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Friday, January 18, 2013
FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
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Snowden to put belt on show By Jonathan Leask Ashburton shooter John Snowden celebrated his 44th birthday on Wednesday but there was no point purchasing him a gift after he brought home his own present. After 20 years of trying Snowden finally won the Ballinger Belt at the national championships at Trentham on Saturday, and was allowed to bring the belt, New Zealand’s
oldest sporting trophy, home to Ashburton. Not only did Snowden, who won gold at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, win his own birthday present, he plans to share it. Snowden, the first Ashburton winner in 140 years, plans to find somewhere to put the historic silverware on display to the public. “Back when these trophies were made shooting was the biggest sport in the country. It was a bigger than rugby,” Snowden
said. “You can tell that by the size of these trophies. They used to get in the vicinity of 600 shooters competing for the belt. “But the sport is currently struggling for numbers so any way we can publicise the sport is good which is why I asked to bring the trophy home and I’m looking for a suitable place to put the trophies on display,” Snowden also won the Ballinger aggregate trophy having the best scores over the past
three years, the National A grade trophy after finishing top in the Ballinger qualifying and the long ranges trophy. All equally impressive trophies but not with the same prestige as the Ballinger Belt. The belt was presented in 1873 by the Government as a replacement for the first Government Champion Belt which was won outright by Capt Wales of Otago when he won for the second time in a row in 1872, the first and only shooter to achieve the feat.
It was won in 1893 by Arthur Ballinger of Wellington who then won it twice more, meaning he was entitled to retain it on the third occasion in 1907. However, Ballinger donated the Champion Belt back to the National Rifle Association to be presented each year to the winner of the National Championships as the Ballinger Belt from 1908. RIGHT: Quite the historic haul, John Snowden with his trophy haul from the nationals.
Births reverse ageing trend By Sam Morton Ashburton birth rates are fast outstripping deaths, as Mid Canterbury sheds its image as the retirement home of Canterbury. The district’s population continues to boom and the number of births continue to heavily outweigh the number of deaths every month. In fact, figures released by Statistics NZ show more babies, registered in the Ashburton District regardless of where they were born, were being delivered compared to the number of residents dying – as has been the case for the past two years. The latest figures clearly suggest Ashburton’s population is on a rapid rise and Mayor Angus McKay says he is thrilled. “Not so long ago we all had fears for how we were going to look after and provide the right health and care services for our senior citizens and dementia residents. “Now, it seems the Ashburton District is reversing the trend and that can only be great news,” Mr
McKay said. Last year, as of September, a total 326 babies were registered compared to 214 deaths. In 2011, 447 babies were registered compared to 228 deaths. Intriguingly, only 136 babies born in 2011 were delivered at Ashburton Hospital, compared with 143 in 2012. The remaining births were born in other locations such as Christchurch or privately at home. About five years ago, Mid Canterbury experienced an extraordinary baby boom and the town’s two midwives were desperately struggling to juggle the hefty workload. And now it appears a new baby boom has hit the district, with the Ashburton Parents’ Centre and other pre-schools anecdotally filling their centres fast. But times have changed. The district is now in safe hands, boasting more midwives than ever before, with the count standing at seven fully qualified midwives available in Mid Canterbury. Last year, some experts put
Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 170113-TM-072
AOS assists in early morning raid on Beach Road home By Sam Morton A Hampstead resident was woken by a police dog going crazy on her property, as members of the Armed Offenders Squad stood watch in her Beach Road backyard yesterday. The resident, who did not wish to be named, said her dog was disturbed by the unexpected callout and started barking loudly and going mad, just before 7am. Ashburton police carried out the search on the property next door to her’s and were backed up by the AOS, who had the neighbouring property surrounded. Senior Sergeant Grant Russell, of Ashburton police, confirmed a search warrant had been granted and said an arrest had been made. “No weapons were used at any stage, it was a standard search warrant and quite often we have the AOS there as back-up,” Mr Russell said. “Somebody is talking to the police in relation to the search, yes.” The resident described the situation as, “one hang of a wake-up call”. “All I heard was the dog barking, going absolutely crazy and then when I went to have a look Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 170113-tm-062
New arrival: Kate and David Shaw are the beaming parents of this little one, Hahna Isabel Shaw, who is one of the district’s latest arrivals. Hahna was born on Tuesday and weighed in at 8Ib and 13oz. the baby increase down to the Rugby World Cup, while others suggested an influx of people to Mid Canterbury would inevitably result in more babies. But whatever it is behind the spike, Mr McKay is confident the district will continue to grow long into the future. As of June 30, 2006 – the district’s population stood at 28,000. A year later the figure climbed to 30,100 and at June last year, a whopping population count of 30,600 was recorded. It is widely expected the figure has grown even further in the past six months, but a Statistics NZ representative said the cur-
rent figures wouldn’t be available until later this year. The annual change over the five year period totalled a 1.4 per cent increase, indicating that Ashburton is the third fastest growing territorial authority in New Zealand, closely behind Selwyn and Hurunui. “The number of babies being born could indicate the younger generations are moving to Mid Canterbury to enjoy the lifestyle and snap up the many work opportunities available here,” Mr McKay said. “Of course, as these babies grow up, the district’s services will have to expand as required,
but in the long term they will undoubtedly benefit the workforce in years to come. “I think it’s really great Ashburton residents are choosing to have babies – that can only be great news for everyone,” he said. At June 30 last year, the median age in the Ashburton District was 40.8. The largest population group proved to be the 40 to 46 year olds, accounting for 10,300 or 33.5 per cent of the total figure. Those aged 15 to 39 also made up almost 9000, while the 65s and over surprisingly represented only 17.6 per cent of the district’s entire population.
through the window, I saw all the men dressed in black and carrying guns in my backyard. “At first I thought it was a couple of men relieving themselves around the back by the bush, but then I realised they had guns and that they were padded up. “My dog was barking at the police dog through the cat-flap, it was quite funny really. They wouldn’t shut up, the dogs just kept on barking at each other,” she said. The resident then heard the police megaphone echo around her house telling residents in the neighbouring property that the house was surrounded. “I didn’t know where I was, it’s not something you expect to see every day ... especially at that time of the morning. It was most uncalled for,” she said. Yesterday, speculation around Ashburton was rife as some residents discussed what they thought they saw or heard on the Classic Hits Morning Show’s Facebook page. Comments suggested the squad was possibly carrying out a drug bust, but Mr Russell was unable to elaborate on the nature of the warrant. Police are continuing their inquiry.
Chch tremor 11,000th since September 2010 Christchurch’s first major tremor of the year yesterday was the 11,000th aftershock since the deadly earthquake sequence started on September 4, 2010. The “moderate” magnitude-3.3 shake just before 1pm was felt by more than 160 people across the recovering city, according to GeoNet. It was located 6km deep, and 15km east of Christchurch. Rebuild Christchurch tweeted: “Did anyone just feel that aftershock? Rolled on for a bit ...”
Another user said: “Bit of a boomer here in Sumner”. One Cantab posted on a TradeMe community thread: “South Chch, one littlie followed by few more slightly bigger. YUCK!” Another woman wrote: “Gave me a fright! First one I’ve felt in ages.” The Christchurch Quake Map website claimed that the tremor was the 11,000th to hit the area since the magnitude-7.1 shake that sparked the Canterbury earthquake sequence more than two years ago. - APNZ
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