Archive-name: new-zealand-faq

Posting-frequency: monthly, a pointer is posted to s.c.n-z on Mondays.

Last-modified: 12 November 1996



View all headers Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!munnari.OZ.AU!comp.vuw.ac.nz!canterbury.ac.nz!southern.co.nz!hyphen!phil From: phil@hyphen.southern.co.nz (phil stuart-jones) Reply-To: soc.culture.new-zealand@news.demon.co.uk Followup-To: soc.culture.new-zealand Subject: The soc.culture.new-zealand FAQ Newsgroups: soc.culture.new-zealand,soc.answers,news.answers X-Posting-Software: NOSEpost v0.6c Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Summary: General and specific information about New Zealand and life here. This faq should be read by anyone contemplating visiting New Zealand or thinking of moving here. Please POST any questions, don't e-mail them. Keywords: faq, New Zealand, information, facts, culture, people Expires: 20 Dec 1995 00:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <phil.13i2@hyphen.southern.co.nz> Date: 13 Nov 96 00:44:39 +1300 Organization: home Lines: 6949 Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu soc.culture.new-zealand:69140 soc.answers:6511 news.answers:86609 View main headers See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge This is the soc.culture.new-zealand list of Frequently Asked Questions, and some hopefully useful answers. It should be possible to find the latest edition of this FAQ at: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/ *** PLEASE DON'T E-MAIL CONTRIBUTIONS TO ME *** *** E-mailed contributions will NOT be included *** *** E-mailed requests/questions will NOT be answered *** *** Replies to this message go back into the newsgroup *** I am NOT here to supply information on request or research obscure topics. I merely compile the information from the newsgroup and add whatever I think may be useful or relevant. If you really can't look something up for yourself, *ask in the newsgroup*! Like many people in New Zealand (and some other parts of the world) I pay for my e-mail by volume, both incoming and outgoing. E-mailing a request to someone you don't know without an invitation is often NOT appreciated. I very seldom respond to such mail. It particularly annoys me to receive requests for information which is in the faq... Contributions and comments are welcomed, but PLEASE POST THEM to s.c.n-z so that others can comment on their accuracy/relevance. If you quote bits of the faq for context, please keep it to a minimum. Thanks. I correct and amend the FAQ as information and time come to hand and post it on the tenth of each month. The subject line on the FAQ and the weekly reminder will be constant for the convenience of those who wish to killfile them. Hopefully this FAQ will reduce the number of requests from people who want to know all about NZ but can't be bothered finding a NZ embassy or travel agent or want all replies by mail 'because they don't read this group very often...'. My thanks to the contributors (listed at the end of section 2) without whom I couldn't (and wouldn't) have compiled this. Please remember that most of this stuff is quoted so I may not be to blame for factual errors! :-) =========================================================================== CONTENTS ============================== INTRODUCTION: History of soc.culture.new-zealand ============================== PART A: INFO SOURCES A1 HOW TO FIND NZers AND INFORMATION ABOUT NZ A1.1 On The Net A1.2 Elsewhere A1.2.1 Overseas Offices of the NZ Tourism Board A1.2.2 Traditional sources (libraries, newspapers, etc.) ------------------------------ A2 INFORMATION FOR NZers OVERSEAS A2.1 NZ Consulates/Embassies Overseas A2.2 How Do I Get News From Home? A2.3 Expatriate Organisations? ------------------------------ A3 INTERNET ACCESS WITHIN NZ ============================== PART B: FACTS AND FIGURES B1 THE COUNTRY B1.1 Where Is NZ? B1.1.1 General B1.1.2 Statistics B1.1.3 Dependencies B1.1.4 Time Zones B1.2 The Landscape B1.2.1 General B1.2.2 Miscellaneous Figures B1.2.3 Flora and Fauna B1.2.4 Climate ------------------------------ B2 THE PEOPLE B2.1 A Short History B2.2 Maoritanga B2.2.1 The Moriori Question B2.2.2 Guide to Maori pronunciation B2.3 Demography B2.3.1 General B2.3.2 Major Cities B2.3.3 Age Distribution B2.3.4 Ethnicity B2.3.5 Official Languages B2.3.6 Religions ------------------------------ B3 LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND B3.1 The Political Scene B3.1.1 Why 'New Zealand' B3.1.2 Constitution B3.1.3 Form of Government B3.1.4 The Justice System B3.1.5 Organisation Membership B3.2 Economy B3.2.1 Defence Against Silly Questions B3.2.2 Current Status B3.2.3 Currency B3.2.4 Stockmarket B3.2.5 Interest Rates B3.2.6 Taxes B3.2.7 Miscellaneous Prices B3.3 Life In General B3.3.1 Business Hours B3.3.2 Tipping B3.3.3 Cost of Living B3.3.3.1 Rent B3.3.3.2 Wages B3.3.3.3 Transport B3.3.3.4 Food B3.3.3.5 Consumer goods B3.3.4 Crime B3.3.5 Finding a job B3.3.6 Schools and Education B3.3.7 Universities B3.3.7.1 Teaching focus B3.3.7.2 Addresses B3.3.7.3 The University Hierarchy B3.3.7.4 Postgrad Study B3.3.8 Health B3.3.8.1 Water Supply B3.3.9 Communications B3.3.10 Misc B3.4 Holidays B3.4.1 National B3.4.2 Regional B3.5 Technical Stuff B3.5.1 Electricity B3.5.2 TV info B3.5.3 Video Conversion B3.5.4 Bringing Computers In B3.5.5 Telephone B3.5.6 Radio ------------------------------ B4 COMING TO NEW ZEALAND B4.1 Travel To NZ B4.1.1 Travel Details B4.1.2 Agricultural Restrictions B4.1.2.1 Animal Quarantine B4.1.3 Overseas Embassies in NZ B4.2 Immigration Stuff, Points System B4.2.1 Assessment for the General Category B4.2.2 Employability B4.2.3 Work Experience B4.2.4 Age B4.2.5 Settlement Factors B4.2.6 Business Investment Category B4.2.7 Importing a Car ------------------------------ B5 TRAVEL WITHIN NZ B5.1 Info Sources B5.1.1 Tourism Board B5.1.2 Maps B5.2 Accommodation B5.2.1 Youth Hostel Association B5.2.2 Backpackers B5.3 Transport B5.3.1 Cycling/Sea kayaking B5.3.2 Hitchhiking B5.3.3 Renting a car/campervan B5.3.4 Train Services B5.3.5 Cook Strait Ferry B5.3.6 Coach Travel B5.3.7 Driving B5.3.8 Commercial Tours B5.3.9 Flying B5.4 Misc Info B5.4.1 Film Developing ------------------------------ B6 MAP OF NEW ZEALAND ------------------------------ B7 CONTRIBUTORS ============================== PART C: THE SUBJECTIVE BITS C1 DEFINITION OF 'KIWI' ------------------------------ C2 DESCRIPTIONS OF NZ CITIES ------------------------------ C3 HOLIDAYING IN NZ C3.1 Places C3.1.1 Parks and Tracks C3.1.2 Beaches, etc. C3.1.3 Distinctive Features C3.1.4 Archaeology/Historical/Heritage Sites C3.1.5 Places To Go To C3.1.6 Places To Avoid C3.1.7 Temporary Attractions C3.2 Activities C3.2.1 Tramping C3.2.2 Skiing C3.2.3 Climbing/mountaineering C3.2.4 Watersports C3.2.5 Whale/Dolphin Watching C3.2.6 Pubs To Go To/Nightlife C3.2.7 Anything Else???? ------------------------------ C4 GENERAL CULTURE C4.1 Sport C4.1.1 Why do New Zealander Sportspeople Wear Black? C4.2 Food C4.2.1 What is Vegemite/Marmite? C4.2.2 Pavlova recipe C4.2.3 The Edmonds Cook Book C4.2.4 Laying A Hangi C4.3 National Anthems C4.4 The Gumboot Song C4.5 Some Works by NZ Authors C4.6 Other Bits ------------------------------ C5 FAMOUS NEW ZEALANDERS C5.1 Cinema C5.1.1 Films C5.1.2 People C5.2 Music C5.2.1 Pop/rock bands C5.2.2 Blues C5.2.3 Country C5.2.4 Classical C5.3 Literature C5.4 Fine Art C5.5 Humour C5.6 Other... =========================================================================== INTRODUCTION: History of soc.culture.new-zealand The only record I have of the history of soc.culture.new-zealand is this copy of the CFD, kindly passed on through various people. It appears the archives of the original material may have been lost, and as this is a repost (of sorts) I'm not sure how any of the details relate to the original. ---------- Newsgroups: news.announce.newgroups,soc.culture.australian, soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic,soc.culture.misc,nz.general From: gcwillia@daisy.waterloo.edu (Graeme Williams) Subject: CFD: soc.culture.new-zealand Date: 25 Feb 91 04:41:44 GMT [ I have the rest of the header if it'd be useful ] Z*******Z******* CFD: A New Zealand culture group *******Z*******Z This is a call for a discussion regarding the creation of a new newsgroup devoted to "New Zealand culture". Here is what I propose: NAME: This will need to be decided on, several suggestions are: soc.culture.newzealand soc.culture.aoteoroa soc.culture.kiwi soc.culture.nz MODERATION STATUS: The group would be unmoderated. CHARTER: The group will provide a forum for discussion of topics related to New Zealand. In particular such things as: News, politics, Maori and Pacific Island culture, music, sport, events, films, telly, jobs, farming, the enviroment, economics, tourism, places to see, trade, education, bungy jumping, pavlovas, the Goodnight Kiwi and Wal and the dog in Footrot Flats. In short anything and everything Kiwi, or related to NZ. Contributions and queries from people other than New Zealanders will also be most welcome. COMMENTS: I have had rather a lot of positive feedback via email regarding the creation of this group, some very enthusiastic. What I would like to see now is some discussion on the net amongst the various people interested. In particular we will need to decide on a name for the group. I have set the Followup-to: field to news.groups so all discussion regarding this proposal should take place there. So, if you're interested and don't subscribe to news.groups, SUBSCRIBE to it NOW! I want to hear publicly from all you Kiwis (and others interested) scattered few and far between all over the globe. Shake off the traditional Kiwi apathy cos "she'll be right" won't work here on the net. Get those fingers typing and tell us what you think. Cheers, Graeme Williams - a Kiwi in Canada gcwillia@daisy.waterloo.edu ---------- That's it. Any comments or contributions to this introduction would be appreciated. Please post as usual... =========================================================================== PART A Subject: A1 HOW TO FIND NZers AND INFORMATION ABOUT NZ Subject: A1.1 On The Net Anyone searching for people in NZ might like to try searching the online telephone directory first. Try pointing your Web browser at: http://tdl.tols.co.nz/cgi-bin/wmain.pl ----- Follow this newsgroup! You might also want to investigate the nz.* groups (if they are available to you) particularly nz.general. Corrections for any of these addresses would be appreciated. The faq is available from numerous sites, including: ftp site: ftp.demon.co.uk dir: /pub/ibmpc/misc including the internet access faq and immigration eligibility software. For those who want to know who is able to be contacted in New Zealand, Mark Davies of Victoria University has put the list of New Zealand Internet connected sites on the web at: http://www.comp.vuw.ac.nz/~mark/netsites.html Other info about NZ is available via WWW from: Michael Witbrock's NZ pages at http://nz.com/ eg. http://nz.com/nz/NZNewsArchive/ and http://nz.com/nz/MainPage.html/ and Sam Sampson says: "We now have Stewart Island Pages on the akika tour of nz. Site is: http://nz.com/tour/Stewart Island/ and Philip Greenspun's file (illustrated with 25 JPEG photos): http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/philg/travel/ then click on "email from New Zealand" and all the old stuff is there. and Jennifer George's pages: Obscurities/infrequently asked questions; http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~jmgeorge/ifaq.html and home page http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~jmgeorge/nz.html and Pat Cain's ftp site/web page: http://www.dosli.govt.nz/lists ftp://ftp.dosli.govt.nz/pub/ including the Internet Access in NZ FAQ, Tony Sutorius' NZ Internet Typical User Profiles FAQ and BBS Listings for Auckland, Waikato, Manawatu, Wellington and Christchurch. and David Lobb's site: http://www.tricky.com/davelobb.html and Jon Clarke's site: http://air.com.hk/~jonc Library sites throughout NZ. National Library of New Zealand: http://www.natlib.govt.nz/ Email: visitors@natlib.govt.nz New Zealand Library Catalogues: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/libr/nzopac.htm New Zealand Library and Information Association: http://www.netlink.co.nz/~nzlia/ which gives details of the organisation, and links to related sites. Canterbury Public Library: http://www.ccc.govt.nz/Library/ University of Auckland: http://www.auckland.ac.nz/lbr/libhomehtm University of Waikato: http://www2.waikato.ac.nz/library/ Victoria University of Wellington: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/library/ University of Canterbury: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/libr/home.htm Lincoln University: http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/libr/libhome.htm http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/libr/nz/ and their alphabetical list of NZ WWW Home Pages at: http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/libr/nz/nzalpha.htm University of Otago: http://librius.otago.ac.nz:800/home-page.html Library servers on the web: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb/ http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/morgan/alcuin/wwwed-catalogs.html Other sites: http://133.30.120.10:10080/=@=:www.ntt.jp/AP/oceania.html http://archpropplan.auckland.ac.nz/misc/sources9.html http://charm.wcc.govt.nz/extern/kennett/homepage.htm http://icair.iac.org.nz/nz/tourism/index.html http://liber.stanford.edu/~torrie/ http://pluto.taranaki.ac.nz/pukeiti/locus.html http://pluto.taranaki.ac.nz/tourism/welcome.html http://www.actrix.gen.nz/general/nz-faq.html http://www.actrix.gen.nz/users/jbarton/index.html http://www.gphs.vuw.ac.nz:80/meteorology/meteorology.html http://www.govt.nz/ps/min/stats http://www.indirect.com/www/richardk/NZgraphic.html http://www.iol.ie/~saris/bpguide.html http://www.nzso.co.nz/ http://www.pncc.govt.nz/ http://www.rsnz.govt.nz/ http://www.rsnz.govt.nz/cgi-bin/news?rsnz/news http://www.tricky.com/davelobb.html http://www3.waikato.ac.nz/waitomo/index.html A list of newspaper sites is at the end of section 1.2.2. The Wizard of New Zealand (also known as the Wizard of Christchurch) is pleased to announce that he will shortly reveal his master plans on a WWW homepage. Comments welcome to: http://www.chch.planet.org.nz/wizard.html For the ftp and WWW challenged; to get the FAQ (or any of the other WWW files mentioned), in ASCII form, send email to: listserv@info.cern.ch with the body of the message reading www http://the.URL.you.want A message to the same address containing only the 'word' WWW will give you some useful help and other options, such as retrieving batches of files and/or pictures, etc. Also, a recent copy may be obtained by mailing a request to Mark Moir (moir@cs.unc.edu) and asking very nicely. Also, try Gopher: gopher://gopher.wcc.govt.nz/ (The Wellington City Council) A quick check of gopherspace used to tell you all you never needed to know about someone but it appears that Lincoln and Waikato both intend to phase out their gopher servers. Some universities have a database of email addresses available. Try: www.<university>.ac.nz or http://www.comp.vuw.ac.nz/Technical/x500nzquery.html. or http://nz.com/NZ/EducationResearch/Universities.html which will send you to home pages (and all sorts of info including snail mail) of universities in NZ. Subject: A1.2 Elsewhere A1.2.1 Overseas Offices Of The New Zealand Tourism Board AUSTRALIA SYDNEY: Prudential Finance House, 84 Pitt Street, NSW 2000 Ph (02) 231 1322, 221 7333 GP Box 614,2100 Sydney BRISBANE: Ground Floor, 288 Edwards St GPO 2634, Brisbane, Queensland 4001 Ph (00617) 221 3176 Fax (00617) 221 7289 MELBOURNE: Level 19 Comco Office Tower 644 Chapel Street, South Yarra Melbourne Victoria Ph (00613) 823 6283 BRITAIN LONDON: New Zealand House, Haymarket, SW1Y4TQ Ph (071) 973 0363 EUROPE FRANKFURT: 6000 Frankfurt am Main 1, Kaiserhofstrasse, Ph (069) 288 189 Fax (069) 281 482 JAPAN TOKYO: Toho Twin tower Building, 2nd Floor, 1-5-2 Yurakucho C Hiyoda-ku 100 Ph (03) 508-9981 PAN-ASIA SINGAPORE: 13 Nassam Rd, Singapore 1025 Ph 2359966 HONG KONG: 3414 Jardine House, 1 Connaught Place, Central Ph (05) 255 044 UNITED STATES LOS ANGELES: 501 Santa Monica Blvd 300, Santa Monica CA 90401 Ph 1 800 3885494 Fax (310) 395 5453 NEW YORK: Suite 1206, 432 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016 Ph (001212) 447 0550 Fax (001212) 447 0558 CANADA VANCOUVER: 1200 - 888 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6C 3K4 ph (604) 684-2117 fax (604) 684-1265 Air New Zealand also has offices at 1250 - 888 Dunsmuir Street ph (604) 640-4600 -------------------- A1.2.2 Traditional Sources (libraries, newspapers, etc.) Check libraries, travel agents, embassies, consulates. Year books, almanacs, census data(?) etc. are all usually available. The Lonely Planet guide has been described as 'very helpful'. The following book has been suggested as a useful source of information: New Zealand - a travel survival kit by Tony Wheeler published by Lonely Planet Publications The following CD is available: New Zealand Encyclopedia (TVNZ): An encyclopedia of NZ that covers lots of different areas. Over 1200 illustrations, 20 maps, over 20 minutes of videos (1994 version). Available from: The Electric Book Co. PO Box 34-422 Auckland 10 New Zealand Ph/fax 64-9-4159343 If all else fails, try the: Auckland Information Bureau/Auckland Information Centre Aotea Sq 299 Queen St PO Box 7048 Auckland 1 Phone 366 6888 Fax 366 6893? 358 4648? (Hey Lin! Which of these is right???) Wellington Info Centre Phone 801 4000 Fax 801 3030 Wellington is included because if you know how to send a fax via e-mail, use Wellington's fax number. They probably can't email you back. Christchurch Info Centre Phone 379 9629 Fax 377 2424 Lincoln University library keeps (or kept?) a list of all the NZ magazines/newspapers at: http://manuka.lincoln.ac.nz/libr/nz/nzserial.htm ----- Newspaper Contact Information New Zealand Major Daily Newspapers: (>25,000 Circulation) Newspaper Postal Box City Circulation Phone Mngmnt Fax Editorial Fax New Zealand Herald (M) PO Box 32 Auckland 238,000 09/379-5050 09/303-0265 09/366-1568 Otago Daily Times (M) PO Box 181 Dunedin 48,000 03/477-4760 03/477-5120 03/477-1313 The Daily News PO Box 444 New Plymouth 29,000 06/758-0559 06/758-4653 06/758-6849 The Dominion (M) PO Box 3740 Wellington 67,000 04/474-0222 09/474-0584 04/474-0350 The Evening Post (M) PO Box 3740 Wellington 69,000 04/474-0222 04/474-0584 04/474-0237 The Press (M) Private Bag Christchurch 100,000 03/379-0940 03/364-8496 04/364-8492 The Southland Times PO Box 805 Invercargill 33,000 03/218-1909 03/218-4349 03/214-9905 Waikato Times Private Bag 3086 Hamilton 41,000 07/849-6180 07/849-9554 07/849-9603 New Zealand Other Daily Newspapers: (<25,000 Circulation) Newspaper Postal Box City Circulation Phone Mngmnt Fax Editorial Fax Ashburton Guardian PO Box 77 Ashburton 6,300 03/308-3089 03/308-9855 Bay of Plenty Times Private Bag Tauranga 21,000 07/578-3059 07/578-0047 Daily Post PO Box 1442 Rotorua 13,000 07/348-6199 07/349-0959 07/346-0153 Evening News PO Box 92 Dannevirke 2,700 06/374-7081 06/374-9353 Evening Standard PO Box 3 Palmerston North 24,000 06/356-9009 06/350-9525 06/357-6316 Evening Star PO Box 3 Greymouth 5,600 03/768-7121 03/768-6205 Hawkes Bay Herald Tribune PO Box 180 Hastings 20,000 06/878-5155 06/876-0655 06/878-5668 Northland Times PO Box 96 Dargaville 2,900 09/439-8209 09/439-6505 Te Awamutu Courier PO Box 1 Te Awamutu ? 07/871-5151 07/871-3675 The Daily Telegraph PO Box 343 Napier 16,000 06/835-4488 06/835-6786 06/835-1129 The Ensign PO Box 182 Gore ? 03/208-9280 03/208-9594 The Gisborne Herald PO Box 1143 Gisborne 9,700 06/868-6655 06/867-8048 The Levin Chronicle PO Box 547 Levin 6,400 06/368-5109 06/368-2366 The Nelson Mail PO Box 244 Nelson 19,000 03/548-7079 03/546-2849 03/546-2802 The Northern Advocate PO Box 210 Whangarei 15,000 09/438-2399 09/430-5669 09/430-5665 The Oamaru Mail PO Box 343 Oamaru ? 03/434-9970 03/434-9723 The Timaru Herald PO Box 46 Timaru 15,000 03/684-4129 03/688-1042 Wairarapa Times-Age PO Box 445 Masterton 9,100 06/378-9999 06/378-2839 06/378-2371 Wairoa Star PO Box 41 Wairoa ? 06/838-7194 06/838-6973 Wanganui Chronicle PO Box 433 Wanganui 15,000 06/345-3919 06/345-3232 Westport News PO Box 249 Westport 2,200 03/789-7319 03/789-7203 New Zealand Non-daily Newspapers: Newspaper Postal Box City Circulation Phone Mngmnt Fax Editorial Fax Clutha Leader (N) PO Box 45 Balclutha 2,500 03/418-1115 03/418-1173 Marlborough Express (N) PO Box 242 Blenheim 10,000 03/578-6059 03/577-6006 03/578-0497 National Business Review* (W) PO Box 1734 Auckland 13,000 09/307-1629 09/373-3997 Northern News (W) PO Box 1 Kaikohe ? 09/401-0123 09/401-2129 Sunday News* (W) PO Box 1409 Auckland 119,000 09/302-1300 09/366-4670 09/358-3003 Sunday Star-Times* (W) PO Box 1409 Auckland 195,000 09/302-1300 09/366-4670 09/309-0258 The Independent* (W) 17 Victoria St West Auckland 10,000 09/303-3534 09/303-2999 The New Truth* (W) PO Box 1409 Auckland 35,000 09/302-1300 09/366-4670 09/309-2279 Whakatane Beacon (N) PO Box 243 Whakatane 8,600 07/308-8129 07/307-0719 Type Note: Provincial Daily unless: (M) Metropolitian Daily (N) Non-Daily (ie. 2-5 times/week) (W) Weekly Distrubution Note: * = Nationwide Circulation The above information was kindly supplied by the NZPA & INL via Tony Randle For further information, please contact the NZPA. Phone: 04/472-7910 Facsimile: 04/478-1625 Postal Address PO Box 1599, Wellington ----- Email addresses (some may be EMail to fax gateways). The owner of most of the above newspapers, INL has the site http://www.inl.co.nz http://www.inl.co.nz/websites.html Waikato Times http://www.wave.co.nz/times/ The Dominion http://www.infotech.co.nz (the weekly computer section) The Evening Post http://www.evpost.co.nz/ (empty page still?) The Press http://www.press.co.nz Otago Daily Times (a domain name registered but inoperative as yet) also http://nz.com/nz/NZNewsArchive/ http://nz.com/NetEdit/ http://nz.com/NZ/Commerce/NetEdit/VOICE.HTM http://nz.com/webnz/ Above and beyond all this, apparently you can read newspapers all over the world at: http://www.worldaccess.nl/~brien Subject: A2 INFORMATION FOR NZers OVERSEAS Subject: A2.1 NZ Consulates/Embassies Overseas Chase up a phone book. There are embassies and consulates all over the place. In countries where there are no New Zealand representatives, the UK representatives usually look after the interests of NZ nationals by agreement. For callers in the U.S. the New Zealand Tourism Board has a 24 hour number; 1-800-388-5494. Leave your name, address and particular interests and lots of free information on New Zealand will be mailed to you. During regular California business hours it might even be possible to get a real person on the line. New Zealand Embassy in Haymarket (UK): phone: 0171-930 8422 0891-200 288 0171-973 0366 0171-973 0368 New Zealand Embassy in Washington D. C.: 37 Observatory Circle, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20008 Phone: (202) 328-4800 (Is this place open?) NZ Embassy Suite 1206, 432 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016 Phone: (212) 447 0550 Fax: (212) 447 0558 TRADENZ NZ Consulate General NZ Tourist Board 780 Third Avenue, Suite 1904 New York, NY 10017-2024 Phone: (212) 832-8482 Fax: (212) 832-7602 They opened a couple of months ago. The NZ Tourism Board office at the same address has been open for business (to travel agents only) for several years. The office hopes to have full consular capacity "shortly". Currently it gives advice, dispenses forms and "aids distressed travelling Kiwis". The East Coast Manager is Anna Synolt and Peter MacDonald (pmac@pipeline.com.us) heads the office. There's a new e-mail address for the New York NZ Consulate/TRADENZ et al.: tradenz@pipeline.com It should be noted that the NY NZ Consulate only answers questions and distributes forms. All processing - issuing visas, renewing passports etc. - is performed at the Washington DC High Commission. The NY NZ Tourist Board deals only with travel agents etc. and will not answer questions from individuals. The West Coast Consulate: New Zealand Consulate-General Suite 1150 12400 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles CA 90025 Phone: (310) 207-1605 Fax: (310) 207-3605 Mr. Terence Charles Baker is listed as Consul General. There is also a New Zealand Tourism Board located in Santa Monica, phone 1-310-395-748. Try also (is this valid???): NZ Embassy 501 Santa Monica Blvd 300, Santa Monica CA 90401 Phone: 1 800 388 5494 Fax: (310) 395 5453 And in Canada, there is the: New Zealand High Commission Ottawa Phone: (613) 238-5991 Fax: (613) 238-5707 There are consul offices listed for the District of Columbia, Tennessee, Guam, and Washington State. Subject: A2.2 How Do I Get News From Home? Check the notes on ftp sites; some current news may be archived there. Read soc.culture.new-zealand, and nz.general if you can get it. A weekly summary of NZ News is compiled and posted