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CAMBRIDGE NEWS THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021
from Cambridge News | November 11, 2021
by Cambridge News, King Country News, Te Awamutu News & Waikato Business News
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By Benjamin Wilson Waipā is a shining star, Hamilton and Waikato Tourism chief Jason Dawson says. He says its attractiveness to domestic tourism has enabled the region to prosper during the Covid-19 pandemic. The region saw seen annual growth of an estimated 14 per cent in visitor spending to the year ending in June – well p on pre-Covid rises. New Zealand’s international visitor arrivals plunged by 84 percent between June 2019 to June 2021. Jason Dawson said Waipā range of attractions have domestic appeal. It has not been the same for Waitomo and Matamata, which rely heavily on international tourist dollars spent at the Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton and not repeat visits from domestic tourists. Dawson said the impact on the Waitomo community was 30 YEARS OF TURNING LOCAL HOUSES INTO particularly significant – and issued a plea to Waikato residents to support the industry there. He said where previous HOMES TO BE PROUD OF. visitors might recall the glow worm caves as a memorable experience offer, today there were 20 worth seeing. Conversely, Waipā is the home to many internationally recognisable sport and event venues which also benefit from domestic spending. They include the Velodrome at Cambridge, Lake Karāpiro and the Mystery Creek Event Centre. Dawson cited Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari as one of the region’s top natural tourist destinations. “Connecting with nature is a key part of our recovery in a post-Covid world and visiting Maungatautari helps restore your wellbeing. Plus, you get to see some unique native wildlife as well.”
The region is often promoted as a hub destination for people who are travelling in the North Island.
“People are more prepared to
Black water rafting is among the attractions on offer at Waitomo. travel within their own island,” Dawson said.
The future looks equally bright for the district.
Hamilton airport, which is in Waipā, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar upgrade and $12.4 million has been budgeted for the construction of the Te Arawai Museum in Te Awamutu.
Photo: Waitomo.com
CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 5
Advisor roles may be permanent
By Mary Anne Gill
Wāipa District Council is hoping to make the two community advisor roles, which were established last year as part of a Covid recovery package, a more permanent arrangement.
Gina Scott and Corren Ngerengere started in November and in more recent times have worked closely with Waikato District Health Board to support their vaccination efforts in the district’s hard to reach areas.
Council Strategic Partnerships manager Gary Knighton told the Cambridge Community Board the council was looking to extend the 18-month fixed-term roles which are funded from a $795,000 recovery package.
“We see a lot of value in those positions and we’re in the process of making those a permanent role so that would be based on the Covid funding they were initially funded on. We are moving to make those roles permanent,” he told board members.
Their work with the DHB was critical, he said.
“It’s about utilising those contacts that they’ve built up and trying to drill into those harder to reach areas.”
Board member Elise Badger welcomed the work done by the community advisors.
“I think it would be great to see local council really supporting that vaccination drive. I think it’s in the best interests of our community that we can be unlocking and be prepared for whatever this pandemic brings.”
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ALL ABOUT MRS MURPHY
by Karen Payne
Mrs Murphy lived in Cambridge 140 years ago and, as well as being one of our fi rst successful business women, she spent a good portion of her time in the Cambridge courthouse.
What was she like? Well, in 1881 she was charged with punching a woman and then striking her with a billhook, after accusing her of poisoning her fowls. Sergeant McGovern who conducted the prosecution said that Mrs Murphy, when drunk, was a perfect pest to the neighbourhood. Mrs Murphy defended herself by making a long statement on her good character which she said was well known to the police. The Sergeant said the accused “had better not go to him for a character reference.”
On another occasion, her husband Patrick locked Mrs Murphy out of their home after a night out in town in 1885. She circled the house hurling missiles until every window was smashed. The constable was called, and he suggested to Mrs Murphy a trial separation. Mrs Murphy later told Patrick, who turned up at the constable’s home and punched him for his interference. Patrick ended up much the worse for the encounter, in the lock-up with “a swollen … head [and] sore bones”.
