Sisters span three centuries

On Easter Monday the New Zealand 	Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of 
Nazareth's commitment to Wanganui will have spanned three centuries.
Although the congregation's headquarters are in Wanganui, it was originally an 
Australian order of nuns.  The order was co-founded by Father Julian Tenison Woods 
and Mary McKillop in 1866 as an apostolic religious congregation to meet the needs 
of poor, migrant families in rural Australia. The nuns were to be a group of "frontier 
people."
Later the order split, with the nuns coming under diocesan control commonly known 
as the Black Joes because they wore black habits. Those who remained with Mary 
McKillop were known as the Brown Joes.
Mary McKillop was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1995,  which is one 
of the preliminary steps before a person is declared to be a saint.
On April 24, 1880 four young Black Joes - Sisters of the St Joseph of Nazareth 
(average age 22) arrived in Wanganui at the invitation of the Catholic Parish Priest, 
Dean Kirk.
 They were, Sisters Hyacinth Quinlan, Joseph Kinsella, Teresa Schmidt, and Clare 
Rubie, who had travelled by coach and steamer from Perthville in NSW to a totally 
unknown destination.
A well-appointed convent awaited   them but contrary to their hopes of working 
amongst the poorest of the poor, they were expected to establish a boarding school for 
young ladies and teach pianoforte.
They opened a primary school and a secondary school for boarders and day pupils on 
May 3, 1880.
(The first Catholic schools in Wanganui, though, had been established 13 years earlier 
by Maurice O'Callaghan.)
Now, 120 years later, the order has 57 members, 34 of whom live in Wanganui while 
the remaining 23 live between Wellington and Wellsford, Northland.
And whereas the original work of the sisters was in education, the needs of the late 
20th century see them now working in far more diverse areas.
At Wellsford, for instance, the sisters run a small organic farm in partnership with MP 
Sue Bradford and her husband Bill. On the site there is the Kotare Centre, which 
reflects the Sisters' belief in the need for an ecological and cosmic view of all people, 
particularly the Christian Church.
The sisters' commitment to women and families in particular from 1987 onwards has 
seen them move into state housing areas to live and to minister.
They also use their educational skills in prisons and the state education system.
Some have retrained as counsellors or prison, hospital and industrial chaplains. One 
sister, is a registered psychotherapist with a practice in Wellington.
Many work voluntarily for community groups such as Foundation for the Blind, 
Hearing Association, Birthright, Alzheimer's Arthritis and Cancer societies and Age 
Concern. 
The work they do is not too dissimilar to that done by some sisters of earlier years.
These include Sister Rita Links (died 1962), who taught for years at the Aramoho 
Catholic school  Holy Infancy, but which for years was commonly,	known as Sister 
Rita's School. The school is now called St Mary's.				
Sister Rita held dear the original charism of the group and gave countless hours to 
visiting, counselling and supporting the poor.
"Of equal note in this regard was Sister Chanel Carmody (died 1950), well known for 
her concern and practical assistance to the poor and needy.
"Later, Sister Benigna Cooper (died1982) spent many hours visiting the
sick in hospital and, in their homes, as did Sister Enda Brown (died 1982),
 who also became a well known visitor
at the city prison," Sister Kathleen Crompton said.
Part of the movement into the wider community over the past 13 years also has seen 
the sisters living in flats or smaller houses in other towns and cities in the North 
Island.
Though not collectively visible as in former, habited, days, the sisters still make their 
mark on society, especially among those in need, and not necessarily just the 
materially poor.
"The common trait of the group is an extraordinary ordinariness noted by most who 
meet us.
"Also, over the past 11 years a strong band of men and women has been associated 
with the Sisters.
"They imbibe our spirit, meet regularly to discuss, reflect and pray about current 
societal trends and engage in supporting major works such as Nazareth Rest Home 
and Quinlan Court, which provides independent living for older people," Sister 
Kathleen Crompton said.
The sisters still own Sacred Heart College, which will close when the new
co-ed Catholic secondary school, Cullinane College, is opened in 2003.
Cullinane College, which will also replace St Augustine's College, will be sited on St 
Augustine's grounds, Peat St.
With diminishing numbers, and the average age of the sisters in the late 60s, what the 
future holds for the order is a major question for it to face this century.
But there is little doubt about how the sisters will be remembered.
Firstly, it will be by thousands of past pupils, not the least of whom 
will be Sacred Heart College old girls, then there are Nazareth Rest Home and
Court.
"By their deeds will they be remembered" is a saying which aptly applies to the 
Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth.
On April 24 the sisters will commemorate the day at Mt St Joseph, Hillside Tyce 
(formerly its Novitiate and now its administration centre).
On April30 at 5pm in the Sacred Heart College library there will be a gathering open 
to the public followed by evening prayer in the chapel.
Another event includes a day of celebration on September 23 to mark the arrival of 
the sisters and establishment of Sacred Heart College.
The celebration will include 
individual class reunions.
And on October 11-22 at the Wanganui Community Arts Centre
there will be a retrospective art exhibition by artists associated with Sacred Heart 
College.

The original group of Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth, who arrived in Wanganui on 
April 24, 1880, (from left) Sister Hyacinth Quinlan, Sister Teresa Schmidt, Sister 
Joseph Kinsella and (front) Sister Clare Rubie.

Sister Chanel Carmody.

Sister Enda Brown.

Mount St Joseph at Hillside Tce, which was the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth's 
Novitiate from 1949 – 76 and has since been used as the order's administration centre.

The Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth's first convent in Wanganui, which was in the 
town's Main St (now knows as Victoria Ave) can be seen centre background.

Above: The original Sacred Heart College, which the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth 
had built on St John's Hill. It opened in 1912 and was a noted Wanganui landmark 
until 1983 when it was demolished and a new college built on the site.

Right: Sister Rita Links

Letter from the editor
John Maslin

The shape of communication media continues to change rapidly, with innovation 
sparking interest daily.
Newspapers are well aware of these changes and the likely impact they have 
on their papers each day. Internet use
expands daily and with that comes the proliferation of other news sources. 
The matter of reliability of these so-called
"news outlets" is another question and not for debate here.
But despite this technological growth, newspapers remain one of the most 
reliable recognisable and credible news
providers.
At the Chronicle we are part of that change too; witness our reliance on 
computer technology in the daily production
cycle.
We can use this new technology to our advantage too, providing as it does 
links to the Internet and e-mail options.
Already our recently introduced weekly reader poll provides an e-mail 
address; letters to the editor can be e-mailed.
And it is the area of e-mail that we want to signal an addition to our news 
service.
Shortly readers will notice that by-lined stories - stories researched and 
compiled by our reporting staff - will carry an
e-mail address at the end of that story. It will give readers a direct 
contact point with the reporter concerned and let
them make contact through that resource.
It is another means of spreading our news web. It recognises that a growing 
audience is using e-mail as a daily tool
and for them it is the preferred means of communication. Rather than 
isolate those readers, we welcome their input.
We are keen to expand on daily e-mail correspondence and invite users to be 
part of a special section of our letters
columns. We will accept, each day, e-mail letters no longer than 30 words 
which we will publish the following day.
(The electronic transfer doesn't involve hand-setting as other letters do, 
hence the immediacy).
We will introduce these daily snapshots if or when the reader response 
dictates.
Our weekly reader poll, launched on April 3, continues to generate an 
increasing response.
At this stage the majority of votes have been received via our phone line. 
We will eventually have a designated phone
line that will record responses.
The Chronicle's April Fool's edition  was warmly received.
We have learned of a number of readers duped by our front page story of the 
tunnel being constructed to replace the
Dublin St Bridge. We want to thank Mayor Chas Poynter for
getting into the spirit of our spoof.
The edition was a great relief, not only for the community, but also our staff, who had 
the onerous task of reporting on a series of tragic events in the city.
We all needed time out from what had been an unbelievable run of tragedy. That one 
edition was a much-needed respite.
   
We are always keen to hear from our readers about their newspaper. Your 
opinion matters a great deal.
One aspect of the Chronicle we are keen to get feedback on is our regular columnists; 
those who appear each week on Page 6. If you have a point of view to express about 
any of our columnists, please call me on (06) 349 0710, or e-mail to 
wc_editorial@wilsonandhorton.co.nz.  

These words are an ancient Christian hymn, though whether composed or 
only quoted by Paul is uncertain. They
express the central belief of Christian people in the mystery of the 
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is
celebrated at Easter.
The great gift of Easter is hope. We know that the struggle between good 
and evil will go on, and evil will often prevail. Death remains about the one certain 
fact in the lives of each 
one of us, and there will be suffering, sorrow and
sadness next week as there was last week. Yet we have the audacity to 
rejoice and sing.
The great gift of Easter is hope - Christian hope which makes us have that 
confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph
and in his goodness and love which nothing can shake. Christ shared our 
experience, he suffered as we suffer. He
died as we shall die. But now it's all different, and whatever the 
future holds in store Christian hope gives us inward
peace and inward joy. That's what matters.
by Fr Rodney Smyth St Mary's Catholic Church, Wanganui

Stuffiness of an old order that's absolutely, positively soporific

From the Sideline
Chris Laidlaw

Lord Graham of Montrose is greatly displeased. The titles are gone. That special club 
of Sir this and Dame that is doomed to eternal anachronism.
In a single swoop the government has abolished what took the English more than a 
millennium to construct. And what's more they appear to have got away with it. 
Certainly the sound of muted sobbing has been heard off-stage, not least in the 
chambers of all those High Court judges patiently serving time in the firm expectation 
that the knighthood automatically follows a decade or two of good behaviour.
There has been none of the fierce rearguard action expected from traditionalists, 
royalists or members of the Flat Earth Society. One or two objectors - mainly 
recipients of titles themselves - have stepped bravely forward to put a finger in the 
dyke only to find the dam has burst. It's done. It's over.
So what have we got instead? It might not quite be the Order of the Kakapo, 
as Sir Douglas Graham scaremongered
a few years ago, when his own party started this whole business at the 
behest of the rebellious James Bolger.
Having looked at the new pecking order, however, I cannot help feeling that 
the Order of The Kakapo might not have
been such a bad idea after all. The
awards list has a distinctly prosaic look about it.
The language is unquestionably retro. Orders remain the order of the day. The Order 
of New Zealand, the New Zealand Order of Merit and the Queen's Service Order all 
have that familiar, borrowed look. The stuffiness of the old order remains as if to 
permanently remind us that we didn't invent all this ourselves.
I have no quarrel with the underlying concept of the Order of New Zealand. 
The highest honour needs to be limited to
the few who contribute the most in a strictly personal way to the integrity 
of New Zealand society. It would be nice to
see it given a slightly more inspirational name however.
Further down, the nomenclature is positively soporific.
The Order of Merit, we are informed, will now have five levels. On top will 
be the Principal Companions. Below that will be the Distinguished Companions. 
Clearly running out of adjectives, the authors have decided that the last three, in 
declining order of importance will be, simply, Companions, Officers and Members. It 
is all just about as dense a thicket of courtly jargon as it was before and that perhaps 
explains why there has been such muted resistance.
Those with suspicions that this is innately revolutionary stuff are finding 
instead the familiar language of patronage.
They might have swiped our titles but by St Michael and St George, the rest 
of it looks jolly sound.
In a few years New Zealand will be heavy with Companions. There will be 
companions in the armed forces, in the civil service, in business, the arts, sport and 
community service. Everywhere you look there will be distinguished companions. But 
companions of what, or who? Nobody seems to know.
Years ago, Spike Milligan spotted this particular lacuna in the British 
honours system. When asked what he would
prefer to receive, he responded with the wish that he could become a 
Companion of Honour Blackman. Now there's a thought.

