayonnaise and quince jelly on the remaining five slices of bread to complete sandwiches. Using an electric knife, trim crusts 
and cut sandwiches into quarters. Store till required. 
Herb Stuffing 
Ingredients 
120g butter 
360g (3 small) onions (finely chopped) 
200g shallots (finely chopped) 
900g fresh breadcrumbs 
bunch sage and thyme (finely chopped) 
6 eggs 
Maldon sea salt, freshly ground pepper 
Method 
Pre-heat to 210C. Melt butter in a frying pan and saute onions and shallots till transparent. Cool. Add breadcrumbs, herbs and eggs to onions and 
shallots. Mix well and season. Place into the sprayed loaf tin and cover with foil. Bake in oven for 40 minutes, or until firm. Remove and cool. 
For 20 cocktail sandwiches you will only use quarter of this stuffing. Slice and freeze the remainder for future sandwiches.
 
 In chardonnay heaven . . . 
  
 
 
I can only presume that the chardonnay socialists who are now running the show have the same difficulty as the rest of us when it comes to 
choosing their favourite tipple. 
Chardonnay now accounts for nearly a third of all vines planted in this country and is New Zealand's most widely produced and popular wine. 
Just about every winery produces at least one chardonnay and some of the bigger players several. 
The result is that we have an enormous range: simple chardonnays produced in stainless-steel tanks with little oak influence; a mid-range 
fermented in tanks, matured in casks, others fermented in a mix of both; and a top tier that is fermented and matured in oak, often on the spent 
yeast, and softened through malolactic (secondary) fermentation. 
Generally, the greater the oak component (casks are expensive), the greater the cost of the wine. But it doesn't always follow. 
If there are bargains to be had in terms of quality, then it is probably with chardonnay. And the point is well made in Cuisine magazine's most 
recent tasting. There are plenty of four-star chardonnays, even a couple that earned five, for less than $20. 
You'll get no argument from me that, at $16.99, Saint Clair's beautifully balanced and soft 1999 Marlborough is one of the best-value 
chardonnays on the market. At $19.95, Mission's big fat 1999 Reserve likewise. 
Others in the same price bracket that merit attention: Cook's toasty 1998 Winemaker's Reserve Black Label ($17.95) and the luscious, cheaper 
1998 Bin 47 ($14.95); Ngatarawa Stables 1998 ($14.95), Shingle Peak 1999 Marlborough ($17.95), Saints 1999 Gisborne ($16.95), Villa Maria 
1998 Cellar Selection ($18.95), Lincoln 1998 Heritage Selection Patricia ($18.50), Forrest Estate 1998 ($19), Terrace View 1998 ($16.95), 
Domain Georges Michel 1998 ($19.95), Selak's 1999 Marlborough (my top-value tip at $13.95) and, if you can find it, former All Black Grahame 
Thorne's first effort, Thorndael of Raupara 1999 ($19.50). 
Good buying this week: Sacred Hill 1998 Whitecliff Sauvignon Blanc, $6.95 at Glengarry.
 
 Pleasing on the palate and pocket 
  
 
 
You know, if ever a restaurant leaves a bad taste in your mouth, it invariably comes via the booze bill. In numerous good places, where the main 
event kicks off around $22-$26, it's impossible to uncork something under 30-odd dollars, or much more. Even the dimmest of us know that there 
is a sea of juice around that is more than acceptable at prices that please and that even the most rapacious of restaurants could happily slap 100 
per cent on and still smile all the way to the bank. Of course, there are sudden rushes of blood to the head when we want Veuve Clicquot 
Ponsardin and, indeed, we should have it. 
Regrettably, there are times when the bully boy from the bank has rung and suggested that perhaps we should make space to review "the state of 
your account". To drown your sorrows at this suggestion, it's a shot in the arm to stumble over an eatery that can satisfy your extreme highs, or, in 
the above scenario, your extreme low. 
The new Copita (ex CBD), in Featherston St, has one of the most intelligent wine suggestions I've hit on in a long time. The list presupposes that 
it may be a gold-card night, but it could also be piggy-bank pickings. The busy bubbles of New Zealand Twin Islands Brut clocks up a more than 
reasonable $25, but the VCs are there at $100 if you have made peace with the bank manager. Good taste presents itself with an Oxford Landing 
"Limited Release" Viognier at a garage-sale price of $24. The perceptive palate of my daughter had me immersed in a glass of Paul Jaboulet 
Cotes du Ventoux. This little taste of the Rhone, a mere $26. Marl-borough Sanctuary Char-donnay is an honest $22. 
A bonus to all this is the setup and a menu that doesn't stretch the limits, either price-wise or presentation wise. Honesty oozes out here with both 
wine and food pleasant on the pocket and plate. The place is all a bit New Yorkish, with its big, flattering mirrors and its splashy long bar with 
stools_if just tumbling in for a "copita" (small glass) of wine, which I suggest you do if you want to case the joint_however, the food should and 
would make me want to "Play it again, Sam". 
Paella balls, $12, used its namesake theme to package rice, fish, peas and capsicum into pungent rounds, perfectly punctuated with lovely smoked 
paprika. Love of sweetbreads, $12.50, had the redhead in a positive mood, guarding every morsel of the cast, sitting pretty on grilled polenta and 
sweet-onion marmalade. Using stealth, I stole a taste_great, but was the onion a little too sharp for these "glam glands"? Oysters, $15, had me 
immediately in love with the place. Lovingly wrapped in a tempura tissue-like batter and mingling among some marinated salmon flecked with 
light mustard dressing, it, as we used to say in my old radio days, "brought a smile to the dial". If you need any further proof that the formula's 
right here, try the slow-cooked duck, $26 (none of the fashionable, bright-pink chewy stuff here). Wilted spinach made it quack happily. The 
tasty, crisp shitake ravioli I would have preferred not buried in the sauce, so as to retain its crunch. 
My ice cream-addicted granddaughter scaled a "chocolate volcano", erupting with chocolate sauce. No way could we steal some of that! Her face 
told me everything. 
Over the year, a lot of new players have entered the restaurant race and many don't make it past the winning post. Here's a new entrant that you 
can put money on, 'cos it's a sure winner and the dividend's great. For some pro service plus food, go soon. Nice things happen here. 
Next week, we'll mosey along to an enduring Wellington establishment, Armadillo Bon appetit.

