“And those families that give up are forced to move further north where rents are lower,” he told Ōtaki Today “Those are terrible outcomes that need to change.”
“The funds required to deliver a development of scale was outside
NEW VILLAGE: Ōtaki-Māori Racing Club, where 500 new houses are to be built. The development will help the club transform its amenties to accommodate a new “racing village”.
transport, and more jobs. At a certain point, increased residents mean that services that are not currently provided suddenly become viable. Whether that’s rangatahi being able to sit their driver’s licences locally, or better facilities for sport, they all become more viable as the population increases.
He says he will push for new bus services to reach the growing parts of Ōtaki, as well as introducing ondemand public transport. That would improve connections to the Capital, and for people wanting to get around Ōtaki and Te Horo.
would pay for necessities or the rent.
Kāpiti councillor Rob McCann, who held the housing portfolio, says the housing crisis has forced many local families to choose whether they
Another 3000 coming to town
By Ian Carson
See also “Petition” ,page 8
“It’s about delivering generational change, connecting communities through a much-loved asset, and cherishing some very important heritage,” she says. “It’s also about ensuring the long-term sustainability of OMRC and introducing a new racing village for all of Ōtaki to enjoy.”
The funding will be delivered over the next 10 years through Kāinga Ora’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund. It will provide water and roading infrastructure to cope with the influx of people into Ōtaki, as well as improve facilities for existing residents. New reservoirs for water storage, for example, will be required.
He says the funding will help build the infrastructure that housing developments need, and by doing that help to fast-track building houses.
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“Quite simply this is very exciting.”
“Their focus on community enhancement and environmental longevity was important, as was the alignment with the club’s longer-term vision of being sustainable and delivering a great community outcome.”Tomsays the development will help ensure financial security for racing operations.
The number of people living in Ōtaki could be up by at least 3000 within 10 years – and at least double within 30 years – as housing stock increases.
Photo Ōtaki Today
Asher Wilson-Goldman, a candidate for Greater Wellington Regional Council, says that while the funding is welcome, transport infrastructure needs to keep up.
The huge growth is spurred by a $29.2 million government investment in infrastructure announced at the Ōtaki-Māori Racing Club on July 21.
“More housing means more people, and we need to ensure our transport networks are fit for purpose in a growing Ōtaki,” he says. “Pressure on central government to fund new trains between Palmerston North –multiple trips a day – must continue, but trains alone are not enough.”
Our new season’s fruit and ornamental deciduous trees have Growarrived.home grown tree ripened fruits for friends and family. Ornamentals provide spring blossom, summer shade and autumn colour as well as adding beauty structureandto your Wegarden.have trees to please for every garden – large or small.
Taylor says it’s an ambitious project, and more than just about homes.
The development is aimed at providing a range of affordable houses, from standard 2-3 bedroom houses, to mixed tenure living. Some of the racing facilities will be transformed into amenities for residents within a new racing village.
Club president Tom Jamison says the club began exploring options for land excess to racing need in 2018.
The Wellington Company’s Caitlin
our expertise or capacity, and we approached Ian Cassels of The Wellington Company, he says.
“That we get to decide and plan for that growth ensures that it is good growth, and our Growing Well Strategy sets out the plan for the whole region, including Ōtāki. The town will grow whether council takes any action or not, but it would then experience severe growing pains, which is why it is so important to plan well.”
“To those readers who are worried about change, there are some real advantages that good growth brings, such as better services, better public
He said the racecourse development would not only provide real affordable housing, but also a range of jobs.
Revocation on horizon p3 Kingi’s swagger stick p18Last of a generation p14
The funds will enable about 1000 new homes to be built in Ōtaki, resulting in up to 3000 new residents. The 2018 Census showed 9180 residents in Ōtaki, including the Te HoroFivecatchment.hundredhouses are expected to go into a new development at the Ōtaki-Māori Racing Club (OMRC) in a partnership between the club and developer The Wellington Company.
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ŌTAKI STROKE SUPPORT GROUP & WELLNESS CENTRE: meets for “Sit & Be Fit” classes, 10am Friday mornings at Senior Citizen’s Hall, Rangitira Street. All welcome.
ŌTAKI GARAGE SALE Third Saturday of the month, 9am-11.30am, Presbyterian Church, 249 Mill Rd. 06 364-6449. Rev Peter Jackson 021 207 9455, owpresb@xtra.co.nz
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Ōtaki Today is a member of the NZ NewspapersCommunityAssociation Ngā Kōrero o Ōtaki Ōtaki Today is published monthly by ID Media Ltd, 13 Te Manuao Rd, Ōtaki.
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prospect of a Minister of the Crown getting what he or she wants to fashion facts to meet a politicalNudge,need.nudge;
Quality governance may also be worth contemplating in respect of the Three Waters project. The Government has now widely advertised for applicants wishing to accept the position of chief executive of the four companies that will be set up under its plans. What it has not done is say what compensation will be made to those who accept the positions should National, as promised, abandon Three Waters if it occupies the Treasury benches after next year’s elections.
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TIHEMA BAKER (Taki Kupu) PERA BARRETT (Good Thinking) BUCHAN and DAVID LEDSON (Museum) FRASER CARSON (Media & Community)
ŌTAKI COMMUNITY BOARD: The last meeting of the Ōtaki Community Board before the local body elections is 7pm Tuesday, September 13, in the Gertrude Atmore Lounge (attached to the Memorial Hall). The public is welcome. Public speaking time is allowed – arrive early and register with the secretary.
Quality governance also comes into play as an issue with the reform of the polytech system. Losses incurred, and doubts about the ability to get the re-organisation under way, originally envisaged timetables threaten both the future of some polytechs and the reputation of Education Minister Chris Hipkins.
ŌTAKI WOMEN’S COMMUNITY CLUB CRAFT MARKET: SH1, opposite New World. on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday of the month. open 9am-2pm. Contact Georgie 027 234-1090.
copy and advertising deadline: September 6. Publication: September 14 Delivery: If you don’t receive your copy of Ōtaki Today, please call us.
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CONTRIBUTORS
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ŌTAKI MUSEUM: “The way we were: glimpses of days gone by” exhibition showcases a range of items from the museum and other collections. Play the old theatre pianola while you’re there (see 6). The Anne Thorpe Reading Room is also available when the museum is open, 10am-2pm Thursday to Saturday, 49 Main St. Ōtaki. 06 364-6886.
That reform, like the government’s effort to address the Gib supply crisis in the building industry, is a work in progress. A worry, perhaps, is that the minister of building, when announcing a supply of large quantities of plasterboard from overseas, declared her task force to contain supply chain experts when in fact those members from the building industry were all drawn from either the Master Builders’ Association or developer/construction companies.
• JARED CARSON (Cartoons) KYUSS CARSON (Kids’ puzzle) JAMES COOTES (Local Lens)
• FRANCESCA FLAWS (Law) GURUNATHAN (Guru’s View) STEVE HUMPHRIES (Science)
• K
(The
The list of issues is long – from the cost of living to monetary control; inadequate funding of health services to truancy in the school system; and inadequate end-of-life care to insufficient availability of midwife services. This list leaves out cost over-runs in roading and construction, along with the muddle of re-organisation of public water services and the polytechnic system.
otakitoday.com ISSUE 49:
wink, wink. The halls of power and recorder of facts becomes not a servant of the public as intended by the rank of chief statistician but of the politician.
This might be partly explained by suggestions
OPINION: Note that the views and opinions of our contributors are not necessarily those of Ōtaki Today
Statistics New Zealand has been the keeper of these records under the stewardship of the chief statistician, a figure whose independence provided assurance that the statistics could be relied on as factual. Now the Government is promoting legislation that will make the appointment of the chief statistician subject to political appointment, carrying with it the
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LOCAL EVENTS
Politics of statistics make for a winter of discontent with no shine of glorious summer
whārangi 2TŌRANGAPŪ/Politics I Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022
• KATH IRVINE (Edible Backyards) BRUCE KOHN MICHAEL MOORE (News) NGOBI Electorate) PAPPS (Ōtaki Outlook) CHRIS WHELAN (Your Business).
PRINTED by Beacon Print, Whakatane.
That the winter of 2022 is turning into a season of political discontent is not surprising against the background of economic and social issues that are regularly making headlines in daily media.
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BRUCE KOHN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
EDITOR: Ian Carson. For editorial enquiries or news tips, please contact Ian at 027 2411 090, or 06 364-6543, or ian@idmedia.co.nz
that it intends to move forward with Three Waters by starting early with one entity –probably in the Auckland region – about the middle of next year. This is a move that could make unwinding the scheme not only expensive but also administratively difficult for any fresh government.UsingAuckland as the first company off the starting gate would also mean that the dealings with Māori interests would, to a significant extent, embrace working with Tainui, home base for Nania Mahuta as Minister of Local Government.Inthisway the prospects of issues arising from various provisions in legislation placing Māori in what may well be seen as favoured positions against others receiving water services might well be minimised.