Mrs Murphy was born Mary Teresa Cronin in Ireland in 1844, and settled in Cambridge with Patrick and daughter Minnie in the early 1880s. She looked after all the family’s fi nances, and purchased in her own name a property between Alpha, Brewery (now Empire), and Victoria Streets. Their house and garden was where the old Electric Power Board building (pictured) now stands.
Patrick set up a carpenter’s workshop next door, and Mrs Murphy opened the Wharekai, a restaurant
3005/2 This National Hotel on the corner of Alpha and Lake Streets burned down in 1912 and was replaced by the present building. Mrs Murphy’s buildings can be seen over the ridge on the right.
The Power Board building was built on land purchased in 1921 from the estate of Mrs Murphy. Photograph by Bruce Hancock Photo of McWha house supplied by Carole Hughes
catering for Māori attending the Native Land Court hearings. After the Wharekai burned down in 1882, she helped run a store and lived off the rent from her properties. She never missed an opportunity to make money, whether it was hiring out household furniture to her tenants or touting her wares in the street on Council meeting days.
Mrs Murphy was famous for her court appearances. As time went on, more and more people attended them knowing they were guaranteed a good show, with Mrs Murphy either the accused or the defendant, and with Patrick occasionally in a supporting role. Mrs Murphy’s one-liners were legendary and the gallery were rarely able to control their laughter.
On one occasion, she pressed charges against a man for restraining her after she threatened to “blow his head off ” with a gun (which she knew was harmless) unless he apologised to her for a perceived insult. On another, the courthouse was full of spectators for a case where a one-armed man allegedly broke down her door one night when she was alone. The man lived to regret it, but the spectators were not disappointed – at one stage three-quarters of the gallery were ordered to leave the courthouse “to have their laugh out.”
Poor Patrick was in and out of jail for various alcohol-related off ences all his life. Despite this, Mrs Murphy was fi ercely protective of him. They stayed together for forty years and are buried side-by-side at the Hautapu cemetery. Mrs Murphy died in 1913.
THEN AND NOW
Blairgowrie House in Peake Road can tell you a story. The story of a shift from Hamilton Road, where The Mews now stands, where it was built in 1912 to Peake Road in 1991, cut into three sections and transported to its present site. The house was originally owned by Arthur and Kathleen Nicoll. In 1912 they built the house, named after a Scottish town near Arthur’s father’s country house. Warwick Nicoll their son lived in the house when home from boarding school. Warwick married Margaret a grand daughter of a well known family at that time, the Souter family and the Souter House still stands in Victoria Street. McWha house has been owned by Annette and the late Kelvin McWha since 1994. Annette says that she and Kelvin visited Blairgowrie in Scotland and “found that it was a lovely village.” When the McWha family purchased the home it was, as Annette tells us, a very large house sitting in the middle of a paddock looking totally out of place. Their initial aim was to plant some tall trees to balance the property. In 2007 the facelift began and the house was extensively renovated. “Throughout the project our primary objective has been to ensure that the new alterations matched the materials and style of the original house and we used the original photo as a reference,” says Annette.
The Cambridge Museum staff are delighted with our page that has been a well read feature in the Cambridge News. This is the nal one for the year, but we are very happy to be carrying on with this feature in 2022 beginning in February with The Gaslight building and Cambridge Repertory’s colourful history. Enjoy the Christmas break and The Cambridge Museum will be open every day except for Christmas Day.
COME VISIT US!!!
History shows us what has happened in the world previously and gives us the knowledge to understand investments today and what might happen in the future.
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By Mary Anne Gill
A radical approach to boosting use of public transport by centralising funding and decisionmaking has been floated in an independent review of Waikato Regional Council’s service.
The review recommends investigating having one organisation contracted and funded by all Waikato territorial authorities and Waka Kotahi (New Zealand Transport Agency) to run the region’s public transport.
Regional Transport Connections director Mark Tamura told the Regional Transport committee last week the need for greater use of public transport or other alternatives to single occupancy vehicles was “significant and pressing.”
