Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Two reports released today by NIWA and the Ministry for the Environment on the technical background to the Clean Water proposals will help inform input into the plans to clean up New Zealand waterways, Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith says.
“The Clean Water plan is very ambitious in nationally grading our rivers and lakes for water quality for recreation and requiring 90 per cent to be swimmable by 2040. This has never been done before in New Zealand or overseas, but it is an important step in addressing our water quality issues.
“The grading system has generated significant debate and these reports provide more information on how the grading system compares internationally and the level of precaution they are based on.
“These reports show that the only other jurisdiction that attempts to grade waterways for swimming is Europe. Their grades of excellent, good and sufficient match the New Zealand grades of excellent, good and fair, although the New Zealand proposals for the bottom fair category are more cautious. This analysis shows that if New Zealand adopted the European grading, more rivers would be deemed swimmable.
“The report also notes that the USEPA criteria of waters either being swimmable or not is a bit more cautious, but notes that this has not been applied across all states in the US and requires a small sample size of four, rather than the 100 in the New Zealand proposal.
“These reports also provide more detailed information on the levels of risk from swimming in the different grades of rivers and lakes. The average infection risk when a person makes no assessment of the state of the waterway before swimming is rated at 1 per cent for the blue category, 2.4 per cent for the green category and 3.1 per cent for the yellow category. If a person follows the advice of not swimming during high flows, determined as three times normal flows, the risks drop to 0.3 per cent for blue, 1.3 per cent for green and 2.0 for yellow.
“These reports also confirm that the changes to the National Policy Statement in moving from a wadeable standard of a median 1000 E. coli/100ml to swimmable with a median of 130 E.coli/100ml for 90 per cent of waterways provides for a significant improvement in the microbiological water quality in our waterways.
“The gradings of waterways into different categories for swimmability inevitably involves choosing some arbitrary thresholds. The balance in setting these levels is to ensure we provide sufficient protection for people to swim safely while also ensuring we do not set a level that discourages people from enjoying the outdoors when the risks are low.
“I welcome further submissions from water quality scientists, and others with an interest, on the details of the gradings outlined in these additional reports by 25 May. We want to build wide support for the grading system to enable the focus to be on the significant task ahead in driving improvement.”
The reports can be seen at: https://niwa.co.nz/technical-background-report-swimmability and http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/fresh-water/swimming-categories-e-coli-clean-water-package
| A Beehive release || May 11, 2017 |||
Mass Scam Follows Xtra Security Overhaul
MSC Newswire has taken up with Spark how a counterfeit email seemingly from Spark itself and with the subject line title "Dear Xtra Spark Email User” had been able in fact to make the transit of Spark’s own security-enhanced messaging service.
The issue was taken up with Spark in the morning of Monday May 8. No response had been received by the close of the business day on Thursday May 11.
Astonishingly while MSC Newswire was talking to the Spark official and referring online on their mailbox to this counterfeit email unwanted pop-ups appeared (see screen grab top of this story.)
Here is the email. Note the subject line:--
From: Xtra Spark NZ eCare <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>To:Date: 06 May 2017 at 10:14Subject: Dear Xtra Spark Email User
Dear Xtra Spark Email User
This message is to all Xtra Spark Email Service Users. This is a notice and update to our valuable customer’s that a malware was recently detected in your account system so we have implement Anti-Malware software removes and virus free. As a result of that our Internet Tech Support is currently re-upgrading and verifying your email system networking center to identify and delete all email accounts registered unduly. This will enable us increase storage capacities for existing users and create more space for registration of new webmail future users.
To finish and fix your email account system service problem as it’s always up to date, and stops viruses before they reach your email account reply with the following details to upgrade and secure your email account for best internet service supply.
Email Address:
User name:
Password:
Reconfirm Password:
Zip Code:
Warning! Failure to reply with the above information will rendered your webmail account temporarily suspended by technical service admin.
Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.
The pop up on the user's online Xtra mailbox was peddling a variety of services.We contacted via a given pop-up phone number the service advertised. It was from an organisation calling itself Financial Services Complaints Ltd.
The person answering the phone said that they were called Jan and confirmed that they were in the business of pay-day loans. Jan said the firm was based in Takapuna.