ŌTAKI REPAIR CAFÉ – Get Your ‘Fix’ Sunday September 11, 10-2pm, at the Ōtaki Memorial Hall. Repairing and reusing where we can is helping to reduce waste.
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FRIENDS OF THE ŌTAKI ROTUNDA Restoration Fundraising Quiz Night. August 24. 7pm at RSA, Raukawa St, Ōtaki. Get a team together (max 5), $5pp, raffles, prizes, finger food supper. Register your team at the door.
All can be addressed by more clearheaded and pragmatic management that places solution-finding ahead of ideological considerations and recruitment of “fix-it” personnel best qualified for the position, rather than those with credentials based on gender, race, political persuasion, or age.
That previous chief statisticians have spoken to media on their concern at the watering down of the independence of the position should provoke uproar. A commitment from the National Party and ACT to reverse the legislation would provide assurance that not all political parties are signing up to this hijack of an independent role essential to future quality governance and administration in both the public and private sectors.
TOTE MODERN: Guest artists during August are potter Aimée McLeod and Sarah Pou, illustration and art. The Tote Modern Gallery, 47 Te Roto Rd, Ōtaki. Open 10am-3pm Friday to Sunday.
Putinesque might be a phrase appropriate for the current legislation. The possibilities for the political class opened by the move rank with the comment of Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson when talking of co-governance, that democracy can be tweaked to meet the needs of today as seen by the Government of the day.
Frequently, in examining a problem with an aim of solution finding, a need exists for statistics that reflect the realities of what has gone before, not political posturing or chief executive presentations to present a situation in the best possible light, but “the facts”.
• improved street furniture (such as street lights, benches and rubbish bins)
• new on-road cycle lanes south of Waerenga Road
What revocation?is
By Ian Carson
Waka Kotahi says the project team will work with stakeholders and KCDC to plan and stage the construction works to minimise disruption as much as possible.
• new traffic lights at Riverbank Road
• wider footpaths and improved pedestrian crossings
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The Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway is due to open by Christmas, but by August next year, enhancement work mainly at the Railway area of Ōtaki will begin in earnest.
The most substantial visible change to the road in a corridor between Te Kowhai Road at Peka Peka and Taylors Road north of Ōtaki, will be between the BP roundabout and Riverbank Road. Riverbank Road will get traffic lights, and there will be new urban trees and street furniture at the shops. Roading agency Waka Kotahi told Ōtaki Today that changes include:
At present, the detailed design phase has just begun and is planned to take until about April 2023. The agency says design includes previous input from community consultation.
Revocation to begin next year
• low-level planting and street trees
planned Waka Kotahi road surface maintenance works.
movements within the retail area, and to the train station
Consultation will include discussion about speed limits for the road. The project team is working with Waka Kotahi and KCDC on property, consent requirements, designations and asset handover processes that are required for KCDC to take over ownership of the road.
Leading the change to fairer Real Estate in Ōtaki!
“We’ll be regularly updating our mana whenua partners at Ngā Hāpu o Ōtaki, KCDC elected members and Ōtaki Community Board members, as well as other groups like Elevate Ōtaki throughout design and construction,” Waka Kotahi
A memorandum of understanding between Waka Kotahi and KCDC outlines the proposed scope of works and funding for what will be a multimillion dollar project.
When the Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway is open, the road between Te Kowhai Road at Peka Peka and Taylors Road north of Ōtaki will no longer function as a state highway. Its status will be officially cancelled (revoked) and that status will shift to the new expressway. The revocation project is to ensure the old SH1 is suitable for use as a local road that supports Kāpiti Coast District Council strategies, community outcomes, future land use and connections to the new expressway. Waka Kotahi and KCDC are working in partnership to complete the revocation process. KCDC will then own the road and will be responsible for its operation and maintenance.
The revocation process (see explanation panel at right) will last about two years, taking works through until 2025. It’s designed to create a more appealing urban environment on what is now State Highway 1, but which will become a local road after the expressway opens.
said. “Consultation on the proposed design will also be communicated during the design process so that the community, plus other interested stakeholders and affected parties, can have their say on the designs.”
Work will undoubtedly be disruptive for some local retailers and other Railway area businesses.
• raised road tables (such as large speed humps) to slow vehicle speeds and enhance pedestrian
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• shared path connections to link with the shared paths constructed by the expressway project
Someintersection.earlyworks, such as new road surfacing and line marking on some sections of the revocation corridor, could happen during the coming summer, to coincide with
• reducing traffic lanes at the Rāhui Road roundabout to a single lane in each direction
NEW VIEW: An artist’s impression of the Waerenga Road intersection, looking north towards the Railway shops. Image supplied
Hearing that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was to visit, about 50 people protesting against the government’s Covid response and harbouring other disparate grievances gathered outside Raukawa Marae in the pouring rain. They carried Voices for Freedom placards and waved a range of flags, including that of tino rangatiratanga. Many had travelled from out of Ōtaki, prompting one local observer to comment that the Ōtaki contingent was “well outnumbered”.Forewarned, a solid contingent of police protected gates and other marae entrances. It didn’t take long for the protest to turn ugly.
By Ian Carson
M
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Ōtaki’s manaakitanga took a hit on July 28 when protesters scared children and yelled obscenities into one of the town’s most revered places.
We say in Ōtaki we are a small town with a big heart. If, like me, you were standing outside on this day, you’d see little evidence of that. It was a sad day.
The target was obviously the visiting prime minister, but what the protesters – leaderless and many from out of town – failed to consider was that she was being welcomed onto sacred Ōtaki ground, by a people and tradition that value manaakitanga and treat guests with dignity. Placards being faced into the marae, attempts to forcibly enter and the worst of foul language directed at police and over the wall showed that this group had no respect for the things we value in Ōtaki.
Some attempted to force entry through a gate at the south-east
uch like the day in 1995 when our beloved Rangiātea Church burned down, there was a sense of sadness here on July 28.
corner of the marae, claiming it was their marae, too, and they were entitled to enter. Under the watchful eye of the police, marae members managed to talk them back out. Those discussions were often marred by several vocal protesters who hurled profanity-laden insults, One Māori police officer was told: “You’re a disgrace to our people.”
Faced with a concrete wall and burly police officers, protesters held signs over the wall and chanted into the marae in an effort to disrupt the traditional warm welcome for distinguished guests that was occurring inside.
Whether Māori, Pākehā or other, seeing the disrespect for Raukawa Marae by a bunch of unruly protesters was hard to watch.
In one particularly angry incident, one woman said police were complicit in the murder of children.
The prime minister arrived to taunts of “kūpapa” (traitor) but appeared to be unfazed. As is the custom for occasions such as this, the pōwhiri was for invited guests only.
Ōtaki MP Terisa Ngobi, who invited the prime minister, said the event was an opportunity for the PM to see how Ōtaki was working together as a community in its Covid response and recovery. Giving rangatahi a special chance to meet with her was a big part of that.
PROTEST: Protesters push their placards over the wall and yell obscenities into Raukawa Marae. Photo Ōtaki Today
be heard by the guests and children who were there to talk with the prime minister. It’s understood some of the children were so upset that their parents were called to pick them up.
Obscenities fly at protest Sad day for Ōtaki
OPINION
Don’t get me wrong, I like a good protest, and I’ve been on a few myself. And yes, a protest is intended to disrupt, but not to turn as nasty as this one did.
Pointing into the marae, she said: “They are indoctrinating our children forAnotherpaedophilia.”toldpolice, with no hint of irony: “We fought for you in Wellington.”Astheonly media in attendance, Ōtaki Today was at one stage prevented from covering the protest, with one woman pushing a placard in front of theMeantime,camera. inside the marae, the foul language and angry voices could
Thank you Ōtaki for your overwhelming support60 sold in our first year!
When “talkies” were introduced in the late 1920s and early 30s, the pianola was phased out. It certainly would not have been at the theatre when it burned down on the night of December 24-25 in 1935, to be rebuilt as the Civic in 1938.
MP
The Bright’s pianola went away for restoration in February, six months later returning with a ceremony on August 1 attended by some of the Bright and Brown family descendants, Irene and Ray Mackle of the Philipp Family Foundation, museum trustees and members of the Ōtaki Players, who now stage shows at the Civic.
By Ian Carson
A pianola that entertained theatre-goers 100 years ago has returned to Ōtaki in pristine working order.
The pianola has taken some time to be returned to Ōtaki in its nearoriginal condition, and it was only by chance that it returned at all.
It duly arrived at the museum, but it was by no means playable. It was interesting from a historical perspective, but no more.
Ōtaki Museum trustee Di Buchan was volunteering at the museum about four years ago when she received a phone call. Caroline Banks of Eastbourne in Lower Hutt said she had the pianola and knew it had come from Ōtaki. She and her husband, Doug, were retired and moving on –would the museum like it?
The Gulbransen pianola originally played at the Bright’s Theatre when it was first built in 1913. It was played to accompany the black-and-white silent movies showing at the theatre. The theatre burned down in December 1935 and was replaced by the current CivicBright’sTheatre.was named by its owners, Frederick and Arthur Bright, both of whom died in the 1918 flu epidemic.