to soc.culture.new-zealand by the generous Brian Harmer (usually on Sundays). These postings are all archived on the WWW at http://nz.com/nz/NZNewsArchive/. To get a personal e-mail copy of the postings, send mail to: majordomo@nz.com with the line: subscribe nznews <email-addr> in the *BODY* of the message. "The New Zealander " is a new full colour weekly tabloid available in Australia for A$2.95. Like other publications we know of, the Dominion, and the Evening Post are among the sources of its articles, although it can presumably print articles verbatim. (I'll be interested to hear what Australian WYSIWYG readers think - BH) TVNZ has established a web page for those who want to see recent news items. Comment has been mixed, and like most graphic-laden pages is slow to load. Try http://www.tvnz.co.nz/ particularly http://www.tvnz.co.nz/news/stories There is a thing called a NewZgram. It's like an aerogram but is printed with excerpts of news about NZ, including sections about sport, health, business, etc. It's 4 sides of a page long, sent fortnightly). Subscription Prices: 24 issues (12 months) NZ address surface NZ$36 Australia/Sth Pacific - air NZ$55 Rest of world - air NZ$67 The address is: Peak Communications Ltd PO Box 54046 Mana Wellington New Zealand Phone/Fax 64/4/2399123 and/or??? Newzgram PO Box 3882 Christchurch, NZ Phone - 3-3559222 Fax 3-3559337 Then there is: New Zealand News UK is an Independent Weekly newspaper, covering NZ news/current events, United Kingdom jobs, NZ jobs, travel, migrating to NZ, shipping and accommodation/entertainment in London. There is apparently also a version called 'Overseas' with lots of info about visa requirements, etc. for Brits wishing to travel. Try calling NZ News on 0171 930 6451. NZ news is available free in London and by subscription elsewhere. It does contain a fair bit of London specific news, but has some quite good features on Emigrating and NZ lifestyles for people thinking of making a move to NZ. Prices in Pounds Sterling. 3 Months 6 Months 1 Year UK � 8.90 � 16.40 � 28.00 Europe � 12.00 � 23.00 � 38.50 World � 20.80 � 40.50 � 57.75 Make your cheque payable to New Zealand News UK and send it to: Circulation Manager, New Zealand News UK, PO Box 10, Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland TD15 1BW Phone/Fax: (44) 0289 306677 Or, have a look at the new net version: http://www.nznewsuk.co.uk/ which apparently has no pictures, but a good selection of sports news. Subject: A2.3 Expatriate Organisations? There's an organisation in HK called the New Zealand Society. Point of contact is either the NZ Consulate in Central HK (Jardine House) or Grant Baird at a restaurant called Landaus. They meet regularly and it's fairly social. There's a Kiwi Club of New York for those interested in such things. Kiwi Club of New York c/o TRADENZ 780 Third Avenue, Suite 1904 New York, NY 10017-2024 Phone (212) 832-4038 x222 (Brenda Henderson) The club's secretary is Beatrice Cheer at bcheer@panix.com who can occasionally be found in s.c.n-z. Subject: A3 INTERNET ACCESS WITHIN NZ Public internet access is available from a growing number of sources throughout New Zealand, particularly around the main centres. Access for university staff and students (sometimes only post-grads) is usually available. For more detailed information, read Simon Lyall's monthly faq on the subject; newsgroups: (news.answers, nz.net.announce, nz.general, s.c.n-z) archive-name: internet-access/new-zealand ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/nz.general/ and also; http://actrix.gen.nz/general/internet.faq although: ftp://ftp.dosli.govt.nz/pub/lists/ is slightly better and has a few other FAQs. =========================================================================== PART B Subject: B1 THE COUNTRY Subject: B1.1 Where Is New Zealand? B1.1.1 General New Zealand is in the south-west \_ Pacific and has two large islands, \} one smaller island, and numerous \9 much smaller islands. It is usual North )`-'7 to refer to the main islands as 'the Island ( c` North Island' and 'the South Island'. ) / F,% n_/ For a larger map of the main islands South J / see section B6. For a map showing Island / 6 the dependencies, see an atlas... / / {_, /` Ascii maps are copyright, Stewart Island @ ~ please do not repost. New Zealand = Aotearoa, Niu Tireni (uncommon, adulteration of 'New Zealand'), Land of the Long White Cloud, 'Godzone' North Island = Aotearoa (original name(?) referring to the NI only?), Te Ika-a-Maui[-Tikitiki-A-Taranga] (The Fish of Maui), Nga Ahi o Maui (verification and definition anyone?) South Island = Te Waka-a-Maui (The Canoe of Maui), Te Wa[h]ipounamu (Greenstone waters or Place of Greenstone) Stewart Island = Rakiura (The Land of Glowing Skies) or Te punga o te waka a Maui (The anchor of Maui's canoe) "Kiwiland" is slang for "New Zealand" and not very common. "Down Under" tends to mean Australia but may also include NZ. -------------------- B1.1.2 Statistics For the main three: Latitude: 34 S to 47 S Longitude: 167 E to 178 E AREAS sq kms sq mi North Island 114,453 44,191 South Island 150,718 58,193 Stewart Island 1,746 674 The Rest ? TOTAL 268,700 103,745 COASTLINE: 15,134 km LAND BOUNDARIES: 0 km MARITIME CLAIMS: Continental shelf; edge of continental margin or 200 nm Exclusive economic zone; 200 nm Territorial sea; 12 nm Take a look at: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/95fact/nz.html and http://www.govt.nz/ps/min/stats And Steve Israel (israel@spheroid.otago.ac.nz) invites people to look at his remote sensing page: http://spheroid.otago.ac.nz:808/courses/remote.sense/RemoteSense.html -------------------- B1.1.3 Dependencies Antarctica (Ross Dependency): between 160 degrees east and 150 degrees west longitude together with the islands lying between those degrees and south of latitude 60 segrees south. The land is estimated to be between 400,000 and 450,000 sq km, with a further 330,000 sq km of permanent ice shelf. The main NZ station is Scott Base at approx 78 degrees south. The next two are part of NZ territory, and apart from the Chatham Islands, they are uninhabited except by research personnel. Antipodes Islands: a small group of outlying islands off the east coast of the South Island, latitude 49 degrees 41' South and longitude 178 degrees 43' east. Total area about 62 sq km. Auckland Islands, Bounty Islands, Campbell Island, Kermadec Islands, Snares Islands. The sub-Antarctic islands are integral parts of NZ. Actually, with the exception of the Kermadecs (to the NE of NZ) all those island groups are in the sub-antarctic, as are the Antipodes Islands. The Anres and Bounty Islands are marginal for being classed as sub-Antarctic. The Chatham Islands are well east of New Zealand (850kms) and have their own 'Time Zone' in as much as their clocks are always 45 mins ahead of the rest of NZ and I guess they keep in step with changes to and from NZDT. Lyndon Watson wrote: "The Cook Islands were originally under sole British administration and later under sole New Zealand administration. There was no condominium. The Cook Islands have been independent since the 1970s. "The Cook Islands are an independent state. At *their* request (not surprising in view of their small population and resources) they are represented in most overseas countries by New Zealand diplomats and New Zealand undertakes their military defence. They can change that at any time simply by notifying New Zealand, one government to another. "Not only could Cook Islanders vote in New Zealand elections before they became independent, but the can still do so even now under special dual nationality arrangements which *they* requested on independence. New Zealanders, of course, cannot vote in Cook Islands elections. "New Zealand has never colonised Niue or Tokelau. Rather the Niueans and Tokelauans have colonised New Zealand. In the case of Tokelau, especially, the population of Tokelauan descendants in New Zealand is now far larger than the atolls could possibly support. "Niue is internally self-governing but not fully independent. Their problem, like that of other tiny Pacific nations, is a lack of population and resources. They are so totally dependent on New Zealand subsidies that no one has been able to devise a viable scheme for full independence. Tokelau has the same problem in even greater form. Like Kiribati, they even stand to lose their home islands (atolls) altogether if the sea level keeps on rising they way that it has been lately. Most of the people who identify as Tokelauans are resident in New Zealand. Tokelau is talking about some form of autonomy or independence right now. "New Zealand has no strategic interest in these islands and has never settled them; they are a financial burden to us which we undertake because they are our friends and neighbours and have important links with our own population. In our own narrow self-interest, we should either give them full independence and cast them adrift, or simply incorporate them seamlessly into New Zealand, but the decision is theirs, not ours." -------------------- B1.1.4 Time Zones New Zealand is 12 hours ahead of Greenwich mean time making it one of the first places in the world to see the new day. Summer time (or Daylight Saving Time we call it here) is an advance of one hour at 2am in the morning on the first Sunday in October and back to NZST at 3am in the morning on the third Sunday morning of March. NZST (GMT+12) or NZDT (GMT+13) October - March Subject: B1.2 The Landscape B1.2.1 General NZ is a long narrow country lying roughly North/South with mountain ranges running much of its length. It is predominately mountainous with some large coastal plains and is a little larger than Britain, slightly smaller than Italy, and almost exactly the size of Colorado. The only 'geographical feature' New Zealand doesn't have is live coral reef. We have all the rest: rainforest, desert, fiords, flooded valleys, gorges, plains, mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, geothermics, swamps, lakes, braided rivers, peneplains, badlands, and our very own continental plate junction... As a result of the latter, earthquakes are common, though usually not severe (patience... :-) For more information, go to sci.geo.geology, and download the earthquake maps for this week. The little black line snaking through New Zealand is the plate boundary. A good URL for this is: http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/QUAKES/WEEKREPS/LATEST/world.gif Also try http://www.gphs.vuw.ac.nz/geophysics/geophysics.html http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/cgi-bin/quakes and http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/quakexe/quakes which lists the strong earthquakes worldwide during the last few days. You can get almost instant info about larger quakes from the US Geological Survey at: http://www.usgs.gov/research/environment/hazards/earthquake/ Or try gopher://gldfs.cr.usgs.gov:79/0quake for a simple record of any quake. [not at all sure how this works. help?] -------------------- B1.2.2 Miscellaneous Figures Mt Cook: highest point in NZ. A landslide in December 1991 lowered the 3764m summit by about 10 metres. NZ has 28 peaks over 3000 metres. The lowest (Mount Aspiring) is the only one outside Mount Cook National Park. Also within the park is the Tasman Glacier, which is about 20 kms long. The North Island's main mountains are all volcanoes: Ruapehu (2797m/9175'), Ngauruhoe (2291m), and Tongariro (1968m) in the centre, and Taranaki (2518m) to the west. Lake Taupo; 40.2 km long, 27.4 km wide, 606 sq km, depth 159m Lake Waikaremoana; 19.3 long, 9.7 km wide, 54 sq km, depth 256m The artificial lakes in the North Island deeper than both are Lake Ohakuri (287m) and Lake Whakamarino (274m). Lake Wakitipu 77.2 by 4.8 km, 293 sq km is 310m deep. It's noo but a puddle compared to Lake Hauroko (443m deep). Both are glacial in origin. -------------------- B1.2.3 Flora And Fauna It is still hotly debated whether or not New Zealand was *completely* submerged between 60 - 30 mya. There are now two competing views as to NZ's biogeographic history: (1) the traditional view, that our biology - especially the vegetation - is a living example of a 'Gondwanan' fragment that has a lineage directly traceable back to when NZ split off from Gondwana (maybe as early as 90 mya or as late as 75 mya, depending on who you believe). (2) a more recent view, that actually almost none of our current plants and animals can be traced in a continuous lineage back to Gondwana, and instead have