News in brief
New citizens
LtoR: Jacky Jonson, Thomas Jeyes (Jnr), Ruth, Thomas and Annabel Jeyes, Helen Potter and Sarah and Gareth Williams
Another flock of Kiwis is set to nest in Waitomo. Formally recognised during a ceremony at Waitomo Council chambers recently, eight new citizens – from the Philippines and the UK – are adding to the district’s diversity of skills and cultures.
On parade
The Ōtorohanga Christmas Parade will be held tomorrow evening followed by Christmas Carols. The parade in Te Kūiti will be held on December 12. The theme will be Christmas movies.
Kawenata awards
Te Rangituataka Supreme Award, the highest stand-alone award at the biannual Kawenata Awards went to professor Tom Roa in Hamiton this week. Wai Ako Books founder and Te Tiriti educator Roimata Smail was recognised by Te Nehenehenui for her contribution to journalism, media, and public education with a tohu, accepted by her mother Jeanette. Roimata Small was returning from Geneva after a week of international advocacy work at the United Nations led by Lady Tureiti Moxon.
Power sharing
Customers in the northern part of The Lines Company network will receive their share of a $3.9 million electricity discount before Christmas or in January. The money makes up the first payment from the total $6.9 million payment to Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust customers paid out this financial year. The discount payment will appear as a credit on retailer accounts.
Road work
Work is underway on a longer-term slip repair at Tongapōrutu on State Highway 3 in northern Taranaki and crews are beginning a second project just north of that slip site. Crews working on this stretch of SH3 have become a familiar sight in recent weeks, following significant rain and high winds throughout October.
Water checks
Waikato Regional Council’s weekly monitoring of popular rivers, lakes and coastal sites is underway to check they are safe for swimming and other recreational activities. The annual programme involves mostly weekly collecting and testing of freshwater and sea water at 45 sites.
Dairy discharge results in fine
Tihiroa Farms Limited has been convicted and fined $37,750 for unlawful discharge of effluent into the environment.
A Waikato Regional Council officer sampling contamination in the Ongaruhe Stream.
The sentence was imposed on the dairy farming company in Hamilton by District Court Judge Melinda Dickey last month as a result of a prosecution taken under the Resource Management Act by Waikato Regional Council.
Council officers inspected a farm near Ōtorohanga last September last year where Tihiroa Farms Limited is employed as a share milker. An officers found dairy effluent discharged from an irrigator was causing an overland flow directly into the Ongaruhe Stream, a tributary of the Waipā River.
“Despite having adequate effluent infrastructure in place on the farm, the defendant had failed to put in place robust management practices to prevent against discharges into nearby waterways. The impacts on this stream were significant,” said Regional Compliance manager Patrick Lynch.
More hornets
Almost 30 queen yellow legged hornets have now been found in the Glenfield and Birkdale areas of Auckland – prompting more calls, and a petition, to widen the search area for the pest. Biosecurity New Zealand Commissioner Mike Inglis said genetic testing indicates the hornets are closely related, “suggesting a small, contained population”.
Battle won?
The Ministry for Primary Industries Director-General Ray Smith says spring bulk tank milk testing across the country has found no sign of the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis, suggesting the county is on the home straight to eradicating it.