Also attending was restorer Stephen Powell, who was pleased to see it being used again.
Restored theatre pianola returns
Local musician Ann-Marie Stapp played the instrument, and museum trust chair Judith Miller demonstrated how easy it was to play without touching the keys.
“It would have had a varnished look in the early days,” Stephen said. “The dark exterior now is just age.”
PITOPITO KŌRERO/News I Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022 whārangi 6
Di had heard about the pianola from Mary-Annette Hay, the granddaughter of Ōtaki philanthropist Byron Brown. Di immediately told Caroline the
Restoring it was to cost about $15,000, and only two people in the country could tackle the job. One of them, Stephen Powell, just happened to be in Wellington. But the museum simply didn’t have that sort of money.
claimed their pianos were the easiest in the industry to pump, “so easy, in fact, that a baby could do it”.
The restoration included all new keys and new felt hammers. Strings were replaced with those Stephen makes by hand. The job was to bring the pianola back to musical life – the exterior had little done to it.
It went to the Bright family home, Kaingaraki, and then to Byron Brown’s house in Moana Street.
Byron’s connection was that he married Frederik and Arthur’s sister, Susannah Bright.
The Brights also owned at various times the Telegraph Hotel and the Family Hotel. The new theatre owners renamed the theatre the Cosy Theatre.
The instrument can be played as a piano, but it also has rolls of sheet music that when rotated by pumping the pedals, play music automatically.
When Byron sold his house in Moana Street, he sold it to George Banks, whose son and daughter-inlaw gifted it to the museum because they were shifting to a retirement home.
PLAYING AGAIN: Local musician Anne-Marie Stapp plays the old pianola at a museum function to welcome the instrument back to Ōtaki.
Photo Ōtaki Today
museum would love to have such an important part of Ōtaki’s history.
Terisa Ngobi for Ōtaki
Hearing about the dilemma from museum trustee Neale Ames, the Philipp Family Foundation stepped in, ensuring that the work could be completed and museum visitors could hear the pianola in all its glory again.
The Gulbransen company, which was established in Chicago in 1904,
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IN BRIEF
Asher GoldmanWilson-
Visitors to Main Street are still waiting for the wifi service promised by KCDC in 2018. Ōtaki Today reported in April 2019 that it would be installed by June of that year. Ōtaki Community Board has had wifi as a “matter under action” since Nowmber 2018. Delays occurred after a backlash over wifi antennae going on the town clock. In response to a request for an update, the council says the project has been delayed due to Covid and staff are working with a contractor to confirm the date of installation.
Marilyn
The local body elections are about to begin, with some intriguing battles for Ōtaki votes.
If Chris is elected as ward councillor, the board will be short one member. If Shelly is successful, Chris will go back on the board, making up the four necessary (plus Shelly as the ward councillor).
and deputy to Chris for two terms. She was recently elected as Rotary district governor for the lower North Island. Cam came onto the board a year ago, uncontested, after the resignation of Steven Carkeek. He operates a kayak business on Riverbank Road.
Kāpiti Coast District Council has appointed Darren Edwards as chief executive. Darren is currently general manager, strategic planning and policy at Far North District Council. The role became vacant when Wayne Maxwell advised he would not be seeking reappointment. Darren will start on Monday October 10. His annual remuneration begins at $310,000.
Warwick
Chris Papps
Marilyn Stevens and Cam Butler have said they are standing again, and Simon Black has thrown his hat in the Marilynring.has been a board member
In the Greater Wellington Regional Council race, Asher Wilson-Goldman is standing against two-term Kāpiti councillor Penny Gaylor, editor of the Ōtaki Mail. Penny is chair of the regional
council’s Environment Committee and chair of the Ōtaki College board of Ashertrustees.says that if elected he will push for new bus services to reach the growing parts of Ōtaki, as well as introducing on-demand public transport for everyone else, to improve connections not just for commuters to the Capital, but also for people wanting to get around Ōtaki and Te Horo.
Stevens
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During their tenure, the two have clashed several times. Chris is generally regarded as a “team player” seeking to progress issues as a united board. Shelly is seen as an independent who will speak her mind, at times frustrating other board members and council staff.
“The current on-demand trial in Tawa is showing how effective an app-driven minivan service can be, and bringing these out to Te Horo and Ōtaki is a sensible way to bring affordable transport to more of our population.”WithŌtaki’s K Gurunathan not standing again for the mayoralty, the race has no Ōtaki candidates. Rob McCann of Paraparaumu is standing, as is Chris Mitchell of Waikanae. At the time of writing, no one from Ōtaki is seeking a district-wide seat.
Top of the list is the contest for Ōtaki ward councillor, ably conducted for the past two terms by James Cootes. His decision to step aside from local politics leaves a big hole that two other locals hope to fill.
With Chris also running for the community board (Shelly is not), the scenarios for the board at the time of writing become interesting. It needs at least one more nomination to guarantee a full board.
Council CE appointed
Simon Black is a local volunteer firefighter and business owner. He moved to Ōtaki about six years ago and has become involved in community activities such as the Scouts, Cubs and Keas, and the Ōtaki Pottery Club.
Election battle about to begin
Fires
Ōtaki Volunteer Fire Brigade had 21 callouts in July. Eight were for private fire alarms, four for motor vehicle accidents, three for “special services” and two for property fires. There was one each for a rubbish fire, medical, “good intent” and to assist the Levin brigade.
So far, current board members
Ōtaki Community Board chair Chris Papps is one (see announcement page 23), the other is board member ShellyChrisWarwick.hasbeen on the board for three terms, the past two as chair. She took over from James. Shelly has been a board member for two terms.
Shelly
By Ian Carson
Simon BlackCam Butler
Still waiting on wifi
He says he’s standing because he would like to use his business skills and community experience to support the many local groups and activities in Ōtaki.
Penny Gaylor
Nominations close at noon on Friday (August 12), and unless there are some surprise late-runners, Ōtaki Community Board could be short of one member. However, at press time key candidates for council and board positions are mostly known.
can affordably service a mortgage –down from 21 percent in 2001.
“While our council has moved quickly from just having a regulatory role in housing, we are trying our best to enable private developers and social housing providers to set up in Kāpiti, but we also need Kāinga Ora to step up and take drastic action,” he says.Donna
“Too many people are forced to leave the area they have lived in to another part of the country.”
Retired Rear Admiral David Ledson speaks at the commemoration.
Korean War ceasefire marked at Ōtaki School
The ceasefire was on July 27, 1953, after three years of conflict between North and South Korea. In 1993, a pohutukawa tree was planted at Ōtaki School to mark the 40th anniversary of the ceasefire. A memorial donated in 2013 by the Korean Embassy was placed nearby for the 60th anniversary. Every year, South Korean embassy officials, New Zealand K Force veterans, military personnel, RSA representatives and others gather at the school for the commemoration.
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The petition with more than 400 signatures was presented to Ōtaki MP Terisa Ngobi and Labour MP Ibrahim Omer.“We’re sick of hearing excuses,” says Donna, who organised the petition along with other Kāpiti Coast residents who had experienced homelessness. “Our motels are full of people that don’t have access to housing. Our boarding houses are overflowing and people have nowhere to go.“This is a crisis and we need people to be treated with dignity, and the only way that can be achieved is for the Government to acknowledge the need in our community and actually do something about it.”
Ōtaki woman Donna Bridgeman presented a petition to Parliament on August 4 asking Kāinga Ora to immediately buy land and build new permanent rental accommodation in Kāpiti, including Otaki, for all groups affected by homelessness.
Government does. Government agencies need to purchase land now and get building. We’re not interested in excuses or promises. We just want the decision makers to do their job and build something now so that young people, families with children, retirees and renters that are forced out of their accommodation are not forced to live in motels.
“In reflecting on today’s ceremony, I recalled two things I have read which struck a special chord,” David said. “The first was that battles are fought twice – first on the battlefield, and second in the nation’s memory.
AT PARLIAMENT: At the presentation of the petition were, from left, Edwina Allen, Ōtaki MP Terisa Ngobi, Donna Bridgeman, MP Ibrahim Omer, Kāpiti councillor Rob McCann and Cr Sophie Handford. Photo supplied
Cr Rob McCann, who held the housing portfolio at Kāpiti Coast District Council, says one in four private renters are paying more than 50 percent of their household income in rent, and only 5 percent of renters
Retired Rear Admiral David Ledson said the site at the school was a place of memorialisation, remembrance and reflection.
Ōtaki woman presents housing petition
“Councilsagrees.don’t have the bank balance to fix this problem, only the
“And in the case of this country, the Korean War has had a struggle to find its space in the national memory of the nation’s wars overseas –overwhelmed as it is by memories of the First and Second world wars. Nevertheless, it has asserted itself – and in no small measure due to the efforts of Korea to ensure that New Zealand’s contribution to that war will be remembered.”
