Archive-name: new-zealand-faq
Posting-frequency: monthly, a pointer is posted to s.c.n-z on Mondays.
Last-modified: 12 November 1996
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/new-zealand-faq
*** 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 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/lists
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/Internet_access_in_New_Zealand_FAQ
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) -
- New Zealand was not subsidized from England, or anywhere else.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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 quality); $500
Sony G14 34cmv TV 14 inch; $439
top-loading automatic washing machine (5 kg loads); $919
cars: used Holden Commodore VL automatic 1987 (i.e. 8 years old); $12,700
new Honda Civic (fairly typical for NZ size cars); $33,170 auto insurance for that car; $250/annum (depending on policy, age of owner)
electrician charges; $30 per hour
doctor - standard consultation; adult $35, child $10-20
treatment in public hospital (eg maternity unit, 3 days); free. The trick
is to have something so urgent that they let you in. That's not so easy
unless you're pregnant. Waiting lists can be months long.
For housing rental - see under 'cost of living'.
House prices.
The following table is taken from the New Zealand Herald, Wed 20 Dec, 1995.
Median price ($) by district of real estate for November 1995.
Dwelling total District House Unit Section 1995 1994 1993 Northland 110,000 89,000 35,000 108,000 97,500 96,250 Auckland 212,000 182,500 75,000 200,000 178,000 150,000 Waikato/ 128,000 120,000 45,000 127,000 120,000 110,000
Bay of Plenty/
Gisborne
Hawkes Bay 118,000 115,000 35,000 118,000 118,000 118,000
Manawatu/ 102,500 86,250 45,000 101,000 102,750 96,750 Wanganui
Taranaki 94,000 93,500 52,555 93,750 95,000 90,000
Wellington 145,000 115,000 54,250 140,000 140,000 132,500
Nelson/ 130,000 117,750 60,000 130,000 135,000 120,000 Marlborough
Canterbury/ 129,000 120,900 52,750 128,000 125,000 115,000
Westland/
SouthCant'y
Otago 91,500 113,000 38,750 91,500 101,000 90,750
Southland 79,500 140,000 76,000 84,000 84,000 74,250
Average for 143,000 157,000 55,000 146,000 118,000 107,600 New Zealand
For more info, try:
http://www.govt.nz/ps/min/stats
Follow the "New Zealand" link on the home page.
Ewan McKissock wrote:
It's interesting what items they list (and what they don't). This is
either very revealing about life in NZ, or about life in Statistics New
Zealand, I'm not sure which. Odd that they quote annual Tennis club
subscription, but no mention of other sports.
Russell Turner wrote:
You could try looking at New Zealand newspapers. The dominion or evening
post would be a could source of adverts for household gizmos and houses,
rent, cars etc. Try phoning (04) 474 0100 to speak to the newspaper
publisher.
to which Charles Eggen added:
The Weekly Wellington - City Voice is on-line at
http://nz.com/NZ/Commerce/NetEdit/VOICE.HTM
(watch those Caps in the above address). It will give you some current
info and you can subscribe to the fully paper at a reasonable cost.
Subject: B3.3 Life In General
B3.3.1 Business Hours
Banks 9:00am to 4:30pm - can vary slightly. Otherwise, Monday to Friday 9:00am to 5:30pm. Late night for shopping is either Thursday or Friday. Changes to the Shop Trading Hours Act means that most shops are open for longer hours than this. Almost all are open Saturday morning, many are open on Sunday with some shops and markets remaining open later during the week.
Automatic teller machines are widely available including a system in many supermarkets and petrol stations called EFTPOS where you can buy goods with your card and a PIN number and/or obtain cash. Many Atm's will accept Cirrus cards.
All international credit cards are accepted in NZ. Travellers cheques can be changed in banks, hotels, stores, etc. Mike Gill said; "I used MC and carried some Travellers cheques for emergencies. This worked out great".