19 Oct 2000 

Why Queen's Counsel must go 

 Last week, former attorney-general Sir Douglas Graham argued against abolishing Queen's Counsel. Here, David Smith explains why he 
disagrees 
-------------------- 
AS Sir Douglas Graham says, the subject of whether Queen's Counsel should go or not is one unlikely to cause riots in South Auckland. 
But I am not persuaded by the arguments put forward by the former attorney-general. They rely heavily on faltering analogy and assertions that 
merit deeper analysis. To answer his points: 
To have a pool of QCs with healthy bank accounts derived, in part, from their special status encourages willingness to go on the Bench where 
income reduces. 
For every high-earning QC who will capitulate there could well be another who will never do that because they are now earning on such a grand 
scale. (For every six new QCs each year there are usually only one or two High Court vacancies. At present there are around 75 QCs and 30 
judges.) 
If lawyers are brilliant they will surely be recognised as such and the public will pay them what they are worth. Why do they have to have a 
special hallmark conferred by the Crown, as appears to be suggested? If that hallmark translates instantly into gold it is not the Crown that will 
pay the premium but users of legal services. Even if those users are rich corporations the cost will be passed on to consumers, who may not want 
to participate in an invisible judicial incentive scheme. 
There is similar recognition in other professions, for example, senior medical specialists and the clerical hierarchy of the churches. 
The concept of hierarchy in law is best applied to courts where the District Court judges are lower in judicial status than those in the High Court. 
It has little to do with lawyers themselves. A lawyer is a hired gun. End of story. 
Specialisation in litigation should be recognised by lawyers becoming barristers (specialists) who are briefed by solicitors (GPs). 
Sadly that has been debased because graduation to barrister has become too easy with many unacceptably junior and inexperienced. 
Nevertheless, because of sterner entrance requirements and growing specialisation at law schools there is now a huge upsurge in extremely 
talented lawyers competing fiercely for work at the bar in ever-narrower specialties. Which leads to the question of excellence. 
The mooted abolition of QCs is an attack on excellence. 
The problem many see with QC rank is that, unlike the transparent and appealable processes for becoming a medical specialist, the "process" for 
ascertaining barristerial excellence is an utterly closed one. Every lawyer who applies for silk can lay some claim to excellence but rejection is 
arbitrary. 
If the notion of equal treatment in the courts means that the abolition of QCs will result in lawyers charging the same, that will never happen. 
Lawyers should be paid what they are really worth, no more and no less. But equality before the court should mean that lawyers present cases for 
their clients so that the court can assess respective merits. Academic honorifics are always left at the door. 
Pre-ordaining one lawyer to be a QC introduces a subtle bias into the proceedings. It also engenders a climate in which litigants, no matter how 
strong their cases, will say "they have a QC, now we must have one or we start at a disadvantage". 
QCs have been around for 400 years and in New Zealand for nearly a century. 
The rank of QC is, like quill pens, Latin and the Privy Council, part of our wonderful legal heritage _ but surely its days are numbered. 
* David Smith is a Wellington lawyer 
 

No sex please, I'm working 
 McLEOD Rosemary 
  
  
 
I'M NOT so much astonished at the Human Rights Commission's survey on workplace sexual harassment as confused. What did we expect? 
First, the facts. Major research released this week tells us that nearly a third of women (more if they're under 30) and 13 per cent of men say 
they've suffered from sexual harassment in the workplace. 
Most of this unsavoury behaviour happens, we're told, in the hospitality and retail industries; frequently between teenage girls and men twice 
their age who are in charge of them. Incidents include outright rape, indecent exposure, requests for sex, and so drearily on. 
I'm not astonished, because I've experienced a good deal of such behaviour in the course of my working life. 
As a young woman I found it difficult to deal with, especially as my continued employment was often at stake, but sexual harassment was as 
routine as marmalade on toast. 
I am not going to say it didn't matter. It did. The predatory behaviour of many men I worked with made me insecure about myself. 
It wasn't flattering to be an object of such interest _ the attention was too impersonal for that. Like other young women I felt partly to blame, 
thought I must be attracting such attention in unconscious ways, and tried a variety of strategies with limited success. 
What made it difficult was that in many cases I actually liked the men who were behaving this way in spite of what they were doing, and had a lot 
to learn from them professionally. I realise now that I formed shell relationships in which to make myself unavailable. 
That didn't do me a power of good, or show great imagination on my part, but it indicates how profoundly bad male behaviour affected me. And 
so I have some sympathy with the commission's aims. I wonder, however, about their context. 
I don't know how long sexual harassment has been going on. I expect it's for ever. But we have never lived with sex more overtly on display, or in 
times when sex was accorded more significance. 
So just how would we expect people to behave with each other when they get the chance? 
Let's be honest here: we don't respect chastity; we don't admire restraint; we hold no great brief for sexual fidelity; male chivalry toward females 
is scorned. 
We are fascinated by the most intimate of depravities, performed by celebrities, which are described to us in loving detail by the mass media. We 
have turned sex into a free-for-all, a form of entertainment with as much significance as sport. It is our shared obsession. 
We regard ourselves as enlightened, and sexual freedom as proof of our enlightenment. Anything goes. 
Why not? We have prohibitions on sex with children, dead people and animals, but anything else is okay so long as it is not forced. 
SEXUAL harassment is, of course, forced. But it takes place against a backdrop of mainstream stimulus designed to encourage us to think of each 
other as sexual playthings. 
We have sex shops to sell us sex toys _ and television programmes engage cheerfully with the sex industry, to help us think of it as wholesome 
and fun. 
Ordinary healthy people, we're encouraged to believe, use these gadgets and services with great delight _ or might as well in case they're missing 
out on something. 
The busiest section of your local video hiring outlet will be its R18 section. You owe it to yourself, if you value freedom of expression, to look at 
what is available for hire there. 
As for movies, they too are testing the boundaries of what is acceptable to a mainstream audience. Quite a lot is. 
A mass audience loved the film Muriel's Wedding, which is peppered with fellatio jokes. It also adored Something About Mary, a film whose 
major gag line involved a young woman whose hair was accidentally stuck up at a precarious angle with sperm which she'd mistaken for gel. 
Watched late-night television comedy lately? Listened to successful commercial radio? They're not peddling decorum out there, nor are we 
asking them to. 
Gross-out humour is mainstream. We like it. 
And so I fail to see how people who take such accessible and acceptable entertainment in their stride won't take those attitudes to the workplace, 
regardless of the commission's outrage. 
Why shouldn't they try it on, for heaven's sake? It's only a bit of sex. 
 
 
   
  `Not as bad as it used to be' 
 BAIN Helen 
  
ROYAL New Zealand Ballet artistic director Matz Skoog says injuries and health problems do occur among ballet dancers here, but are no more 
prevalent than in many other physical pursuits. 
Dancers occasionally suffer broken bones _ one dancer broke a bone in her foot this year, Mr Skoog says. Injuries such as strained backs and 
sprained ankles are common, and dancer's feet do become disfigured from repetitive point work. "Ballerinas' feet are not pretty," Mr Skoog says. 
However, he says, developments in shoe design and sports medicine mean such problems are not so bad as they used to be. 
Dancers' ankles and hips also wear out earlier than in other people because of the strain of dancing, but it's no worse than in physically taxing 
sports such as rugby, Mr Skoog says. Excessive thinness and cessation of menstruation are more prevalent among gymnasts than dancers, says 
Mr Skoog, adding that New Zealand dancers are generally well-trained in nutrition and have a healthy attitude to diet. Criticism of ballet as 
dangerous is a bit over the top, he says: "I don't think ballet is any worse than any other area of physical high achievement." 
 
 

 
  Grisly deaths unveil secrets of creatures of the deep 

 A southern right whale surfaces in Wellington Harbour in 1997. Autopsies on stranded whales help contribute to a worldwide database on the 
mammals. 
  