Photo Ōtaki Today
The 69th anniversary of the ceasefire to end hostilities in the Korean War was marked at Ōtaki School on July 26.
When Beverley Dowling was just three nurturing a monthold kitten set her path for a lifetime of love and caring for animals and supporting her community.
Beverley notes there has also been less funding for cat rescue organisations that haven’t been able to cope as breeding rates have skyrocketed during the Covid period.
“Cat rescues are worn-out financially, and fatigued,” she says. “It can cost us $200 for speying and tests for feline immunodeficiency virus and leukemia virus, which is contagious so these cats are not released back into a colony.”Shesays
Feline champion prepares to move north
draft national cat management strategy is already being embraced by some councils, many introducing mandatory snip and chip.
“My hope is that everyone takes responsibility for ownership of their pets.”Beverley is also involved with Ōtaki Players, managing the props for the current Priscilla show at Southward’s theatre.“It’sall a bit bonkers around here, trying to pack up, help with the [Priscilla] show, deliver the cat crates to new homes, picking up and dropping off cats, dealing with vets, and sell my house,” she says. “It seems like a very typical day!”
Her property boasts safe outdoor runs, complete with warm bedrooms and play areas, and a cat hospital that has assisted in the recovery of
“Some are too unwell to return,” Beverley says. “I had three that we named Wink, Blink and Nod, because we thought they would all lose an eye due to such poor health. We often
“Covid precautions saw an explosion in cat birth rates, as vets
it’s easy and affordable for the public to get cats desexed and chipped, with regular discount campaigns to help those struggling.
Beverley is well-known in the Kāpiti and Horowhenua districts for her years of dedication to the welfare and care of injured wildlife, and forgotten domestic and wild cats.
By Michael Moore
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Her rural Waikawa Beach property is a sprawling oasis, providing respite and sanctuary to kittens and cats that have been abandoned, neglected or simply thrown on the roadside.
The wild cat population at Ōtaki and Otaihanga rubbish tips can get out of control. At Otaihanga, cat management is supported by tip staff and volunteers under the TNR (trap, neuter, return) programme, which has been shown to be very successful in post-earthquake Christchurch.
CARER: Beverley Dowling feeding Alfie the cat at her Waikawa Beach home, where has been looking after forgotten domestic and wild cats (photo Michael Moore), and inset, Beverley aged 3 with a kitten (photo supplied).
“It always takes a team of dedicated people to rescue, treat and rehabilitate. Everyone focuses on the trapping but not the ‘what next?’. Foster carers are the backbone of any rescue group and there are never enough people available to open their
home and hearts to cats that deserve a second chance.”
have to make a decision to euthanise if there are critical health issues. Many are adopted into loving families.”
More than 50 years later, the selftitled “feral cat lady” is packing up her cages, dismantling the outdoor runs, and preparing a move to Whangārei to help the local council manage feral and abandoned cats.
Looking after stray animals and making sure they have a happy future has been a voluntary passion, but her appointment at Whangārei District Council will see her now remunerated for something she deeply cares about.
“The biggest issues for councils to deal with beyond nuisance behaviour and feral colonies, is cats that have not been desexed,” Beverley says.
weren’t able to carry out desexing procedures. While we were in lockdown, cats were still getting it on!”The
countless abandoned animals over the years. Her house also has a room for mothers and kittens to recover afterBeverleydesexing.isa community champion, but she acknowledges it’s not a sole effort, but one of working with many others, including Forgotten Felines.
“At one point I had my three, another five and 23 in the house: three mums and all their kittens,” she says. “Two of those mums were sisters that hadn’t been desexed. One had a litter of nine and the other a litter of seven.”Beverley has recently been passing on cat crates to worthy recipients around the community as she prepares to head north in early September.
And, really, this is the bare minimum of what Te Tiriti o Waitangi promised. Article Two guaranteed tino rangatiratanga over our whenua, kāinga, and taonga. What is fundamental to the health of our land? What do our homes require in order to be safe and habitable? What is one of the many things we consider a treasure?Theanswer to all of these is wai – water. Whether you accept it or not, Māori control over water was absolutely promised by te Tiriti. But that’s an argument for another day. For now, the reform is simply about improving the management
This is the rationale behind the Three Waters reform.So,what exactly is it?
I’ve
make no secret that I’m supportive of the reform, but arguing for it is not my intent here. What’s far more important to me is that our community understands the facts and doesn’t fall victim to the rampant disinformation being circulated about it.
1 Source: Department of Internal Affairs
Image Jack Sellair, Pixabay
KUPU
As is the narrative that Māori will have any ownership of the four entities, let alone water. The current uproar about co-governance seems to be about mana whenua appointments to the Regional Representative Groups.Ifyou are against a Tiriti-based approach to any issue then nothing I say will convince you otherwise. But for the sake of clarity: these groups only set the strategic direction for managing water services and appoint
of water infrastructure; of ensuring safer drinking water and improved maintenance of wastewater and stormwater systems, with mana whenua right there at the governance table.I’ll
TIHEMA BAKER seen so fearmongeringmuchabout the so-called Three Waters reform. People saying it’s theft, it’s the Government out of control, it’s the bloody Māoris being separatists again.
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TAKI
But it seems that none of these people can explain in practical terms what the reform will actually do. So, here’s Three Waters clarified in 600 words or less.
the board members, they don’t do the actual management itself.
“Three waters” refers to drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. There are services all over the country meant to ensure that safe drinking water is available to us all, and that wastewater and stormwater are managed effectively. The reform will overhaul how these services
Three Waters – let’s clear things up
boards that are responsible for the day-to-day running of the water services.Noone will own the water itself. The narrative that the Government is privatising water is false.
Currently,work.local councils own and operate these services. Some councils are doing a good job of it. But there is plenty of evidence that, collectively, theyOfaren’t.321wastewater treatment plants in the country, more than 100 are breaching consents and 60 require upgrades to meet minimum standards; in 2021 there were 2754 dry-weather wastewater blockages or system failures, 1159 for wet-
Local councils have devolved governance responsibilities from central government. So, if local councils – collectively – are failing to uphold those responsibilities, then it is entirely appropriate for central government to step in.
weather wastewater, and 355 from combined wastewater and stormwater networks1. When three waters aren’t managed properly, we get events such as the 2016 Havelock North waterborne disease outbreak.
The reform will take the 67 council-owned and operated three waters services and move them into four new publicly owned entities. These are regionally based; here in Ōtaki, we’ll be covered by an entity proposed to cover the top of the South Island, Wellington and Kāpiti, right up through the East Coast.
n Tīhema is an uri of Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Te Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. He is a writer and consultant who grew up in Ōtaki.
These entities will have joint strategic direction and oversight by Regional Representative Groups that include council and mana whenua representation. These regional Representative Groups will appoint independent, competency-based
It’s been an uncertain time for the housing market, including here in Ōtaki where we have (until more recently) had a very strong few years. However, there are still plenty of reasons to be positive, whether buying or selling.
PROUD SUPPORTERS OF THE PLAYERS
out from the crowd is vital, so now is the time to get that wall plastered and painted, have the carpets cleaned, wash windows, and tidy up lawns and gardens. Letting in light makes a huge difference, so trimming trees and considering where the sun is coming through is important.
Their insight explains some of the monthtrends.market’sThisSarahLangeofTall
Ōtaki property market still in prime position
STILL DEMAIND: New subdivisions such as this in Mill Road show there’s still demand for Ōtaki property.
Winter is traditionally seen as a quieter time for property activity, but it’s actually a great time to buy. There can be less competition, as well as the fact that savvy buyers will know that seeing a house in the worst weather is a great way to tell how much they like it.
Houses are still selling, albeit a little more slowly, and with recent changes to relax the tight CCCFA (Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003) rules that have been squeezing many potential buyers out of the market, we’ll likely see the market pick up.
We’ve also seen housing stock steadily increasing because of slower turnover. This means vendors are competing for buyers, so it’s more important than ever to take the time to present a home for sale in the best possible light. Giving yourself the best opportunity to stand
While the property market has been buoyant during the last five years, especially in
Photo Ōtaki Today
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Buyers whose finance was previously put on hold or declined under the highly restrictive and controversial law change, will be looking to reapply after the rules eased from July 7. This means we’ll probably see more competition and more first-home buyers back in the market.
Ōtaki, vendors now have to be more active in attracting buyers, especially with Fomo (fear of missing out) being replaced by Foop (fear of overpaying).Takingawider perspective on property values, we still have big infrastructure projects under way in our area. The expressway construction might be causing transport disruptions, but the connectivity it will bring to Ōtaki and its surrounds is a great value-add for properties as more people consider living here. Transmission Gully has also been delivering the long-awaited effect of opening travel between
ŌTAKI
If it ticks the boxes on rainy, cold, and grey days, they’re bound to love it even more in the sunshine of summer – which is always a positive to winter buying.
