– Dorothy – 11/12/98 Why has the Government made membership of Students’ Associations voluntary and put an embargo on validating payment from student loans for Students’ Association fees? Is it another case of trying to silence its critics? The Students’ Association is the voice of the students. Is this another Government attempt to silence a…
Dorothy – 11/12/98 Farm improvements become well established, but problems become insuperable. Irrigation In the mid fifties a Government scheme was proposed to bring water from the Rakaia River near Barrhill to just west of the Rakaia township. Border dyking was the proposed method to irrigate farmers’ land from Rakaia to the sea. If the…
– Dorothy – 4/12/98 Some of the media have recently had a field day featuring the huge debts incurred by students with student loans – debts sometimes incurred because the students used their loans to travel overseas or purchase expensive motorbikes or cars. These are a minority of students, but the government has moved to…
Dorothy – 4/12/98 If you haven’t already, you may like to read Part 1 of this series. Signs of neglect The house at the time of purchase When Ron took over the farm it was running 500 ewes and they were starving from lack of feed as the place was so run down. It had…
Dorothy – 27/11/98 The story of two Mid-Canterbury farmers working together to build a productive farm from a neglected property at Dorie An interview with Ron and Judith Armstrong Judith and Ron Armstrong Part 1 The years before Dorie Ron and Judith Armstrong gave their best energies and dedication for most of their working lives…
Dorothy – 27/11/98 The story of two Mid-Canterbury farmers working together to build a productive farm from a neglected property at Dorie An interview with Ron and Judith Armstrong Judith and Ron Armstrong Part 1 The years before Dorie Ron and Judith Armstrong gave their best energies and dedication for most of their working lives…
– Dorothy – 13/11/98 Government shoots messenger and wounds local social services. Which umbrella groups have had a funding cut? The Government’s Community Funding Agency has cut $148,000 in funding support for three voluntary sector umbrella groups, the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services, the Council of Social Services and the Federation of Voluntary…
Dorothy – 7/11/98 An interview with Hugh Thorpe, coordinator of the Christchurch ‘Water for Survival’ group. Hugh Thorpe The name says it all. Human beings cannot survive and be healthy without water – to drink, to wash themselves and their clothes, to water their crops. One in four people must carry water home. Yet for…
Dorothy – 30/10/98 An interview with Peter Cadigan, Superintendent of Grounds, University of Canterbury. Peter Cadigan in the azalea garden I have walked in the gardens at Ilam homestead since I was child and always enjoyed their beauty, but the gardens had a new meaning for me after I walked through them with Peter Cadigan…
Dorothy – 23/10/98 An interview with Judy Bethwaite, an economist at Victoria University, Wellington Judy Bethwaite Economists’ assumptions about people’s self interest “Economists typically assume that people will do whatever promotes their self interest. Moreover such behaviour is said to be rational,” Judy began. Judy Bethwaite and Paul Tompkinson of the Economics Group in the…