 
The Hawke's Bay coast is of significant global importance as a place for calving and nursing pygmy sperm whales 
-------------------- 
PADRAIG DUIGNAN, a Massey University researcher who handles some of the world's biggest autopsies, says the grisly work of dissecting the 
whales that die on New Zealand's coast is boosting scientific knowledge. 
Dr Duignan has just completed his 36th autopsy this year on whales and dolphins. 
The university's wildlife health centre and a foundation for whale welfare is hoping to glean useful information from the corpses. 
The information contributes to a project which has worldwide support, establishing the health status of stranded whales, dolphins and porpoises. 
His latest post-mortem was on a rare pygmy right whale that died, apparently after being separated from its mother in stormy weather, and ended 
up being washed up on New Plymouth's East End beach. 
The 2.6-metre young female was of a species scientifically known as Caperea marginata, which is found only in the southern hemisphere and is 
quite rare. 
"What data we have is from stranded mammals in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa," Dr Duignan says. About 37 have stranded in New 
Zealand. 
Autopsies on three of the species that were stranded at Muriwai Beach in 1996 drew scientists from the United States, Australia and Japan. 
The international dissection team discovered that a muscle that normally runs between the chin and hyoid (a bone behind the tongue) does not 
exist in the pygmy right whale. Instead, another muscle runs to the sternum. In addition, the lung cavity, which normally extends all the way to 
the end of the ribs, stops halfway. The rest is muscle, suggesting the whale is a very strong swimmer that can dive to great depths in search of 
food. 
The whale also has a unique heat exchanger in its circulatory system, which provides sophisticated temperature control. The skeletal structure of 
the pygmy right whale is radically different from other whales with extremely wide, overlapping ribs. 
Dr Duignan says autopsies can produce two sets of information, including the factors contributing to a whale's death, and any illnesses suffered at 
the time. 
"We don't often find out why they died," he says, "but we are able to get a wealth of life history data, such as age, diet, reproductive status and a 
lot of information on anatomy." 
The wildlife health centre has been able to glean a lot of information on another species of pygmy whale, the pygmy sperm whales, from 
strandings. 
The high proportion of cow whales, calves and pregnant whales suggests the Hawke's Bay coast is of significant global importance as a place for 
calving and nursing pygmy sperm whales. 
The database being put together by the Massey work is increasingly important for international whale research. A New Zealander based at 
Sydney's Taronga Zoo is setting up an animal health database for Australia similar to the Wildlife Health Centre's Huia database, which covers 
not only marine mammals but all wildlife. 
These collections of computerised information may eventually be part of a global network for research. 
"We've got everything in there that's known about the whale strandings," Dr Duignan says. 
In time, it will be possible for researchers to track the health of individual species, or to compare a specific health problem around the world. 
However, the New Zealand effort is hampered by a lack of funds. 
"The problem with wildlife is that nobody owns the animal or whales, and the Department of Conservation has a very limited budget." 
New Zealand's Foundation for the Study of the Welfare of Whales, which stems from the work of the late Professor Emeritus David Blackmore, 
is also strapped for cash. It is struggling to raise sufficient funds for academic work at Massey. _ NZPA 

BUYING A FRILL 

From left: skirt with ruffle, $129, from Max, and Virtue drawstring neck top, $118, from Plush. Trelise Cooper pink bloom-with-a-view skirt, 
$340, and Kate Sylvester coral V-neck muscle tee, $65, from Unity. Curve black ruffle skirt, $44.95, and Endless Spirit snakeskin print top, 
$74.95, both Kimberleys. 
  
THANK god winter is over. No more greys _ a colour best associated with elephants, battleships and overcast days and definitely not a hue or 
tone that should be part of the fashion vocabulary. 
It's the same with serious, straight skirts made from warm and sensible material such as a serge and wool crepe, worn with serious medium-
heeled brogues. 
Thank goodness for spring and some frivolty in fashion. 
It's fun to have bouncy little skirts with kitschy frilled hems on the horizon. Flowers adorn these creations but you can find plain variations that 
provide a blank palette for you to team with this season's various hues and they'll take you through from day to night. 
Team them with a silky twinset and slides for a casual look for day and with a pair of strappy heels and a form-fitting high-necked sleeveless top 
for evenings. 
Because these skirts hover and flutter about the knees they'll hide a multitude of sins of the flesh for those who have less-than-firm thighs. One 
more reason to indulge in a skirt of the frilled ilk this spring. 
 
 
  You need never feel lonely again 
  
  
 
LONELINESS is a unique experience. It means different things to different people, but for most it means despair, emptiness, incompleteness, 
feeling devoid of love, not being comfortable with yourself, feeling as if there's nobody who cares about you, a longing for human contact. 
Here's a collection of ideas that are designed to help you understand and explore the experience of loneliness. 
* What does loneliness mean to you? Describe what it feels like. 
* Can you describe what it would be like if you were not lonely? 
* Are there any times when loneliness feels tolerable to you, or times when some loneliness is acceptable? If so, when? 
* What's the difference for you between loneliness and being alone? Describe that difference. 
* What assets or special qualities do you bring to your relationships with others? 
* Imagine yourself in a situation where you feel comfortable and supported _ not lonely. Describe an ideal situation or set of circumstances where 
you do not feel lonely. 
* Did your ideal situation include some people you already know? If so, what is it about them that makes you feel comforted? 
* Describe a time when you were alone that you also enjoyed. How could you arrange to have more times like that in your life? 
* Make a list: things I could do when I'm alone to keep me from being lonely. 
* Imagine a worst-case scenario. For instance, you are in a cafe sipping tea and reading the newspaper. A man comes up and says, "You are 
alone. That must mean that no one likes you." What could you say in response? How could you deal with it so it wouldn't be all that bad? 
* What do you enjoy about being alone? 
* Write a paragraph that describes your negative feelings. Ask yourself: "How does it benefit me to think about myself this way? How would it 
benefit me not to think these negative thoughts?" 
What have you learned from your answers? 
* Perhaps you may be putting up roadblocks or barriers that can keep you from feeling supported, such as being verbally abusive or offensive; 
complaining; being excessively angry; being isolated; failing to keep in touch with others; being judgmental. List any other things about you that 
you think might turn others off. 
* What do you do _ or avoid doing _ that gets in the way of deepening your friendships? 
* Have you stayed in touch with people from your past? If not, how has this affected your loneliness? Do you feel that you need to increase your 
contact with some of your friends? If so, how could you do this? 
Next week, I will offer recommendations on how to reduce loneliness. 
_ NEIL ROSENTHAL 
* Neil Rosenthal is a marriage and family therapist in Colorado. If you have issues you would like him to address in this column, write to him 
care of The Editor, The Dominion, PO Box 1297, Wellington, or e-mail him www.heartconnect ion.net. 
 
 
Keep your cool amid the heat 
   
 
THERE are many simple and effective ways to cool down your home during summer without using energy-hungry air conditioners. The trick is 
to stop heat from entering your house in the first place. This can be done simply by growing deciduous vines over a pergola or window trellis on 
north or west-facing walls. 
Hanging plants will also add to the cooling effect of a pergola. Light reaching the house is filtered through the greenery and the hanging plants 
help to lower the surrounding temperature through moisture evaporating from their containers. 
This evaporative cooling effect can be increased by installing a drip watering system: water lines are attached to the framework of your pergola 
above the plants, letting the system drip slowly and constantly, greatly lowering the surrounding air temperature and increasing the cooling effect. 
Portable planter boxes on rollers will provide cool green screens for north or west-facing windows. They can also be positioned to redirect 
cooling wind currents into the house during the evening. They should be made from a weatherproof material such as treated pine, and can be as 
large as you like. Bear in mind, though, that it's easier to move or adjust several small planters than one gigantic one. A practical maximum length 
would be about 1.5 metres. The planter should also have an appropriate frame to hold wires for climbing plants. 
When choosing your plants or vines, select from varieties that are tolerant to hot and cold weather, and that will provide plenty of dense foliage 
all year round. 
External shades, such as roll-up awnings, are an effective and efficient way of stopping heat gain through windows. The cheapest and simplest 
method of exterior shading is to hang a canvas or bamboo blind outside the window, from a roof overhang. Leave a space for venting at the top of 
the support to prevent a pocket of hot air from building up. At night the shade can be rolled up to allow cooling breezes to flow though the house. 
If wind is a problem you'll need a ground anchor _ preferably one with an elastic shock cord _ to prevent flapping. Roof venting with a wind 
turbine is another inexpensive and simple method of cooling. Though ceiling insulation significantly reduces heat gain from a hot roof, venting 
the roof will further reduce discomfort. Good roof ventilation lowers the mean radiant temperature of the ceiling facing the interior of your home, 
making it cooler. _ ALAN HAYES 

24 July 2000
 
The man who stood tall 

 Professor Bryan Philpott . . . friend and mentor 
  
 
 