We're not going to the dogs, but they could be vital
by Dave Laurence

District Councillor John Lithgow's vision for Wanganui includes a substantial 
section on Hatrick Raceway, the much-applauded greyhound racing venue at 
Spriggens Park.
He says it is "up with anything Australasia has to offer" and will even 
challenge Australia's best - the Bull Eye track at
Wollongong in New South Wales.
It results from months of discussion out of the spotlight, he says, and 
sound negotiations between rugby and
greyhound officials.
The outcome, in his view, will be a well-utilised sports complex drawing 
people from throughout the central and
southern North Island.
"The main thing about fast tracks," he says, "is that dog breeders can get 
much greater returns for their progeny if the
dog or bitch has record status in the black print of the breed.
"Brian Barrington, who has built 28 Australian raceways and another 12 in 
Asia, knows as much about raceways as
anyone in the Southern Hemisphere and his word is gospel on their subject."
Cr Lithgow says naming the raceway after riverboat Pioneer Alexander 
Hatrick, formerly the Mayor of Wanganui
recognises a man who
was truly a community leader.
"He was a real dynamo for the town and surely that is what this town needs 
now. Preserving his name in 2000 makes
a lot of sense and, after all, the complex is in Hatrick St."
Growth in the greyhound industry, he says, could see annual turnover 
increase from $2.5 million to $12 million.
Eventually the number of Wanganui dates may exceed 40 with owners and 
trainers moving to Wanganui, making it a
regional greyhound centre.
Cr Lithgow was asked by the Chronicle to outline his vision for Wanganui 
following his recent address to Rotarians on
the topic.
"Wanganui over the last 20 years has made little or no progress when it 
comes to population gains," he says, "yet
rates have continued on their merry way, moving upward every year.
"In short, the increased burden is being absorbed by those who stay in the 
city."
His list of messy decision-making covers issues such as Majestic Square 
redevelopment, The Warehouse and K mart
("the council has not come out of this unscathed"), the Whanganui Regional 
Museum ("we now have 50 percent governance by 15 percent of the people") and the 
visitor information centre's location.
Cr Lithgow says the return from Wanganui's pear industry may increase from $1 
million a year to $3 million or $4 million within five years.
"The retirement industry is still well within my sights as a logical 
expansion of Wanganui's population," he says. "It's surprisingly well supported now 
that people have had the time to think about it sensibly since I launched it as a
council candidate.
"I have put it on the back burner to quietly assimilate worthwhile development 
material before again lifting the whole retirement industry profile."
He also suggests that with MMP seemingly well established it is time to review the 
method of choosing provincial politicians.
"No mayor or councillor should have more than four consecutive terms," he 
argues.
In Wanganui's case there could be 10 elected councillors plus two appointed 
by the 10 in MMP fashion.
"New blood keeps fresh thinking coming into City Hall."
Cr Lithgow offers a variation on the adage that you don't make an omelette 
without breaking eggs.
"Ships that stay in Port don't make waves. But ships are designed to go across oceans. 
Politicians who stay in port don't make waves - that's not why you vote politicians in."
  
When the tables turn on former clients

 Wanted: a new judge for Marton court. Not that, Andrew Becroft isn't doing a top 
job. But presiding over the "heavy trucks court capital of New Zealand",
 he's finding that many of his former clients are coming before him for various  
misdemeanours That, for a judge, is it a big no-no.
As a lawyer in Auckland he did a lot of road user work involving 
various trucking firms. And with the Sanson weigh
station churning out the tickets, many of those clients are finding 
themselves on the Marton court list.
"Maybe we'll have to look at getting a new judge in from time to time," His 
Honour suggested to officials at a recent sitting.
But will that solve the problem? The very next case was a person represented by 
Judge Becroft's old Auckland law firm.
"This is getting ridiculous," the Judge quipped.
So if you feel you've got what it takes to dispense justice why not apply
Just be absolutely certain that you know no-one from Auckland!

Wanganui still looms large in the life of Ian Stuart, who for the past 39 years has lived 
in America where he is a chiropractor.
He was born and grew up in Wanganui and has been a fan of the Chronicle 
since his boyhood days when he delivered
it to shops in Victoria Ave.
In Wanganui to visit family, he visited the
Chronicle recently and said he so enjoyed the newspaper's colour printing of 
photographs and focus on local events he often had the newspaper sent to him in 
America.
"I do miss Wanganui and the Chronicle helps me keep in touch with what 
is happening here," he said.
His daughter Ursula also makes a point of maintaining her links in 
Wanganui.
Last year she timed her visit to Wanganui to coincide with the Masters 
Games and competed in a number of events
including swimming,
And recently, learning from her father the Splash Centre no longer had an 
American flag, she sent it a large cloth flag
which Dr Stuart
presented to the centre this month.
This pooch (left) knows that a Chronicle for breakfast is the
best way to start her day. We must confess, Tessa is not an avid Chronicle reader. She 
sees herself more  in a delivery role. The three-year-old golden labrador gleefully 
bounds down to the farm gate to collect the paper for her parents three-year-old Janice 
and Quentin Handley. "The only way to get it out of her mouth is to give her a 
biscuit," Janice said.
Marketing and circulation manager Keith Smith would love to see more quirky 
photographs of Chronicle   readers and
delivery hounds. Send your pictures to him at Wanganui Newspapers, PO Box 
433, Wanganui. Remember to write
your name and contact details on the back.

Forget Coronation St ... here comes Corregation St.
A signpost bearing that names has appeared on Mangawhero Rd, off State 
Highway 49 between Raetihi and Ohakune.
Locals have complained about the state of the road for years. Ruapehu Mayor 
Weston Kirton and district councillors
met residents recently, but apparently haven't promised immediate action.
So Corregation St it remains. By the way, we won't argue with the spelling, 
even though it should read Corrugation St.

Pepino cuttings

Gardeners growing these delicious fruits should, at this time of year, 
take a few cuttings or lift a rooted piece and
plant either in a very sheltered situation or in a container for winter 
protection.
Fruit that have formed on the bush to a good size and have not yet 
ripened may be picked for their protection and
ripened indoors.
The fruit will slowly ripen indoors, giving you an extended harvest. 
Existing plants can then be cut back, near the
ground level and the stumps covered with straw to protect them through 
the winter.
You can by this means keep an existing plant to crop for a couple of 
seasons but I prefer to replace the plants
completely every season as they grow so easily from cuttings
The cuttings you take now can he grown through winter and will in turn 
supply you with the new material for taking
further cuttings in the spring.
It's these spring cuttings that will be planted out later in spring to 
supply you with fruit in summer and autumn. A great
tasting and easy fruit to grow and if you haven't tried them yet, you
on should do so this coming season. Plants are normally available 
wherever SuperToms are sold.

Weekend work

This month lilies can be increased from scales, seeds or the small 
bulbils formed in the lead axils. Start preparing the
soil for good hydrangeas next year. Acid soil for blue flowers, lime for 
red. Nothing for whites. Clay soil should be dug
over to expose the lumps to the frost. Incorporate plenty of humus in the 
form of straw or silage. Lime should also be
applied, next month or in June. Lime is absorbed best when conditions are 
very cold. Check potatoes, kumara,
pumpkins and fruit in storage to prevent rots spreading to undamaged 
specimens.

Perennials have just about done their dash

Get Gardening
Wally Richards

Had a good display from the  perennial border this year?
As well as can be expected, considering the weather, I suppose. But now is the time to 
do some work on it, so when the weather improves next spring and summer, as is 
hoped, the display will be even better.
The perennial bed should be tidied up in readiness for winter. Dead-heading 
the chrysanthemums will continue the display for a while, maybe, but most of the 
other perennials should be about finished.
It is best to cut back each perennial clump as it begins to die off. Cut 
back herbaceous perennials to ground level,
and  shrubby perennials to tidy, compact clumps, trimming off dead flower stems.
After clearing weeds from the area and forking the soil loose - avoid 
damaging fleshy roots - spread a mulch of compost, mushroom compost or peat moss 
over the area.
Many gardeners now save seeds of particularly fine perennials to increase
stocks for next season, or for replacements where the old clumps have been 
attacked by diseases or pests.
Though perennials are supposed to come year after year - and some do 
improve with age - many grow old, the roots
thicken, the stems harbour disease spores and the eggs of pests.
As always, save seeds from only the best plants, particularly from 
disease-free ones, and don't expect the seedlings
to come true to the parents. Cross-pollination ensures this will not happen.
Some gardeners, after the autumn tidying up, spray with all-seasons oil and 
copper oxychloride, as is done with fruit
trees and roses.
There is a great deal of merit in this. Both diseases and pests carry 
over winter. 
This is also the season when new beds may be planned, perhaps replacing a 
mixed one with a bed where a theme predominates - a white bed, a blue bed, a 
fragrant one, spring bulbs followed by summer and autumn species which
carry on the theme. Now is the time to plan and undertake.

Handy herbs grown right in the kitchen

How often have you been preparing a meal and found that you could use a 
sprig of parsley or mint?
If it's after dark or if you're running short of time, it can be such a hassle to get a 
torch, go down to the garden and pick your requirements that maybe you just don't 
bother.
More often or not that is what happens in my home, so I just don't bother with the 
garnish.
Recently I came across a really nice clump of mint growing on some waste land 
adjacent to my property.
I lifted a rooted piece and also took a sprig for cooking. As it turned 
out, the rooted cutting died, but the sprig in
water, on the windowsill above the kitchen bench, rooted up. It grew 
well in the water and had sufficient light, even
though the window faces south-east and only receives early morning sun.
Later I found a small clay pot in the shed and potted my now well-rooted 
sprig of mint.
What a difference that pot has made.
Whenever I need a bit of mint it's right there, where I am preparing the 
meal.
  Since then I have dug up a couple of seedlings of parsley and potted them 
into another small clay pot for the same
window.
I intend to collect a few more herbs that I use occasionally in cooking or as garnishes, 
such as chives rosemary, thyme etc.
As I am only using small three-inch clay pots, the plants will never get 
too big and the trimming of them when
needed for a meal will keep them in nice shape.
It's just one of those things that I had thought about doing and had never 
got around to it.
But let me tell you, it's so convenient I should have done it years ago.
There are some other advantages too, in so much as you see these plants several times 
every day as you are working at the kitchen sink or bench and so you never forget to 
water them when they need it.
Insects and diseases are not a problem as they are away from soil and other 
plants, so they cannot become
contaminated.
With winter coming on they will
 keep on growing better because of the
 extra light and warmth they will
 receive and no more having to get a brolly and a torch on a wet winters
 night to harvest the ones growing in the garden.
If you have a lot of use for herbs in your cooking you should still keep 
your main plants growing in the garden and
just have your small potted plants for convenience and small uses.

Gratifying gardening

Principles that apply to business management can also be applied to your 
gardening.
 Basically, it's a matter of working out a list of priorities and goals in 
regard to tasks that need to be done and
aspects that you would like to achieve.
So let's start with the first list, called priorities.
These are tasks you can see need to be done to maintain and improve your 
gardens. It may be headed into
categories such as "Lawn: needs weeding, feeding, mowing and reseeding. 
Vegetables: needs weeding, liming,
feeding, planting.
Fruit needs pruning, spraying, feeding. Flowers need weeding, trimming, 
feeding, planting. Shrubs need trimming,
weeding and feeding".
These are jobs that are current or will need to be done in the near future.
Next, list goals or things you would like to do to improve your garden. It 
may be building a pond, planting up shrubs
and trees for privacy, shade or wind protection, putting in new garden 
features such as fountains, statues, aviary,
irrigation system, patio, deck, glasshouse etc.
It can be a list of goals or a wish list. These should not be started until 
your priority list is completed, but you can
think about the most important one and organise how you will tackle it once 
you have your priorities taken care of.
Now, come back to your priority list and start working through the list, 
picking out the simpler tasks or ones that
need to be done before the others. It is better to concentrate all your 
efforts into one area that most needs your
attention. Get this completed then move on to the next area.  For instance, 
with lawns the mowing is the easiest and
will instantly improve the overall appearance of your gardens. After 
mowing, leave it for a couple of days then spray
the lawn for weeds.
A few days later you can feed the lawn, and as most herbicides work on 
growth, this will also help kill weeds faster
and add lustre to the lawn.
After weeds have died off, a further mowing will likely be required and 
then you can reseed bare  areas or generally
resow to thicken existing grasses. Now that your lawn has been attended to choose
the next priority area, it may be your flower gardens.
If you have several flower plots then concentrate on one by weeding it 
completely, removing spent plants, trimming
back perennials, mulching the bare soil and planting out new seedlings to 
complete. In a few days move to the next
flower bed and repeat.
The secret is to gain satisfaction in seeing a task is completed and the 
sense of accomplishment leads you on to the
next task with enthusiasm.
Plan your time to spend half-an-hour or an hour every day or every few days 
in tackling a task and completing it. Don't
try for instance, to rid your whole section of weeds in one go.
You may spend several hours over several days
performing  the same task, and even though you have completed your task you 
still haven't actually completed an area and they all still require further tidying up, 
mulching and replanting.
 It's bit like spring-cleaning your home; you get one room done, looking spick and 
span, you're rewarded with a sense of well- being, which gives you the desire to
do the next room.
Once all areas of your section have been taken care of, you can work on your most 
important  goal, and likely you will have already just about completed the work in
 your mind while you have been working through your priorities.
 Doing your gardening in this sort of manner will be very gratifying. It will change 
chores into meaningful tasks that

The garden bench: more than just a place to sit

By Helen Solomons

A white bench complements its green surroundings.

A low bench in a small inner-city paved garden.