all arrived via long-distance dispersal from Australia and SE Asia, maybe even as recently as 20 - 10 mya. There is some compelling fossil evidence for this view. For those interested in this, an excellent though clearly biased account of this second view is given by Mike Pole in a recent review (The Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 21 pp 625, 1994). In any case during its time of isolation, birds have continued to arrive and develop in NZ without large predators, making them vulnerable to recent arrivals. The predators that have really been widely destructive were the mustelids, cats and European rat species. The most important impact of pre-Europeans was the widespread burning used in moa-hunting especially in the drier areas of the South Island. We have the worlds largest flightless parrot (kakapo), the only truly alpine parrot (kea), the oldest reptile (tuatara), the biggest earthworms, the heaviest insect (also the largest weta), the smallest bats, some of the oldest trees, and many of the rarest birds, insects, and plants in the world.... NZ is home to the world famous Tuatara, a lizard-like reptile which dates back to the dinosaurs and perhaps before (260 mill years?). The only member of its order (Rhynchocephalia) it is now restricted to protected offshore islands which you have to have special permission to visit. Specimens are kept at some zoos. The only native land mammals are two rare species of bat. NZ's many endemic birds include the flightless kiwi, takahe, kakapo and weka. Far too many species of bird have become extinct since humans arrived on NZ included the various species of Dinornis (moa) the largest of which stood up to 2.5 metres high. While the rare takahe (Notornis australis) can be seen in semi-wild conditions at Te Anau, the Kakapo is too endangered to be on display anywhere (see quote below). For those who are interested, the following NZ CD is available: New Zealand birds: Information on more than 300 bird species, plus over 500 photos, video clips of NZ attractions and birds, and 20 windows bmps. Available from: Protech International PO Box 324 Nelson New Zealand Ph/fax 64-3-5451799 There is also some unique insect life such as the Giant Weta and glow worms. Other than two spiders, there is a lack of any deadly poisonous things (snakes, spiders, etc.) which is why NZ Agricultural Regulations are so strict. The great kauri trees in the few remaining kauri forests in Northland are very old with some believed to be up to 2000 years old. Much of the South Island is still forested, particularly the West Coast. ----- cakes@io.org (cakes) has provided the following article (advice on legality requested!): Reprinted without permission. RACE AGAINST TIME TO SAVE ANCIENT PARROTS Reuters, 19.01.96 WELLINGTON, New Zealand. After a peaceful existence spanning millions of years, the survival odds seem stacked against New Zealand's native parrot, a fat, flightless bird called the kakapo. With only 50 kakapo left in New Zealand, Britain's World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC) recently placed the bird on its list of the world's 20 most-endangered species predicted to become extinct during 1996. "That bird has so much stacked against it," said Kevin Smith, president of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand. Only one kakapo chick has survived into adulthood since 1990, although three more are almost there. "At the moment the clock is just ticking. Unless there are some chicks fledged in the next five years the kakapo's prospects are very bleak," Smith said. Fully grown kakapo weigh up to eight pounds, heavier than most other parrots, and are bright green in color. Scientists say the bird existed without significant threat for millions of years. Their decline began 1,000 years ago when humans arrived in New Zealand, bringing predatory mammals such as cats, dogs, rats and stoats. Flightless native birds, including the kiwi, moa and kakapo, had not developed defenses against predation. "Some were literally eaten alive. The kakapo's only defense was to sit very still, and predators basically had meals on wheels," said Janet Owen, Department of Conservation (DOC) Director of Protected Species. She said kakapo populations were plundered as a food source by Maori and European settlers alike, and their natural habitat was largely destroyed by the clearance of rich forests. Hope seemed lost in the late 1960s when it was found all kakapo known to exist were male. Then the discovery of a single feather on Stewart Island, at the foot of the South Island, led to a hitherto unknown population of about 200 birds, including females. But cats discovered this kakapo haven at the same time. "By the time we could do anything about the cats, the population had plummeted to around 50 or 60 birds," said Paul Jansen, head of DOC's Kakapo Recovery Program. The kakapo were moved in the 1980s to the relative safety of Codfish, Little Barrier and Maud islands, dotted around New Zealand's coastline. The nests need video monitoring as they come under constant attack from rats, and Maud Island is occasionally invaded by stoats swimming over from the mainland. The male kakapo abandons the female after mating, forcing her to leave the nest dangerously unattended while she feeds. What is more, kakapo are reluctant breeders mating only once every four or five years. They also have a history of laying infertile eggs. Despite the hurdles facing the kakapo, the WCMC's prediction of imminent extinction is overly dire, DOC says. While the kakapo is critically endangered, it is a national treasure which can be dragged back from the brink of oblivion. "Results will take a while because they're long-lived birds. We think they live around 60-80 years, so they won't be wiped out this year," DOC Director-General Murray Hosking said. Over the next 10 years the recovery program aims to establish a younger breeding population, although numbers will probably remain similar as older birds die. "Conceivably we will be giving help to the kakapo for at least the next five decades, if not longer," Jansen said. Smith is sharply critical of the amount of funding the government provides for endangered species research. DOC has a $660,000 budget for kakapo research in 1996. "We've become too insulated in New Zealand we don't realize just how special our native plants and animals are. There's a niggardly, pathetically small amount of money going into conservation, and we reap what we sow," he said. Smith said predation was causing the decline of New Zealand's bird populations in general, and forest habitats were gradually being destroyed by possums, deer and goats. "New Zealand's wealth has been generated out of the 75 percent of the country we've cleared. Unfortunately we're not using any of that wealth to save those species that are trying to survive in the little remnants we left them," Smith said. "The dawn chorus in our forests, which used to be a real feature of New Zealand, is in many places becoming more of a solo." Reuters I found this article on a bird-related web site - I can't recall which one as I've scanned many over the last few weeks. Recently I saw a television program on the Discovery channel, which highlighted the plight of the kakapo in much the same manner as this story. -------------------- B1.2.4 Climate The NZ climate is temperate with no real extremes; the north tends to be warm temperate. Being an island nation, the yearly range of temperatures is quite small, around 10 degrees Celsius variation between winter and summer. NZ enjoys long hours of sunshine throughout the year making it an ideal year round destination. In winter the South Island mountain and central North Island do have heavy snowfalls providing great skiing. Summer: December - February Winter: June - August sunshine Temperature (C) rainfall rain hours mean max min daily av. (mm) days sum win Kaitaia 2113 15.6 29 0 1429 138 Auckland 1904 15.7 28 3 23 14 1289 140 Tauranga 2217 14.3 29 -2 1363 118 Hamilton 1981 13.5 29 -5 1236 131 Rotorua 1872 12.7 30 -4 23 12 1509 123 Gisborne 2173 14.1 33 -2 1079 113 New Plymouth 2157 13.4 26 -1 1514 142 Napier 2187 14.3 32 -2 830 92 Palmerston North 1764 13.2 28 -3 991 127 Wellington 2008 12.7 27 1 20 11 1305 124 Nelson 2372 12.2 28 -4 22 12 1005 96 Blenheim 2449 12.9 32 -4 671 84 Hokitika 1889 11.6 25 -2 2809 168 Christchurch 1992 11.9 34 -5 22 10 668 85 Timaru 1828 11.4 32 -4 586 81 Milford Sound 1828 10.5 25 -3 6213 183 Queenstown 1865 10.4 30 -5 21 8 832 93 Dunedin 1645 11.1 29 -2 19 10 802 119 Gore 1665 9.7 31 -5 894 137 Invercargill 1595 9.7 28 -5 1040 157 (some of the table above was pirated and I seriously doubt it's accuracy... Anyone care to confirm it?) Ross Levis kindly offered: All the weather links you should ever need are located on my ISP page at: http://www.enternet.co.nz/weather.html which links to VUW and shows some other Antarctic pictures. Frank van der Hulst and Tony Wilkes provided (combined and mildly amended): NZ Metservice forecasts, including TV-style maps showing forecasts: http://web.co.nz/weather/ Satellite weather pictures from VUW: http://www.rses.vuw.ac.nz/meteorology/pictures/ [ see also ...meteorology/maps.html and ...pictures/ir1/latest.jpg ] These are in mono. For similar maps in colour: http://rs560.cl.msu.edu/weather/ Weather of the whole region, including NZ. Up to 3-day forecasts, including satellite pictures and maps showing isobars & sea surface winds over the Tasman & NZ: gopher://gilgamesh.ho.BoM.GOV.AU/1/1/Australian%20Weather%20Information gopher://gilgamesh.ho.BoM.GOV:70/11/Australian%20Weather%Information/Weatrts [ not sure if the second one is correct ] Latest (3-hourly) weather satellite images: http://geog.canterbury.ac.nz/weather/index.html The NZ sites seem to be somewhat intermittent, and often their latest images are 3 or 4 days old. The Aussie site is probably the most useful. Airways Corp also has a Web site http://www.airways.co.nz/index.html which contains articles from their latest magazine. Also at http:/www.sel/bldroc.gov/today.html are sunspot details and solar activity, which is of interest to radio hams (among others). Hugh Grierson adds: Point your browser at gopher://gilgamesh.ho.bom.gov.au:70/ and follow the links "Australian weather information ..." -> "Weather Charts". There is also: http://www.xtra.co.nz/metservice/index.shtml but that requires a Java capable reader. Subject: B2 THE PEOPLE Subject: B2.1 A Short History 900 AD (+/-) Maori arrived from Pacific. 1740's Europeans started to bumble around the area. 1800's Exploiters arrived (whalers, sealers, traders). 1830's Settlers started arriving. 1840's The 'Maori' Land Wars There were actually four separate wars (though some tribes fought in more than one): NgaPuhi, Northland (1840s) Taranaki,(1860s) Kingites, Waikato (1860s) Te Kooti etc (1860s) John Hopkins offers the following 'gratuitous comments ;-)' (sic): "The term "Maori Wars" has not been used for some considerable time, as it suggests that Maori were responsible for the wars - another example of "the winner" rewriting history to suit their own purposes. Recognised descriptions now are "the New Zealand Wars", or the "Land Wars" - the latter is preferable in some ways because it reveals what the wars were about. In particular, the invasion of the Waikato by English led troops as a pretext to force Maori to defend themselves and then confiscate their land for being "in rebellion" against the English Crown. A good reference is the Waitangi Tribunal report on the Tainui claim." 1893? Universal Suffrage. The 1945-50 Baby Boom There was a baby boom in 1945-50 after the survivors returned from the Second World War. The reasons should be obvious. (I think that it has been mentioned here that New Zealand lost a larger fraction of its population in the Second World War than any other Allied country except the USSR, nearly all of them young men). There was a lesser peak 20 to 30 years later as the products of the first boom had their own children. 1985 Internet gets going... :-) May 1994 The soc.culture.new-zealand faq gets posted! Subject: B2.2 Maoritanga Maoritanga is Maori culture; a way of life and view of the world. It is a growing and changing part of life in NZ. The ancestors and all living things are descended from the gods, who are often embodied in specific mountains, rivers and lakes, which is why kinship and links with the land are so important. Maui was one of the earliest descendants and was responsible for slowing the sun to make the days longer, taming fire, and fishing the North Island (Te Ika a Maui) from the sea from his brothers' canoe (the South Island - Te Waka a Maui). Most Maori can trace descent from the chiefs of Hawaiki who sailed to Aotearoa in voyaging canoes from about 1200 years ago. The marae (particular area of land and buildings, containing the Whare or meeting house) is the focus of traditional Maori community life. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, after Maori had petitioned Queen Victoria about the damage being done to their land and culture by uncontrolled land speculators and resource exploiters. Another influence was the wish of the British to prevent the French or Americans from gaining a hold on the new colony (Hone Heke flew the Stars and Stripes on his war canoe). The first article ceded to the Queen of England the right to make laws in exchange for the retention of full control of their lands, forests, fishing and prized posessions. The second article promised the Maori full rights to their lands, forests and treasured possessions (and fisheries in the English version). The third article gave the Maori all the rights and privileges of British subjects. Despite the egalitarian language, in practice the principles of the Treaty were often ignored. Dissatisfaction over the control of land in the North Island led to war in the 1860's with the result that much Maori land was confiscated. It was 100 years before the Maori protest movement had enough strength to come into the public eye, although certain key personalities have been supporting a Maori renaissance since the early years of this century. All environmental and planning legislation passed since 1986 contains provisions for the support of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Recent claims to the Waitangi Tribunal have resulted in some land being returned to Maori control. In other cases the resource implications are so complex and potentially vast that decisions on reparation have been delayed for some years. This is the case, for example, with the claim of Ngai Tahu, the largest and most powerful South Island tribe. The claim has been accepted in principle, but settlement appears to be some way away. Maori is now an official language of NZ, although outside the Maori community it is rare to hear it spoken except on ceremonial occasions. Maori have established various programmes for the revival of their language, particularly in pre-school and primary schools. Most Maori are now town and city dwellers, and many have lost touch with their original marae base. However there is a groundswell of regeneration of interest in the marae, and some people are returning to their tribal homes. In the cities, urban marae, sometimes catering for people of many tribes, have been established. Maori culture was transmitted orally, through the telling of stories, song (waiata) and the reciting of whakapapa (genealogies). It was also represented in stylised form in carvings and woven panels that adorned whare (meeting houses). There is a revitalisation of these traditional arts, especially as the marae movement gains more strength, and also because new marae, for example on school and university campuses, are being built. Maori traditional music was very effectively suppressed by the nineteenth century missionaries. Traditional instruments are now rarely seen but the Maori love of music survives in waiata, which today are a blend of remembered traditional waiata plus adaptations from western music. One of the most difficult things for any dominant culture to handle is the acceptance of real partnership with another group, especially one that for many years was regarded as inferior. The pretty or quaint sides of Maori culture, long exploited by the tourist industry, are not the whole thing. The real thing involves power and resource sharing, and this process of reallocation will cause debate and some strife within New Zealand for years to come. ----- Brian Harmer: "To give an indication of how complex the Maori situation is, here are the names of some of the tribes. This section is evolving... Maori Tribes (this is not exhaustive), listed in approximate North to South geographic distribution (paraphrased from The Revised Dictionary of Modern Maori by P.M. Ryan, 1989 Heinemann Education) Te Aupouri Ngati Kahu Te Rarawa Ngapuhi Ngati Whatua Ngati Tai Ngati Paoa Ngati Tamatera Ngati Whanaunga Ngati Maru Ngai te Rangi Ngati Haua Ngati Mahuta Waikato Te Arawa Ngati Ranginui Whanau-a-Apanui Whakatohea Ngati Awa Ngati Maniapoto Ngati Porou Ngati Tuwharetoa Tuhoe Rongo Whakataa Ngati Tama Taranaki Te Aitanga-a-Makahi Ngati Raukawa Ngati Ruanui Ngarauru Ngati Apa Ngati Hau Rangitane Ngati Kahungunu Ngati Toa then to the South Island Rangitane Ngai Tahu Poutini Ngati Mamoe I believe most tribes had sub-tribes, and there was much ebbing and flowing as various groups conquered, or were in turn conquered and enslaved." ----- Lyndon Watson wrote: "There are more in the Marlborough Sounds-Nelson region, e.g. Ngati Koata who broke off from Ngati Toa in the last century and sided with local tribes and who have just been in the news for getting Stephens Island back and promptly giving it to the Crown as a nature reserve. The question of tribal affiliation in the lower three-quarters of the South Island is a vexed one because some descendants of the tribes who lived there before the Ngati Mamoe and Ngai Tahu invasions from the North Island (e.g. Te Waitaha of South Canterbury-North Otago who claim to be the original 'Moa Hunters') claim to be members still of those tribes while Ngai Tahu consider that they (and, indeed, the Ngati Mamoe) are now at the most subtribes of Ngai Tahu. Tempers can get very heated round here over this matter. And it should also be mentioned that some do not like 'iwi' being translated as 'tribe', and 'hapu' as 'subtribe'." ----- For more info on Maori culture and history, try: http://www.lonelyplanet.com.au/dest/aust/maori.htm which gives a brief overview of Maori history, and: http://tattoos.com/moko.htm which deals with the art of Moko. and For info on Maori history and lists several Maori writers: http://www.lonelyplanet.com.au/dest/aust/maori.htm Also: <http://iconz.co.nz/commercial/educator> <http://iconz.co.nz/~educator> And the Auckland City Art Gallery collection of Maori portraits by Charles Fredrick Goldie: http://www.well.com/user/wldtrvlr/auckgal.html Adam Gifford (for whom I have no net address) invites people to visit: http://nz.com/webnz/tekorero/ Once Were Warriors homepage: http://www.flf.com/warriors/ -------------------- B2.2.1 The Moriori Question Simon O'Rorke provides the following quotes and opinions: In her book "The Prehistory of New Zealand" (Longman Paul, Auckland, 1987) Janet Davidson wrote: "...[during the 1890s]... many spurious traditions about [Maori] origins began to gain wide acceptance. Some of these still hinder the study of New Zealand prehistory today. One theory was the so-called 'Maruiwi myth', which suggested that the first inhabitants of new Zealand had been a different and probably inferior race to the later Maori. The resumption of intensive archeological work in the South Island during the 1920s and 1930s was partly in response to this theory. "[this] archeological work....demonstrated the Polynesian nature of moa-hunter assemblages and disproved the idea that the moa-hunters were an earlier and different race from the Maori. Yet the idea of the inferior and defeated Maruiwi or Moriori still lives on in the minds of modern New Zealanders, confused with the Moriori of the Chatham Islands who were in fact an isolated group of Polynesians, although very closely related to the New Zealand Maori." The Maruiwi was a Maori tribe (iwi) whose name is known from oral tradition but which did not survive to the time of the settlement of New Zealand by Europeans. Contrary to the assertions of the 19th century European mythologizers of Maori origins, they were not a pre-Maori people. They were probably wiped out in inter-tribal warfare during the 14th century or later, i.e. hundreds of years after Polynesians settled what is now New Zealand in the 9th century. The European mythologizers of Maori origins, in particular S. Percy Smith, who in 1892 founded the Polynesian society, noticed the similarity between the word "Maruiwi" and the word "Moriori", the name of the indigenous people of the Chatham Islands, which are located in the Pacific Ocean about 400 km East of New Zealand. They jumped to the conclusion that the Moriori were the descendants of (supposedly pre-Maori) Maruiwi survivors who had fled to the Chathams to New Zealand when Polynesians (Maori) first settled New Zealand. Until recently, New Zealand school children were taught this story as historical fact. Davidson has this to say about the Moriori: "Despite widespread popular belief that the Moriori were a vanquished group who fled to the Chathams from New Zealand, Moriori and Maori were unaware of each others' existence before the rediscovery of the Chathams by Europeans in the late 18th century. Sutton has recently strongly argued that the Chathams were settled from New Zealand between A.D. 1000 and 1200 and became completely isolated after about A.D. 1400. No archeological sites of this early period have yet been excavated in the Chathams, however, and the possibility of settlement from elsewhere in East Polynesia cannot be entirely excluded." Why did the European myth of a people in New Zealand before the Maori arise? And why has it persisted despite clear contrary evidence? In his book on the struggles of the Maori since the European settlement of New Zealand, "Ka Whatwhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End", (Penguin, Auckland, 1990) Ranginui Walker put it very well: "The myth of the Moriori is essentially ideological in the sense of being a false consciousness as a solution in the mind to conflict generated by the colonisers' expropriation of Maori land. According to the myth, the Maori, as a superior and more warlike people, expropriated the land from the Moriori. Therefore Pakeha [Maori term for European settlers and their descendants] expropriation of the same land on the basis of their superior civilisation was in accordance with the principle of the survival of the fittest. For this reason the false myth of the Moriori has been one of New Zealand's most enduring myths. Pakeha need the myth for the endorsement of colonisation and Pakeha dominance." I can back up Walker's argument from personal experience. I have frequently heard (usually right-wing) European New Zealanders using the Maoris' alleged extermination of the Moriori in New Zealand as justification of European mistreatment of Maori. I would note however, that these days the justification tends to be in terms of a rather guilty "The Maori were just as bad as the Europeans" rather than the more self-confident social-Darwinist survival-of-the-fittest justification that was prevalent at the beginning of this century. -------------------- B2.2.2 Guide to Maori pronunciation The five vowels; a, e, i, o and u, are pronounced in two ways: short long a as u in but a as a in father e as e in pen e as ai in pair i as i in bit i as ee in feet o as o in fort o as o in store u as u in put u as oo in boot Where two vowels are together: both are sounded but they are run together smoothly. The ten consonants in Maori: h, k, m, n, p, r, t, w, ng, wh. The first eight are pronounced as in English. The last two are digraphs, 'ng' being pronounced as the ng in 'singer', and 'wh' as wh in 'whale', or as a 'f'. From The Revised Dictionary of Modern Maori: The consonants: 'r' is not rolled. 'p' is soft. 'wh' is usually pronounced 'f', sometimes as 'h', 'w', of 'wh'. 