Economist and emeritus professor Bryan Philpott, who died last week, was a giant in his field as well as a gruff old bugger, much admired by his 
students, writes Gareth Morgan 
-------------------- 
EVERY now and then you encounter a giant of an influence, somebody who impresses you deeply with the contribution they have made to the 
field in which you work. For me, one such person has been Professor Bryan Philpott. 
Both the personality and the professional contribution of the man in my view stood him above others who have dedicated their professional lives 
to the study of economics, and in particular the specific characteristics and issues facing the New Zealand economy. 
I first encountered Bryan as supervisor of my PhD. I had a desire to understand what makes an economy tick, in particular our economy, and he 
and Lew Evans at Victoria University became my supervisors. Right through that exercise I benefited greatly from the (sometimes seriously 
animated) debates about how New Zealand worked. From those debates I learnt more about economics than any course work I'd ever undertaken. 
Professor Philpott of course, through his Project on Economic Planning, produced countless experimental results on what the characteristics of 
this economy were and what that implied for policy options. 
There have been only two serious on-going studies of this subject in New Zealand _ the Professor Philpott effort and that initiated by Rod Deane 
and continued by The Reserve Bank. Each had very different approaches, the Reserve Bank at least initially concentrating on short term 
outcomes, while Professor Philpott's work was more focused on the ultimate result of shocks to the economy _ whether they be from 
policymakers or external circumstances. 
Professor Philpott's effort was really to the fore in the early 1970's when economic plans were all the rage and though his models were also used 
later by the Planning Council, the onset of hands-free Rogernomics really closed down the most popular use of his work. 
BRYAN, of course, was quite political (it is a "political economy" he would always point out) and was not over-enamoured with the new policy 
direction. Actually, he was quite hostile. Though that didn't detract at all from his applied economic experiments, it did make him unpopular with 
the Treasury and finance ministry's thinking of the day. For a self-confessed left-leaning economist, I think he was forever bemused by how he 
had managed to train so many right-leaning economists. That wouldn't be so bad, but they stuck around the scene in New Zealand and contested 
their mentor's policy prescriptions. That, for him, was beyond the pale _ he was forever bemused as to how he'd managed to produce so many 
antithetical viewpoints. 
I assured him it was a compliment to his insistence we all kept open minds and his invitation for us to always argue the point. 
Professor Philpott must have been the only Victoria University staff member who totally ignored the non-smoking code. And nobody was game 
to censure him. His smoking was profuse and on more than one occasion, on presenting him with my work he mistakenly (I think) set fire to it by 
flicking the ash from his roll-your-owns over it. At least the threat of that outcome made one pay attention to the arguments. 
A few years ago we decided to organise a party of former students of Professor Philpott to pay tribute to the man at whose desk several of us had 
really learnt our New Zealand economics. The response was overwhelming, with people coming from Australia, Europe and the United States. 
We reduced the gruff old bugger to tears that night, but it was only fitting, as his students were so appreciative of him both as a man and a 
teacher. 
So, goodbye Bryan, we will all miss you greatly, but your influence will not pass. Our condolences to Margaret and family. 
* An appreciation by Dr Gareth Morgan, of Infometrics, on behalf of Professor Philpott's students
 
 Better blood testing on way 
  
 
Genetic tests for HIV and hepatitis C will further cut the risk of infection for those needing blood transfusions. Val Aldridge reports. 
-------------------- 
NEW genetic tests that can detect tiny amounts of the HIV and Hepatitis C virus before even the body recognises them will soon be applied to the 
New Zealand blood supply. 
Peter Flannagan medical director of the New Zealand Blood Service says the new tests should be in place by the end of the year. 
Nucleic acid testing, or NAT, is already being used by the Australian company that produces blood products for New Zealand from New Zealand 
plasma 
The American Red Cross used NAT to screen 7.7 million blood donations from March 1999 when the procedure was introduced, till the end of 
June this year. 
Michael Busch of Blood Centers of the Pacific told the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases this month that the Red Cross 
testing found one HIV infection and 25 hepatitis C infections _ each of which could have been passed to up to three patients by transfusion. 
Other blood banks used the process to screen about 9 million donations, finding three HIV infections and more than 35 hepatitis C infections, he 
said. 
Dr Flannagan says the new tests are state-of-the-art technologies in the international blood transfusion community and will ensure the New 
Zealand Blood Service is doing all that can reasonably be done to safeguard blood in respect of the two viruses. 
"While you can never say `never' when it comes to a biological product, what the nucleic acid tests do is effectively reduce the so-called window 
period between exposure of an individual to a virus and the point at which the antibody test we currently employ, becomes detectable." 
For Hepatitis C the time will effectively be cut from 80 to 90 days down to 20 or 30 and for HIV from 25 days to about 9 or 10. 
Since 1985 when testing for HIV began there has been no documented case of transferance of HIV by blood, or any documented transmissions of 
transference of Hepatitis C by blood since testing for this virus began in 1992.
 
 The shape of things to come 

Kim Finlayson, with 22-month-old Liam. She noticed Liam developing a flat head when he was six months old, and managed to alter his sleeping 
position in time to correct it 
  
 
Putting newborns to sleep on their backs in an effort to reduce the incidence of cot death has created an unexpected medical condition which sees 
many of those babies developing misshapen heads. Val Aldridge looks at the implications. 
-------------------- 
NEW ZEALAND has an epidemic of babies with flat heads. Craniofacial clinics have been swamped by cases of young children suffering from 
this condition, caused by putting babies to sleep on their backs, a position that has been advocated since the early nineties to prevent cot death. 
Preventing occipital deformational (or positional) plagiocephaly (flat head) is simple _ babies should sleep on their backs but, once asleep, their 
heads should be turned to alternate sides. 
The big problem is nobody wants to water down the "back to sleep" message that has been credited with cutting the numbers of babies dying as a 
result of sudden infant death syndrome. 
The theory is that a flat head may make you look funny, but SIDS will kill you. So this extra advice has either been muted or not given at all. 
Just how serious plagiocephaly is long-term, and who is responsible for seeing that parents and infant care-givers get and give proper advice, has 
been a hot potato bouncing around the medical world during the past few years since concerns were first raised about the numbers of children 
with deformed flat heads. 
Meantime, the number of children developing this condition has grown. 
Tristan de Chalain, craniofacial surgeon at Middlemore Hospital, says: "We have been absolutely swamped by these cases." 
He says the hospital has three craniofacial clinics every two weeks and the clinics are full. During the past four or five years, there has been an 
increase of 300 to 400 per cent in children referred with flat heads. "There is a significant number out there, trust me. Don't let paediatricians kid 
you that it's not an issue. It is an epidemic." 
The condition, he says, has nothing to do with race, culture or socio-economics and New Zealand is not alone. Children in America, Britain, 
France and the Netherlands are all presenting with it. American figures show approximately 4 per cent of children have a deformity that needs 
surgery. 
"The paediatricians may argue, and perhaps correctly, that there is no long-term adverse consequences, apart from the fact the kids will have 
funny-shaped heads," he says, "but what parent wants that if the condition is preventable? 
"In a lot of these kids, an anomalous head shape will persist. Optometrists say that part of the spectrum of flat heads is that the ears are in 
different positions on the side of the head and those who fit these children with glasses will notice the difference between the eye and the ear. We 
are now trying to determine how many children in our community have a problem." 
Mr de Chalain says that most of the children seen in the clinics are less than a year old because that is when parents are most concerned and 
before there is much hair growth. He is also concerned that general practitioners and midwives may misdiagnose more serious cranial 
deformities, which need early surgery, for plagiocephaly, which a child may grow out of. There is not a lot of evidence to suggest any kind of 
long-term consequence, but Mr de Chalain says there is "soft evidence". A report from America published in Paediatrics looked at siblings and 
compared those who had flat heads as a baby and those who hadn't. The report found a significant difference in terms of special education 
interventions in primary school . . . things like hyperactivity, needing remedial reading and other help. He says that, on the whole, paediatricians, 
though agreeing that not all flat head problems resolved completely, say that the condition doesn't have any implication for brain development, so 
therefore it isn't important. 
Mr de Chalain says craniofacial specialists are inclined to agree _ "but dammit, the condition is preventable". 
David Glasson, a Wellington craniofacial surgeon, says he no longer deals with cranial plageocephally patients. It's not a surgical problem; it's a 
problem for paediatricians and health authorities, he says crossly. He used to see "hundreds, literally hundreds" of cases. 
Originally it was regarded as a surgical problem and there was a lot of surgery done. Then reports showed it was clearly associated with supine 
sleeping and corrective helmets were used and are still used on severe cases. That is in itself a treatment with a great deal of hassle. 
Babies don't die of crooked heads, he says. "But I know from sitting through hundreds of hours with families with babies with crooked heads that 
they can get very upset about it, particularly when they hear it could have been easily prevented. 
"It's a pretty hot issue at the moment. If they educated the public in the same way as they have about cot death and back-sleeping, the parents 
would know all about it and know what to look for and what to do. It is not rocket science. I have tried very hard to get paediatricians and Plunket 
interested." 
He says there are only three cranio-facial specialists in New Zealand running clinics for highly specialised problems and they ended up basically 
offering a screening service for cranio- plagiocephaly. It is ridiculous, he says, when GPs could do the screening, and if they were concerned, 
could then turn to a paediatric clinic. 
"This is a very easy diagnosis to make, you don't have to rely on X-rays. I can spot it in the supermarket _ and I am not kidding." 
Kim Finlayson of Khandallah says that as a first-time mother she didn't know what to do when she noticed the flattening of her son Liam's head. 
When somebody else mentioned it, she became concerned and asked advice from the Plunket nurse who told her to continue putting Liam to 
sleep on his back. By six months of age, the flatness was more pronounced and she asked the family doctor, who told her to put Liam to sleep on 
alternate sides, which she did. "The doctor told me I'd got it just in time for it to correct. He told me he'd seen far worse than Liam's." 
RUSSELL WILLS, the national paediatrician for Plunket, says: "We take very seriously the question of parents worried about flat spots and we're 
certainly seeing it. We'd like to reduce the number of babies with flat spots but we don't want to undermine the message of babies being put to 
sleep on their backs." He says there is no way of knowing how prevalent the condition is because Plunket doesn't have the resources to collect the 
data. 
"Sure, parents are worried and you can't not answer the question," he says, but "the condition is a cosmetic problem, it does your baby's brain no 
harm." 
Plunket nurses have the information on how to prevent flat head and many give this out, but mothers have only seven 20-minute Plunket visits a 
child, from birth to five years, and there is a limit to how much information _ relating to a number of serious topics _ Plunket nurses can give in 
that time. 
Asked whether, as Plunket nurses were giving advice to mothers on putting babies to sleep on their backs, it wouldn't also be prudent to give 
instructions on how to prevent flat heads, Dr Wills says; "I guess the most important thing to say is, if this is something you are worried about, 
raise it with your Plunket nurse." 
Plunket says parents who are worried about flat heads should put babies to sleep on their backs and when the babies are asleep, turn their heads to 
one side for one sleep and to the other for the next. Cots should be moved to encourage babies to look around at different aspects and closely 
supervised babies should regularly be given some "tummy time" on the floor. Concerned parents should talk to a Plunket nurse or a doctor.
 