A sheltered corner for sitting

A garden bench is not just a piece of furniture to rest one's weary bones. 
it is a useful and decorative piece of
furniture.
A bench seat in the garden is a mute invitation to sit down or, at least, 
pause to look at what the seat is focused on.
A garden's design must ensure that the number of seats and their positions 
ensure interesting views, good planting
nearby and/or stunning vistas.
There is no shortage of good garden benches to choose from today.
Whether it be constructed of wood, stone or metal, a seat's versatility of 
roles means styles can vary from seats for
contemplation, seats for lovers, seats for savouring the scents of the 
garden, to secret seats, seats for moon and star
watching or seats for sheltering.
Not only should a seat be positioned to benefit the garden's overall 
composition, it should also be hospitable for the
sitter.
It the seat is to have all-year-round use, place it against a fixed object 
such as a wall hedge or house for shelter.
Pave the surface beneath the seat to keep it clean and mow-free.
If shade is required, place a bench under a wooded pergola or arch or 
weeping tree such as the weeping elm (Ulmus
glabra pendula ) if space allows - or, for a smaller space, Prunus 
subhirtella pendula rosea.
A seat beneath perfumed climbers such as sweet-smelling jasmine (Jasminium 
officinale), the many climbing roses - for example, Rosa Constance Spry - 
or the honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica halliana) is a great pleasure.
So is a seat in the midst of an aromatic herb garden filled with astringent 
scents of the cotton lavender (Santolina), box (Buxus sempervirens), rosemary 
(Rosmarinus officinale) and thyme (Thymus).
A seat directed to a certain view or vista will expose the sitter to a 
different perspective of the garden.  A seat at the
top of a hillside garden will give you a bird's-eye view.
If a garden has no levels, create a raised platform to place a seat similar 
to the one at Bodnant Gardens at Chateau
du Pontrancart near Dieppe France.
Apart from the conventional materials and designs, bench seats can be 
created from almost any material.  Innovative ideas can be extended to using recycled 
materials. Hewn-out tree trunks, railway sleepers or recycled red bricks offer 
possibilities. Seats can swing from trees or can be permanently set in stone.
Even the knee of a seated garden statue could be considered a seat.
Pliable living plants such as wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) or the pliable 
willow (Salix fragilis) can make wonderful bench
seats. Plant a wisteria vine or live willow stakes into the ground. Over 
time the stems can be plaited and woven into
the desired shape.
Most good quality wooden bench seats constructed from hardwood can be left 
to age and weather naturally outside.
A painted wooden bench seat will provide accent to a garden.
The difficulty is in choosing a colour that expresses the required look.
Black can be conservative, white simply jars the eyes and green can appear 
dull.
In his search to be different, Prince Charles painted most of his outdoor 
furniture at Highgrove a disquieting tone of
sea green. He has even tried bay-bow pink. Blue is a strong contemporary 
colour for bench seats. It complements the
garden's greens and, what is more, does not glare or look boring. Inky blue 
benches are found in the most beautiful
European gardens, such as beneath the climbing roses in the Jardins Kahn in 
Paris or alongside the limey green
bleached hedges at Hidcote, in Gloucestershire. There are always exceptions 
for the white bench seats:
predominately green gardens, formal parterres, topiary gardens or colonial 
gardens surrounded by white picket
fences. Contemporary city gardens may suit the sharp tone of a white, black 
or grey bench seat.
 Helen Solomons has a degree in garden design from the English School of 
Gardening in Chelsea, London. She has returned to Christchurch and set up her own 
business as a writer garden designer and lecturer.

Women at war

New Zealand women did more than sit at home and knit socks during World War 2. 
They sailed away in their hundreds to England, Egypt, Italy and the Pacific as nurses, 
hostesses, cooks, desk clerks and ferry pilots. Back home they filled men's work 
shoes and trained in top secret to search the skies for incoming enemy. Reporter 
Meredith Stuck asked several local women to share their wartime memories.

Flying Spitfires and Hurricanes around the skies of Britain kept Wanganui 
women Trevor Colway (nee Hunter) busy during World War 2.
The pint-sized pilot, was sweet 16 when she experienced the thrill of her 
first solo flight in 1931. At 17 she was the second Wanganui woman to hold a pilot's 
licence.
When war broke out in 1939, the 24-year-old was grounded because aircraft 
were taken for official duties.
A letter from an old aero club chum put some wind back into her wings. 
Apparently, women pilots were needed to fly planes from factories to maintenance 
units and to squadron airfields around England.
With 43 flying hours under her belt, she set sail for England in August 
1941 to become the first New Zealand woman
pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).
"When I got there it was not a case of, 'There's a Spitfire; off you go'. 
I trained for months before I got my wings she said.
The lessons included petrol and hydraulic systems, flying theory and 
navigation - which was a little different on the
other side of the earth.
"The sun was in the wrong place, in the south, which put me off 
map-reading completely."
Eventually the penny dropped, as her instructor said it would, and she 
was away flying.
Despite a couple of small accidents - she put a Spitfire on its nose and 
scraped the underside of a Hurricane - her
love of flying outweighed any risks.
"Take a good, clear day and a Spitfire there is nothing in the world like 
it," she said.
She never shared air space with enemy aircraft, but she knew of one young 
woman who returned to base with a Jerry
bullet in her tail wheel.
"She didn't even know it was there until someone pulled it out and showed 
her."
When she turned in her wings in 1945, she had clocked up 1100 flying 
hours at the controls of Spitfires, Hurricanes,
Mitchell bombers, Mosquitoes and many other war planes.
She returned to Wanganui in the late 1940s and looked up the young chap 
whose letter sparked her dream to fly a
fighter plane, Jim Colway, later a Chronicle editor. They fell in love 
and married in 1950.

The band played Nursie, Come Over Here and Hold My Hand when 25-year-old 
Mickie Sherriff (nee Reidie) set sail for
Egypt on December 22, 1941.
The young nursing aid did a little more than hold hands with a soldier she 
met on a desert train; she married him.
Four Kiwi soldiers, including her husband to-be Doug Sherriff, volunteered 
to tag along as baggage boys when they
heard 40 women were to train unaccompanied across the desert from Cairo in 
May, 1942.
The group of Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) nursing aides were to be 
relocated to Nazareth with the Second
General Hospital.
Mrs Sherriff did not take much notice of her future husband on the train, 
but bruised apricots made their first date, a few days later, unforgettable. They took a 
local bus to Haifa, and, on the return trip, an Arab woman dropped a basket of 
apricots, known as mishmish on the floor of the bus.
"There was talk all around of mishmish. A common saying in the area was 
'baadin mishmish'; it meant 'Maybe later,
when the apricots bloom again'," she said.
Mr Sherriff ended up working as a clerk in the hospital office, and the 
couple saw each other almost every day.
In July that year, the couple moved with the hospital to Kantara, on the 
Suez Canal. They swam in the canal and
strolled together through the shops at Port Said.
The wartime romance blossomed like the apricot trees and they married on 
May 20, 1943.
The young bride wore her army uniform and carried red roses for the walk 
down the Garrison Church aisle in Ismalia.
Cups of tea were raised to toast the happy couple before they left for their one-night-
long honeymoon in a Port Said motel.
Back at camp they lived in separate quarters. On June 24, Mrs Sherriff sailed back to 
New Zealand. Her husband followed about four months later, and they settled down 
in Wanganui.
The secret weapon that won the Battle of Britain - radar - also kept Kiwis 
safe back home.
Manned mainly by women, two radar caravans parked in Miramar, Wellington, 
swept the sea and sky for signs of the
enemy around the clock.
When Waverley woman Gwen Lee (nee Jones) signed up with the WAAC in 1942, 
she had no idea she would end up
in an occupation veiled in secrecy.
After three months' training at the School of Artillery in Fort Dorset, she 
was put to work protecting her country.
The radar women lived near the anti-aircraft guns on Mt Victoria in the 
men's artillery camp. Each day they piled into
army trucks and drove down the hill to work.
The women were proud of their secret occupation, Mrs Lee said.
"We thought we were winning the war."
On the whole, the women's watchful eyes kept Wellington safe from air raids.
The one exception was a night-time flour bomb attack by the Royal New 
Zealand Air Force.
Mrs Lee said the friendly attack was a lesson that low-flying aircraft 
could sneak in under the radar, which was angled
at 45 degrees, Mrs Lee said.
Wanganui woman Dorothy Abel (nee Stent) became a WAAC radar operator in 
1942, but initially wanted to be in the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). Her wings were temporarily clipped in 
1940, when her father refused to let the
then 20-year-old leave home.
"In those days the father ruled the roost," she said.
A suspicious blip on a radar screen kept Mrs Abel awake one night.
"There was a scare with what could have been a submarine in Cook Strait."
She was to get a lot closer to enemy submarines in November, 1943, when she 
sailed with the troop ship Maui to
entertain "coconut bombers" (New Zealand troops) in New Caledonia.
She remembered the silence when the ship shut down its engines one night in 
the middle of the ocean.
"We knew perfectly well there were submarines around but we were never scared 
because we were all in it together," she said.
Unfortunately, ill health thwarted her plans to be a club hostess, and she ended up 
being sent home sick the following June.

Joan Fothergill spent the war behind the wheel of Colonel Peter Adams' army 
jeep.
When war broke out, the 19-year-old left her home in Nelson with her 
parents' blessing and enlisted as a Waac at
Burnham, near Christchurch.
As the colonel's "batman", she drove him wherever he wanted to go around 
England, Egypt and Italy.
She kept the colonel's uniform pressed and buttons polished right up until 
he was killed in Italy in 1942. After that she
travelled back to Egypt and took up a desk job in Cairo.
Hungry orphans and D-Day made a desk job with Women's Auxiliary Air Force
memorable for English woman Joan Lucas (nee Ciceri).
She worked in a stuffy records office alongside 2000 other women in 
Gloucester. On the eve of D-Day the women
stood at their
bedroom windows and witnessed their men fly south in their hundreds.
"At about 10pm we started seeing enormous numbers of planes flying south. 
They stopped at about 2am on June 6
(1944), and a couple of hours later they started coming back," Mrs Lucas 
said.
"Where they went out in perfect formation, they came back in dribs and 
drabs with
parachutes hanging down from them."
When fighting ceased in Europe more than a year later, her desk job took 
her to Italy.
Her most memorable moment in the war-torn country was a Christmas party the 
Waafs threw for 24 hungry Italian orphans.
"They ate everything that was in their sight. They were skinny, pale, sad 
little creatures
and what they couldn't eat they stuffed in their pockets."
Fattening up patients and sifting through the rubble of Hiroshima a year 
after the atomic bomb made World War 2 memorable for Cynthia Crafar (nee 
Stevens).   "One of my jobs (in New Zealand) was nursing British prisoners of war 
and internees from Singapore. I think we had to fatten them up before we sent them
home for Christmas," she said.
She was honourably discharged from the WAAC in December 1945.
Eight months later she was back in uniform and vomiting her false teeth 
over the side of a ship bound for Japan.
Her seasickness subsided once the ship cleared Cook Strait, but she had to 
wait until it took on fresh water in Suva
to see a dentist about a new denture.
While working as a J-force nursing aide in Japan, she took a seven-hour 
train trip to Hiroshima.
"It was awful. It was all rubble, except for a nunnery" she said.
Mrs Crafar shuddered when she recalled fossicking around in the ruins for a 
souvenir.
"I bought home a piece of molten glass that had been a bottle."
She no longer has the radioactive atomic bomb memento.
 "When I think about it now, I have to wonder why did I bring it home?"

British women like Joan Lucas (far right) were trained in air raid precautions when 
war broke out in 1939. Later she joined the WAAF and worked on war records in 
Gloucester and Italy.

This anonymous Italian woman (standing) opened her seaside villa in Sorrento to the 
women who were stationed in Caserta with the WAAF towards the end of WW2.

Trevor Colway was the first New Zealand woman to be accepted as an ATA ferry 
pilot in England.

Doug (left) and Mickie Sherriff married in May 1943 in Ismailia. The couple posed 
with Mr Sherriff's brother, Collin, outside the Garrison Church after the ceremony.

WAAC bombardier Gwen Lee is snapped in uniform in downtown Wellington, 1943.

WAAC radar operator Gwen Lee (fourth from right in front row) was snapped out on 
manoeuvres with the men's Bofors anti-aircraft gun. The women used their radar to 
find targets in the sky and told the men where to shoot.

These tents in Bourail, New Caledonia, were home to the Kiwi women, like Dorothy 
Abel, who cared for the "coconut bombers" during the war.

Long-legged Joan Lucas (seated, centre front) and fellow Waafs put on a production 
of Shake a Leg while working in war-town Italy during 1945.

New Zealand nursing aide Judy Robertson (left) wheeled some soldier patients 
outside as a 1942 Christmas Day treat at the war hospital in Kantara, Egypt.

Seminar assists Maori to make sound investments

By Daniel Jackson

Interested in investment at a seminar in Wanganui last week were (from left) Kuini 
Waretini, Pani Takarangi, Arahi Hagger and (with back to the camera) Bill Beard.