Grahame Webber, Waipā’s representative on the committee, said the plan might be a radical one for New Zealand, but was commonplace overseas.
“It’s way overdue and we’re very supportive of the investigation.”
Committee chair Hugh Vercoe said the Waikato region had a history of working together and “making things happen.”
The primary objectives of the review, prepared by Beca Ltd and Invise Ltd, were to assess current public transport business performance and develop a set of prioritised, practical and actionable recommendations.
“So why is it so difficult for us to meet the demand? A lot of that comes back to the complexity of our funding and decision-making environment for public transport in terms of how it’s funded,” said Tamura.
Progress has been difficult but as part of the Regional Transport Plan, the region now had the opportunity to make changes.
Among the recommendations approved by the Regional Transport committee were for the council to investigate establishing a Council Controlled Organisation, moving to a bulk funding model for public transport and infrastructure and establishing a regional transport alliance.
Those funding changes would require legislative changes and a high degree of alignment between authorities.
“There is certainly no harm in us simplifying our regional approach to funding public transport.
“We need our own decisionmaking framework for how that money is spent and by practising that, applying it and doing it well. That is the first step towards the government, it would require ministry changes, the government and Waka Kotahi having confidence,” said Tamura.
The annual public transport budget for Waikato is $36.2 million with $23.9 million of that going to public bus services, $6 million to passenger rail, $700,000 to Total Mobility and $5.6 million for planned improvements, support systems, facilities and staff.
Hamilton urban services make up 76 per cent of the budget with 18 per cent going on travel between Hamilton and neighbouring towns, including Cambridge and Te Awamutu, and six per cent to regional services.
Waka Kotahi provides 51 per cent of the funding. The regional council funds services within Hamilton from rates as do other district councils where services are within their districts.
Where services link Hamilton with neighbouring towns, funding is split between the regional council and district councils.
Tamura said that made for an uneasy model and he gave the practical example of trying to establish a high frequency connection between Hamilton and Cambridge.
Those talks would involve the Hamilton, Waipā and Waikato councils, Waka Kotahi and the regional council.
Getting them all to align and provide the funding required made it difficult to build a public transport system that reduced transport emissions, makes more efficient use of transport corridors and connected people and communities, he said.
Deputy chair Angela Strange said it was heartening to read developers were keen to contribute to public transport infrastructure and not services.
“We need transformational change in these areas, simplifying the funding.”
Waka Kotahi regional relationships director David Speirs said the region had better public transport services.
“The number 22 bus provides an excellent service between Hamilton and Te Aroha, going backwards and forwards every day. One day it will get more than two people and it’s a wonderful service Ash Tanner (MatamataPiako mayor) has put in place,” said Speirs.
The regional council will now share the report with territorial authorities and other regional transport partners.
By April next year, the council will have developed an implementation plan.
Grahame Webber By Mary Anne Gill
The first piece of public art approved under Wāipa District Council’s Public Arts Policy will go up in Leamington Domain despite a communication slip up which could have seen the wrong river featured.
A mural on the wall of the Cambridge Model Engineering Society’s storage facility will show the Waikato River and not the Wāipa River which was featured on the first draft.
The mural has also been approved by the Cambridge Community Board who were initially not consulted about the mural’s installation.
Details of the project were first taken to the council’s Strategic Planning and Policy committee last month, but the item was pulled from the agenda when Cambridge-based councillors noted the community board had not been consulted.
Anne Blyth, the director of Museums and Heritage, told the board at its monthly meeting last week she was following the policy which was to have it go to the strategy committee first.
“It was a learning curve for all of us. We have taken on board to go via the community boards,” she said.
The mural will now include multiple ply cut outs of native flora and fauna set against the background of an historic map of the Waikato River and the land surrounding it.
Work on the mural should be completed before Christmas.
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ON…Meemee Phipps
Meemee Phipps is a self-employed writer and illustrator who lives in Cambridge.