 


 
 
 
We won't discuss the result. But after several clangers in the games preceding Sunday's rugby test against the Springboks, the 
commentary team deserves some credit. Murray Mexted called the cauldron of Ellis Park "deepest darkest Africa"; Grant Nisbett 
referred to the All Blacks' "user-friendly defence". All was going well till a siren went off. Mexted couldn't resist: "There are 
hooters here everywhere, Nisbo." 
Education Minister Trevor Mallard, pictured, clearly hasn't forgotten his school-teacher tricks. In the House last week, Labour's 
bovver boy was trying to answer a question on bulk funding, but those Nats kept interrupting him. He finally snapped, yelling: 
"Shut up for a minute." Unfortunately, he picked a day when several groups of school children were upstairs in the public gallery 
. . . 
MPs were not alone in becoming tired and confused during Parliament's marathon sitting to pass Margaret Wilson's Employment 
Relations Bill. On one of the latest of the late nights, messengers mistakenly delivered leftovers from a National nosh-up in the 
noes lobby to Labour's caucus room. Labour MPs consigned the cold pizza and flat coke to the rubbish bin. Full bottles of soft 
drink were rerouted to the Nats. 
Whoooooa! For the sake of our clean, green image, Film Commission boss Lindsay Shelton should rein in the enthusiasm of Jeff 
Lipsky, the United States distributor for Kiwi film The Price of Milk. We understand that the marketing whizz is considering a 
joint promotion with Ben and Jerry's gourmet ice cream. Bad move. According to a scientific study presented last week at a 
Dioxin 1000 conference in Monterey, that brand has dioxin levels 2200 times higher than those authorised for waste water 
discharged into San Francisco Bay from a nearby refinery. 
It's reportedly a scientific fact. The methane produced by cows, beef cattle and sheep is released from the mouth, not from where 
more popularly imagined. Professor David Beever of England's Reading University has discovered that ruminant livestock 
produce methane in their fore stomachs in a natural fermentation process at a rate of 0.1 tonnes for each dairy cow. No wonder 
our ozone layer is threatened.
 
 Joe's not quitting 

 Joe Karam: `Truth, that ingredient so elusive to those who are involved in the justice system . . . will eventually prevail' 
  