Ways of making successful investments while protecting existing assets 
were canvassed in a two-day seminar for
Maori held in Wanganui last week.
The seminar, organised by Aotea Associated Consultants in conjunction 
with the Federation of Maori Authorities,
attracted about 40 people last Wednesday and Thursday.
Dave Waaka, of Aotea Associates, said it targeted people from Maori land 
trusts and people from within Maori-based
business.
"The purpose was to make them aware of potential investment opportunities 
including local, national and international markets.
"It was part of the Maori economic development programme we are going 
through to help position people so their
assets are more commercially viable."
Mr Waaka said one of the points emphasised was the trusts should aim to 
keep the value they already have while at
the same time increasing their return.
Speakers included chief executive of
the Federation of Maori Authorities Paul Morgan, Temuera Hall of the Taupo  Forest 
Trust, general manager of' LTF
(investments) Allan Haronga and Rino Tirakatene of TRADENZ.
Participants were also issued with a manual called Nga Pataka Kopua 
(Growing Our Basket of Resources) which
helped guide them through principles of investment covered at the seminar.
The seminar was one of a number which have been run in and around the 
Wanganui region which have focused on
business, strategic planning and governance.
Aotea Consultants will run a seminar tomorrow in Taihape about the 
Government's plans for Maori economic
development and next month will hold another seminar in Wanganui, in 
conjunction with the Taumata Hauora Trust,
on the Employment Relations Bill.
"This series of seminars are all related to positioning Maori to become 
more professional and also to open the whole
world up to them," Mr Waaka said.

Nga wawata o te iwi Maori
-	A Maori Perspective

Moves to form new party seen as bound to fail

Attempts to form a united Maori political party under the Mana Motuhake 
banner are bound to fail, says the widow of
the man who founded the party.
Nellie Rata, whose late husband Matiu founded Mana Motuhake in 1979, said 
the party now existed "in name only"
and Alliance MPs and Mana Motuhake members Sandra Lee and Willie Jackson 
used the name only to get
themselves elected.
Mr Jackson, speaking at the end of the Mana Motuhake annual hui on 
Waiheke Island earlier in the month, said he
would call a meeting Maori political parties within a month to discuss 
the formation of a united Maori party.
The Maori vote had become "far too divided and it really needs to come 
under one sort of voice", Mr Jackson said.
It made sense for other Maori political parties to form alliances with 
parties closer to their philosophy, he said.
Ms Lee said while the party was committed to working within the Alliance, 
it was also looking at building a broader Maori group under the Mana Motuhake 
banner. It was up to party members to decide whether to quit the Alliance,
she said.
Mrs Rata said Mana Motuhake, "as an identity in politics, is no more".
"If they keep the Mana Motuhake name, good on them, the only reason is to 
get elected."
Mana Motuhake had been about retaining and gathering Maori land but had 
lost that focus when it joined the Alliance,
she said.
"They don't carry on the philosophy of Mana Motuhake and I told them last 
year they should be Mana Motuhake and
not part of the Alliance."
 Mrs Rata, who stood as a candidate for
the Act party at last year's general election
after failing to win the Motuhake
spot, said she was no longer a member of
the party and would not consider re-joining unless the party returned to the
kaupapa followed by her late husband. PA

Here we have one of the more difficult and perplexing sayings of Jesus, 
"Do not resist an evil person". While in
another portion of Scripture we are also told by Jesus to resist the 
Devil and he will flee; here we are told not to resist
an evil person.
It becomes a little clearer when we understand that the term translated 
"resist" refers to taking someone who has
offended you into a court of law. Understood thus, Jesus' "do not resist" means to let 
go of the offence and not
continue to prosecute the offender to the full extent of the law.
Yet the meaning cannot be understood to allow error or wrong to prevail. 
For Paul resisted Peter's teaching when it
deviated from the freedom proclaimed by Jesus.
Some will see this as a frustrating passage, making the Christian life 
next to impossible to live out and in one sense
they are correct. For without the guiding of the Holy Spirit, it is 
impossible to follow the path our Lord wants us to
follow. And that is exactly why Jesus said: "If I go I will ask the 
Father and he will send the Holy Spirit to lead you".
May you be open to his leading and empowering through out your Christian 
walk?
By the Ven. Ron Ashford, St Peter's Church, Gonville.

The warming winter glow of pumpkin

Focus on Food		Jan Bilton

There's nothing quite like the warming orange glow of pumpkin soup or pumpkin pie 
to help banish the chill of a grey winter's day.
Or perhaps you would prefer pasta with pumpkin or pumpkin burgers. For those who 
think that pumpkin is boring and ordinary, nothing could be further from the truth - 
this vegetable fruit can be used in ways that are not only interesting but exotic.
Pumpkins and squashes were among the earliest foods planted by American 
Indians and, prior to the arrival of
Columbus, this New World staple was unknown in Europe.
A French explorer, Jacques Cartier, reported that he had found gros melons, 
which was translated into English not as
big melons but as pomions - pumpkins. While the translation of the name may 
have been faulty there can be no
misunderstanding about the pumpkin's acceptance as a culinary staple.
Popular in this country, Australia, the US (where pumpkin pie is a main 
feature of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner),
Mexico, the Caribbean, Britain, Spain and Italy, pumpkin dishes are easily 
digested and rarely cause allergies which,
incidentally, makes them an excellent weaning food. Pumpkin seeds should 
also be saved and eaten roasted or fried
as tasty, nutritious snacks.
Winter varieties of pumpkins usually have firmer flesh and a stronger 
flavour. They also contain more protein, fat,
carbohydrates and vitamin A. And the more vivid their colour, the more 
nourishing they are.
When buying, look for firm, bright, shapely pumpkins, heavy for their size
with uniform hard, thick rinds. There
should be few scars and no signs of rot.
Pumpkins can he stored whole for several months in a cool place but when 
cut, keep
in the refrigerator.
Pumpkin burgers
600g pumpkin
5 tablespoons pine nuts or slivered almonds
2 teaspoons olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped 
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs 1/4 teaspoon each: dried basil, thyme 12 slices 
ciabatta or crusty rye bread salad
vegetables

Peel and seed the pumpkin and either steam over boiling water or microwave, 
until tender. Lightly mash. Toast the
pine nuts or almonds either in a dry frying pan or in the microwave, until 
lightly golden. Remove.
Heat the olive oil in the frying pan and saute the onion and garlic, until 
softened. Transfer the onion mixture to a bowl
and add the pumpkin, nuts, sundried tomatoes, breadcrumbs and seasonings. 
Shape into four patties and refrigerate
for at least 30 minutes.
Cook in a non-stick frying pan or under a grill for about five minutes each 
side.
Serve between toasted ciabatta (pronounced chee-a-barta or rye with 
assorted salad vegetables. Top with a little
mayonnaise or pickle if desired.
Serves four.
Roast pumpkin with coconut dressing
700g pumpkin 2 tablespoons oil 1/2 green pepper diced 2 shallots, diced 1 
teaspoon each: grated root ginger,
mustard seed, ground cumin COCONUT DRESSING: 1/4 cup lime or lemon juice 
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar 1/2 cup
coconut cream
Preheat the oven to 190degC Peel and seed the pumpkin. Cut in serving-sized 
pieces. Roast in the oil, until tender.
Meanwhile prepare all the other ingredients.
Remove the cooked pumpkin from the oven and, while still warm, toss with 
the pepper, shallots, ginger, mustard
seeds and cumin. Sprinkle with combined dressing ingredients. Serves four.
Pumpkin scones
Either steam or microwave the pumpkin - rather than boil - to keep it as 
dry as possible.
1 cup cooked and mashed pumpkin 2 cups self-raising flour 1/2 teaspoon 
each: salt, ground cinnamon 25g butter 3
tablespoons brown sugar 1 egg, lightly beaten
Preheat the oven to 225degC. Lightly grease a baking tray or Swiss roll pan.
Sift the flour, salt and cinnamon into a bowl. Rub in the butter until 
the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the
sugar, pumpkin and egg and mix to form a dough.
Turn on to a lightly floured surface and lightly knead, until smooth. Pat 
out to form a 2.5 thick rectangle. Cut into 12
equal squares.
Place on the baking tray or pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden. 
Place the scones on a wire rack, cover with a
clean tea towel. Best served warm. Makes 12.
Penne, pumpkin & pistachios
600g pumpkin, peeled and seeded 1 onion, diced 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 green pepper, diced 1/2-3/4 cup cream 300g 
penne pasta salt and pepper to taste 2
tablespoons each: pumpkin seeds,
shelled pistachio nuts
Cut the pumpkin in 2cm cubes and steam or microwave, until tender.
Saute the onion in the oil, until tender. Add the garlic and pepper and 
cook, until softened. Stir in the cream and
simmer for a few minutes,
Meanwhile, cook the penne according to the packet instructions. Add the 
pumpkin to the cream mixture and heat
through. Season to taste.
Serve over the penne and garnish with the pumpkin seeds and pistachios. 
Serves four.
Thai soup with pumpkin
1 tablespoon oil 
1-1 1/2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste 
750g pumpkin, peeled and chopped 
2 cups water 
1 1/2 cups
coconut cream 
GARNISH: sprigs fresh coriander or parsley 
finely diced red pepper
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the curry paste and fry for one 
minute. Add the pumpkin and water.
Bring to the boil then simmer, until the pumpkin is soft. Add the coconut 
cream and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Place the mixture in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add extra 
water if it is too thick.
Serve topped with coriander and red pepper. Serves six.

Pumpkin burgers – delicious and nutritious.

Winemaker's departure another blow for respected winery

Time for Wine with Graeme Barrow

It's a tragic story, but there's a bit that's uplifting in it. Bannockburn 
Vineyards, just north of Geelong in Victoria has
for many years been one of Australia's most respected small wineries.
This has been in no small measure due to winemaker Garry Farr. For the last 
15 years he has spent each vintage at
one of Burgundy's most famous wineries Domaine Dujac.
And it shows. As Australia's best wine writer James Halliday (who is also 
Coldstream Hills winemaker) says, Farr's legacy (he is leaving Bannockburn due to 
family succession problems) is "immensely concentrated and complex
chardonnay and pinot noir, and a Rhone-inspired siraz."
To add to Farr's departure, two of the last three vintages were decimated 
by hail. In 1988, 90 percent of
Bannockburn's vineyards, totalling 24 hectares, were stripped of fruit in 
a hailstorm which lasted only 10 minutes. In that brief time 76 millimetres of rain 
fell and 130 of hail.
Yet Bannockburn made wine - thanks to the help and camaraderie of others in the 
industry who made some of their quality grapes available. The companies included 
famous names like 
BRL Hardy, Blue Pyrenees, Cape Mentelle,
Petaluma, Yalumba, Henschke, Taltarni, Katnook, Domaine Chandon, St 
Hallett, and Charles Melton - among others.
So Farr made his pinot, his chardonnay and his shiraz despite the hail, 
using what was left of Bannockburn fruit, plus that received from the 20-odd helpers-
out. He actually made the wines individually, from each batch received from 
each company - 17 chardonnays, 13 pinots, and 14 shirazes. A great tasting was held 
for all the participants before the wines were blended together.
So the Bannockburn 98s are unusual wines indeed in their composition.
 The three wines are labelled
 South-east Australian (although
 there is Victorian and Margaret
 River fruit in them as well and  the back labels bear the names of all the wineries
whose fruit was used in the wine.
They are available from Wine Direct in Auckland at about $40 each, and possibly 
other outlets too.
Matua Valley NEW RELEASES
Hawke's  Valley Matheson Sauvignon Blanc 99:
Hawke's Bay wine, barrel-fermented and some malolactic as well. Different and 
interesting sauvignon,  with smoky oak, tomato leaf and honeysuckle on the nose, and 
gooseberry and integrated oak on the palate. Smooth, balanced and with good 
drinkability. Ready, no hurry. $16.55
Kumeu River Chardonnay 99: Always one of the country's most 
distinctive and stylish chardonnays, this is one of
the best. Peach and pear and a hint of butter on the nose, and citric, caramel and oak 
flavours on the palate. Nice tight, concentrated wine with great balance and a 
lingering finish. Great now; better in a couple of years. $35.
Matakana Estate Chardonnay 98: Lovely nose of almonds and melons, with melon 
and pineapple and toasty oak on the palate. Quite oaky, easy-drinking wine, rather 
individual in that it's definitely not Hawke's Bay or Gisborne or Marlborough. Ready, 
no hurry. $28.
 Mahurangi Estate Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 98: Hawke's Bay blend, quite light for 
the vintage, with a berryfruit and vanilla oak nose, and gentle berryfruit flavours plus 
a mild tannic spine. Easy-drinking, quite forward wine. Ready, no hurry. $21.
Brajkovich Kumeu Merlot 99: Light, soft, plummy wine. Young but inviting, almost 
Beaujolais in style, but with a distinctive merlot earthiness and savouriness. Forward 
wine for easy, early, pleasant drinking. Ready, no panic. $17. 
Penfolds Bill 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 97:
South Australian wine. and a very good one of its type. Minty, blackcurrant bouquet 
and with mint, smoky oak, and blackcurrants on the palate. An elegant Aussie, 
smooth and rich, with a finish of ripe tannins. Ready, no hurry at all. $24.