This state of affairs follows Spark’s bringing “home” its Xtra email service which was previously run in association with Yahoo. The association soured when Yahoo was the target of international and well publicised email hacks.
Spark’s core security work was undertaken by a third party specialist security company in New Zealand.
Spark has been hunkered down since its Xtra changeover which has been characterised by individual Xtra users having trouble migrating themselves onto the new all-New Zealand service.
Meanwhile MSC Newswire has questioned one of the spyware scammers making a pest of themselves with New Zealand internet users.
The scam spyware presentation said that it was in a position to rid the internet-user's computer of a variety of incriminating material that was now deposited on the user’s computer.
The telephone number 09 8010 177 was identified and was rung back.
The individual at the other end of the line identified themselves as “Tony” and said that they were based in California, and claimed to be legitimate.
| From theThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. || Thursday 11 May 2017 |||
Debt to Income caps (DTI) have been highlighted in a recent IMF report as an important measure to build resilience in our banks and housing market to protect financial stability. The Government needs to be willing to give the RBNZ the power to implement these DTI caps, say the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA).
NZMEA Chief Executive Dieter Adam says, “Financial stability remains an issue for our economy, particularly with a rapidly increasing housing market, despite some recent moderation, and high private debt levels. All parts of the economy are damaged in any financial downturn, especially the tradable sector, such as our manufacturers.
“Loan to Value ratios were a positive step forward in this area by the RBNZ, and adding DTI caps, which have been used in other countries, could help further ensure the quality of debt in the housing sector and increase bank's strength against future financial pressures.
“The IMF’s report on New Zealand stated, “Adding a debt-to-income cap to the macroprudential toolkit would enhance systemic resilience by limiting the risks from growing household indebtedness.”
“It was disappointing that the Minister of Finance removed DTI’s from the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) earlier in the year. The RBNZ should move forward with their research and consultation of DTI’s and the Minister of Finance needs to add these back into the MOU to allow the RBNZ to implement them.” Said Dieter.
| A NZMEA release || May 11, 2017 |||
Prime Minister Bill English will travel to Japan next week to meet with Prime Minister Abe to discuss a range of global and regional issues, before travelling to Hong Kong to promote New Zealand’s economic and trade interests.
“I am looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Abe and discussing a wide range of issues, including trade and security, and initiatives our two countries are working on together in food, education, sport and defence,” Mr English says.
“Strengthening our trade and economic links with Japan will be a focus, including through the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“New Zealand has long-standing and strong ties with Japan. My visit is an opportunity to help New Zealand businesses explore new ways of working more closely with Japan.
“My focus in Hong Kong will be to advance New Zealand’s economic relationship, build on our connections with some of the largest Hong Kong investors into New Zealand, and facilitate greater business and trade opportunities,” Mr English says.
During the visit to Hong Kong Mr English will meet with the current Chief Executive Mr CY Leung and incoming Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam.
In Japan, the Prime Minister will be accompanied by Trade Minister Todd McClay, and a delegation of senior business leaders.
Mr English will leave on May 16 and return on May 20.
The business delegation includes: Sir Graeme Harrison (chair ANZCO), Rachel Taulelei (chief executive Kono), John Wilson (chair Fonterra), Whaimutu Dewes (chair Sealord/Moana), Lain Jager (chief executive Zespri), Steve Tew (chief executive NZRU) Ian Simpson (chief executive GNS), Brian Stanley (chair Wood Council of NZ), Graeme Muller (chair NZ Tech), Simon Draper (executive Director Asia NZ Foundation) and Mike Allen (New Zealand Special Envoy for Renewable Energy).
| A Beehive release || May 11, 2017 |||
LEADING European farm machinery manufacturer, CLAAS, who are represented throughout New Zealand is significantly increasing its research and development capacities with the construction of a new test centre at the company’s headquarters in Harsewinkel, Germany.
Due to open early next year, the €15 million facility will merge several test laboratories at the site into a single, state-of-the-art complex.
The new complex will boast 8,000 square metres of floor space – the equivalent of about 40 full-size tennis courts – and more than 200 individual workstations and laboratories.