 
Joe Karam has published a second book in which he not only continues his battle to prove David Bain's innocence, but takes on 
the whole justice system. Helen Bain reports. 
-------------------- 
`Criminal justice has been reduced to a game of win or lose. The goal is no longer to discover the truth, but simply to win.' 
-------------------- 
THE last time Joe Karam quit, he was blamed for an All Blacks series loss. In the fight for convicted murderer David Bain, he 
shows no sign of quitting. 
Karam was regarded as one of New Zealand's great fullbacks _ in his All Blacks debut in 1972, aged 20, he kicked five penalty 
goals to beat Wales at Cardiff Arms Park. 
He was also kicking against the restrictions of the amateur system and, at 24, having played 10 All Blacks tests, turned his back 
on the game for a league career. 
Many blamed his defection for the All Blacks' series loss against the Springboks in 1976, when his skills were sorely missed. 
Karam is still challenging the system, but this time he's not quitting. He has spent the past five years, and, he says, some 
$700,000, fighting to free Bain, convicted of the murders of five members of his family six years ago. 
Two detectives on the Bain investigation alleged that Karam's first book on the case, David and Goliath, defamed them, and 
sought $500,000 in damages. 
Karam won, though the pair are returning to court on Friday to attempt to overturn that finding. 
This week, Karam has published Bain and Beyond, in which he not only continues his battle to prove Bain's innocence, but takes 
on the whole justice system. 
If police loathed the first book, they will be further incensed by his second. 
In Bain and Beyond, Karam says the defamation case was more than just a victory for him _ it was a chance to put key aspects of 
the Bain case before a jury. Police had expected the case to be "the knock-out punch to Joe Karam, once and for all", he writes. 
Instead, the trial saw police concede they had made mistakes. One officer admitted under cross-examination that the Bain jury 
was misled when it was told a photograph showed a lens, allegedly from glasses Bain had worn during the killings and which 
was supposedly found near his brother Stephen's body. 
The officer told the trial that the image in the photo was not in fact the lens, which was found beneath piles of undisturbed 
clothing. 
Karam hopes that concession and others will lend weight to the petition lodged with the governor-general seeking to clear Bain's 
name. 
Champagne and cigars and "an enormous feeling of satisfaction" followed the jury's finding in Karam's favour, but he says that as 
the defamation trial came to an end, he felt "sapped of every last ounce of mental and emotional energy". 
Why has Karam sacrificed so much to help a young man he didn't even know? Karam says he had no idea when he first became 
involved as a concerned member of the public that the fight would last this long. 
Maybe it has something to do with his Irish-Lebanese ancestry, but once Karam is convinced on a matter of principle, he won't let 
go. 
Once he took up the battle on Bain's behalf, Karam realised his concerns were not restricted to the Bain case, but were 
symptomatic of a sick justice system, he writes. 
Bain and Beyond draws parallels with, and casts doubt on, a number of other high-profile homicide inquiries. 
Police investigations into the 1988 murder of Auckland woman Janine Law show similar deficiencies to the Bain case, Karam 
says. 
Police initially concluded Ms Law died from an asthma attack, despite the fact that she was found semi-naked, with seminal fluid 
on her body and a tea towel jammed in her mouth. 
The case was reopened in 1994 and four months later, James Tamata, linked to the crime through dna evidence, pleaded guilty to 
her rape, sodomy and killing. 
Karam says of that case: "It seems that police culture is indelibly imprinted with the maxim `We are never wrong, and even if it 
looks like we may be, we must fight to the death to avoid being exposed'." 
In the Bain and Law cases, police arrived at a premature conclusion, and stuck to it despite the emergence of overwhelming 
evidence to the contrary, Karam says. 
HE CITES David Dougherty as a further example. A girl, 11, was raped in 1992, and named Dougherty as her attacker. 
Dougherty was convicted and jailed but in 1997, was retried and acquitted on the grounds that the dna evidence was flawed. 
"John Barlow had to go through three trials before he was convicted . . . I have grave doubts as to the safety of his convictions. 
"Peter Ellis served his entire sentence before finally a restricted inquiry was ordered . . . He is getting too little, too late." 
Karam compares New Zealand's adversarial justice system to a rugby match. "Criminal justice has been reduced to a game of win 
or lose. 
The goal is no longer to discover the truth, but simply to win. And without truth, there can be no justice. 
"The time for change is now. It is no use tinkering with what we have got, which is a system that has largely been unchanged for 
centuries. 
"I say, let's be bold, let's be non-partisan, let's design a procedure that is founded on the principle that without truth, there can be 
no justice." 
New Zealand could learn much from the inquisitorial system, as practised by the French, about getting to the truth, Karam says. 
He suggests we should: 
* Create an independent police complaints authority "with teeth and guts" . 
* Set up an independent "judicial auditor" to oversee investigations of serious crimes in the lead-up to initial hearings. 
* Revamp the trial process. Have all serious criminal trials presided over by a leading judge, assisted by two other judges and 
nine jurors, who sit together and have the power to put questions to witnesses. 
Karam says he was naive when he began his campaign, and that faith in the integrity of the justice system has been largely 
battered out of him in the intervening four years. 
Nevertheless, he retains a fundamental optimism that the truth will come out. 
"Our battle continues and, I'm sure, will ultimately be successful, because truth, that ingredient so elusive to those who are 
involved in the justice system in this country, will eventually prevail." 
* Bain and Beyond is published by Reed, $24.95
 
 Child accidents a bigger problem 
  
 
 
VIOLENCE to children has been featured prominently in newspapers in the past week. But we must not forget that unintentional 
violence or accidents to children are more of a problem in New Zealand. 
Last year, more than a hundred children died because of accidents and about 1500 were admitted to hospital after accidents. 
Of all the countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, New Zealand appears to have the highest 
rate of childhood accidents. 
It is not that our children are more accident-prone than other children, but perhaps the environment we have provided for them is 
not as safe as in other countries. The attitudes of parents and caregivers are paramount. 
It is often simple things _ such as having the hot thermostat turned down so that a child cannot scald him or herself, having a 
safety rail put on top of the stove, ensuring that a cord to an electric jug is not accessible to the child, and having a fireguard in 
place so that a child cannot get burnt on the fireplace or heater. 
I am often horrified to see the lackadaisical attitude that some parents have toward things such as trampolines, which are really 
quite dangerous appliances. If a trampoline is to be used at all, it needs to be well padded and the child needs to be supervised by 
an adult. 
Unfortunately, in New Zealand, we seem to have a societal attitude that children need to get tough and we cannot mollycoddle 
them. I think that is nonsense. 
When accidents kill three times as many children as cancer does, we have got something seriously wrong in the way we care for 
our children. 
Obviously, poverty can be a factor, and low-income families are more at risk. Where two parents have to work, supervision can 
be a problem. But in many cases, we need to be there with the children. We see a lot of toddlers who have fallen down steps, 
decks or out of windows and these falls are more serious than, say, a fall from a chair or a table. In my practice, these sorts of 
accidents are seen all too often, and this is one area where prevention is better than treatment. 
With older children, skateboards and bicycles feature prominently, and it is probably still not part of the appropriate macho image 
that suitable protective gear is worn, especially when on a skateboard. 
We need to have a much more proactive approach to the safety of our children. We need to always think about the environment 
and how to make it safer and be prepared to spend the time and the effort in supervising our children so that they can be kept 
safe. 
* Each fortnight Wellington GP Chris Kalderimis writes on a current health topic
 
 The disease that defies easy diagnosis 

Chronic fatigue syndrome has been around since Florence Nightingale 
  
The author of a book about chronic fatigue syndrome tells Erin Kennedy that the worst time for sufferers is before the disease is 
correctly diagnosed It was thought he was suffering stress till his suicide shocked the people in his community. They realised his 
symptoms had been trivialised and he had felt isolated from family, friends and a particularly dismissive GP 
-------------------- 
WHEN Melbourne doctor Alastair Jackson started feeling inexplicably tired in 1995, he wasn't too worried, believing it was 
nothing that a good break wouldn't fix. 
But the decline in his strength became even more apparent on holiday, when simple walks along the beach felt more like a 
burden, his limbs heavy, his muscles sore "and, for the first time in my life, I thought that age must be catching up with me". 
By the time he had made an appointment to see another doctor for a checkup, other symptoms had appeared, including 
unsteadiness on descending a staircase, difficulty coping with bright light and sleep disturbance. 
Multiple sclerosis or an early malignancy seemed likely contenders in his mind but extensive medical tests had failed to show up 
anything obvious. 
Dr Jackson, by now, was feeling understandably depressed. "In a way, I wished something definite had been found to explain the 
way I felt." 
When a specialist finally confirmed a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, it was almost a relief, he says. 
His experience fighting back from the illness prompted him to write Understanding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, being published 
in New Zealand next month. 
Also known as Tapanui flu, the illness baffled the medical world for years. 
It is no longer known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, because it means inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, neither of which 
is found in CFS sufferers. 
Though the illness is not new _ Florence Nightingale suffered a mystery illness with many CFS symptoms for years _ it was not 
till the 1980s that the term "yuppie flu" originated, after an outbreak of flu-like illness in Lake Tahoe, United States. 
The illness was followed by muscular fatigue and neuropsychiatric dysfunction. Almost all the sufferers were successful and 
active high achievers. 
They were almost all young _ CFS most commonly hits people aged between 20 and 40. 
Its main symptom is tiredness, made worse by even the slightest physical exertion. 
Other symptoms include memory problems, difficulty concentrating, headaches, disturbed sleep patterns, lack of muscle 
coordination, making simple physical tasks a challenge, irritable bowel syndrome and mood changes. 
Treatment of CFS is generally a combination of rest, medications, including antidepressants and analgesics, modified exercise, 
diet and alternative therapies, including homeopathy and meditation. 
At the time of his diagnosis, Dr Jackson knew little about CFS, but he was lucky enough to have a doctor who did. 
One of the main problems with the illness is that it often goes undiagnosed, or is misdiagnosed, frequently as depression. It may 
have tragic results. He cites the case of a 17-year-old boy who had never recovered fully from a viral infection, which had 
progressed to what, in hindsight, was a classic case of CFS. 
His illness was not properly investigated, and it was commonly thought he was suffering stress till his suicide shocked the people 
in his community. They realised his symptoms had been trivialised and he had felt isolated from family, friends and a particularly 
dismissive doctor. "Between the first appearance of any symptoms and when it is diagnosed is the most difficult time," Dr 
Jackson says. 
"You don't know what you've got, and it's one of those situations where the sooner it's recognised, then the sooner you can start to 
do something about it." 
Its frequent misdiagnosis as depression is a problem, but not surprising considering many of its symptoms are similar to those of 
depression, which can also accompany CFS. 
"And that's normal. Of course, it's normal to be depressed by something like this, that affects your whole life." 
Spending many months bed-bound is unlikely to improve the psyche. 
Once diagnosed with CFS, Dr Jackson cut back the hours he worked at his busy Toorak practice, taking antidepressants along 
with other therapies, including injections of gamma-globulin and intramuscular B-group vitamins. 
By 1998, the number and severity of relapses had reduced and his ability to perform normal physical tasks was almost back to 
normal. 
Dr Jackson says he now feels much recovered, though there are still some limitations to his life. 
It helps, he says, that CFS is talked about more. When he trained as a doctor more than 20 years ago, little was known about the 
illness, and it was scarcely mentioned. 
Most doctors would at least be aware of it now, and capable of treating it, though some might still put it in the "too hard" basket. 
The timeliness of diagnosis and the way that the illness is managed will decide whether a sufferer will get rid of it or not, he says. 
"If it is managed properly, then yes, there is a good chance that you will get over it in time. 
"Within 18 months or two years, a lot of people will be over the worst of it, and starting to feel themselves again. 
"But it can go on for much longer in some people _ for years, sometimes." 
He admits he was fortunate in having a supportive circle to help, and in being able to cut back on his working time. 
People not in a position to easily cut back work, for example, young parents, need to make arrangements that give them a chance 
to bounce back, he says. 
"This is where family support groups come in. There is more community awareness now, and we need to try to make available 
more facilities in the community to help with shopping, childcare and the like." 
Dr Jackson emphasises that with such a diverse illness, every sufferer may have a different experience, and may respond 
differently to various treatments. 
One thing is constant for all _ there is cause to be optimistic. "The majority of CFS patients do get better. It may take years, but, 
with continuing self-discipline and a modified lifestyle, the lights at the end of the tunnel are shining as brightly as ever."
 