'ng' has a softish 'g' and is pronounced/spelled 'ng' or 'k' depending on the area; usually 'k' in the South Island. In the book "He Whakamarama - A new course in Maori" the following describes 'ng' and 'wh': "When we say 'na', the tip of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth somewhere behind the top of the upper teeth. When we say 'nga', the tongue stays down with the tip touching the back of the lower teeth. "'Wh' differs from 'f' in this way. When we say 'f', the upper teeth firmly touch the bottom lip, but with 'wh' there is little or no pressure of the upper teeth on the bottom lip. The following: http://www.dia.govt.nz/dia/general.dictionary/maori may help with the preceding. ----- Lachy Paterson wrote: "Te Reo Maaori will exist only if it is taught (and learnt) as a spoken language. This means that students should have a tutor of some sort who can actually talk to them (analog not digital!). While this would be difficult in another country, it should not be difficult in NZ. However, if people wanted to teach themselves the rudiments of Maaori/Maori grammar, then I would recommend He Whakamarama A new Course in Maori by John Foster (Heinemann) or Te Kakano (Stage 1 University text) Te Pihinga (Stage 2) by John C. Moorfield (Longman Paul). Kia manawanui." Lyndon Watson adds: "Yes, and to complicate matters there are some dialectical variations. Some East Coast speakers tend to replace 'ng' with the simple 'n'. And some South Island speakers replace it with 'k', but then it is spelled accordingly so there is no problem for the outsider. The 'wh' sound also seems to vary from place to place. I have heard elderly speakers in Northland say something very like the (proper) English 'wh' sound - 'h' followed by 'w' - and again some Eastern speakers use a plain 'w'. Pakehas tend to give up and fall back on a plain 'f'. Judy Shorten adds: "Say it in Maori" by Alan Armstrong is a really good little book with a limited English-Maori and Maori-English dictionary as well as a wide variety of phrases that cover many situations. There is also a page on pronounciation. I would recommend this little book for anyone wanting to have a very basic knowledge of the Maori language, but on the other hand most tourists travelling around NZ on tours don't have the time or the inclination to read even a little book about correct pronounciation and therefore make some rather hilarious attempts at trying to pronounce even the simplest names. References: The Concise Maori Dictionary, A.H. & A.W. Reed The Revised Dictionary of Modern Maori, P. M. Ryan's, reprint 1989, Heinemann, ISBN 0 86863 564 2 Say it in Maori, Alan Armstrong Subject: B2.3 Demography B2.3.1 General Total population is about 3.5 million. Over 70% of the population are in the North Island, largest centre is Auckland (over 1 million), capital is Wellington. 1975 3,071,000 1988 3,343,000 1990 3,402,000 1992 (July) 3,347,369 1994 3,541,000 2000 3,714,000 Population Growth 0.88 % Population Density 32/sq mi Population Doubling Time 79 years Net migration rate: -2 migrants/1,000 population (1992) -------------------- B2.3.2 Major Cities Latitude, Long Dist Population Longitude Code Wellington 360,000 41.17S,174.47E 4 Auckland 890,000 36.52S,174.46E 9 Christchurch 335,000 43.33S,172.40E 3 Hamilton 100,000 37.46S,175.18E 7 Dunedin 110,000 45.52S,170.30E 3 -------------------- B2.3.3 Age Distribution Age range Male % Female % 0-9 8.0 7.6 10-19 9.4 9.0 20-29 8.6 8.4 30-39 7.4 7.5 40-49 5.4 5.3 50-59 4.5 4.4 60-69 3.6 4.1 70+ 2.7 4.1 Total 49.6 50.4 Literacy Rate 99 % Urbanization 83.5 % -------------------- B2.3.4 Ethnicity Data from the "1991 Census of Population and Dwellings" publications. Ethnic Group, for Population Resident in New Zealand Single Ethnic Group Total Percent European (1) 2,658,738 79.5 NZ Maori 323,493 9.7 Samoan 68,565 2.0 Cook Island Maori 26,925 0.8 Tongan 18,264 0.5 Niuean 9,429 0.3 Tokelauan 2,802 0.1 Fijian 2,760 0.1 Other Pacific 1,413 -- Total, Single Pacific Group 130,158 3.9 Chinese 37,689 1.1 Indian 26,979 0.8 Other Single Ethnic Groups (2) 25,926 0.8 Total, Single Ethnic Groups 3,202,980 95.7 (1) May include combinations of European groups e.g. NZ European and/or British and/or Dutch etc. (2) All Groups not included above. May include combinations of Other Groups, eg. Japanese and/or Korean and/or Middle Eastern Groups. There is a very good (not *too* technical) book on Maori Demography for further reference of those interested: Pool, Ian. 1991. _Te Iwi Maori: A New Zealand Population Past, Present and Projected_ Auckland University Press (dist. by Oxford Univ. Press outside of New Zealand) -------------------- B2.3.5 Official Languages English, Maori. Pacific Island and Asian languages may be heard in cities. -------------------- B2.3.6 Religions A Massey research project reveals that 28 percent of Kiwis pray, at frequencies varying between several times a day, to weekly. About 21 percent of the population are regular churchgoers. The radio report on the topic said that over 60 percent of NZers believe in a God. And/or... 1991 census: (%) Anglican 22.1 Presbyterian 16.3 Catholic 15.0 Methodist 4.2 Agnostic 0.1 Atheist <0.05 No religion 20.1 Object to state 7.6 In 1981 (and I presume earlier censuses) there was simply a blank where you wrote your religion. In 1986 and 1991, there were half a dozen or so boxes you could tick, including "No Religion" and "Other" (with a blank space to fill in if you ticked "Other"). In 1981, Agnostic and Atheist accounted for 0.8 and 0.7%, so clearly many people who would write "Atheist" when confronted with a blank space would tick "No Religion" when such a box was an option. (I did this myself in 1986.) In 1986, "No Religion" got 16.7%, so this is growing fast, and is the second largest group. (It was less than 1% in the 1950s.) Subject: B3 LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND Subject: B3.1 The Political Scene Would anyone care to write a brief summary of the main political parties and post them to the net for comment? B3.1.1 Why 'New Zealand' It is simply "New Zealand" - not the "People's Republic of" or "Commonwealth of" or "Kingdom of" or anything like that. It used to be "The Dominion of New Zealand" pursuant to a long-forgotten dream of a kind of federal British empire that one of our early prime ministers (Bill Massey) was keen on, but the "Dominion of" bit was dropped several years ago. I have a long debate about the origins of the names for NZ which I'm still editing into shape. It may go in here. -------------------- B3.1.2 Constitution New Zealand shares with Britain and Israel the distinction of being one of the three developed countries that does not have a codified Constitution on the U.S. model. When the country was annexed by Britain in 1840, the British parliament enacted that all applicable law of England as at 1840 became the law of New Zealand. In 1856, the New Zealand parliament was given the power to enact its own law and nothing changed when full independence was achieved (26-9-1907) except that the British parliament lost its overriding authority. We have, thus, never had the problem that Australia and Canada have had of "repatriating" a constitution that was really an Act of the British parliament. Our constitution, like the British, consists of parliament's own conventions and rules of conduct, some legislation such as the New Zealand Constitution Act (1986, not enacted), and fundamental rules applied by the Courts which go back into English history. It evolves rather than is amended. The flag of NZ is blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant with four red five-pointed stars edged in white centered in the outer half of the flag; the stars represent the Southern Cross constellation. -------------------- B3.1.3 Form Of Government Paul Gillingwater wrote: "Constitutional monarchy, with a single-chamber parliament. The monarch is said to "reign but not rule": except for a residual power to actually govern in the event of some complete breakdown of the parliamentary system, the monarch has merely ceremonial duties and advisory powers. When the monarch is absent from the country, which is most of the time, those duties and powers are delegated to the Governor-General who is appointed by the monarch for a limited term after approval by the government. Parliament is the consitutional "sovereign" - there is no theoretical limit on what it can validly do, and the validity of the laws which it enacts cannot be challenged in the courts (although the courts do have and use wide-ranging powers to control administrative acts of the government). A new parliament is elected every three years (universal suffrage at age 18). The leader of the party which commands majority support in parliament is appointed prime minister and he or she nominates the other Ministers of the Crown. The ministers (and sometimes the whole majority party in parliament) are collectively called "the government". Our system almost entirely lacks formal checks and balances - the majority party can virtually legislate as it likes subject only to its desire to be re-elected every three years. Until now, members of parliament have been elected on a single-member constituency, winner takes all, system similar to those of Britain and the U.S.A. As a result of referenda conducted in 1993, future parliaments will be elected on a mixed-member proportional system modelled on that of Germany. The administration is highly centralised. The country is divided into "districts" (the urban ones called "cities") each with a District (or City) Council and Mayor, but their powers are limited to providing public facilities (not housing) and enforcement of by-laws (local regulations) such as parking regulations. The Police are a single force controlled by the central government. The draft of the new electorate Boundaries under MMP is available from http://actrix.gen.nz/general/politics.html. There are 3 files: nth_isle.gif --> north island electorates sth_isle.gif --> South island electorates auckland.gif --> Auckland electorates" Ross Stewart (WWG IT recruiters, Akld, NZ) writes: For interest, we've put up (as best we can) details as to how seats will be allocated under MMP. Have a look at: http://www.clearfield.co.nz/wilson_white/mmp.htm Colin Jackson adds: Announcing the NZ Elections Home Page on the government web server: http://www.govt.nz/ Material on the server includes: - A Guide to the MMP voting system - How to Enrol, with an Internet form - Maps of all the new electorates - A text search tool to establish which electorate(s) a given place is in - Results of the last election It will carry the results of the 1996 election as these become available. The address of the elections home page is: http://www.govt.nz/elections -------------------- B3.1.4 The Justice System There is a four-level hearings and appeals system: Top level Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (London) | Court of Appeal (Wellington) | High Court (in all cities) | Bottom level District Courts (most towns) There is also the Small Claims Court which handles smaller personal disputes. Civil and criminal cases start in the District or High Court, depending on their seriousness and appeals go up the chain. Certain rare cases can start in the Court of Appeal. District and High Court judges sit alone or with juries. The Court of Appeal (and on certain rare occasions the High Court) consists of three or five judges sitting "en banc". The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council consists mainly of British Law Lords with New Zealand judges also sitting in New Zealand cases; in theory its decisions merely "opinions" for the benefit of the monarch as the fount of all justice, but in practice its rulings have the force of ultimate appeal. All judges are appointed by the government - High Court judges are nominated by the Law Society, but District Court judges apply for the job like any other. Various special-purpose courts (Industrial Court, Maori Land Court, Family Court, etc.) exist and have the same status as either a District Court or the High Court. For the NZ Statutes: http://io.kete.co.nz/gpprint/gptop.htm and there's a pointer to it from http://www.govt.nz/ -------------------- B3.1.5 Organisation Membership New Zealand is a member of the following organsations: ANZUS (US suspended security obligations to NZ on 11 August 1986), APEC, AsDB, Australia Group, C, CCC, CP, COCOM, (cooperating country), EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, MTCR, OECD, PCA, SPC, SPF, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UNTSO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO Subject: B3.2 Economy Since 1984 the government has been reorienting an agrarian economy dependent on a guaranteed British market to an open free market economy that can compete on the global scene. The government had hoped that dynamic growth would boost real incomes, reduce inflationary pressures, and permit the expansion of welfare benefits. The results have been mixed: inflation is down from double-digit levels, but growth has been sluggish and unemployment, always a highly sensitive issue, has exceeded 10% since May 1991. In 1988, GDP fell by 1%, in 1989 grew by a moderate 2.4%, and was flat in 1990-91. Current (1994) growth is around 2-4% and rising. The economy is based on agriculture (particularly dairy products, meat, and wool (68 m sheep, 2 m dairy cows)), food processing, wood and paper products, textiles, machinery, transportation equipment, banking and insurance, tourism, mining. Fish catch reached a record 0.5 m tonnes in 1988. Highly dependent on external trade, NZ is currently trying to move from being a primary to a secondary producer. -------------------- B3.2.1 Defence Against Silly Questions Lyndon Watson wrote: "Look in on sci.economics and sci.econ.research. In response to yet another request from abroad about NZ's supposedly interesting economic past and present structure, Lyndon Watson composed the following. What is it with these idiots from Canada? This garbage seems to come round three or four times a year - is some fool teaching it to students there? Some notes for these twits (and their teachers) - 1. New Zealand was not subsidized from England, or anywhere else. 2. The nation did not at any time go bankrupt (or default on its debts, or become subject to IMF or World Bank or any other outside economic direction). 