The centre will enable CLAAS to test the performance and reliability of components for its high-performance combine harvesters, forage harvesters and tractors under a wide range of operating and climatic conditions.
It incorporates a number of energy-saving innovations, including the use of 300 kilowatt electric drive units to test transmission components instead of diesel engines.
A heat recovery process will eliminate the need for a conventional heating system during winter, while a water system with heat exchangers fitted to the underfloor radiators will provide cooling in summer.
| A Claas release || May 10, 2017 |||
Statement by Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler:
The Reserve Bank today left the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 1.75 percent.
Global economic growth has increased and become more broad-based over recent months. However, major challenges remain with on-going surplus capacity and extensive political uncertainty.
Stronger global demand has helped to raise commodity prices over the past year, which has led to some increase in headline inflation across New Zealand’s trading partners. However, the level of core inflation has generally remained low. Monetary policy is expected to remain stimulatory in the advanced economies, but less so going forward.
The trade-weighted exchange rate has fallen by around 5 percent since February, partly in response to global developments and reduced interest rate differentials. This is encouraging and, if sustained, will help to rebalance the growth outlook towards the tradables sector.
GDP growth in the second half of 2016 was weaker than expected. Nevertheless, the growth outlook remains positive, supported by on-going accommodative monetary policy, strong population growth, and high levels of household spending and construction activity.
House price inflation has moderated further, especially in Auckland. The slowing in house price inflation partly reflects loan-to-value ratio restrictions and tighter lending conditions. This moderation is projected to continue, although there is a risk of resurgence given the continuing imbalance between supply and demand.
The increase in headline inflation in the March quarter was mainly due to higher tradables inflation, particularly petrol and food prices. These effects are temporary and may lead to some variability in headline inflation over the year ahead. Non-tradables and wage inflation remain moderate but are expected to increase gradually. This will bring future headline inflation to the midpoint of the target band over the medium term. Longer-term inflation expectations remain well-anchored at around 2 percent.
Developments since the February Monetary Policy Statement on balance are considered to be neutral for the stance of monetary policy.
Monetary policy will remain accommodative for a considerable period. Numerous uncertainties remain and policy may need to adjust accordingly.
Read the Monetary Policy Statement: http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/monetary-policy-statement
Watch the Monetary Policy Statement press conference live-stream at NZT 10am: http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research-and-publications/webcasts
| A RBNZ release || May 11, 2017 |||
Wellington has become the destination of choice for smart, agile and creative students from around the world. New Zealand’s ‘coolest little capital’ is a haven for students seeking an authentic Kiwi experience, great employment prospects and a great lifestyle.
The city is small enough to encompass the warm hospitality New Zealand is well-known for, but also embodies a vibrant, energetic city feel with plenty of events, activities and opportunities. And now more and more international students are landing their dream jobs in Wellington after coming there to study.
Top jobs
Wellington boasts the highest average salaries of all New Zealand cities, plus the most educated workforce in the country and moderate living costs. Students who move to Wellington often find the career prospects so good that they never want to leave. The region’s institutions and universities work closely with the city’s network of businesses across science, technology, government and manufacturing to place students in graduate and intern roles.
Plus, Wellington’s business community is keen to help non-native students into careers through the Work Ready in Wellington Programme. This free series covers New Zealand work culture, communication, interviews and job hunting. The course is taught by local business experts and mentors, so students are in safe hands.
Creative tech
Saurabh Singh had a checklist of criteria when he decided to study outside of India – he was looking for a place that had great opportunities for employment after study, was affordable, multicultural, safe and close to nature. He was awarded a scholarship to Victoria University of Wellington to study a Masters of Engineering.
Saurabh says the research facilities and faculty support he was offered at Victoria University was ‘overwhelming’, and something he had never experienced before. Upon completion of his studies, he applied for a role at mobile game development company PikPok – creators of Flick Kick, Into the Dead and Rival Stars Football – where he still works as a game analytics developer. In his job, Saurabh writes code to analyse huge amounts of data to help the organisation optimise and improve the sales of their games.
Francisco Lora found out about Wellington from a talk given about studying in New Zealand in his home country of Colombia. After learning about each New Zealand city, he decided on Wellington, and moved here to study his Masters of Design at Massey University – one of the best universities for graphic design.