  
 
The humble mushroom could hold the key to the fight against cancer, according to Liverpool University scientists, who say a 
protein in common edible mushrooms can stop cancer cells multiplying. Their research focuses on bowel and colon cancers, but 
the team say it may be applied to other forms of the disease. Team leader Jonathan Rhodes says the protein lectin, present in 
many edible mushrooms, can attach itself to cancer cell proteins and stop cells dividing without damaging them. Lectin also 
occurs in poisonous forms such as in the snowdrop and uncooked red kidney beans, but is non-toxic in the common mushroom. 
Professor Rhodes said he could not yet say whether eating mushrooms would protect against cancer. 
A "smart kit" to diagnose whether or not brain-damaged patients are in a permanent vegetative state has been developed at 
London's Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability. The kit tests patients for the five senses, as well as movement, communication and 
wakefulness, during a two-week period. It also monitors the patient's ability over 24 hours to demonstrate a consistent, 
meaningful and functional response to stimuli. Under trial it has already had remarkable success in enabling patients believed to 
be in a permanent vegetative state to communicate with their families. 
The eating disorder anorexia has been discovered in young, rural African women, undermining the theory that it is caused by an 
obsession with thin photographic models in Western media, according to Royal Edinburgh Hospital consultant psychiatrist Alan 
Carson. Dr Carson cites a study of 668 female pupils in rural Ghana, which showed 30 of the students had a body mass index 
below the average for their group, of which four linked their restricted intake to religious fasting and two linked their condition to 
feelings of self-control. Dr Carson said the finding did not overturn all the traditional thinking on anorexia, but it did show that 
factors other than the role of the media should be examined.
 
 
 
 Why TVNZ should join Sky digital 
  
Television New Zealand would be enhanced, not devalued, by being on the Sky platform, writes Sky director of communications 
Tony O'Brien 
-------------------- 
OVER the past few weeks some claims have been made in the media that in my opinion are quite misleading over the use of the 
Sky satellite digital platform. 
Your readers deserve to know the full story. The following are some of the claims that have been made, together with the facts: 
CLAIM: Being on the Sky satellite digital platform would wipe millions off the value of TVNZ. 
FACTS: 1) A free-to-air broadcaster's valuation is in direct proportion to its viewership, therefore a broadcaster should want to be on 
every possible platform, be it satellite, cable, wireless, terrestrial etc. 
2) Being carried by Sky does not reduce the value of TVNZ any more than, for example, having the signal broadcast through a hotel 
or an apartment building. Imagine if all 38,000 hotel rooms in New Zealand did not carry TV1 and TV2 because it was on the 
"hotel's" platform. 
3) Not being carried on our satellite is actually devaluing TVNZ. For example, initial results show that in Sky UHF homes, TV1 
viewership is 38 per cent of the time, whereas in Sky satellite homes TV1 viewership is only 31 per cent, due to the fact that it is not 
on the satellite platform. 
4) When it is considered that each percentage point is worth about $4 million a year in advertising sales revenue this decrease is 
significant. If TVNZ wants to maximise its value it should be on as many platforms as possible. 
5) TV3, TV4, Prime, Trackside, National Radio and Concert FM have all signed up with Sky to increase their value. 
CLAIM: TVNZ would be held to ransom by Sky, the greedy gatekeeper. 
FACTS: 1) This does not make sense, as we are in the business of selling subscriptions _ the more popular and com 
pelling programming that we have, the more subscribers we gain. 
2) To maximise the value of Sky we must obtain as much content as possible to provide a value product to resell to consumers. 
CLAIM: "Going digital" is a major issue for TVNZ. 
FACTS: 1) State-owned broadcasters such as the BBC in Britain, ABC in Australia, and PBS in the United States have all adopted 
the strategy of being on as many platforms as possible. 
2) TVNZ is using the transition to digital as a way of entering the pay television business. Pay television requires a huge investment 
and comes with great risk. In a country with only 1.3 million households this strategy has the potential to greatly reduce its value 
rather than enhance it. 
3) TVNZ spent $14 million in researching the introduction and implementation of new digital services. All this can be achieved by 
being part of the Sky digital satellite platform and this is the reason the other commercial free-to-air broadcasters are working with 
us. 
To summarise, TVNZ is in an ironic position, appearing to inhibit the viewership of TV1 and TV2, which is in direct contradiction to 
its mandate to provide all of New Zealand with access to these channels. 
Being carried by Sky should not stop it going ahead with whatever new services and products it may want to introduce. 
 