JEANINE AND HER TEAM
Kāpiti and Wellington. With house prices in the Capital pushing many to look for a property further north and commute into town, Ōtaki is firmly on the radar as a desirable home base. There’s a lot to consider and navigate, whether buying or selling, so it’s important to get good advice. Any good real estate agent should be able to answer all your questions and provide a clear and informed overview of the current market conditions, by demonstrating experience and having a great range of tools and resources at their fingertips to make the process smooth with the best possible outcome.
SARAH LANGE
Ōtaki Today looks at the changing property market through the eyes of local real estate agents.
There has also been unease over rising interest rates, but with media starting to report that we might be near the peak of increases, buyer confidence is beginning to return.
Paying attention to “kerb appeal” – a property’s first impression – is key. Is the letterbox broken, does the guttering need repairing and is the berm overgrown? Inside the home, ensure every area has a clear function, storage is used properly, and look at decluttering to emphasise space.
REAL ESTATE
If a buyer can walk into a well presented and visibly cared for home, it doesn’t leave them feeling suspicious about what else might or might not have been looked after. Care and attention to detail are paramount.
Poppy offers her views.
Again, I acknowledge the support I had from council staff. The $29.3m infrastructure funding was secured through a joint application by KCDC, local iwi and private developers. It’s the
At the recent announcement of a $29.3 million infrastructure investment in Ōtaki by Housing Minister Megan Woods, I presented the minister with two heavy documents put together by KCDC staff.
I’ve spent the past nine years as an elected member of the Ōtaki Community Board, six of those years as the chair of the board. I have shared that privilege and honour with people who believe in the principles of local government and local democracy. I like to feel we have contributed to the betterment of the Ōtaki community.Sometime between Friday September 16 and Wednesday September 21 you should receive your voting papers. Read the advertisements. Scan the leaflets. Attend the meetings. And then fill in and post your voting papers.
A critical part of our success in securing the CDO status and the $29.3 million Infrastructure Acceleration Fund to turbocharge affordable, papakāinga and market housing, has been the data collected by our housing needs assessment. And the reality of significant housing/well-being stress that Māori are under.
nature of infrastructure funding that the benefits are not exclusive to iwi/Māori.
After Friday (August 12) the list of candidates will be known. Soon after that, posters will appear in odd places around the district, leaflets will start arriving in letterboxes, advertisements saying “vote for me” will be in the media.
Vote for me for lower rates – a phrase often used by candidates to get your vote.
n Chris is chair of the Ōtaki Commuity Board
There’s nothing you need to do to apply for the payment, and the income threshold is based on your individual income, not household income. If you’re eligible, you will receive the payments directly from IRD. However, IRD does need your correct information, so please take a few minutes to make sure that everything is up to date. You can visit IRD’s website for more details: ird.govt.nz/cost-of-living-payment. This new Cost of Living Payment sits alongside our Winter Energy Payment, and, when taken together, these payments will support 81 percent of New Zealanders aged 18 and over with their bills this year.
Staff input acknowledged as housing investment announced
This is an awesome collaboration between Ngā Hapū o Ōtaki, Kāpiti Coast District Council and private developers.Ournew
Personally, I believe we lost a lot when local body elections stopped using voting at polling
Again, I acknowledge the work of key staff from councils collaborating regionally and, firstly, creating the Wellington Regional Growth Framework overseen by the Leadership Committee. And secondly, identifying a range of locations and projects across the region.
From a rates perspective, to save one percent of rates would require a $770,000 reduction in operating expenditure and well over $10 million
Putting the politics aside you then have the stark reality of the costs of running a district. To put it simply it’s a household or business budget on steroids – $1.8 billion of assets, annual revenue in excess of $100 million, capital expenditure of almost $80 million and more than 400 staff, delivering more than 40 different functions.
KCDC is recognised at the regional level as the lead agency for what is
ŌTAKI OUTLOOK: CHRIS PAPPS
It’s that time again. It’s that time when throughout the country registered voters are offered the chance to choose whom they want to be their mayors, councillors and, in the case of Kāpiti, community board members for the next three years.
Ōtaki and Paekakariki.
Under the new representation model you still have one councillor for Ōtaki, but now Paraparaumu has three and Waikanae two. Remember that magic number I mentioned of six votes . . . well combined, Paraparaumu and Waikanae get five votes. Add to that a districtwide councillor or mayor and you have a majority (six votes).
It was a privilege to host Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in our Ōtaki electorate.
The prime minister was welcomed by Raukawa Marae in Ōtaki where we discussed the awesome work that the community has done in terms of their Covid response. Thank you Moko Morris and your team at Te Puna Oranga o Ōtaki for tireless support to the community.
n Terisa is MP for the Ōtaki electorate
I also thanked her for supporting decisions at the regional level (through the Wellington Regional Leadership
Postal voting is not the same. And let’s not even start with how many people actually know how to make their views known using STV!
Yet often voters choose a candidate based on “oh, they looked good in their photo” or “they said they’d lower rates”.
THE ELECTORATE: TERISA NGOBI, MP
HUATAU Comment I Ōtaki Today Hūrae/July 2022 HUATAU/Comment whārangi 12whārangi 12
n James is Ōtaki Ward Councillor
Various community groups will advertise meetings for voters to meet the candidates and hear what they have to say about why you should vote for them instead of the other candidates.
The idea was for the focused application of regional resources to break through the bureaucratic silos between various government agencies and the similar separation between central and local government.Beingpart of this local, regional and central government watering hole of spatial and resources planning has given me an insight into the sterling work of KCDC staff in keeping the needs of Kāpiti in the forefront of planning discussions and political decisions.
The early identification of Ōtaki as a regional and district growth centre enabled the parallel case for the creation of seven CDOs with Ōtaki firmly embedded as one of them.
Beware voting for promises that can’t be fulfilled
them, then bin them, but do at least read them.
The question then is whose project are you going to cut or what level of service will you reduce, and that’s just for one year and 1 percent!
I’ve previously written about being wary of election promises as I’ve seen people voted in on promises they can’t fulfill. Why, you may wonder?Forstarters the very nature of politics means, if elected, you have only one vote. In Kāpiti we have the mayor and 10 councillors and to get a majority you need six votes in total. In simple terms you need to convince at least five of your colleagues that your idea is a good one. To add to that, council is advised by staff and it’s rare that a council goes against that advice. An example would be reducing the rate at which we fund depreciation, to reduce any rates increase. Staff would strongly advise against this and so it would be harder to convince your fellow elected members to support such a suggestion.
GURU’S VIEW: K GURUNATHAN
Another element that can play into it is parochialism. You want funding for a dog park for Ōtaki but other councillors want a community hall. Funding constraints often mean you can’t do both and so the “one vote” principle applies. It’s here that I will point out the implications of the Local Government Commissions determination and how that changes the balance, particularly for
This might all sound a bit cynical, but at the last election only 45.36 percent of the registered electors in the Kāpiti District voted, and only 44.02 percent in the Ōtaki ward.
Time to choose who will represent you
Please, do some reading or email the candidate some questions – can they commit the time required, ask them how they’ll deliver on their promises? Make an informed vote and elect competent people to serve your community.
LOCAL LENS: JAMES COOTES
There was a parallel creation of a planning tool called the Complex Development Opportunity (CDO).
stations on a particular day as we still do with nationalThere’selections.something about going to a local school, church or community hall, getting your papers and then standing alone in a little secluded space with a highlighter pen and having the chance to make your views known.
in capital expenditure.
Privilege to host PM in Ōtaki
Committee of mayors, iwi and two cabinet ministers), which recognised Ōtaki as a critical centre of growth.
That’s how you can contribute to local democracy.
known as the Ōtaki Project.
A massive thank you to Raukawa Marae, Rāriti Mātaki, Whaea IvisitwhoeverybodyHeke,andRawiriHapeta,DeniseMatuaRikihanaKeremihanaandelsemadethepossible.wouldalsolike to thank the rangatahi of Ōtaki who represented their kura with awesome kōrero and waiata. After we left Ōtaki we went to RJ’s Confectionery, a significant employer and contributor to the community in Levin. It was great to be able to show our prime minister how this delicious and iconic licorice is produced. We also had Housing Minister Megan Woods at the Ōtaki-Māori Racing Club, where she announced the first seven centres to receive government housing infrastructure funding. This funding enables more than 8000 more new homes to be built. A thousand papakainga, affordable and market housing are flagged for Ōtaki. During the visit Ngā Hapū o Ōtaki spoke of the need for good infrastructure, that cares for the environment and results in homes that are affordable and healthy that bring positive changes both now and into the future for mana whenua.
Cost of Living Payment started on August 1 and will support more than two million New Zealanders, including many here in Ōtaki. You will likely be eligible if you earned $70,000 or less over the period April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, and are aged 18 or older, but aren’t eligible for the Winter Energy Payment.
I make no apology for the candidates and their helpers who ignore the signs on your letterboxes which say “No Circulars” or “No advertising” or “No Junk Mail” and stick election leaflets in them anyway. Believe it or not, this is democracy at work. This might be their one opportunity to communicate with you.