Where were you born: In Alor Star, the capital of Kedah, a northern state in Malaysia
Where did you go to school: In Penang and Singapore.
Did you go to university/tertiary institution? if so, what
did you study: Studied Art and Design at Bournemouth Art College now called The University of Bournemouth and Poole, and Chinese and Japanese (double major) at Auckland University. I also did Italian at the University in Perugia and Japanese at Osaka Gaidai.
Present hometown: Cambridge
Tell us a bit about your family: I have a son Tristan in Auckland who has two girls, Ava 12 and Elska 8. He works for Vista Entertainment which is a web design company specialising in cinema worldwide. His wife Nia works for the Film Commission, after an earlier career as an actress in three art house films and with Loading Docs. My daughter Melanie lives in Portland Oregon, where she has her own business as a graphic designer and henna artist.
Do you have pets: I have always had animals. My present fur baby is Zhuzhu, a bichon/shizu cross with great charm and attitude. She’s nearly 12 but behaves like a 2-year-old. I think she will go on forever. If not, and I have told her this - her successor will be a rabbit. I don’t think she’s impressed.
Favourite movie: Fiddler on the Roof. I think it is perfectly balanced, with all the ingredients of a truly great movie – humour, music, pathos and enduring love. Beautifully acted.
Favourite singer or band: Freddie Mercury and Queen.
Name one of your top 10 favourite New Zealanders:
Edmund Hillary. What a super person he was.
Favourite bird: I adore small birds and love quite a few – the fantail, tomtit, wax eye and we don’t have them here – but I saw one in France - the humming moth which is a variation of the hummingbird but about the size of my thumb nail. I saw one and stared at it for so long that I got cross-eyed. It was the same colour as the lavender it was sucking from. It was a wonder.
Best moment ever: Perhaps my first visit to the Vatican when I was 21 and very religious or perhaps sitting in my first orchestra at 20.
Favourite sport: When I was younger, it was skiing. Now of course it’s just daily walks with Zhuzhu and a weekly session of yoga. I am a participator, not a watcher.
Best sporting moment ever: Every moment I was slaloming downhill.
Best place visited: This is so very hard, as there have been so many best places. I can’t ever say which is best. Each place has its own special beauty, its own glorious offering.
Favourite food: Japanese for sure. The spices of other parts of Asia can sometimes be overpowering as I get older. But basically, I prefer Asian food best.
What’s your signature dish:
Hainanese Chicken Rice. It is a simple classic which is the favourite of my family. Hobbies: Music. I first sat in the college orchestra in England when I was 20 years old. When the conductor lifted his baton and the orchestra struck up the first notes, I instantly fell in love. I also play with Borach Mor, a Scottish dance band based here in Cambridge though our players come from Tuakau, Te Puke, Hamilton and Tamahere. Great fun of a different sort. I also used to paint a lot, having had an exhibition in Sapporo when I lived there in the 70s and running a gallery in Chef Boutonne 20 years ago. Nowadays I spin and knit for myself and my granddaughters.
Anything else you would like to add: I used to have some businesses. Nothing big, I guess I was one of those middle-class housewives playing at self-sufficiency. I had Ma Healion’s Euphorium which supplied 104 supermarkets throughout NZ with herbs, spices, fruit leathers and herbal drinks. Started a couple of restaurants, one in Wellington and one in Jinan, China which was a great mistake. I called it the Kiwi Corner and we served a Western menu, but it bombed.
The reason why we went up to Auckland was because of the scow, the Te Aroha, which my husband bought the week he met me. We ran it for eight years. I also studied fresco painting when I lived in Italy which was wonderfully gratifying. So, I did some of that for money when living in France. And oh yes, I was also a DJ in Sapporo just as the Japanese young went crazy over Soul music. That was my one moment of fame when young people travelled from nearby towns on Saturday nights to dance at my club and I was billed as Nu Jirando no subarashi Mimi-san!
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OPINION The accord between Labour and National paves the way for softer rules around housing, and it is raising ire in Cambridge. We asked Taupo MP Louise Upston for her view.