Francisco, who now works as a designer at Wellington-based Platinum Health & Safety, found studying a “wonderful experience”, thanks to the teaching quality and support of his supervisors.
Finance hub
Sabrina Cao, originally from Northern China, moved to Wellington after researching global study destinations. After seeing “lots and lots of photos of this beautiful country”, and finding out about the region’s stunning natural environment, and open-minded attitude, Sabrina found out that Victoria University of Wellington offered her preferred accounting programme – a Master of Professional Accounting.
Sabrina felt that Victoria University provided “lots of help and assistance to international students, both academically and non-academically”. After finishing her Masters, within two months she had bagged herself a role with leading energy provider Todd Energy. Her work as a tax accountant sees her working across complex business structures to ensure compliance with New Zealand legislation.
Hassan Almitib moved to Wellington from Saudi Arabia, to study network engineering and computer science at Victoria University. He says the course was highly specialised and very professional.
In his third year of study, Hassan joined Summer of Tech – the premier IT internship programme for New Zealand graduates and students. Hassan secured a coveted summer internship with cutting-edge, online accounting software company Xero one of New Zealand’s most exciting companies.
His role in Xero’s graduate programme saw him in four rotations, each focusing on a different area from infrastructure engineering to backend development. This helped Hassan hone in on what he wanted to pursue, and he now holds a permanent role at the company as a site reliability engineer.
Vandana Abhiruchi, from Bihar in Northern India, moved to Wellington to study a Postgraduate Diploma in IT at Whitireia. Vandana was offered a job at leading wealth management platform FNZ as soon as she finished studying, and says the help and support she received from Whitireia’s teachers and faculty was invaluable.
Friendly people
Vandana says Wellington’s welcoming locals helped ease her transition and she always felt welcomed and accepted in the region. Sabrina agrees, suggesting any students new to Wellington embrace this friendly way of life to help them break through cultural barriers.
Work-life balance
Wellington was recently named the world’s most liveable city by Deutsche Bank, and was the most affordable Australasian city in Mercer’s 2016 survey, which means students who choose to study here get to enjoy their leisure time on top of receiving a top-quality education.
Sabrina takes advantage of the 363km of walking and mountain biking trails close to the city by tramping – the Kiwi word for ‘hiking’ – on weekends. She also likes to swim at the city’s many beaches and swimming pools after work. She says, “the space, freedom and work-life balance I enjoy in Wellington is amazing”, especially when compared to Tianjin, the big city she comes from in China.
Hassan also appreciates Wellington’s beautiful natural environment, playing sports and exploring walking tracks around the region. He loves the city’s cafes and restaurants, which are all heavily influenced by its multicultural communities.
Sabrina says studying in Wellington has been the best experience of her life so far, presenting her with opportunities she never would have imagined. Moving to Wellington was “a life-changing experience”, and she encourages other international students to consider making the same move.
And Hassan’s advice for those considering studying in Wellington? “Do it.” Read the article with it's images and links here
World’s first fully automatic fusion splicer provides great ROI for customers and an increased productivity via reduced splice cycles
Chessington, UK. 10 May 2017: Fujikura Europe’s 70S is still considered the highest quality product of its kind. As the world’s first fully automatic fusion splicer, the 70S provides great ROI for customers and an increased productivity via reduced splice cycles.
Not only is the 70S the most ergonomic, fastest and durable technology of its kind, but its longevity has proved it is “built to last”, meaning that customers could still be using the same 70S they purchase today more than ten years from now.
It only requires four operational steps per splice and reduces splicing time to just six seconds. The 70S is also the only machine to withstand drop testing on all six sides from a height of 70cm.
“As more and more of our competitors begin to claim that their technology matches ours, the more testing we have do
Chessington, UK. 10 May 2017: Fujikura Europe’s 70S is still considered the highest quality product of its kind. As the world’s first fully automatic fusion splicer, the 70S provides great ROI for customers and an increased productivity via reduced splice cycles.
Not only is the 70S the most ergonomic, fastest and durable technology of its kind, but its longevity has proved it is “built to last”, meaning that customers could still be using the same 70S they purchase today more than ten years from now.