3. Our terms of trade worsened catastrophically in the early 1970s (not the 1980s) as a result of (a) the oil shock that also affected our trading partners and (b) the erection of tariff and quota barriers against our trade by the U.K. 4. The Labour government of 1972-75 and the National government that followed it tried to deal with adverse terms of trade by borrowing in foreign markets, with the result that by the early 1980s we had (and we still have) a debt ratio that looked bad even by Third World standards. 5. The Labour government of 1984-90 and the current National government have restructured the economy by abruptly stopping all state subsidies, removing nearly all tariff and quota barriers against imports, greatly reducing income tax and substituting the Goods and Services Tax on the sale of goods and services, greatly reducing the the state's involvement in trading activities and social services, and the reform of labour laws to promote individual workplace agreements. 6. The removal of subsidies and import barriers saw many incompetent and uneconomic businesses, many of which were reliant on subsidies, fail and the official unemployment rate exceed 10% of the workforce. 7. After a decade of restructuring, our net terms of trade are in our favour and the official unemployment rate is the fourth lowest in the OECD (currently just over 7% for the country as a whole, 5.9% in most of the South Island). A major current problem is the shortage of skilled workers in many industries." ----- Kindly submitted by Paul Walker. These were published in the Christchruch Press on September 13th and 14th, 1995. Anyone prepared to archive these and the following references for ftp and such? BRINGING HOME THE CUP Michael Carter Senior Lecturer in Economics University of Canterbury When Australia wrested the America's Cup from the New York yacht club in 1983, Tom Schnackenberg was a member of the shore team (a sail designer). When New Zealand won the cup in San Diego, Tom was head of the design team and navigator on NZL 32. His progression from shore to ship was far less imposing than that in his native country. In 1983, a New Zealand challenge for the America's Cup would have been inconceivable. The domestic boat building industry was struggling. It had been decimated by the imposition of an ill-conceived sales tax in 1979, which cut turnover from $57 million to $8 million in two years. Like Schnackenberg, many of New Zealand's best talents lived and worked overseas, driven away by high tax rates and the lack of opportunity. Innovation was discouraged by regulations, import controls and selective taxes. The idea of a New Zealand team taking on the might of corporate America was laughable. At the end of 1984, I left Australia to return to New Zealand. Some of my Australian colleagues laughed. They saw New Zealand as a basket case, a joke, small isolated islands drowning in a sea of debt. My Australian friends wondered when, not if, Australia would have to come reluctantly to the rescue. Ten years later, how things have changed. Our triumph in San Diego is due in no small measure to the changes which have be wrought in the New Zealand economy over the last 10 years. Moreover, bringing home the Cup was only the most visible sign of the new vigour, confidence and strength in New Zealand and its people. New Zealanders are justifiably proud of the performance of Team NZ in San Diego. They could be even more proud of the performance of home team, of the radical transformation of their economy over the last ten years. Domestic critics talk of the "New Zealand experiment" as though New Zealand has pursued a lone path in recent years. Nothing could be further from the truth. Massive economic change has occurred throughout the world over the last fifteen years. Deregulation and privatization are universal trends. No country remains untouched, from Britain and the US to the former constituents of the Soviet block to Latin America, Africa and Asia. Around the world, there is a feeling that New Zealand has done it better than most. The Australians are now looking cautiously over their shoulder, as their economy is consistently eclipsed by their Tasman rival. The Economist regularly cites New Zealand as exemplifying the benefits of economic reform. Monetary economists pay significant attention to the Reserve Bank Act. Experts on telecommunications watch with interest New Zealand's system of light regulation. New Zealanders are employed as consultants advising on economic reform all round the world. >From the laggard of the OECD, New Zealand has emerged to one of the strongest economies in the world. It is an achievement to be proud of, an accomplishment which surpasses even the yacht races in San Diego. That is not to say that we have got everything perfect. Mistakes have been made, implementation of some policies was less than perfect, and there is still much to be done. But, from an international perspective, New Zealand's transformation in a single decade has been remarkable. At a time when some politicians are promoting a return to the past, it is sobering to recall the changes which have been made and to reflect on the way we were ten years ago. It is also interesting to remark how the opponents of change have often become its most vocal advocates, as exemplified by Federated Farmers and recently the Manufacturers Federation. Much of the current political debate on economic policy is futile and distracting, driven by poor memories and wishful thinking. If only New Zealanders could achieve some consensus that we have been moving in the right direction, debate could turn to the more constructive issues of how to secure continued growth and equitable distribution. Prospective voters could do their part by signalling more clearly to aspiring politicians that they want to build on the present rather than return to the past. Tomorrow, we look back to the way we were in 1984 and review some of the changes which have been made in our economic lives. LOOKING BACK TO 1984 Michael Carter Senior Lecturer in Economics University of Canterbury Eleven years ago, the Fourth Labour Government came to power in a snap election. They inherited control of country whose economy had been devastated by years of mismanagement. Aided by a willing and able bureaucracy, they set about implementing an ambitious programme of economic reform. As New Zealand approaches its first MMP election, it is instructive to look back over these reforms, and to recall the way we were in 1984. One of the first changes was the freeing of the financial system from obstructive regulation and the floating of the New Zealand dollar. This has promoted a healthy, competitive and innovative financial system. People may rue market interest rates, but at least it possible to borrow when required. Remember the old days when obtaining a mortgage required appropriate obsequiousness before the bank manager, who exercised a patronizing and crucial power over investment decisions. Since it was floated, the Kiwi dollar has shown a remarkable stability in a world of stormy change. So stable has it been, that international bankers use it has a short term safe haven, and temporary resting place for funds. Why should we be alarmed at that vote of confidence? A strong currency is a manifestation of a strong economy. No country has every got rich by debasing its currency. One consequence of a floating currency is that New Zealander's are enabled to convert their currency at will. Remember the days when foreign exchange had to be squirreled away, carefully collected to finance meagre purchases. Funds for overseas travel were limited. Obtaining funds for small purchases such as magazine subscriptions required hoarding post office money orders. Similarly, ten years ago, there were an enormous range of import controls and prohibitive tariffs. Overseas trips where often shopping trips. Travelers would return laden with booty which was too expensive to purchase in New Zealand. The main beneficiaries were foreign distributors and retailers. It was a very inefficient way of restricting consumption of luxury goods to the rich. Exchange and import controls spawned a variety of ingenious rackets. Under one scheme, those with access to foreign currency could go to the top of the queue for a new car, while ordinary people had to spend three or four years on a waiting list. Consequently, the favoured few were enabled to buy a new car every year, and then sell it to the less fortunate for more than they paid for it. Such rorts are almost inevitable under a system of controls. The most spectacular result of the abolition of import controls was the flood of second-hand Japanese cars. The quality of the New Zealand vehicle fleet improved dramatically, and the cost of transportation declined. Of course, there has been a down side. Traffic congestion has also increased dramatically. But at least congestion is egalitarian. Vehicle ownership is widespread and not restricted to the rich and powerful. The relaxation of import controls and tariffs has also had a dramatic impact on clothing, footwear and consumer goods. The range of clothing readily available in New Zealand has increased dramatically, and prices have fallen. Since families spend a higher proportion of their budgets on clothing and transport, freer trade has been especially valuable to the less well off. This makes the Alliance's wish to reverse this change all the more imponderable. In 1984, New Zealand's production was guided by a system of subsidies, through which New Zealand taxpayers funded the lifestyles of those with political clout. Most pernicious were the agricultural subsidies such as SMPs. Naturally, farmers produced were the subsidies were highest, which tended to be were demand was lowest. The subsidies became capitalized in land values, another windfall gain for those of means. When the government abolished subsidies in 1984, land prices halved. For many individual farmers, this was devastating. But farmers as a whole soon recognised that the subsidy system was untenable. They soon became the most vocal advocates of deregulation, and New Zealand could mount a credible campaign against protection in world agricultural markets. Much political flak was attracted by the privatization of public owned businesses. Yet, this was part of world-wide trend. A recent book on privatization which I reviewed for the Press cited 120 countries. Privatization in New Zealand seems to have been handled more sensibly than in some other countries. This is because serious thought was given to post-sale market structure, which it is more important than ownership. For example, Ansett was permitted to fly in New Zealand before Air New Zealand was floated. Similarly, competition was permitted in telecommunications before Telecom was sold. The benefits in these cases are clear. New Zealand enjoys one of the best and cheapest telephone systems in the world. Competition in transport has certainly improved the quality of service. It is plausible to argue that current impasse between Telecom and Clear stems primarily from the Kiwi share obligation imposed on Telecom, which was explicitly designed to impede the consequences of competition in the residential market. The Kiwi share may have been one of the less fortunate ideas. A keystone of economic reform has been the Reserve Bank Act, which has succeeded in controlling inflation in New Zealand. Inflation adds to the uncertainty