There is no restriction on the amount of foreign currency which may be brought into or taken from New Zealand. Funds may be in the form of bank notes, coins, travellers cheques or any other instrument of payment. Visitors may convert surplus NZ currency at any outlet authorised to deal in foreign exchange.
B3.3.2 Tipping
Tipping is not expected in New Zealand, but is not unheard of. Employed people don't depend on tips for their income and service charges are not [usually] added to hotel and restaurant bills. Tip for service if you think it's really deserved, but don't be surprised by the response. Some consider tipping to be an undesirable practise.
B3.3.3 Cost Of Living
B3.3.3.1 Rent
A moderately decent house/week (VERY approx!):
Dunedin $130 - $180
Christchurch $140 - $200
Wellington $160 - $300
Auckland $200 - $350
The average house price is hovering around $140K, mortgage rates are fluctuating around 11% currently. Mortgage rates include inflation adjustment.
B3.3.3.2 Wages
The govt would have us believe an 'average' income is around $26K, people
with an income over $30K are considered well off.
B3.3.3.3 Transport
Petrol is $0.93 per litre (+/- $0.05), insurance on a small car (eg. 85
toyota starlet 1.3l) is a mere $240 per year, registration is another $200
per year. There are lots of cheap Japanese used imports over here, so you
can get a good car for as little as $5K, and a cheap car for less than $2k.
Repairs are the worst cost - especially parts for late model cars, so
getting something reliable is a good idea.
B3.3.3.4 Food
Pretty cheap depending on how much you eat of what. It'd be easy to eat
your way through a lot of money, but it is possible to live on less than
$40/wk and probably quite a lot less depending on how keen you were...
B3.3.3.5 Consumer Goods
Most import duties have been abolished, and instead we have a flat 12.5%
goods and services tax (GST). Beware of advertised prices which exclude
this. This means that imported goods (electrical appliances, clothing
etc.) are pretty reasonably priced.
B3.3.4 Crime
Yes, we have crime. While it may be 'safe' compared to most other countries, serious crime does exist here and visitors should take sensible precautions. Always lock your vehicle, and don't leave it in isolated locations for extended periods. Avoid leaving valuables visible in the car. Avoid areas/situations which appear unwholesome. The emergency phone number (police, ambulance, fire) is 111, and ask the operator for the service required (this can be used from payphones without paying).
John Davis wrote:
"The crime rate isn't overly high, there was some information in the paper today (1/95) showing the average number of reported crimes per 10,000 people for Chch is 1877. The NZ average is 1457, Chch came second (Auckland had 2130). The safest place is rural Canterbury at 568. This may sound rather high, but this all reported crimes, from shoplifting up.
If you break it down into crime types, the NZ average for violent crimes per 10,000 is 124, sexual crimes is 14, drugs and 'anti-social' crimes (presumably things like being drunk and disorderly) is 150, property damage is 98 and property abuse is 74. As you can see from this, the serious crime rate here is therefore very low, things like murder and rape are fairly rare (rare enough to make the national TV news), armed offences are virtually un-heard of (again, and armed hold-up will make the national news). You're most at risk from petty crime (opportunist car theft, break-ins etc. - as opposed to 'professional' thieves who are fairly rare). Your chances of being assaulted, held up, or murdered are virtually nil. Probably the most dangerous part of day to day life here is the way people drive :-)
On the other hand, do silly things like leave a nice expensive camera sitting in your car whilst it's parked in a dark street in the middle of town at night, and you'll probably find someone's nicked it (lots of tourists find this out the hard way - wish people would stop telling them NZ is totally safe)."
Murder Statistics for 1991
Brian Dooley wrote:
"Notes
(1) All data taken from NZ Year Books and adjusted to include only males
aged 15+ years.
(2) Numbers marked "*" are taken from Year Books where murders and manslaughter (not incl. deaths by careless driving) were aggregated.
(3) Numbers 1967-82 are taken directly from tables which give deaths/million.