It only requires four operational steps per splice and reduces splicing time to just six seconds. The 70S is also the only machine to withstand drop testing on all six sides from a height of 70cm.
“As more and more of our competitors begin to claim that their technology matches ours, the more testing we have done to prove there isn’t any product that can match the 70S in terms of quality, performance and longevity,” said Neil Bessant at Fujikura Europe. “Creating technology of this calibre requires a specific knowledge and expertise, and we are the original pioneers, with 40 years’ worth of experience in research & development and eight generations of splicing machines to boast.”
The most notable features of the 70S are its true core-alignment performance, user customisable features, and its fully ruggedized exterior, which is dust, shock and rain resistant. The 70S also features an automated wind protector and a tube heater which has been developed for quicker splicing cycles and to reduce the number of operational steps.
“Our 40 years’ experience has allowed us to create a technology that is far superior to anything on the market and to optimise this splicing tool to be reliable and accurate, achieving a high quality splice, which will help minimise the need for “re-work” or repairs/maintenance on any fibre network spliced with a Fujikura splicer,” said Bessant. “Ultimately, this is why you pay more for a Fujikura splicer. You are paying for a product that could last you more than ten years and a product that creates the best splice possible. There really is no comparison.”
With the 70S, Fujikura Europe has streamlined the steps required to complete splices, resulting in greater productivity.
“The 70S only takes six seconds to make a splice and nine seconds to make heat shrink. These, combined with the other automated features, make the product altogether the fastest splicing technology, by 25% no less,” added Bessant.
The 'configurable automation' design of the 70S allows customers to tailor the operation of the machine to best suit their particular splicing technique and process while the programmable 'automatic wind protector' closes and begins the splicing process after clamping the fibres in position or pressing the 'set' button. Once the splice is completed, the wind protector and one of the sheath clamps opens automatically making removal of the fibres fast and easy.
Fujikura’s 70S is fully supported by trained local distributors throughout EU, creating the “Fujikura Experience” and ensuring all customers get more for their money than they could with any other splicer.
To learn more about the 70S and other Fujikura Europe technologies, please visit: http://www.fujikura.co.uk/.
ne to prove there isn’t any product that can match the 70S in terms of quality, performance and longevity,” said Neil Bessant at Fujikura Europe. “Creating technology of this calibre requires a specific knowledge and expertise, and we are the original pioneers, with 40 years’ worth of experience in research & development and eight generations of splicing machines to boast.”
The most notable features of the 70S are its true core-alignment performance, user customisable features, and its fully ruggedized exterior, which is dust, shock and rain resistant. The 70S also features an automated wind protector and a tube heater which has been developed for quicker splicing cycles and to reduce the number of operational steps.
“Our 40 years’ experience has allowed us to create a technology that is far superior to anything on the market and to optimise this splicing tool to be reliable and accurate, achieving a high quality splice, which will help minimise the need for “re-work” or repairs/maintenance on any fibre network spliced with a Fujikura splicer,” said Bessant. “Ultimately, this is why you pay more for a Fujikura splicer. You are paying for a product that could last you more than ten years and a product that creates the best splice possible. There really is no comparison.”
With the 70S, Fujikura Europe has streamlined the steps required to complete splices, resulting in greater productivity.
“The 70S only takes six seconds to make a splice and nine seconds to make heat shrink. These, combined with the other automated features, make the product altogether the fastest splicing technology, by 25% no less,” added Bessant.
The 'configurable automation' design of the 70S allows customers to tailor the operation of the machine to best suit their particular splicing technique and process while the programmable 'automatic wind protector' closes and begins the splicing process after clamping the fibres in position or pressing the 'set' button. Once the splice is completed, the wind protector and one of the sheath clamps opens automatically making removal of the fibres fast and easy.
Fujikura’s 70S is fully supported by trained local distributors throughout EU, creating the “Fujikura Experience” and ensuring all customers get more for their money than they could with any other splicer.
To learn more about the 70S and other Fujikura Europe technologies, please visit: http://www.fujikura.co.uk/.
| A Fujikura relaease || May 10, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
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