Our boys put the experts in their place

By Alan Duff

Come back from overseas to find - my rugby test prediction was, ahem, well, 
it was correct. We won. But to be
honest, not as I predicted. Still, what a game! What-a-game!
Best we've seen ever, agree? The stuff of heroes versus heroes. Rugby won. 
True manhood won. Smithy won. But so
did Aussie courage and brilliance. We all won!
 The country needed it, did we what. If we'd lost, our depression would 
have gone beyond salvage. So thank you, All
Blacks. Particularly tireless Toddy, dazzling Tana, Rock of Gibraltar 
Alama, Ron Cribb, who keeps coming on and on
and on. And a special thanks to Jonah for yet again showing his racist 
critics who hate the idea of a brown man
making millions, let alone being a truly great All Black, that they're poor 
nobodies and he's a definition of one.
But most thanks and praise to Taine Randell. The man they said was our 
worst captain ever, who wasn't a good
number 8 and even at number 6 was nothing special Well, you showed 'em, 
Taine. The fat armchair critics, who by 10
oclock on Saturday night would have been adding chips to the beer froth 
leavings on their moustaches, the never-were low-grade senior club players - if they 
played at all - who think they know 
it all, even though they work in factories and
at the back of butcher shops and at The Warehouse or as storemen.
These $8.30 an hour peasants who dare to criticise the best blindside 
flanker in the world, you've shown them up,
mighty Taine. Though they'll never go away. We just have to live with them. 
Like we do cockroaches, fleas, and other
similarly horrible but unimportant creepy-crawlies and vermin. And go, All 
Blacks, go!
I come back to the home country and see Tainui's Tribal Trust is now $40 
million in the red. Hey, but aren't they
suing National Business Review over disclosing that things were far from 
satisfactory? They bought a fancy lodge in
the Coromandel which everyone told them was not a good investment. But 
couldn't be told, not these hugely
successful businessmen. Typical: Maori leaders can never be told anything.
But Helen will be pleased to see Tainui Trust are closing the gap, bringing 
them closer and closer back to the
flaxroots that they had forgotten about. It won't be long before this bunch 
of business incompetents will have to be
pulled out of the flax by the rest of us, so deeply embedded will they have 
become. Yeah, all covered in dirt, much-humbled, dirt-poor again, and hopefully with 
that arrogance gone.
An old childhood term comes to mind when I think of how the Tainui settlement has 
been handled: Good job.
Meaning not that literally, but hahaha, you deserved what you got. I just feel sorry for 
the genuine good people and how you  have shamed them and betrayed them.
Now we hope that the ordinary Tainui tribal members will stop sitting 
around waiting for the gravy train to call in and
pick them up and go out and make a bit of your own gravy from your own 
efforts. And by the way, a request to Tainui
yet another one from us - before you spend any more on hotels and the 
Warriors, can we have some for the schools
in your area to get them books?
It isn't much, far less than it costs to fly half a dozen of you overseas 
to attend attend what? May we ask? No? Oh all
right then, thought we'd try to go to Geneva, New York, wherever.
One trustee's salary and car package of, say, $65-70,000, that would 
purchase 10 books each for 1000 Tainui
children. What do you reckon?
That gap is Tainui leaderships silence. Yeah, just silence that yet 
bellows all we need to know: We'll never hear from
you.
Sorry to be back at the test again, but my head is buzzing this Sunday 
afternoon. I can't go near a screenplay I'm
working on, I feel it is so unreal, a literal blueprint of play-acting 
after witnessing the real thing live on television.
The difference between actors who talk about themselves and only 
themselves as they fool around in yet another epic piece of filmic nonsense, playing 
heroes, a gladiator, a fighter pilot, good-guy assassin, a shoot-em-up cop, a special 
agent, another designer-haircut American wanker getting paid zillions to imitate the 
very person he is not.
Uh-uhn. Give me the real thing.
I'm in Christchurch next weekend to watch the Springboks get their beans. I know you 
readers can't possibly last the week out without hearing my prediction Which is: 
Blacks by 14 points.
  I've just been told Taine Randall donated his Man of The Match to Books
In Homes. I wrote the above before I heard.

City a special place for Janet Frame

By Meredith Stuck

Author Michael King ponders the impact of the Wanganui chapter in his book 
Wrestling with the Angel – A Life of Janet Frame

Wanganui was an important chapter in New Zealand author Janet Frame's 
life and the city should celebrate her time
here.
That was according to author Michael King, whose book Wrestling with the 
Angel - A Life of Janet Frame was
published this month. He visited Wanganui yesterday and spoke about how 
living in the city (1979-1982) changed
Frame's life for the better.
From her stucco bungalow in Andrews Pl, Gonville, Frame wrote her 
autobiographies, which were later made into a
film. Dr King said this "breakthrough", in her career was responsible for 
Frame earning enough to live comfortably on
for the first time in her life.
A close friendship with the late Piki Takiari, who ran a work skills 
programme for young unemployed Maori, opened
Frame's eyes about the difficulties young Maori faced in breaking the 
poverty cycle, Dr King said.
"Piki showed her the Maori world from the inside, looking out. Janet 
became aware of how offensive it was for Maori
when their culture was spoken of in the past tense," he said.
The people-shy author turned protester in 1981 when the Springbok rugby 
team toured New Zealand. She was against
the tour because it implied participation in South Africa's racist 
policies. On July 3, 75,000 protesters took the streets
around the country, Frame was one of 300 marching in Wanganui.
Although peaceful, her involvement would
have confused folk who had classed her as a "fragile person who sat in 
her house peering through the curtains", Dr
King said.
In Christmas that year, Frame packed up her bungalow and set off for the 
United States of America, taking her
incomplete second autobiography with her.
Today the 75-year-old author lives in Dunedin, but her biographer 
believes her Wanganui life should be
commemorated.
"Janet Frame was clearly the most important writer or creative person who 
lived in Wanganui. It would be nice if the
city remembered her," he said.
A plaque marking her old Andrews Pl residence or a corner in the library 
were two suggestions.

Eat breakfast, lose weight

By Will Stanley

Health Promoting Dietitian
It is well known that people who eat a wholesome, high fibre breakfast 
every morning, lose weight easier than people
who skip breakfast.
Low fat and sugar breakfast cereals such as weetbix, porridge and toast are 
not only some of the cheaper foods
around, but are also the healthiest.
These breakfast foods are full of fibre which get you through to lunchtime 
without any hunger pains. And we all know
what we eat when we get hunger pains - expensive high fat snack foods.
With breakfast filling you up resulting in less snacking on high fat fods, 
causes a decrease in energy eaten over the
day and thus prevents unnecessary weight gain or weight loss if this is the 
goal.
Over half of all New Zealanders over the age of 15 are overweight, 54 
percent to be exact. This is caused by two
things.
Firstly, technology such as cars, machinery in the workplace and computers 
making our lives easier to live. And
secondly, high fat fast foods being easy to access.
Our energy input is now higher than our energy output resulting in New 
Zealanders getting fatter.
To compensate for our easier lifestyle we all need to build some form of 
exercise back into out lives and start thinking
about the foods we are eating. Having breakfast every morning is a great 
first step.
Other advantages of breakfast include:
Breakfast kick starts the brain. Children concentrate better at school. 
People work more productively in their job.
Helps you power through the day. When you eat breakfast you are more 
likely to meet your body's needs for
essential nutrients, especially vitamins and minerals.
August is "Get Going with Breakfast" month. Certain primary schools around 
the Wanganui region have supported the
campaign.
These schools have received a breakfast resource kit, outlining breakfast 
activities to encourage children to eat
breakfast and look closely at what they are eating for breakfast.
Schools that are taking part have gone into the draw for three class trips 
worth $10,000.
Further, information on this, campaign and information on breakfast for 
your household can be found on this website:
www.getbreakfast.co.nz
For information on any topic in nutrition, phone Will Stanley, Health 
Promoting Dietitian at, Public Health Centre on (06) 348 1791.

Good Health Wanganui

Asthma: the next steps

By Dr John Cantillon

The diagnosis of asthma is looking fairly secure, an inhaler (a powder or an aerosol) 
has been given to help with the wheeze. Information to understand what is actually 
going on has been given, and advice on what steps need to be taken has also been 
discussed.
Then what?
It is usually a matter of seeing what happens, as there are many possible outcomes.
A typical situation would be to see how much blue inhaler is being used and how it is 
helping with the symptoms.
If it emerges that it is needed regularly, say more than four times a week, then the 
next course is to add in a preventer type medication (these are usually in brown 
coloured containers).
Preventers make the airways less sensitive (or "twitchy") to whatever may be 
triggering the asthma. The key here is that they need to be used twice daily - even if 
the person is feeling well. Remember that they are preventing the asthma, not just 
helping the symptoms.
The amount and frequency of the dosage depends on the individual person. 
We know we are on the right track when
we hear that the patient is sleeping better, breathing more easily and 
using the blue inhaler less.
Our aim is to use the minimum amount of preventer while having the 
optimal effect. Often this means the dose may
be decreased over time.
 There are two types of preventer, non-steroid
(eg, Vicrom, Tilade)  are generally the first
choice for children, and steroid inhalers (Becotide Mixotide, Pulinicort).
When the asthma is more difficult to get control of, there exist other 
variations with more powerful and/or longer acting
medications, available as either tablets or inhalers.
The ultimate treatment is to use oral steroids which, while powerful, 
have serious long-term consequences and are not
used lightly. By the time third level treatments are needed, often 
patients will have been seen by hospital specialists
or by the asthma educators.
Realising the  serious implications that can exist for a person with 
asthma, the Health Department, (or whatever they
choose to call themselves that year), allow for a free flu vaccination.
One area currently being pushed is the concept of the action plan, 
essentially guidelines which allow a person to
manage their asthma themselves. It is based on their peak flow (your 
doctor can provide simple machines to measure
this). From this the person can work out how much medication to take, 
when to increase doses and when to call for
help.
PHI is currently working with the Maori Development Office to further 
improve asthma outcomes in the Wanganui
region. Nothing yet, but more on this when it is finalised!
Next week: getting the most from your visits to the doctor.


The fallout from hospital closures

Wanganui surgeon Anton Cheng (left) outlines the reasons why the closure of 
Southern Cross Hospital could have a major impact on the Wanganui's medical 
services.