(4) Numbers 1974-94 refer specifically to murder only.
(5) These numbers are approximations but good enough to allow reasonable conclusions. You will observe that my value of 3.3/100,000 for 1991 accords pretty well with the value of 3.4/100,000 quoted before from the Economist.
MURDERS/100,000 of Total Population:
1967 1.4* 1970 1.2* 1980 1.3 1990 1.6
1968 0.7* 1971 0.9* 1981 1.3 1991 1.5
1969 1.1* 1972 1.0* 1982 1.3 1992 2.1
1973 0.8* 1983 --- 1993 1.1
1974 1.4 1984 1.2
1975 1.0 1985 ---
1976 1.1 1986 1.8
1977 1.8 1987 1.7
1978 1.9 1988 ---
1979 1.6 1989 2.0
MURDERS/100,000 MEN for NZ (men=age 15+):
1967 3.2* 1970 2.7* 1980 3.0 1990 3.8
1968 1.6* 1971 2.0* 1981 3.0 1991 3.3
1969 2.5* 1972 2.3* 1982 3.0 1992 4.9
1973 1.8* 1983 --- 1993 2.6
1974 3.2 1984 2.7
1975 2.3 1985 ---
1976 2.5 1986 4.2
1977 4.1 1987 4.1
1978 4.3 1988 ---
1979 3.6 1989 4.8
The thing which strikes me about the table is that it does have a consistency, which implies that if the Economist's conclusions are true then not only is NZ comparatively violent now - it has been for a long time. However I am not persuaded that a simple ratio is applicable to all situations, particularly where small numbers are involved. The table has a volatility which I don't think it would have if a population of 50 million were involved."
I had a debate with myself about where to put this stuff. After the murder stats seemed as good as any...
Frank van der Hulst offers:
"Whilst doing a spot of research in Massey's library, I took the time to
look for road traffic accident stats. Like all stats, take them with a
grain of salt. Your mileage may vary :-)
"What I found is somewhat dated, but FWIW here are comparisons of injury accidents/100mill km for various countries. Illuminating perhaps for those who claim NZer's are the worst drivers in the world (possibly excepting Romans).
Finland 62 Norway 70 USA 72 Niger 79 Denmark 79 NZ 88 * Canada 88 Turkey 88 Italy 91 Australia 92 Spain 120 France 127 Germany 129 Great Britain 130 Peru 131 Netherlands 157 Hungary 193 Israel 229 India 242 Syria 264 Morocco 279 Belgium 285 Japan 320 Ivory Coast 539
"These data are for 1970/71. As usual, I ask anyone with more recent stats to email them to me or post them.
"Don't go driving in Ivory Coast!"
Steffan Berridge has added the following.
Here's some authoritative info which I found in "Motor Accidents in New Zealand" published by the LTSA, originally entered in the OECD International Road and Traffic Accident Database held by Bundesanstalt fur Strassenwesen, Germany. The data are all 1993 except the ones with *s which are 1992 and the countries are ordered in decreasing vehicles per capita.
Country Deaths per Deaths per
100,000 pop 10,000 vehicles
USA 15.6 2.1* NZ 17.0 2.7 Italy 12.6 2.0 Luxembourg 19.2 3.1 Canada 12.5 2.0 Australia 11.1 1.9 Switzerland 10.5 1.8 Germany 12.3 2.2 Japan 10.6 1.9 UK 6.8 1.3 Austria 16.2 3.1 Norway 7.6 1.3* Iceland 6.4 1.3 Sweden 7.3 1.5 Belgium 16.5 3.4 France 16.6 3.4 Spain 16.3 3.6 Finland 9.6 2.1 Netherlands 8.2 1.9 Denmark 10.8 2.7 Ireland 12.1 3.7 Greece 20.3 6.6 Turkey 14.3 - Portugal 32.9* -
Kind of makes you wonder what they get up to in Portugal... NZ roads are safe after all! It l