Quite often these meetings are poorly attended. I’ve been to some where the only attendees are the organisers, some, but not all, of the candidates and a few family members who, given a choice, would rather have been home watching The Chase or Shortland Street
Between December 14, 2021, and April 4, 2022, my office wrote three letters to the minister raising the issue of the housing stress in Kāpiti and the impact on iwi/Māori in particular.
If there is a particular point I’d like to get across it is the need to recognise the silent performance of council staff and appreciate that, given the nature of the protocols straight-jacketing civil servants, they cannot stand on soapboxes like politicians to blow their ownDotrumpets.theymake mistakes? Yes they do but, on balance, they get a lot more right for the common good. Those mistakes indicate a need for improvement and not a definition of their total worth. n Guru is Kāpiti Coast Mayor.
The leaflets are usually short and simple. Scan
When the tide of infrastructure enablement rises it lifts and benefits the housing and well-being needs of everyone in the community.
Often the starting point for our rate increase can be anywhere from 4.5-6.5 percent before we add in anything additional due to funding depreciation, inflation etc, and to a degree future rates increases are already planned through the Long-Term Plan and are rarely reduced significantly.Somyplea to you . . . you, too, have one vote, so use that vote wisely. As elected members we often have to sit through hours of briefings and workshops, read hundreds of pages of information, listen to submissions and consultation to make a decision, and then we’re often criticised for that decision.
You’ve seen advertisements in general and social media encouraging people to register to vote, and other advertisements encouraging people to stand for election. You’ve received envelopes carrying pictures of strange orange stick figures with letters wanting to make sure you are registered to vote.
“Minister, we know that behind the work we do as politicians presenting good news like this to our communities, we have staff who have worked incredibly hard to enable such progress. These volumes on the Kāpiti Growth Strategy and our Housing Needs Assessment are a significant part of the reason why we were able to secure this investment,” I said.
Ōtaki Beach. Photo Fraser Carson
One of the big drivers for this tidal-wave of change has come from central government. It requires local bodies to allow for an influx of people, with all the attendant intensification of housing and associated infrastructure.
whārangi 13HUATAU/Comment I Ōtaki Today Hūrae/July 2022
“This
If councillors get their way, the city will not have solved the problem of quality affordable housing and they will no longer be able to claim it’s the “best little capital in the world”.
– Grant Robertson
The well-being question starts with you personally and with your whānau, but inescapably translates as a question about the general liveability of a town.
Just as importantly, it has to reasonably satisfy the needs of all citizens, not just the new arrivals or those who can afford the big house and section, but also those who need to house their whānau in affordable accommodation.
However, even that is now threatened by a majority of city councillors who want to scrap the preservation of heritage areas and open up willy-nilly development, despite ample vacant land areas begging for development.
238 Main Highway, Ōtaki For all enquiries, call 06 364
or email admin@fnotaki.co.nz GBR REALTY LTD MREINZ licensed agent REAA (2008)
The less optimistic view assumes that the expertise won’t extend to urbanist thinking and our decision makers will only plan to allow more housing to appear in pockets around the town.This must have been the approach taken to much of the development around central Paraparaumu, especially during the past 30 years. I recall attending a meeting in the town about 15 years ago and a real estate agent offered the advice that “the developers are coming and we just need to get out of the way”.
• Born and raised in Ōtaki.
OK, on that basis I’d expect to see a 100 percent turnout at the upcoming local body elections. That’s because the kind of town (and region) you live in is changing fast and probably dramatically, so your voice in what that looks like is personally crucial.
MEDIA & COMMUNITY
TRAVIS ROBERTSON travis@fnotaki.co.nz0221526629 8350
That all seems sensible, assuming the extra people will come in the numbers anticipated, but there are some reasonable questions about whether that will happen quite as projected.
• Real estate specialists for Ōtaki, Te Horo, and Manakau.
The above scenario can’t happen by accident. It requires a strategy and a plan of action put together by expert urbanist planners, architects, designers, engineers and developers. It’s based on a brief that requires significant change, while preserving the character of a small town.
The first thing to say about that is there are some great developers and there are some shockers. But most importantly the result for Paraparaumu, most notably around the airport, is an object lesson in short-sightedness, a lack of urbanist design thinking and the citizens getting short-changed.Justdownthe road in Wellington, mad nonplanning gripped the city in the 1960s and 1970s. Numerous heritage buildings were obliterated
to be replaced often by inferior architecture. Then the city’s leaders realised the folly of it and, with help from the likes of urbanist planner Stuart Niven and architect Ian Athfield, began a renaissance that has created a quality urban environment in the central city at least.
That also raises the question for Ōtaki. In 20 years, will it still be one of the “best small towns in Aotearoa?” That outcome starts with your vote in October.
GRANT ROBERTSON AREINZ grant@fnotaki.co.nz021660113
• 35 years in real estate –providing expert advice and exceptional service in residential, rural and lifestyle block sales, and subdivision development. wealth of experience, hard work, and the ability to empathise with buyers and sellers is what drives our continued success,”
If we take an optimistic view where planners are able to tease out all the issues, to build a vision for the town, the end result could be stunning. I can imagine well planned housing intensification near to public transport areas and local village centres (existing and new). I see much more use of public transport, and biking and walking trails. And I envision attraction of more businesses and opportunities, and see a town that accommodates most people well, whether at a low or higher socio-economic level.
Numbers have been our speciality for over 30 years. Let us look after yours so you can focus on your business. New clients: Book your free 30 minute consultation by visiting us at www.fenwickca.co.nz FENWICK ACCOUNTING SAME TRUSTED PEOPLE 06 04 777 6069 6/5 Arthur Street, Otaki. office@fenwickca.co.nz ADVISORYwww.fenwickca.co.nz | TRUSTS | COMPLIANCE PAYROLL | FARM ACCOUNTING | SERVICES |
Ōtaki could be even greater, if by design
How important is your living situation, the experiences you have of your circumstances and environment? Are you and your whānau happy and fulfilled?
In the place where we live, work and play, it’s one that’s fair to ask of any citizen. The things that come to mind are quality of community life, living in harmony with our environment and each other, affordability of accommodation, and social connectedness.Infact,those who say they enjoy high satisfaction with their living situation might tend to resist any reason for change or to put it at risk in any way. Those who are not so satisfied, for example those who might struggle to find decent and accommodation,affordablewouldbe likely looking for something better from their situation and community.Sowhoever you are, I’d hazard a guess that you’d put the question near the top of your wants and needs.
Assuming they do come, how will doubling the number of houses, in a town like Ōtaki, affect your living situation and the general liveability and feel of the town?
n Fraser is founder of the community development websites flightdec.com, knowthis.nz and inhub.org.nz
FRASER CARSON
Photo supplied
Kwin soon found a job at a clothes factory handstitching, sewing buttons
Kwin arrived in New Zealand in 1953 after travelling six weeks by ship and was shocked to see that Lun was a much older man than in the photo sent to her family. If it had not been such a long journey to get here, she would have got back on the ship!
day. A lot of the time Kwin had to wheel cases of veges across the railway tracks to get them back to the house in Dunstan Street. Often the station master would help, and Jack Yung (Yung Min Sook) sometimes took their veges on his truck to their house, where the veges would be prepared for market.
The couple later leased land in Waerenga Road across from the house. They also grew beans and later spring onions at their house.
Not long after, Lun and Kwin leased land and a house at CD Farm Road in Levin. In November 1956, son Peter was born. With the two wee ones in tow, Kwin worked hard with Lun planting and harvesting vegetables for market.
PITOPITO KŌRERO/News I Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022 whārangi 14 It’s OK to seek help. Never hesitate if you’re worried about you or someone else. If someone has attempted suicide or you’re worried about their immediate safety: • call your local mental health crisis assessment team 0800 745 477 or take them to the emergency department of your nearest hospital • if they are in immediate physical danger to themselves or others, call 111 • stay with them until support arrives • remove any obvious means of suicide they might use (eg ropes, pills, guns, car keys, knives) • stay calm, take deep breaths • let them know you care • keep them talking – listen and ask questions without judging • make sure you’re safe. For more information, talk to your local doctor, medical centre, hauora, community mental health team, school counsellor or counselling service. If you don’t get the help you need, keep trying. Services for support & information: • Lifeline 0800 543 354 • Samaritans 0800 726 666 – confidential support if lonely or in emotional distress • Depression Helpline 0800 111 757 or text 4202 – talk to a counsellor about how you’re feeling or to ask questions • Healthline 0800 611 116 – advice from trained registered nurses • www.depression.org.nz • Local counselling: Bill Logan, Te Horo Beach. 027 243 1098. bl.co. nz For children and young people • Youthline 0800 376 633, free text 234, email talk@youthline. co.nz or webchat at youthline.co.nz (webchat avail 7-11pm) – for young people, whānau and friends. • What’s Up 0800 942 8787 (0800 WHATSUP) or webchat at www. whatsup.co.nz from 5-10pm for ages 5-18. • Kidsline 0800 543 754 (0800 KIDSLINE) – up to 18 years. HELPLINES AND LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ŌTAKI 282 Mill Road 06 364 7190 WAIKANAE 5 Aputa Place 04 293 3735 hobsonmills.com • office@hobsonmills.com Ōtaki Today news stands are at • RiverStone Café • Ōtaki Library • Café SixtySix • Ōtaki Beach dairy • Manakau Market • The Sponge Kitchen, Levin • Olive Grove Café, Waikanae Ōtaki Today quality journalism every month also online at otakitoday.com ŌTAKI TODAY AT STANDS THROUGHOUT DISTRICT Last of a gardening generation Kwin Hor TSE b June 15, 1925, d July 8, 2022, aged 97
When Lun died in 1979, Kwin continued to grow spring onions and loved to look after the flowers she grew in the garden around the house. She also sold bunches of her freesias to the Makans for their shop on the highway.