Housing for the future
By Louise Upston
New Zealand has the some of the most unaffordable housing in the world and the impact of our housing shortage reaches right across our communities, leaving thousands homeless and fuelling the gap between those who own property and those who don’t.
Earlier this year during my community engagement sessions, housing was identified as a major issue in Cambridge.
National has been working with the Government to come up with a solution and late last month announced our policy that will help address the housing shortage through the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply) Bill.
This bill amends the Resource Management Act to make it easier to build more houses, reducing the time, cost and complexity of the resource consent process.
Council will need to allow more dense housing to be built through new intensification rules. These rules will allow buildings of up to three storeys on most sites from August 2022 without resource consent.
The legislation will not require more dwellings to be built. It is intended to be an enabler to build more houses which will offer residents more choices for where and how new housing can be built.
The Bill will still allow Councils to enforce restrictions to ensure sensible development, including requiring all new dwellings have a building consent, and requiring that no more than 50% of a section can be covered by buildings.
Lack of rentals and the high cost of those rental properties available to rent have also been identified through my various Friendly Forums and other engagement meetings held.
National has announced its policy in that space through the Boost Build-to-Rent Housing Bill – our plan to unlock investment in purpose-built rental housing, which will provide greater security of tenure, professional landlord services, and the experience of living in newly built accommodation.
I am aware of concerns raised by some Cambridge residents and councillors about the new bill and proposed “medium-density” zones that will enable more dwellings in existing suburbs.
While Cambridge has many character homes, and it is understandable that people will be concerned, the Waipā council will still be able to exclude some areas from the new density provisions if they can prove that area has a “qualifying matter” that makes the default level of density unsuitable, for example heritage designations, environmental issues and other matters that may make this level of density inappropriate in an area.
The Bill is also timely in that councils are considering their spatial, district and long-term plans which will allow community engagement on the provisions. Any concerns around a designation for a particular home can be raised with the council.
We need to do our bit to ensure a range of options is available - including affordable rentals, first homes for buyers and for smaller dwelling options for seniors sizing down.
I am excited about the two pieces of legislation as together they will help address an issue that has become dire for many – lack of affordable housing and rental properties.
Warren Beard with the returned defibrillator.
Police have solved the mystery of a missing defibrillator.
The unit went missing in March 2020 from the Lions Shed in Cambridge as a result of a burglary.
An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is described as a safe and easy-to-use machine which in invaluable in treating Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA).
They have been posted in many places around the country for use in an emergency and their value to thieves is negligible.
News columnist, senior constable Deb Thurgood said local knowledge and follow up enquiries with the vendor confirmed one found by police it was the one stolen from the Lions Shed.
She was on hand to return the item to Lions club president Warren Beard.
“We are delighted,” he told the News. “Most of our workforce is over 60 and many of those who come to the Lions Shed are over 50 – and we take the unit with us when we attend events.
“It’s great that we can concentrate on raising money for the community rather than having to buy a replacement.”
The unit appeared to be unscathed – it just had a flat battery.
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By Peter Matthews
Drag Race, Big Brother, Dance Mums. Here’s a new one: I recently called a couple of car wreckers and asked for a quote on two old cars to be removed.
Both refused to give me a figure, saying they would dispatch a man with a truck, and both were confident that I would sell them the vehicles on the spot.
Fair enough. I asked them to arrive an hour apart and said I would sell to the best offer. Truck number one duly turned up half an hour late and, after a cursory look at the cars made his first offer. I might have taken it, but I wasn’t too keen on the man’s attitude which seemed a bit pushy.
The first thing he said on arrival was “Do you need money?” Don’t we all? The second thing he said was I’ll give you $500 and take them now”. I explained that there was a second contender arriving soon and I would make my decision once I had heard from them both This did not go down well - at all. The man became rather irate and repeated his intention to give me the money and take the cars now, only this time the amount was $1000. Now I was certainly going to wait and see what the other person had to say. Finally the man got the message and got into his truck and left - only to stop and park up right outside our gate.