of investment decisions, and leads to arbitrary redistributions of wealth. Admittedly, the rapid reduction in inflation was achieved at considerable cost. However, nothing would be gained now by loosening the controls on inflation embodied in the Reserve Bank Act. Reform of the tax system was also important. In 1984, the top marginal tax rate was 66%, which left little incentive for additional effort. It provided ample incentive for avoidance and evasion which were widespread. The imposition of GST had two major advantages: avoidance was almost impossible and the tax fell on consumption and not saving. By cutting the rates but broadening the base, tax receipts have actually increased, which is why New Zealand is now repaying debt rather than accumulating it. The reformed system is also much fairer, since the opportunities for avoidance under the former system were very unevenly distributed. Reform reached beyond market institutions. "Tomorrow's Schools" revolutionized the ways our schools are run. There have been some hiccups, but by and large this seems to have been a successful and welcome reform. A recent review in the Press could find no one who wanted to return to the former system of centralized Ministry control. Similar decentralization in the health system has provoked more debate. However, it is notable that a recent careful survey by Consumer magazine detected widespread satisfaction with the health system. Much of the criticism comes from those working in the system, with a vested interest in protecting their working conditions. As in similar countries, the process of immigration was changed, from a system of regional quotas to a points system. Points are awarded to prospective immigrants for various criteria, and those with the highest points are admitted. The advantage of this system is its openness and transparency. On the whole, it is much fairer to immigrants. Other changes which come to mind include deregulation of shopping hours, the huge change in planning process embodied in the Environmental Protection Act, the auctioning of property rights in spectrum and fisheries and of course the Employment Contracts Acts. The changes which have been wrought have been massive. They have been guided by the desire to introduce openness, accountability and rationality into public decision making. It would be silly to pretend that all the changes and their implementation have been beyond criticism. We live in an uncertain world characterized by imperfect information and human frailty. Mistakes have been made and improvements are available. Inevitably, there have been winners and losers from change. Nevertheless, we need to look at the larger picture. Those with nostalgia for a lost past need to colour their memories with a degree of realism. Do we really want to return to the days of import and exchange controls, inefficient state monopolies, old broken-down cars, a gray, dull uniformity of relative poverty and quaint backwardness. That is the direction in which some politicians wish to lead. ----- Following are a collection of references on the changes from Paul Walker who added: "The one problem they all have is that they were out of date by the time they were published. For a quick overview of the last 10 years or so check out": http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/econ/mike.htm Australian Economic Review; 0(104), Oct.-Dec. 1993 Len Bayliss Prosperity Mislaid: Economic Failure in New Zealand and What Should be Done About it. GP Publications, Wellington NZ, 1994 A. Bollard New Zealand Economic Reforms: 1984-91, Country Study No. 10. International Center for Economic Growth, 1992 Alan Bollard The Political Economy of Liberalisation in New Zealand. New Zealand Institute of Economic Research Working Paper WP93/2 Alan Bollard and Robert Buckle (eds) Economic Liberalisation in New Zealand. Allen and Unwin, 1987 Alan Bollard and David Mayes Corporatization and Privatization in New Zealand in The Political Economy of Privatization. Thomas Clarke and Christos Pitelis (eds) Routledge, London, 1993 Jonathan Boston Reshaping Social Policy in New Zealand. Fiscal Studies; 14(3), August 1993, pages 44-85. Jonathan Boston and Paul Dalziel (eds) The Decent Society?: Essays in Response to National's Economic and Social Policies. Oxford University Press, Auckland, N.Z., 1992 Jonathan Boston and Martin Holland (eds) The Fourth Labour Government: Radical Politics in New Zealand. Oxford University Press, Auckland, N.Z., 1987 Jonathan Boston and Martin Holland (eds) The Fourth Labour Government: Politics and Policy in New Zealand 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press, Auckland, N.Z., 1990 Pat Colgate and Joselyn Stroombergen A Promise to Pay: New Zealand's Overseas Debt and Country Risk. New Zealand Institute of Economic Research Research Monograph 58 Ajit Dasgupta Is New Zealand Slipping up? Some Borda Condorcet Measures of Relative Performance. Economics discussion Papers No.9311 Uinversity of Otago. Ian Duncan and Alan Bollard Corporatization and Privatization. Oxford University Press, 1992 Stephen Gale The New Zealand Experience of Liberalisation and Deregulation. New Zealand Institute of Economic Research Working Paper WP 90/13 G. Hawke (ed) A Modest Safety Net? The Future of the Welfare State. Institute of Policy Studies, 1991 Warren E. Johnston and Gerald A. G. Frengley The Deregulation of New Zealand Agriculture: Market Intervention (1964-84) and Free Market Readjustment (1984-90). Western Journal of Agricultural Economics; 16(1), July 1991, pages 132-43. Susan K. Jones The Road to Privatization; The issues involved and some lessons from New . Zealand's Experience. Finance and Development, March 1991. Tim Maloney Has New Zealand's Employment Contracts Act Increased Employment and Reduced Wages? Working Papers in Economics No.135 July 1994, Department of Economics, University of Auckland. Peter Nicholl New Zealand's Monetary Policy Experiment. University of Western Ontario Papers in Political Economy: 31 October 1993 Susan St John Tax and Welfare Reforms in New Zealand. The Australian Economic Review, 4th Quarter 1993 Robert Stephens Radical Tax Reform in New Zealand. Fiscal Studies; 14(3), August 1993, pages 45-63. The Old New Zealand and the New New Zealand Business Roundtable, Wellington N.Z., 1994 Simon Walker (ed) Rodgernomics: Reshaping New Zealand's Economy. GP Books, Wellington, N.Z., 1989 Graeme Wells Economic Reform and Macroeconomic Policy in New Zealand. Australian Economic Review; 0(92), Oct.-Dec. 1990, pages 45-60 P. C. Dalziel A decade of radical economic reforms in New Zealand British Review of New Zealand Studies 7, forthcoming (it may be out by now). Patrick Massey New Zealand: Market Liberalization in a Developed Economy Macmillan Press, 1995 You could also check out the last 10 years or so of "New Zealand Economic Papers" and the "Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin". Paul -------------------- B3.2.2 Current Status Govt: going into surplus Business confidence: on the up and up Building: both business and residental are doing very well. Unemployed, welfare, students, solo parents feeling hard done by. Business (particular exporters), overseas investors very pleased. GNP 1988 (millions) $25,856 GNP per Capita $7,734 GDP: purchasing power equivalent - $46.2 billion, per capita $14,000; real growth rate - 0.4% (1991 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.1-1.4% (1993) Unemployment rate: 11% (mid 1994) Budget: revenues $17.6 billion; expenditures $18.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY91 est.) Economic aid: donor - ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89), $526 million Exports: $9.4 billion (f.o.b., FY91) commodities: wool, lamb, mutton, beef, fruit, fish, cheese, manufactured goods, chemicals, forestry products, beer, wine Imports: $8.4 billion (f.o.b., FY91) commodities: petroleum, consumer goods, motor vehicles, industrial equipment Natural resources: natural gas, oil, iron sand, coal, timber, hydropower, gold, grass Land use: arable land 2%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures 53%; forest and woodland 38%; other 7%; includes irrigated 1% --------- For an up-to-date outline on the current state of NZ's economy, look out for one of Brian Harmer's excellent weekly WYSIWYG news reports in s.c.n-z. -------------------- B3.2.3 Currency Decimal system based on New Zealand dollar, with cent denominations. Coins are 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents, 1 and 2 dollars Notes are 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars Major credit cards are accepted widely. -------------------- B3.2.4 Stockmarket Same structure as overseas. Ours tends to fluctuate depending on the state of the world markets. -------------------- B3.2.5 Exchange/Interest Rates Information on exchange rates is available from many daily papers, or you can get the information through www on: http://www.ora.com/cgi-bin/ora/currency?New_Zealand It's updated weekly, so it's usually a little out of date, but it's a good guide mostly. Current figures for main currencies (10/6/95): NZ$ Aust$ 93.63c Pounds 42.56p US$ 67.65c Yen 57.78 Interest rates are fluctuating between 6 and 10% depending on overseas markets. Fixed interest (1/4/95): % call rates 9.00 % 90-day bank bills 9.04 % July 1998 Govt Stock 8.21 -------------------- B3.2.6 Taxes New Zealand operates a Goods and Services Tax of 12.5% on ALL goods and services sold and this is usually included in the display price. The exceptions are purchases at duty free shops. Visitors cannot claim refunds on this tax however when a supplier agrees to export a major item to a visitors home address then GST will not be charged on the goods or the freight. Income tax (as at May 96): $1 - $9,500 - 15% (allowing for the low income rebate) $9,501 - $30,875 - 28% $30,876 + - 33% changing to: $1 - $9,500 - 15% (allowing for the low income rebate) $9,501 - $34,200 - 24% (up to $38,000 and down to 21% on July 1st 1997) $30,876 + - 33% on the July 1st 1996. Apparently family support will also increase with a guaranteed minimum family income, and a new independent family tax credit. For wage and salary earners virtually nothing is tax-deductible except the first $1500 of donations to churches, schools, and other charities, and then only at a 33% rate (ie max $500). There are various rebates for things like low incomes, children, donations, Housekeeper, Home/Farm/Vessel Ownership, and others. Government Revenue Source(1990) How it was expected to be spent(1990) Income Tax $16,950 Education $3,912.5 Goods and Service Tax $5,500 Health $3,791.1 Other Direct Taxes $360 Transport $711.6 Excise Duties $1,670 Administration $2,769.0 Highway tax $670 Development of Industry $1,231.3 Other Indirect Tax $790 Government Borrowing $575.1 Foreign Relations $1,733.7 Social Services $10,292.1 Total $25,940 Total $25,016.4 On a regional scale, all local authorities fund their activities (with some limited back-up from central government) from 'rates'. These are taxes on land owners, assessed annually as a fraction of the 'unimproved' (i.e. land only) value of the land. Each local authority sets its own rates and they can be challenged as unreasonable in court - some Wellington City rates for the current year have just been thrown out by the High Court. Note that we do not have overlapping local authorities as in the U.S. Any given place is controlled by one, and one only, local authority - either a "city" or a "district" - and so the only taxes that people pay are local authority rates and central government taxes. There are still some anomalous levies and taxes on certain goods - a high excise duty on wine, for example - that should not really exist in the GST environment. -------------------- B3.2.7 Miscellaneous Prices litre of petrol; $0.90 - 0.96 loaf of bread (700gm/1.5 pound loaf); $1.60 - 1.90 butter (500gms); $1.60 (on special) milk (2 litre bottle); $2.70 eggs (dozen) $3.20 apples (1kg/2lb); $0.60 - 1.20 depending on season fresh fruit/veges - much cheaper than US city and much nicer/fresher frozen chicken (2 kg/4 pounds); $6 (good special price) sausages (3 kg/6 pounds); $10 steak; $10/kg often much more. coffee (kg, beans) $22 ice cream (2 litres); $3 cheapest hamburger at McDonalds; $0.95 (a LOT more for a big mac) 12 cans of beer; $13. restaurant prices; much less than the US clothes/shoes; much more expensive than the US 60 watt light bulbs; $1 each university textbooks; $80+/- queen size mattress (without base, reasonable