There were few holidays for the family. In December 1976, Kwin made her only trip back to her village in China, as she had heard from her brother that their mum, aged 82, was unwell.
She liked listening to Chinese opera on her cassette tapes, and her favourite TV included The Dean Martin Show, Andy Williams, and Coronation Street
Kwin learned to knit, and would knit garments for the family without using any patterns. She would also stitch work clothes for herself by hand, and became a great cook.
Virginia and Peter could not speak or understand any English until they went to school as Cantonese was always spoken at home. They remember being hit on the head with chopsticks if they spoke English during dinner, but they are grateful that they are able, to this day, to speak their own language.
Kwin never learned to speak English fluently; just enough to get by. Her children would teach her new English words in the evenings and she would write them down and put the meaning in Chinese characters next to them.
Two years later, she went to Te Hopai Home and Hospital in Wellington, where she lived for 2½ years and died there on July 8, 2022, aged 97.
HOME: Kwin Hor Tse at the back of her house in Dunstan Street.
She was born in 1925 in the village of Bak Chun, Guangzhou, China. She was fortunate her family could send her to school when females usually didn’t get that luxury, so she could read and write Chinese well. Even so, her schooling was cut short when the Japanese invaded China. She was 14 at the time.
But she stayed and settled into a house in Wellington with Lun, who worked as a kitchen hand at Wellington Hospital. Soon Kwin had a job as a dish washer at a Chinese restaurant, but this didn’t last long – some New Zealand men would go to the kitchen and take a peek at her. Her boss said they had never seen such a pretty woman before.
In 1960 Lun and Kwin leased land near the Ōtaki railway station, and bought a house on the corner of Dunstan Street and Waerenga Road, Ōtaki. In January 1962, Paul was born.
Kwin Hor Tse was one of the last of a generation of Chinese market gardeners in Ōtaki.
Market gardening was not an easy life. The couple worked hard every
Before coming to New Zealand, Kwin was living in Guangzhou City looking after the young daughter of a female doctor, who did not want her to leave them.But after viewing a photo of her future husband, she decided to take the chance of a new life, leaving behind her mother and two brothers.
Kwin loved plodding away in her flower garden, doing this until she was in her early 90s. The Dunstan Street house was Kwin’s home until September 2018 when she moved to live with Virginia in Wellington.
Source: Daughter Virginia Greig
on, etc. She enjoyed the work and the people she worked with, so stayed until near the time her first child, Virginia, was born in July 1955.
the sort of websites where the vaccine is an experimental gene therapy, face masks don’t work, and climate change is a fraud.
And we are now seeing increasing rates of
There are not particularly sensible, but all too human, reasons why people don’t wear masks. There is peer pressure: a person might go to a venue with every intention of wearing a mask, but because most other people are not wearing one they don’t either, despite their better judgement.Somepeople are reluctant to wear masks because they view them as a sign of weakness, overreaction, or that they look silly – it seems some people would rather be sick than feel uncool. For some there is the racial bias that
Many conservative websites push this “Trumpian ideology” of the primacy of individual rights and freedoms, combined with a disregard for science and experts. They are
reinfection, which brings with it an added risk of serious illness and long Covid.
SCIENCE
no one knows what the future holds. Mask mandates and recommendations will have to be adjusted according to an everchanging situation.
In the meantime, the Government recommends that: “As a general rule, you should wear a face mask whenever you are in a public indoor setting or if it is hard to keep your distance from people you do not know.”
Some people are reluctant to wear masks because they don’t believe they work. In fact, there is convincing scientific evidence that masks are helpful in controlling the spread of Covid-19. Unfortunately, some people choose to do their research on social media where not only are they told that masks don’t work, but also that they are an infringement of our basic freedoms imposed by tyrannical governments. More than one retailer has had to deal with an angry maskless customer ranting about Nuremberg trials.
At the time of writing this article, hospitalisations and deaths from Covid-19 in New Zealand have been increasing.
It’s good advice.
masks are to be dismissed as a cultural quirk of Asian countries, where mask use is widespread andThenormalised.Government recently strongly recommended the wearing of face masks in schools for the first four weeks of the third term, when school winter infections are typically high. There was substantial scientific advice that it should have been a temporary mandate – but when you mix science and politics, you get politics.WithCovid-19
n Health scientist Dr Steve Humphries is a director at Hebe Botanicals in Ōtaki. He was previously a lecturer at Massey University and director of the Health Science Programme
Masks a rational response to minimise harm
Bronchiectasis
There is no single fix for this pandemic. We still need the additional protections of physical distancing and mask wearing if we are to minimise illness and the burden on our healthcare system.
But you don’t have to look far now to see that fewer people are wearing masks. No doubt some of this is because people are simply over the pandemic – we all just want to get back to a normal life. But pandemics don’t go away just because we wish they would.
People don’t wear masks because of a wide range of beliefs. Some people think masks are not necessary because they do not see Covid-19 as being that serious. It’s true that most people will have only mild symptoms, or even be asymptomatic – so, by personal experience, Covid-19 might not seem a big deal.
But for many it is a severe illness; there are now more than 1500 deaths in New Zealand attributable to it, with a seven-day rolling average of 19 deaths a day.
Fortunately, most New Zealanders appreciate that pandemics aren’t a rallying call to fight for our rights and freedoms. Pandemics are a social problem that require a sense of social responsibility and a collaborative response – people need to unite and work together. Wearing a seat belt, or a face mask, isn’t government overreach infringing our freedoms. It’s a rational response to minimise harm.
research study Do you or someone you know have a lung condition called bronchiectasis? P3 Research Kapiti is looking for volunteers aged 18 years and over to take part in the ASPEN Study a new study investigating a potential treatment for bronchiectasis that is not caused by cystic fibrosis. You may qualify to take part in this study if you have a diagnosis of bronchiectasis that is not caused by cystic fibrosis, have symptoms such as coughing up sputum every day, and have had two or more ‘flare ups’ or chest infections over the past year, that were treated with antibiotics. You will be reimbursed for reasonable travel expenses. If you are interested in taking part or want to find out more, we would like to hear from you. Apply online by visiting: www.p3research.co.nz and follow the links to the ‘current studies’ page or phone 04 908 1004, to speak with one of our team.
Image Fernando Zhiminaicela, Pixabay
And contagious respiratory viral illnesses, such as Covid-19 and influenza, are serious because of the enormous economic burden they place on society through lost workdays and the costs of health care. In the US (where they keep better statistics than us) the annual economic cost of seasonal flu is more than US$11 billion.
whārangi 15HAUORA/Health I Ōtaki Today Hūrae/July 2022
DR STEVE HUMPHRIES
This is not unexpected. With the colder winter months people are more likely to be mixing indoors with less Vaccinationventilation.remains our best protection against hospitalisations and death, but it doesn’t give complete protection, and protection wanes with time, and newer variants have been more efficient at evading immunity.
You might not consider yourself to be at high risk from Covid-19, but we wear masks to protect others for whom it might be a serious illness. That shop worker’s mask is to protect you; you should wear a mask to protect them.
Interventions such as vaccines and mask wearing are cost-saving – they save more money than they cost to implement.
A valid trial period clause will also state that the employee cannot raise a personal grievance or other legal proceedings in relation to their dismissal (though this does not extend to a personal grievance raised regarding another matter, such as harassment or discrimination).Foratrialperiod to be valid the employment agreement must be signed before the employee started their employment. This means that if an employee signs their agreement after they started work (even if they only did some small tasks for the employer) the employer cannot dismiss them under the trial period.
As business owners, we are in the “profit game”. We might all have our unique reasons and motivations, but to win we need to make profit – bottom line. If businesses make losses, they won’t be businesses for very long.The most important formula in business is one that, if learnt and applied properly, can add massive profit to your bottom line.
It is worth noting also that employers have a duty throughout an employment relationship to act in good faith. This means that they need to let their employee know what is expected of them and tell them along the way if they are falling short of expectations. Further, the employee should be given feedback and an opportunity to improve.