When Southern Cross announced it was closing its Wanganui hospital in mid 
June, a chapter in the history of medical  practice closed for Wanganui.
There has been a private hospital in Wanganui for 50 years. In fact there were two, 
Braemar and Belverdale.
Southern Cross took over Belverdale in 1986, Braemar having closed a few years 
earlier.
Belverdale was in an old building, which had served its time. Southern Cross built a 
new hospital on its site in 1993.
With this closure Wanganui is the only provincial centre in New Zealand without a 
private hospital.
The private hospital in Wanganui had been a marginal operation in the last 20 years.
In fact, it was the need to upgrade Belverdale to modern standards that the previous 
shareholders sold, or literally gave away, the hospital to Southern Cross. The provisos 
were that Southern Cross modernise Belverdale and subsequently build a new 
hospital. This Southern Cross did as promised. 
They put some money into upgrading Belverdale when they took over. But it took a 
long time to convince them a new hospital would be financially viable, hence the 
delay of a new hospital from 1986 to 1993. This hospital was at least able to pay its 
way for several years.
For the past two years however, Southern Cross Wanganui has been losing large sums 
of money. There were severalreasons for this.
As much as it was a shock, the announcement of closure did not come as a complete 
surprise.
The Wanganui medical community was nevertheless disappointed that 
Southern Cross did not see fit to explore all
available alternatives with them before the announcement of the closure.
Wanganui is not an affluent city. The demographic and socio-economic 
data is well known. There simply is not the
discretionary spending power in town to make a private hospital 
profitable in a true commercial sense. It is however,
possible to make a facility financially viable if the overall level of 
investment is not high.
Whatever the level of investment, the exercise will be a costly failure 
if it is not supported.
 It is interesting to know that Wanganui has 12,000 Southern Cross policy 
holders.
On the assumption that Southern Cross has 70 percent of the market, the 
total insured population in Wanganui
should be around 17,000.
The national average is just over 30 percent of the population holding 
private insurance. In this aspect, Wanganui
stacks up well compared with the rest of the country.
It is also interesting to know that the number of patients per thousand 
population who use our own private facility has
been about 60 percent of cities like New Plymouth and Hastings. That is, 
we are getting approximately one for every
two compared with these other cities.
This pattern has been consistent over the past 15 years, Southern Cross 
claims that over 50 percent of their
Wanganui policy holders are using their Palmerston North facilities. 
Maybe we just don't have surgical personnel
required to make this work. Or maybe these people are doing
what they do to our retailers, spending their money in Palmerston North by 
choice.
What happens now if a private surgical facility is no longer available to 
Wanganui? Why should anyone care? We have a
good public hospital. Good work is being done there in spite of all the 
negative publicity.
There is a good core of specialists in all the major specialties. The 
Government is said to have committed to a
secondary service facility in Wanganui. In any case Good Health Wanganui is 
being held up by the Ministry as a
shining example of how a Crown Health Enterprise can turn itself around 
and is now profitable.
Most people cannot afford the private service anyway. There will not be any 
change to the public hospital waiting list.
For those who chose to go to Palmerston North, there are two private 
facilities there.
It would be interesting to put some perspectives on private practice in New 
Zealand.
The part time specialist system has
served this country well for many years. To start with, the senior hospital 
doctors were not paid. Their hospital
positions were honorary. They have to have a private practice to feed 
themselves and their families. This situation
continued until the 50s when some session payment was made because their 
commitment to the hospital became
more and more demanding and onerous. Thus began the part time visiting 
specialist system.
For a city the size of Wanganui, to ensure that 24 hour specialist cover 
for acute services is available, at least three
or four doctors are required for the front line specialties, that is the 
general surgery, orthopaedics, anaesthetics,
obstetrics and gynaecology, general medicine, paediatrics radiology, etc. 
It would have been unacceptable to be on
call every other day forever and ever.
The visiting specialist system has been a good way of having several 
doctors around without having to pay the full time salary for all of them. For example, 
it is possible to have four doctors working rosters in Wanganui Hospital while paying 
less than three full time equivalent salary.
The rest of the time, they make up their income by doing private practice.
The sad truth is that New Zealand no longer provides a competitive salary package for 
their health professionals mid has not done so for a long time.
Without private practice, the great New Zealand lifestyle, attractive as it is, no longer 
draws desirable people to places like Wanganui or the rest of New Zealand for that 
matter. Just listen to what the junior doctors have been saying.
In any case, what is the use of a great way of life if you are working 24 hours every 
other day?
Now that we don't have a private hospital, there is really no point in having a private 
practice. Some of our surgical and anaesthetics personnel will therefore look 
elsewhere. It has never been easy to recruit good people to Wanganui.
Without a private facility it will be just that much more difficult to recruit and retain 
their replacements.
Twelve hundred patients went through Southern Cross Wanganui last year. The 
public hospital put through between 4000 and 5000 operations per year.
Without the private facility as an alternative, these same 1200 will be 
added to the public list, some 20 percent more
per year. If the loss of personnel comes to pass, the public hospital 
waiting list will grow more.
This is simple arithmetic. Some, of course, will go to Palmerston North to 
use their private facilities, adding to the
drain of Wanganui resources to the east.
Wanganui is a great place to live. At present we have a great team of 
doctors. In spite of all the negative publicity, the
work we do in Wanganui is as good and in many cases better than most other 
places.
There is no conceit in that statement. It is simply the truth.
Most of us who have been here for a few years have made a commitment to the 
town by putting down roots,
investments etc. It will be a sad day indeed if we are forced to look at 
alternatives because of our inability to resurrect
a private hospital. If that eventuates, it will not be for want of trying on our part.

Time cannot be used as an excuse; it needs to be managed

Education Today
Alan Cooper

I have been working in several schools lately where the question of time 
has come up. The senior school is working
at the serious stuff and has not time for that sort of thing, is a comment 
common to teachers, students, and parents.
At all levels from five year olds to the tertiary level there tends to be a 
feeling that come hell or high water the syllabus
must be covered and anything else is just getting in the way and taking up 
valuable time.
The sad part of all this is that by seeing time as all important the focus 
is on the curriculum and not on the student
where it
needs to be. New Zealand education prides itself on being student centred 
but I am not so sure about this.
I have had two examples of this lately. The first was at an old boy's 
reunion, which I attended. Discussion as it
inevitably does at these functions got round to teachers.
This old boy recalled a master, who was well known for his discipline and 
successful teaching, yet this old boy was
critical. "Maths to him was just a process," he said. "It was just a matter 
of this stage then that stage and so on until
the answer was obtained. It was really just
rote learning."
He then went on to say that he
never realised what he was
missing out on until he had another lesser teacher in the conventional 
wisdom of the school, in his final year. He told
me that that teacher enabled him to understand what he was doing and thus 
he took on a life long interest in maths.
The difference of course was that the one taught the subject, the other the 
boy.
Another example came up at the end of my presentation on the use of 
Thinking Maps in New York. This woman
almost apologetically asked if she could tell her story and she did.
She had been teaching for 30 years. Then she found out about
Thinking Maps. To use her own words: "The percent passing rate went from 65 to 87 
and for the last five semesters on the block schedule my students were 100 percent 
proficient.
This was only achieved through
the constant use of the maps-
every day, they did something
with the maps and my
classroom became more
student-centered than teacher-centered,"
The students were being taught not just the subject! Time was not allowed 
to interfere with better teaching.
Failure to move on and take
advantage of the new
knowledge emerging was once explained by a colleague who stated that the 
problem was that many teachers had
already retired but just had not announced it yet!
What is needed is some venturesomeness. Robert Frost had this to say:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less travelled by,
And that made all the difference.
Time cannot be used as an alibi. It is a very weak excuse for doing nothing!

There is an old saying about the need to discern if something is coming from
The World, The Flesh, The Devil or from God. My experience is that many wayward 
motivations come from the Flesh. And one
of those motivations is the feeling or belief that "if I do right" I will be acceptable.
If I read my Bible every day, if I pray morning and night if I were nicer 
to my wife/husband or child, God would accept
and forgive me.
 These are all motivations spurred by the Flesh. It is what drove the Pharisees; it is 
what spurs on many legalistic Christians (and Muslims, Hindus etc). It is not spiritual, 
or Christian, but Flesh. Flesh thrives on doing right, so that it will be right. Score 
cards are kept with oneself against yesterday, last month, last year. Flesh sees an 
improvement in a regimented activity and imagines therefore that relationship with 
God is growing. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Faith (as opposed to Flesh) knows that one's actions, even the best, fall 
far short of God's Glory. Faith knows that
without our Lord's intervention we are lost. Faith trusts that God will 
accept, not a perfect performance, but a trusting best effort in line with revealed will. 
Faith is contrary to Flesh, for Flesh trusts in Flesh and Faith trusts in God, who made 
one's very flesh.
Archdeacon Ron Ashford, St Peter's Church, Gonville

Who needs to grow up? 
 
By Stephen Palmer

Tariana Turia may have been somewhat metaphorically immoderate in her 
speech to psychologists, but 1 think that
Helen's halo has been knocked a little sideways by her over-reaction.
A previous Labour Government, when its "Think Tank' was exposed, ran for 
cover instead of responding positively: "To
make the best policy we need to kick all sorts of ideas around, and then 
the government will decide through the
proper open and democratic process."
That was the the start of a steady downhill slide to electoral defeat for 
Bill Rowling and his administration.
Tariana is merely treading in the footsteps of previous radical women like 
Emmeline Pankhurst and Germaine Greer
who, in their times, were just as outspoken. And, if a white, Anglo-Saxon. 
middle-aged,
protestant male like John Banks yelled "Holocaust!" would anyone bat an 
eyelid?
We have a history of such Parliamentary rebels being tolerated with 
amusement - Norman Jones and Mike Minogue
spring to mind while much of Muldoon's most inflammatory rhetoric was also 
his most popular.
It is, surely, both racist and sexist that a Maori woman is not allowed to 
participate in this time-honoured tradition,
and her Prime Minister ought to be bearing Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove 
of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
The principle of collective Cabinet responsibility is essential for our
system to operate effectively but must never be used as an excuse for 
preventing ministers from expressing their
personal opinions, provided that they not break confidences or contradict 
agreed government policy.
As far as I can see, Tariana has not breached these rules, although I don't 
think that her speech was particularly
helpful to her cause. Here is a woman who has quietly worked hard for Maori 
people, in Parliament and before, and
who, as a result of that, commands a great deal of respect, from Maori in 
particular.
Her son is not exactly an angel, but she does not appear to have any murky, 
past to be dragged up, and I think that
her only unfortunate fault is the tendency toward the one-track mindset 
that has got her into the current furore.
She has earned, more than many of her colleagues, the right to be 
respected, and perhaps it is those who are
treating her like a naughty child who need to grow up.

Speaking out only option on abuse problem

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait … diplomacy overrated in her line of work.

The National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges has its annual conference 
in Bulls today. Its chief executive says the collective is at a watershed in its 17-year 
history. Merepeka Raukawa-Tait talks to TRACEY LOWNDES of NZPA.

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait defies anyone to view the abuse figures that cross 
her desk daily and not speak out.
The Women's Refuge head says the letters she has received since accusing 
Maori ministers Parekura Horomia and
Tariana Turia of trying to muzzle her, praise her courage in addressing a 
tough issue.
But anyone would have done it, she says.
What she is not acknowledging is a well-established reputation for sticking 
her neck out. Friends and former
colleagues call her forthright, self-determined and forceful. She says 
critics call her a "whakahihi" (skite).
Ms Raukawa-Tait is an eloquent and convincing orator who speaks 
passionately for her organisation's cause. But she
is not above conceding the need for self-improvement.
Third husband Theo Tait, nearly 20 years her senior and who she credits 
with her personal development, chided her
after she banged heads with Mrs Turia during a recent Face the Nation 
television show.
Ms Raukawa-Tait said she was angry and started to talk over the MP.
"He said, 'You must always leave a person their dignity'. He said, 'Whether 
you get frustrated or not, you know better',
and he doesn't ever want to see that again."
The rebuke, delivered "in such a kind way you feel such a god-damn heel", 
brought her to tears.
This glimpse at the vulnerable, private face of a public figure many see as 
thick-skinned is not the only contradiction
in Ms Raukawa-Tait's life.
The woman spearheading a campaign against abuse admits in a newspaper 
article to occasionally having clouted her
former stepchildren. Sometimes the punishment went further than that. She 
says she believes there was a form
of abuse there, and is ashamed.
She has a masters degree in international business administration and 
talks of introducing a new standard of
professionalism to the collective. But she had a public falling-out with 
Inland Revenue over her business GST.
She's angry and hurt at her treatment by Maori leaders, but a former 
colleague, while acclaiming her courage, says
she "doesn't really care who she offends" when speaking out.
Meg Collins has known Ms Raukawa-Tait for 10 years. She served with her 
on Environment BOP (Bay of Plenty's
Regional Council) from 1992-95 and is a former neighbour.
She admires her former colleague's commitment and says she believes Maori 
and Pakeha in Ms Raukawa-Tait's
home patch are generally supportive of her views.
She didn't really fit in on the council, with her business focus clashing 
with the council's environment mandate, Ms
Collins says.
As the council's only Maori member, she was under pressure from Maori 
wanting their disparate views aired and from
the council to provide a Maori perspective.
Ms Raukawa-Tait, an intense, elegantly clad figure born 51 years ago to 
an Irish-Catholic father and Maori mother,
says that council stint scotched any further local government aspirations.
Councillors were in a power game, vying for opportunities offering the 
most public exposure, she says, and her
political aspirations are "long gone". Others see it differently.
CCS national president Lyall Thurston was a Rotorua district councillor 
when he met Ms Raukawa-Tait during the
wind-down of the Forest Service in Rotorua in the late 1980s.
"I certainly believe there's a leadership role for her on the national 
stage," he says.
"She is very charismatic, very inspirational and, without any shadow of 
doubt, a future leader."
He describes hearing Ms Raukawa-Tait speak for two hours, without notes, 
never covering the same ground twice.
"Everyone that was in the forum said, 'There's someone to watch'."
Events of recent weeks are "vintage Merepeka. She's prepared to stand up 
for what she believes in, she shoots from
the hip, and people know exactly where they stand with her. She's 
prepared to venture into areas
which historically have been no-go".
Ms Raukawa-Tait has seen the effects of physical abuse - her mother was 
abused by her father but she says she did
not plan to become the head of Women's Refuge, and her career moves have 
been by chance rather than design.
She was contracted to review the collective's nationwide operations, 
identified weaknesses and was asked to apply
for the top job.
Until then, she had been cruising.
"This job focuses you terribly... If I, the chief executive of Women's Refuge, do my 
job well, then I can make a difference to the lives of thousands of women and children 
in this country.
"I've never thought about failing in this job - I can't afford to think I'm going to fail."
She is just halfway through a three-year contract and the current debate on 
abuse has given her even less time than
usual to relax.
She works 12-14-hour days and part of every weekend. Asked how she beats 
stress, she says she sleeps, then
admits to being at work since 3.30am after waking in the early hours.
She has been feeling the pressure as she prepares for today's conference in 
Bulls.
Holding it outside the main centres was deliberate, because she wants to 
limit distractions.
The conference is pivotal for the organisation's future, she says, and 
delegates have already received a hefty
document outlining her proposals.
These depend on increased central funding and the Government looks like 
coming to the party, although a figure hasn't yet been set.
Social Services Minister Steve Maharey last week confirmed a funding boost for next 
year, Ms Raukawa-Tait says.
While a request for double this year's $4.2 million is unlikely to be met, 
she believes the increase will be substantial.
She will spend the extra cash on ensuring the collective's support 
programmes are offered across all 56 refuges.
But as well as the money, she wants a longer-term commitment from the 
Government, which contracts Women's
Refuge year-to-year, and a say in public policy.
It's no small ambition, but she is optimistic ministers can he convinced 
that frontline groups such as Women's Refuge
can contribute a wealth of experience, ideas and information to policy 
development. 
"What I'm trying to say to the Government is, 'You've got an organisation 
here that can do more, wants to do more and must, in fact, do more ......
She believes her relationship with, the Maori MPs is still positive, saying 
they have agreed to disagree on some things and get on with the rest.
"At the end of the day it's the Maori members of Parliament and people like 
myself who will be able to assist in
closing the gaps."
Her relationship with Maori leadership, who, she says, left her in limbo 
for 20 years, is in worse shape.
Maori leadership would not allow this young woman, articulate Maori woman, 
to come through. They can say what
they like, they can support me now, but every Maori leader in this country 
knew of Merepeka 10 years ago."
And she doesn't think she'll ever be totally accepted.
"I believe part of it is that if you don't group-think, if you have a view 
that's different from the majority view, then people
are wary of you."
Ms Raukawa-Tait would like to say things have changed, but she doesn't 
think that they have.
On Maori boards: "You can tell, when you look at the names, that that board 
is going to go nowhere, because if they
haven't done it before, then by being on those boards now they're not going 
to make any appreciable difference".
Mulling over whether a Fiji-style coup could happen in New Zealand: "I 
couldn't name six Maori men that I would
follow into anything like that".
It's no wonder the first personal weakness she admits to is a lack of 
diplomacy.
But she says the view that she's anti-Maori men is wrong.
"What I am is absolutely opposed to poor leadership.  I want Maori 
leadership to show courage and speak out."
Diplomacy, she says, is overrated in her line of work, and she has little 
time for it.
"When you look at the issues around domestic violence... diplomacy goes out 
the window. I'm more inclined to want to say it as it is," she says.
"Being diplomatic probably means I'd go to the back of the queue for money 
(and) nobody would be listening to me now..."
But, as the country awakens to the abuse that propels 10,000 children and 
7000 women a year into refuges, it is clear that they are listening.