 
60,000 Aussies can't be wrong 
   
 
With a constant stream of stories about New Zealand's brain drain to Australia, Helen Bain offers some light relief with the news 
that, despite this, there are some Australians out there who are proud to call New Zealand home 
-------------------- 
THE best three types of milkshakes: thick, extra thick and Australian. 
With jokes like that, and an exodus of migrants from New Zealand to Australia, it is surprising that some of Australia's best and 
brightest are proud to call New Zealand home. 
In the year ended June 30, more than 36,000 New Zealanders left permanently or long-term for Australia, and there are now 
460,000 New Zealanders living in Australia. 
Increasing numbers of skilled New Zealanders in their twenties and thirties, saddled with student debt, are seeking higher pay and 
better opportunities overseas. 
But there are those who have swum against the brain drain tide across the Tasman. In the same year, 11,000 permanent or long-
term arrivals came from Australia to live in New Zealand, and there are now 60,000 Australians living in New Zealand. 
One them is Brian Pink, who will take up the post of New Zealand government statistician next month. Formerly with the Australian 
Bureau of Statistics, Mr Pink says that far from being a booby prize on the international job market, Statistics New Zealand is well-
regarded internationally, and the chance to lead it is an exciting challenge. 
In Australia Mr Pink had responsibility for about twice as many people as he will here, but he says the smaller scale of Statistics 
New Zealand _ with about 600 staff _ is a good thing because it will allow a much more personal style of leadership. 
The friendliness of New Zealanders, the country's spectacular scenery, recreational activities, food and wine, and a less frenetic 
pace than Australia are all drawcards, Mr Pink says. 
His wife will move here with him, but their young adult children will stay behind, which will be "a bit of a wrench". However, modern 
communication and the relatively short distance means they can keep in touch quite easily, Mr Pink says. 
While "all options are very much open", the prospect of staying in New Zealand long-term is a real possibility, he says. 
Another Australian familiar to thousands of New Zealanders is TV3 newsreader Darren McDonald, 33, who has lived in New 
Zealand for three years. 
"It's the most spectacular country in the world . . . the other day I was out swimming with dolphins in Auckland, and I filmed penguins 
in the Viaduct Basin. Where else in the world could you do that?" McDonald says that New Zealand is the perfect place to indulge 
his greatest passion _ making environmental films. 
"It's my home, I'm so happy here, I love it. I couldn't be having more fun. In five or six newsrooms I have worked in around the world 
I have never had a better working environment." 
McDONALD says his pay here is 40 to 50 per cent less than it would be in Australia, but money isn't the most important thing for 
him. 
He says New Zealanders leaving for Australia are hearing too much "doom and gloom talk" about New Zealand. 
"They have gone seeking their dream over there, yet it is available here, and they may find it harder than they thought." 
Auckland Art Gallery's Australian director Chris Saines moved here about four years ago. He was a collection manager at 
Queensland Art Gallery when the more senior and better-paid job in Auckland came up. 
"I didn't consciously look to come to New Zealand. I had the typical myopic Aussie view of New Zealand: you come here to ski and 
go bungy-jumping," he says. "But since moving here I have been utterly blown away by this country and its people and its 
landscape." 
There are fantastic opportunities in New Zealand museums and galleries, Mr Saines says. 
He believes many New Zealanders fleeing to Australia may have unrealistic expectations about its prospects as a land of milk and 
honey, and may not fully appreciate the opportunities that exist in their own homeland. 
While Mr Saines's family all live in Australia, he has a wide circle of friends here and says he may stay "for a very long time". 
BEING involved in New Zealand art and culture, Mr Saines says he feels very close to New Zealanders' ideals and identity. 
"I have never felt like an alien, I have felt an easy fit into the culture and community, and I enjoy living here enormously." 
But when it comes to the crunch, he's still an Australian. "It depends what I'm watching: if I'm watching cricket I'm an Australian; if 
I'm watching rugby I'm a New Zealander." 
There is even an Australian in the New Zealand Olympic cycling team. Anthony Peden was on the Australian track cycling team but 
his career had become dormant as Australia pumped out a succession of class cyclists. He switched allegiance to New Zealand two 
years ago _ a decision he has described as the perfect career move _ and is now based in Wanganui. 
Peden has said he looks better in black and white than green and gold _ and the change has certainly helped his career. 
He says he has found the New Zealand team more positive and supportive than the Australians, despite having less funding and 
facilities, and he could not have achieved as much if he had stayed with the Australians. 
Peden is now an Olympic medal contender and has no regrets about chasing gold in his own home town with another country's 
colours on his back. 
"That won't worry me at all. I was asked in Australia recently how it's going to feel on the dais in Sydney in front of the Australian 
crowd with an Australian down below you. I said I'd feel brilliant." 
Born in New Zealand, Plunket Society national paediatrician and Wellington School of Medicine senior lecturer Russell Wills has 
spent so long in Australia he has even developed an Australian accent, but recently came back to New Zealand to live permanently. 
He graduated in medicine in 1987, and came back to his hometown in Hawke's Bay to work. 
But at the end of 1989 he went to England for further study, and two years later he decided to work in paediatrics. "It was 1991, we 
had just had the mother of all budgets and the writing was on the wall for training in New Zealand, so I went to Australia to do my 
paediatric training." 
Two years ago Dr Wills was ready to move on to a consultancy role. 
There was a job available in Australia offering 50 per cent more pay than he could get in New Zealand and better resources and 
conditions. But he turned it down to return to New Zealand to be close to family. 
"If my parents weren't in New Zealand I would have stayed in Australia. The money is better there, the conditions and support are 
better. 
"In the end for us the family ties were stronger than the financial and other career aspects." 
With two sons aged one and three, Dr Wills and his wife Mary see his parents in Hawke's Bay at least once a month. 
But the Government must act to keep more professionals from leaving New Zealand, he says. "Inevitably there will be a brain drain 
from a country like ours. 
"We will never have the kinds of opportunities other countries have, but we need to compete in terms of pay and conditions if we 
want to retain people." 
 
 
Drug-dealing cop faces up to the reality of life in prison 

Leon Pigott . . . `It was there to do and easy to do, and I did it. Now I have to pay for it.' 
  
  
 
Former police officer Leon Pigott tells Jon Morgan how he has shattered his life selling drugs 
-------------------- 
LEON PIGOTT shakes his head ruefully. "I'm stupid, stupid, stupid." He says he can't explain what made him go into the cannabis-
selling business. It wasn't for the money _ he was already earning $41,000 as a police constable. 
Pigott, 29, a police officer for three years till he admitted two charges of selling cannabis and another two of supplying it for sale, 
was sentenced yesterday in the High Court at Palmerston North to 18 months in jail. 
In this interview, at his Levin home two weeks ago, he says he simply sold the drugs because he could. Anyone can, he says. "You 
can walk into any town and very soon you will find someone to sell you the stuff." He shrugs, and says in a resigned voice: "It was 
there to do and easy to do, and I did it. Now I have to pay for it." 
But in court yesterday he gave a different explanation. Through his lawyer, Peter Coles, he said he was attempting a freelance 
undercover operation. That argument was rejected by the police and discounted by the sentencing judge, Justice Heron. 
Pigott says he loved police work, specially the contact with people. "I'm angry at myself because I've thrown away something good. 
I've shattered my whole life; I've hurt other cops, I've hurt my family and my friends." He thinks the cannabis laws are crazy _ a 
waste of $21 million a year of police resources and the source of a billion-dollar industry controlled by hardened criminals. 
"The every-day Kiwi smokes dope; politicians, television presenters, cops _ they all do it, and they all buy it from crims," he says. 
And he makes the point that the taxes he has paid in the 15 years of his working life probably equal the amount the justice system 
has paid in making a case against him and will spend in looking after him in jail. 
He doesn't smoke but says cannabis should be legalised, though cautiously, and the money spent policing the laws spent on 
educating the public on the pros and cons of smoking it. 
"Take the cashflow away from the gangs and you destroy their power base. You'll be able to stop the murders, the violence, the fear 
and the misery." 
Cannabis does less harm than nicotine or alcohol, he claims. 
"Ask any cop what situation they would rather go into. You go into a pad where everybody's lolling about smoking dope, it's `Hey 
dudes', but you go into a house where people have been drinking and you're looking at it turning vio lent pretty quickly." 
Though he says he still has the utmost respect for the police, he is disappointed they had to send the Armed Offenders Squad to his 
house after he was arrested. 
He says they busted down his front door and scared his partner and her seven-year-old daughter so badly they are now seeing a 
psychologist. Then he shrugs: "I know, I brought it on them myself". 
His troubles haven't ended there. Three days after his arrest, his house was almost stripped bare by burglars and two weeks later 
he had his car radio stolen. 
He expects life in prison to be hard for a former cop. "There will be people there I've put away, I'm going to have to watch my back." 
Justice Heron granted him leave yesterday to apply for home detention, but said the District Prison Board had to decide if that was 
appropriate. 
 