I went out and asked him to move but he wouldn’t. I tried being a little more insistent and was surprised to find myself on the receiving end of a torrent of high-pitched rationale about public roads and his entitlement to eat his lunch. Then the second truck turned up and the driver was none too happy about the presence of the first.
I explained the situation, and we got straight into the negotiations. The first offer this time was $900. I politely declined, able to say I already had a better offer.
At this point I received a text from the gentlemen in the truck outside my gate saying he would pay $100 more than the man I was talking to.
There followed a few increasingly tense exchanges and phone calls to the boss.
Finally, having agreed to part with $1,300, the man spent the next half an hour telling me what a fantastic deal I had struck.
As he drove the old Maxima up the ramp, he told me it was a very powerful car. “I know”, I said, “I drove it for 14 years”. Truck number one took off in a cloud of dust having been informed by text of the sale, and a third truck arrived for the second car shortly afterwards - must have been just round the corner. I had no idea old cars were such hot property. Is it a sign of the times or has it always been so? What about “Scrap Wars?”
FAITH IN WAIPĀ
Breaking the cycle of misbeliefs…
By Murray Smith, Senior Leader, Bridges Church
I was sitting talking with a bus driver in between shifts. His life had taken some sad twists and turns - mostly the result of his poor decisions.
As is always the case, there was a backstory for this man.
He related how as a young pupil in a religious school he was being reluctantly herded into a compulsory chapel service. Trudging in belligerently, he surreptitiously ran a piece of chalk down the wall - silently protesting.
An eagle-eyed religious instructor saw this little guy’s statement of indifference and pulled him out of the line by his ear.
The teacher shouted angrily into the boy’s face, “You’ll go to hell for that!”
It’s an unimaginable reaction and I challenged this man on his account.
The bus driver was emphatic about the message he received that day and how the impact of those words had contributed to the course of his life from that point on.
Feeling an outcast from God and already consigned to hell, he took on board a sense that it mattered very little whatever he did with the rest of his life.
Consequently he began making destructive decisions from that point forward that inflicted damage not only upon himself, but which inevitably hurt others as well.
Carrying latent anger and frustration everywhere, he was like a wrecking ball creating collateral carnage wherever he went.
Behind him lay the shattered ruins of broken relationships strewn in his wake.
I felt great sorrow that a young boy had carried misbeliefs and lies into adulthood.
I felt too, for those he’d also hurt as a result of his pain and disillusionment.
It angered me that years before reckless, thoughtless words had penetrated an impressionable little heart and mind, leaving seeds that had taken root and produced a terrible harvest.
My words to my new friend (and to anyone else who ever experienced similar damaging circumstances), were that I was so sorry.
Sorry that some misguided, messed up religious screw ball could contemplate declaring such a curse over another human being… a child at that…
I was upset that here, once again was evidence of a cycle.
A person purporting to be a representative of God had got it so badly wrong. It is said that ‘hurt people, hurt people’.
It appears true inasmuch that the ‘agent’ in this case who years before had pulled a child out of a line of school kids by the ear, was surely broken… especially to go to the extent of screaming oaths into his face.
What abuse had this person suffered in order to graduate from victim, to become a perpetrator?
God has been poorly represented by so many professing to have the ‘inside track’ with Him.
If you as a reader have witnessed poor and grossly inaccurate expressions of what God is like, I am truly sorry. I pray that the truth of everything God is, as revealed by Jesus, captures your heart. His mercy and lovingkindness are available. He is good to all who call on Him.
T N E R E F F I D G N I E B N O E V I R H T E W
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WE'RE LOCAL
F I N D U S O N T H E C O R N E R O F E M P I R E & A L P H A S T R E E T S o r d e r o n l i n e a t w w w . m y c r a v e . c o . n z
T A K I N G O R D E R S N O W
By Peter Carr
During one’s working life myriad occurrences come together at some time to form a picture. My most recent picture was started by a mid-winter power bill that indicated we were using almost three times our usual amount of power.