Population the real issue

Thursday Forum

By Rob Vinsen

When some in our community criticise a District Council initiative to promote 
Wanganui by targeting in on a slogan or logo, they are misreading the real issue.
Some equate any marketing expense as irrelevant, but if that attitude is allowed to 
prevail it will come with a much greater cost - as the example of the city, of 
Invercargill should clearly warn us.
Invercargill's population fell from 53,770 in 1981 to 50,000 in 1996. 
Between 1996 and 1998 the rate of decline accelerated, with the latest population 
estimate at just 48,200. It is estimated that 120 people per month are leasing the city, a 
rate that will turn Invercargill into a small town within 3.5 years.
You may well ask what this has to do with Wanganui. These statistics are quoted from 
an article which appeared in The Authority, a local government magazine - and the 
chilling reality cheek for this community is that the article quoted Wanganui as the 
second-highest retrenching city in New Zealand.
Population change - whether positive or negative - has a more-than-significant in 
influence on the level of rating that a council requires to manage a city's 
infrastructure. The remaining ratepayers in a retrenching city are faced with the
unenvious situation of having to maintain the infrastructure of a more populous city, 
but with an eroding ratepayer base.
Wanganui's population declined marginally between 1981 and 1996 - but consider the 
effect of inflation over that 15-year period, and one can reflect on the impact that a 
lack of growth has had on the average household rate demand here in Wanganui. The 
challenge for any council is to adopt policies, and implement plans, that will attract 
growth. There is no guarantee of success, and there is always the risk that the goals 
will not be realised. But it's a risk that any council faced with the reality of population 
loss, such as the Wanganui District Council is, must take.
Invercargill is providing $6.50,000 annually for its initiatives to market its city 
locally, nationally and internationally. The $40,000 that the Wanganui District 
Council has committed this year to "image development and marketing", of which a 
new visual identifier or logo is a part, will in fact be totally wasted if there is no 
commitment to further develop and implement the plan over time.
There is a whole range of initiatives that promotion agencies such as Wedco, 
Destination Wanganui and Mainstreet Wanganui are involved with that have the 
common goal of attracting growth to Wanganui, but currently these initiatives are 
largely uncoordinated.
The Wanganui Polytechnic School of Design is to be complimented on the result of 
the commission it has been given by council. The quantity and quality of work is first-
class and includes as well as the 1090, layouts (in finished art) for brochures on 
tourism, economic/investment, sports cluster, river concept, and retirement/lifestyle. It 
includes a poster campaign promoting Wanganui, a set of images and copy for an
outside hoarding campaign, a brochure for the new Cooks Gardens Sports Centre 
initiative, banners for the central city, a Wanganui carry bag, and a set of postcards to 
promote the Wanganui district.
But, most importantly, the marketing story is comprehensive and co-ordinated, and 
has the potential, if implemented over a five -year strategy, to promote growth in the 
Wanganui district.
An example of the potential of planned long-term marketing is the "Send Yourself to 
Wellington" campaign. While Wanganui will never match in funding the $5.5 million, 
five-year campaign adopted by the Wellington City Council, the campaign has been 
highly successful for the people of Wellington. Ninety-two thousand tourists landed at 
Wellington airport over the past year, up five percent on the previous year, $50 
million of construction work was approved and job advertisements increased 10.9 
percent from a year ago.
Christchurch, another city with a longterm, co-ordinated marketing plan, was even 
more impressive having an annual growth in job advertisements of 32.2 percent.
On our own scale, Wanganui could achieve a similar result, unless we settle for 
mediocrity by focusing in on the colour or style of a logo, or the cost of a campaign 
rather than the value of it.

 Rob Vinsen is a Wanganui District councillor.

Kapiti Island under threat

Conservation Comment
By Brian Milham, chairman
Wanganui Forest and Bird

Members of the public who would have read the New Zealand 
biodiversity strategy would have noticed the section of report which 
recorded at least 1000 native animal, plant and fungi species known 
to be under threat.
As a native reserve, Kapiti Island has a key role to play in ensuring 
many of those endangered species do in fact survive. The ratification 
of the international treaty on biodiversity requires that we as a 
nation, take steps to protect our biodiversity.
There are 15 hectares of privately-owned land at the north end of 
Kapiti Island in Maori title. This enclave contains five dwellings 
and is zoned rural.
The surrounding land is Crown land, purchased in the 1960s, for 
adding to the native reserve. But the gazetting of this Crown land as 
native reserve has been delayed pending the outcome of claims 
subsequently lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal.
This is, however, all under threat as
the Kapiti Coast District Council has recently notified a proposed 
plan 
change to permit the operation of homestays within the rural zone.
A tourist company is known to have plans to enlarge the privately-
owned 
dwellings to accommodate overnight stays on the island.
Forest and Bird are resolutely opposed to the introduction of any 
commercial operation to Kapiti Island. We believe Kapiti Island is a 
vital link in New Zealand's fight to arrest the present, decline in 
our natural biodiversity and the preservation of our natural
Our main concerns are that:
a) Nature reserves provide for the protection and preservation, in 
perpetuity of indigenous flora and fauna or natural features which 
are of
such rarity, scientific interest or importance, or are so unique 
their 
protection and preservation are in the public interest.
b) Visitors not under DoC's supervision would increase the risk of 
reintroducing rodents and other pests to the island.
c) Extra numbers of visitors would add to the wear and tear on the 
existing track network and bring pressure to bear to extend the 
network for commercial goals rather than sound conservation reasons.
d) Overnight visitors would increase the risk of fire. A fire at the 
northern end of the island, given the prevailing wind, could easily 
spread to the nature reserve with devastating effect.
Forest and Bird have made submissions against the proposal and now 
await the district council's decision.

Waimarie prices
I am writing to ask a favour of the Waimarie company.
I have been on the Waimarie and really enjoyed it. It was a relaxing 
ride, 
but I wasn't impressed by the cost, $20 for
children and $25 for adults.
Most people cannot afford that. It would cost my family of six $130 
to go 
on the Waimarie.
That's a lot for one ride up the river. So please do something about 
it.
LAURA CARSON
We checked with the Waimarie office and were told that family 
concession 
tickets are available at $70. this is for a
family of two adults and four children. Normal price is $25 for 
adults, $20 
pensioners and $10 children under 15. Also,
during the school holidays they run specials of $10 per adult, kids 
under 
15 free, twice a week (although it was
explained that because of the latest floods in the Whanganui River, 
some of 
the holiday specials had to be
cancelled).
 Homework woes
I am writing with concern of the amount of homework that children are 
getting. We have no time for things that we
like to do. I think that six hours a day school is enough, or we 
could do just 30 minutes' homework a day.
Then we would have more time to do things we like. Maybe when we get 
to secondary school we could have more then.
BRYCE ROSE
Ice skating
I am writing to disagree with the letter written by Hamish Beavin 
regarding 
an ice skating rink in Wanganui.
I belong to the Wanganui Artistic Roller Skating Club (WARSC) and it 
would 
seriously affect the club if an ice skating
rink was built. If you have been ice skating previously, you should 
try 
in-line skating (five wheels). It is practically ice
skating in the warm.
I think you should have a go. Forget ice skating!
JAMIE WILSON
programmes
I am writing in disgust about a certain cartoon that is broadcast 
over our 
Tvs every afternoon that I think is the worst,
influence that children could possibly get off the telly, Dragon Ball 
Z.
If you think The Simpsons are bad then you haven't seen this half 
hour of utter dribble.
The whole programme is based on fighting and killing, and the people 
never die; they just go to the next dimension.
If this country wants kids to achieve with good role models then put 
something good on the Tv, not a half-hour of war.
JONATHAN GREENWELL

I am replying to a letter in last week's Kidstalk. I strongly 
disagree with taking The Simpsons off the air, as I believe
it is essential to have a good laugh now and then.
Homer may not be a good example, but some people live the same 
anyway.
Being kids, cartoons are a part of us. Let's keep them while we still 
can. Long live The Simpsons!
JESS BIBBY
I am writing to complain about Pokemon. Have you heard on Tv that 
children have got their parents' money (up to $20) and have spent it 
on Pokemon cards'?
These are only pieces of cardboard but they are so powerful and I 
can't understand why!
Children argue over them and act in such silly ways. Ban them! No 
more!
EVE BYERS
I am writing to you about the articles on The Simpsons. They are very 
biased comments on the yellow Springfield people. They may not be 
good impressions on young children but they are not real and it is a 
very funny cartoon.
There is such a thing as Channel 3 that screens different cartoons 
that are not good for kids. Why are you picking on The Simpsons?
RAYMOND MICKLESON
I am responding to the letters from Okoia School. I disagree a lot 
with the letters about cartoons. I think you should
have cartoons like that, or you won't be kids.
What would you like all the time? 2 News? Who would want talking 
about Parliament and media on the playground or kicking the ball 
outside?
Who would like being an adult all the time, running in and out the 
door with a briefcase and a cell phone stuck in your ear, talking 
about the stockmarkets?
Think seriously about it. Cheerio for now.
ADAM ELLIOTT
I am writing in disgust about a certain Tv programme that is on at 
the 
moment at 4.30pm. I've watched it myself and it
is bad because it is violent and worse than The Simpsons.
It is called Dragon Ball Z. The cartoon is based on fighting and 
killing
Also, it makes me feel I do not want to see it again. I hope you 
could put something like Dexter's lab.
MARCUS HALL
Pizza plea
I am writing a letter of complaint about Eagle Boys closing down.
I know a lot of people who liked Eagle Boys better than the Pizza Hut 
and Pizza Haven pizzas. I, among many people, demand these talented 
pizzamakers back in business.
Many people have stopped buying pizzas because Eagle Boys closed down 
leaving absolutely no decent pizzas left. These pizzas are lovely and 
filling with a fat bubble base, unlike the pizzas from Pizza Hut and 
Pizza Haven.
MATTHEW van KERKHOFF
Graffiti
Graffiti. You see it and it's becoming a big problem in Wanganui. 
Unpleasant signs and statement on walls and fences can become a bad 
influence on younger children.
The colourful sprayings cause calamities between parents, teenagers 
and police. Who are the taggers and how can
we stop it?
I think the council should take this matter seriously and should do 
something about it.
I think the council should round up community groups to paint over 
the graffiti. Wanganui would look more presentable, and locals would 
be happier in an improved environment.
LEANNE KIRK
Parking problem
I am a student of St Marcellin School and I feel very strongly about 
this matter.
How kids on skateboards, GTs or bikes are dumping bikes, skateboards 
or GTs in the road of the blind or the elderly in the electric 
chairs. I think that they need to make special racks.
We had a blind man who came to our school and he said the he has 
tripped over skateboards and bikes a few times.
I think that you should think about this matter and do something 
before somebody really gets hurt.
CHARLOTTE PUKETAPU
Traffic hazard
I think that you should do something about the traffic around St 
Marcellin School because at 3pm it is so hard to get
out of the gate to go home.
I think that you should do something NOW! Not later! So please, 
please do it soon before someone gets hurt. Traffic
lights would be great!
TRACEY HATCHER
Boring city
I am writing on behalf of many young youths in Wanganui, about how 
boring 
it is here. I mean there is nothing to do, it is so boring, and I 
know you might say there's plenty to do but 
not much we really enjoy that we can get into
for free. That's how many problems are caused: because people are 
unoccupied and cause trouble.
Please think about this.
I don't have a problem, but I know many young people do.
MICHAEL O'LEARY
Bus drivers
I am an 11-year-old St Marcellin pupil who catches the bus. I, along 
with a few others, think it is unfair how the
Greyhound company take their opinions over ours.
We rely on the buses to get us to and from school. Having good bus 
drivers, and bus drivers we know and can have a
laugh with, is very important.
It may not mean anything to the Greyhound company, but it means a lot 
to 
us, to have drivers we like and can have a
laugh with.
SEDEJAH SCANLON
Thanks Trevor
I'm 12 years old and I would like to say a big thank
you to Trevor Steven. Trevor has run the Overlanders' Club for many 
years. 
He has entertained a lot of children on a Friday night to keep them 
out of trouble.
I would also like to thank David Udy for helping Trev keep the club 
alive.
We all have a lot of fun and there's heaps of activity for us to do.
BRYDIE WILLIAMS
All today's correspondents are pupils at St Marcellin School, 
Wanganui.  
Winner
Gail Lochhead (pictured), from St Marcellin School, is the winner of 
the McDonald's voucher this week for her letter about traffic:
Please keep clear
I am writing a letter of complaint.
I think that around our school in Totara St there is far too much 
traffic.
I think that if you don't need to come to the school and pick up your 
child you should go out of your way to go a
different way, because it will make a big difference for the children 
on 
traffic duty down at the crossing.
It can be very dangerous. They go out of their way to help the other 
children. So make the effort and stay away from all schools at 3pm.
GAIL LOCHHEAD

In Jewish custom, a Jew is someone whose mother was a Jew. It is a 
bloodline descent, and Jews in Paul's (and
Jesus') time traced their matriarchal lineage back to Abraham. (Paul was 
the son of a Jewish mother and his father
was a Greek-speaking Roman citizen).
Blood lineage was important for Jewish people then, and it remains 
important for others now. Yet important though
this may be from time to place, it always and everywhere pales into 
insignificance when compared to entering into
Abraham's family by faith in Jesus Christ.
While family lines remain important, and are often the cradle of our coming 
to faith, it is not those bloodlines that
determine our destiny,  but our response to the preaching of the Good News 
by those who have already become Abraham's children. May you be encouraged to 
respond, and may you too encourage others to respond to this Good News, as your 
day-to-day life unfolds.
Archdeacon Ron Ashford St Peter's Church, Gonville

Amadeus v the boring black-tie brigade

By Helen Brown

If public speaking is the greatest human fear, we've just lived through the second - 
turning up at a masquerade ball as just about the only couple in full fancy dress. sure, 
the fine print on the invitation specified masquerade or formal evening wear. Who'd 
have guessed 990 of the 1000 guests would've opted for the cop-out black tie and 
regulation long satin slip?
Maybe we'd over-romanticised the idea of masquerade. Anyone who's been to 
Venice or even the Phantom of the Opera would understand the glory of masquerade 
balls in which people transform themselves into mysterious beings from history, 
dreams and legends.
Thinking back over the days before, I'm trying to pinpoint where we went wrong. Our 
gay friend Douglas was partly to blame.
"Why don't you go as the Sun King," he asked my husband, who seemed to think the 
Sun King was one of the old Beach Boys.
'While 1 could easily imagine Douglas in Louis the XIVth high heels and shoulder-
length ringlets, it didn't seem quite my beloved's look.
The kids also contributed to our humiliation by insisting we go to a fancy dress hire 
shop.
"It's really worth making an effort," said our 24-year-old son who'd once been to a 
party dressed as the Pope. The fancy dress hire shop was bewilderingly full of people 
going to genuine fancy dress balls that night. One woman slapped a revolver and 
sunglasses on the counter while her husband strutted about in an Elvis suit.
I was attracted to the chicken outfits. But dancing in one of those feathered body suits 
and plastic rooster heads, you'd be basted in no time. Alarmingly, my husband was 
veering into the space age section, featuring thigh-hugging silver lycra and fetishy bits 
of plastic.
We might've spun on our heels and headed out the shop door then and there if it hadn't 
been for the helpful shop assistant who emerged from a shadowy corner of nuns' 
habits and maids' uniforms.
With an understanding smile, she steered us straight into the 18th century with 
powdered wigs, brocade and magnificent hooped skirts. If only she'd pointed us at 
cavemen outfits or '70s revival, I'd have been able to resist.
The wicked fakeness of Mozart's era, with its beauty spots, laced bodices 
and smelling salts, has always fascinated
me. Besides which, every woman secretly wants to wear a skirt the size
of the Millennium Dome.
Our matching purple ensembles fitted perfectly. My husband looked 
ravishing in white pigtails, a froth of lace at his
neck, satin breeches and pale tights. By the time I was laced into the 
gown and given a wig the size of two pavlovas,
a fan and pearl choker, I weighed 10 kg heavier
Fitted with matching silver masks, we gazed in the hire shop mirror and 
realised we were fabulous.
Over the next few hours I learned a great deal about the olden days. 
Firstly, their fashion design was extremely
flattering to the female form. Flabby arms and thighs were artfully 
concealed in favour of the waistline (which could be
laced in) and cleavage (enhanced in this ease with a $12 pushup bra).
To perfect the image, I daubed my face with Johnson's baby powder, which 
seemed to have miraculous youthing
effect. Enthused, I applied a large black beauty spot to my chin  
Unfortunately, this repelled my husband so it had to
be rubbed off.
I began to understand the need for staff. A maidservant would've been 
handy to tie me into the petticoat and gown.
And I certainly needed some kind of footman to stuff me into the car. 
Because the wig was three storeys tall, it was
necessary to crouch in the front seat.
Wigs would've been wonderfully cosy in drafty old castles. After a while 
they become stifling - which makes a fan
essential. No doorway was wide enough for my skirt. Escalators were a 
nightmare.
In fact, the only modern invention of any possible use to a female 
visitor from the 18th century would be the spacious
paraplegic lavatory. I issued a prayer of thanks to its designer.
Our worst moment was sailing down the escalator into a room of 1000 
people dressed in their boring best. They smiled up at us as if they thought we were 
the night's entertainment.
"Shall we go home and change?"
"Too late."
"At least no one knows who we are."
But I suspect word got out.

Women biggest perpetrators of domestic violence, study shows

The Law Commission is seeking submissions on changing self-defence laws for 
domestic violence victims who retaliate violently. Kent Atkinson of NZPA reports on 
a study which shows more of those victims may be men, than women.

American researchers say a longterm New Zealand study has shown more women 
are bashing men in "domestics",
than the other way around.
About 27 percent of women and 34 percent of men in a study of 1037 Dunedin 
21-year-olds reported they had been
physically abused by their partners. In the same Dunedin Multidisciplinary 
Health and Development Study, about 37
percent of women and 22 percent of men said they had perpetrated the violence.
Although women reported perpetrating partner -violence more frequently than 
men - and the male victims' reports
corroborated this - the American researchers said one of first lessons 
learned in the study was that there were no tidy
and distinct groups of victims or
perpetrators.
Other results showed partner violence to be strongly linked to 
cohabitation at a young age, a variety of mental
illnesses, a background of family adversity, dropping out of school and 
juvenile aggression, conviction for other types
of crime, especially violent crime, drug abuse, long-term unemployment and 
parenthood at a young age.
The 535 men and 502 women were all born between April 1, 1972, and March 
31, 1973 and since they were three
years old have been involved in one of the world's best-known 
longitudinal studies of a "birth cohort".
Last year, the American Department of Justice funded an analysis by two 
psychologists, Professor Terrie E Moffitt,
and Professor Avshalom Caspi, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, of 
domestic violence revealed in the Dunedin
study.
The Dunedin researchers decided to study partner -violence because they 
suspected that some participants in their
research - who have been assessed at the ages of three, seven, nine, 11, 
13, 15, 18 and 21 - had continued anti-
social activity into adulthood.
Key findings from their work on domestic violence showed that risk 
factors in childhood and adolescence for men
bashing their partners included poverty and low academic achievement. 
Women perpetrators showed risk factors of
harsh family discipline and parental strife.
Both men and women who hit out also had histories of aggressive behaviour.
The strongest risk factor for both men and women who bashed - and their
victims - was a record of physically aggressive delinquent offending 
before age 15.
More than half the men who had been convicted of a violent crime also 
physically abused their partners.
The study showed domestic violence was most prevalent among couples who 
were simply living together rather than
formally married.
Women who had children by age 21 were twice as likely to be victims of 
domestic violence as women who were not
mothers. Men who had fathered children by age 21 were more than three 
times as likely to be perpetrators of abuse
as men who were not fathers.
Of the women victims, 65 percent suffered serious physical abuse, while 
88 percent of men who bashed had one or
more mental disorders.
The Dunedin study showed young people who became involved in a violent 
relationship tended to come from
backgrounds that include family adversity, dropping out of school, and 
violent juvenile crime.
The most violent relationships were found among young parents of small 
children, especially parents who were unmarried.
Partner violence was also complicated by other problem behaviours, especially long-
term unemployment, mental illness, drug abuse, and violence against non-family 
victims.
The American researchers who reported these findings showed a need for 
three types of intervention.
Early interventions with teenagers were needed to teach them not to use 
violence
against partners. Interventions with young parents were needed to reduce 
their stress and protect their small children
from exposure to violence at home.
They said perpetrators of partner violence tended to be mentally ill and 
commit other violent crimes as well,
suggesting a need for co-ordination among police, judicial and psychiatric 
interventions.
Policy-making to deter batterers through arrest, prosecution, or therapy 
required sound knowledge about how and
why individuals became perpetrators and victims.
Fewer than 7 percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Maori or 
Polynesian. Between one-fifth and one-third of all Dunedin study members reported 
they had experienced domestic violence.
The people questioned were involved in several types of relationships: some 
married, but more were cohabiting without marriage. Most study members were 
"going out" with someone: Some were in an exclusive relationship, others were 
"playing the field", but about 8 percent had not gone out with anyone in the past 12 
months.
More than one-third of candidates for treatment from mental health 
professionals were involved in domestic violence,
according to the study. The American analysis suggested that emergency room 
and general practice doctors usually
encountered victims only after an injury.
But mental health practitioners had a chance to identify and help victims 
before they were injured if questions about
domestic violence were made a routine part of intake assessment.
Mental health practitioners encountered not only women victims but also 
large numbers of men at risk of being perpetrators.
"If practitioners were trained to screen for partner violence risk, the 
mental health system might offer prevention as an
alternative to prosecution," the American report said.
One clear implication was that children in secondary school (ages 12 to 17) 
were not too young to learn healthier ways to handle conflicts with partners. Violence 
education might become as important as sex education for developing healthy 
relationships.
The Dunedin study research pointed to strong links between violence against 
a partner and a history of violence against other victims.
The strongest predictor of partner violence among the many risk factors in
childhood and adolescence in the Dunedin study database was a history of 
aggressive delinquency before age 15.
A search of the New Zealand police computer files (with each study member's 
written permission) revealed that by age 21, 141 (14 percent) had been convicted of 
one or more criminal offences. Among those convicted, 60 percent were repeat 
offenders. Although most of the convictions were for property crimes, 38 men and 
eight women had 113 violence convictions for inciting violence, manual assault, 
assault with a deadly weapon, rape, robbery, homicide, and threatening with an 
offensive weapon. – PA