After remonstrating with the power company (who wanted $130 to come and check the house-side meter they own) we took the plunge and went to change the thermostatic controller on the hot water tank. And behold the power bill receded dramatically.
And to be fair to the power company they now provide weekly/daily consumption graphs that help us to keep the power usage in check.
But we are being warned that unless there is a dramatic change to how we create electric power (and assuming reducing coal usage too) our domestic electricity charges will balloon. So, enter the recent discussion as to how power for the aluminium smelter is created and on-charged to the smelter operator at a minimal comparative cost to what I use to boil the kettle.
This is to reduce two tonnes of fine alumina powder to one tonne of solid aluminium. When distributed, rolled and re-formed it holds the ubiquitous fizzy cold drink that sends our children’s waistlines into Michelin Man proportions and shape.
Many years ago, when visiting the Bluff smelter, I ran my finger through a pile of white alumina powder. It is so fine that the separate channels of my fingerprint still showed through the white coating. All this from four times its weight as bauxite mined in the hot Australian Gulf of Carpentaria, shipped to Gladstone for reduction to half to become alumina. It is pumped into another ship which arrives at Bluff and is further reduced to half its weight again to become the solid shiny 21kg block that moves on to the can manufacturer.
I was lucky to meet several times with Sir John (Jack) Marshall, firstly as my local MP when he interviewed me in 1973 and several years later when we shared a breakfast table in Taipei, Taiwan. He worked hard to keep New Zealand’s butter quota moving to the UK despite the ravages of the fastapproaching EU and sorted the power pricing for the Southland smelter.
It is no secret that the smelter owner has been playing ducks and drakes with the government to maintain a practical (from the operator’s point of view) price - or threaten to shut down the manufacturing plant. The political threat of job losses in the industrythin Southland region would reflect badly in the 2023 election for the current government.
But on the other side of the coin, having visited the Manapouri power intake and witnessed the enormous volume of water cascading down into the turbine halls, it takes little effort to imagine that power turning north instead of south and entering the somewhat starved national grid may be more productive overall.
So, which is the greater common good? A major job loss in a distant southern region or the threat of increased power accounts for the 90 per cent ‘other folk’ north of the Clutha River.
Sometimes being a politician is not fun. Sometimes having one’s rear end warming on a green leather bench-like seat in Wellington runs the risk of sharp shafts of needle-like pain when attempting to balance the political books. I had the chance, in 1984, to be one of those leather seat warmers. Initially it was an attractive thought but, in hindsight, I am pleased that I did not attempt to go further towards entering the bearpit.
The board has been busy the last few months.
One of our most important functions is the distribution of community grants to groups in our Cambridge Maungatautari area.
We receive applications from many groups covering a wide range of activities, many very important to our community, and it is not easy making the decisions.
However, we have, we hope, been able to support a number of groups that are doing a variety of really good things for our community.
Our thanks goes to all the groups that did apply. It is heartening to know that there are so many who are giving time and resources in so many ways. All of them are community heroes.
The next very important hero, due to visit in December, is Santa Claus aka St Nicholas, Father Christmas etc. Sadly, due to Covid some of Santa’s pre-Christmas activities such as the Christmas Parade, appearances at the Christmas Festival and other events have had to be cancelled.
However the Christmas tree in Victoria Square will light up, thanks to our sponsors Waipa Networks, Betta Electrical and Grinters Funerals early in December.
The Chamber of Commerce, with various Christmas sponsors, has had a busy time planning a series of December activities suitable for all ages that will comply with Covid restrictions.
Watch out for more information about these events. Christmas is not cancelled, just a little bit different.
On another bright note, our Cambridge Library is open again.
I am sure that many of us are really enjoying being able to visit and borrow books again.
The Community Board’s next meeting is the first Wednesday of December, and hopefully we will be able to meet at the Cambridge Council Office, we have had a few zoom meetings this year and while we are grateful for the enabling technology, meeting together around the table is good.
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By Sue Milner
19A Kaniera Terrace, Cambridge 07 8232587
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