• improvements of more than 30 percent in net profit are possible; don’t believe the naysayers
Are you thinking about changing jobs, or do you know someone who is? Or are you an employer thinking about hiring a new employee?
Before we kick off, let me ask you: Do you see marketing as an expense in your business, or as an investment?
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Image by Pexels, Pixabay
In either of these situations, both employees and employers should be aware of whether their employment agreement contains a trial period, and what this means for them.
We all want customers, revenue and profit, but they are actually results of the important parts, which are leads, conversion rate, average dollar sale (how much each customers spends each time), the number of transactions (how many times a customer buys from you) and margins (really, how well you manage your costs to deliver your product or service).
Ōtaki’s Matta Products won the Excellence in Sustainability category at the ExportNZ ASB Wellington Export Awards, held at Te Papa on August 4.
Speaking of ads, design at least 10-12 and test each out. Eighty percent of marketing fails, so it’s imperative to have a wide set of strategies. Acquisition cost vs lifetime value
FRANCESCA FLAWS
So, if an employee has a valid trial period clause in their agreement, and their employer has acted in good faith throughout the employment relationship, the employee may be dismissed under their trial period.
YOUR BUSINESS
whārangi 16Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022
Know your numbers
What is a trial period? Having a trial period clause in an employment contract allows an employer to dismiss (fire) a new employee without having to go through the hoops required in an ordinary dismissal. For instance, a regular dismissal for poor performance requires the employer to put the employee on a performance development plan and try in good faith to help bring the employee up to the standard required. If the employer doesn’t follow the right steps, the employee could take the employer to the employment tribunal. With a valid trial period, an employer might need only give the employee a week’s notice, and to have consulted with them about their performance briefly.However, if an employee’s trial period isn’t valid, or has been exercised incorrectly, their employer could face the repercussions of a regular wrongful dismissal. That’s why it’s important to know how these clauses operate –whether you’re a new employee or an employer hiring newSo,staff.here are some key facts you should know about trialTrialperiods.periods can only be used for the first 90 days of employment. At any point during those 90 days, the employer can dismiss the employee. The length of notice that the employer must give can be smaller than it would be ordinarily – eg, one week instead of four.
Let’s assume the business has 4000 leads (per year), converts 1000 into customers (a rate of 25 percent) and each spends $100 on average twice each year. The formula is: leads x conversion rate = customers, customers x average sale x number of transactions = revenue. Doing the maths, that’s revenue of $200,000. Assuming your margin is 25 percent, your profit will be $50,000.Here’s where you take the power and control and ramp up your business. Can you improve your conversion rate by 10 percent in the next year? How about attracting 10 percent more leads and then increasing average sales and number of transactions by the same 10 percent? If you work really hard, could you find 10 percent in your costs, or raise prices to increase margins?
n Francesca is a general practice solicitor based at the Ōtaki office of Wakefields Lawyers.
If you’re prepared to put in the learning, the effort and the time, the rewards can be huge.
n If want to grow your business, call 0222 332 669 or email chris@centreofbusinessexcellence.com.
How to grow your business into the success you want it to be
He says a lot of things need to be right to make a good recycling business, but a customer is not always going to buy a product just because it’s recycled.
“It needs to be a product that provides a solution. And it needs to be high quality, a safe and compliant product.
“As a business we’ve been able to take a methodology that’s earthed in recycling but that’s able to make a really fantastic product as well.”
By working out how many customers your strategies brought in you can calculate the acquisition cost of each one by simply dividing the amount of money you spent on those strategies by the number of customers. You want the lifetime value of the customer to be bigger than the acquisition cost. Lifetime value (how much each customer spends with you over the next several weeks, months or even years) can be hugely affected by how you engage them, so make sure you study ways to increase it. Read books, study sales techniques, get a coach – do whatever it takes in your environment to focus on delivering increased value so customers spend more and come back often, because repeat business is profitable business.Youare buying customers. If lifetime value is greater than acquisition cost, your return on investment is positive. If I promised to give you $2 for every $1 you gave me, the only question would be how many dollars you could give me, because you’d be making 100 percent every time.
The recycling company’s managing director, Brent Harris, says recycling PVC and rubber so it doesn’t go to landfills is very much part of Matta’s DNA.
EXCELLENT: With the Excellence in Sustainability award are, from left, Matta manufacturing manager Tim Scott, factory operations manager Sandra Rosenberg and managing director Brent Harris. Photo supplied
He says sustainability is at the core of how Matta does business, whether in New Zealand or overseas.
Marketing is an investment Done well, marketing has a few elements to it. First, you need to measure everything. When a potential customer walks through your door (or a virtual door, nowadays) ask how they found you. Was it through the ad you placed, was it word-of-mouth from a
CHRIS WHELAN
PAKIHI/Business
Finally, a trial period can only be used where the employer has fewer than 19 staff when the agreement was signed.
The key points in growing your business include:
• there is no free lunch – put in the work, read, study, learn, get a coach; do what it takes to make your business a roaring success.
MATTERS OF LAW
In fact, you’d probably start using the profit dollars to give those to me also! In exactly the same way, if every dollar invested in marketing gives you $2 back, then marketing is no longer an expense at all. Get into the details
“It was an absolute pleasure to be acknowledged among the finalists and
• leverage and focusing on numbers is critical; do more, with less and see your ROI grow
all the other businesses who were at the awards.”Matta has local offices and a plant on Riverbank Road, and has been operating in Ōtaki since 1992.
Trial needWhatperiod:youtoknow
previous customer, or a networking event or trade show you attended? You need to know the source of every lead so you can figure out which of your attraction strategies works best for you. By measuring you will know how many new leads the money you spent on the ad brought in and from there you can work out how many customers that converted into.
“Matta has a really strong recycling and sustainability claim because it’s embeded into our business model,” Brent says. “We wear our recycling claims with pride and responsibility.“It’ssomething we talk about with our customers and something we encourage our customers to do.”
Remembering that the goal of marketing is to create a niche, a uniqueness about your business so that you never have to compete on price, how do you approach it? The chances are your accountant will tell you it is an expense in your Profit & Loss statement. Not wrong, but really not true in a business growth sense. Here’s why.
Top award for Matta
• Remove dominant, upright shoots completely.
MAHI MĀRA/Gardening
• Then, get right inside the canopy, removing the occasional whole branch to detangle and open. Where you can, remove the longest, tallest and widest branches that are causing imbalance. I love a two-for-one deal!
• Stand back and check for balance. Finish with one or two heading cuts to equalise the shape. Take it easy on those heading cuts to avoid losing too many fruits.
Begin Take a moment with your tree, before pruning. Pay attention to two things in particular: imbalance – for example, is one side taller and/ or wider than the other; and clutter, for example poor light penetration.
in and prune shoots or branches at their origin (thinning cuts). This creates good airflow and inspires new shoots (future fruits), while leaving much of the fruitful wood intact for the createtrunkcomingseason.forthcomingFreshshootsclosetotheeachseasonacompact,yet
n Kath Irvine has been growing vegetables to feed her family for 21 years. Spray-free, natural, low-input food gardens are her thing. Kath offers organic gardening advice through her articles, books, workshops, and garden consultations.
How and when to prune the citrus trees
Citrus restore beautifully, so if you’ve got an old, dire tree – take heart. Either follow along the process I’ve just described, and slowly restore it over a few years. Or if the tree is way too tall with very little lower growth (or you just want it sorted now), lop it off to about 2m and it will sprout away again. You wont get fruit for a goodly few years while it rebuilds, but such is the quid pro quo of life.
MANDARIN A young mandarin tree above with a bit much clutter down below on lower branches, and below, after pruning with the clutter removed for good air flow.
• Prune off all lower branches to keep a clear 1 metre-ish space above the soil line. This airflow gap is super important to help prevent pests and fungus.
Drag out the removed wood and begin a stack. Put all successive prunings on this pile so you can keep it real about how much you’ve removed.
whārangi 17Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022
Choose a lovely, dry day and begin your prune by removing any dead and damaged wood back to healthy Removewood.allgrowth that comes off the rootstock, the bit below the graft. Rootstocks are a different variety, which is why the shoots looks different and might well be thorny.
Restoration
Timing is everything with citrus. If you live somewhere mild, then prune late winter, right after harvest. Otherwise delay pruning until risk of frost is over – mid to late spring is fine.
Beware of summer pruning though, as this is when the pest citrus borer is out and about.Asmall annual prune is all citrus need – small, but meaningful. This is not to say they can’t take a hard prune if needs must. Be aware the next few years cropping will be light as the canopy rebuilds.
productive tree.
Want to make a change? We have the job for you. Stand for Council. Nominations are open now until noon, 12 August. Visit kapiticoast.govt.nz/vote for more info.
Meyer lemons bear fruit nearly year round. Pruning a tree covered in fruit can be mentally hard. Just get it done and once you settle into a rhythm of an annual prune, you’ll be taking only a small amount off each time.
THE EDIBLE GARDEN KATH IRVINE
Airflow
Although trimming around the outside (heading cuts) of the tree feels safer, it removes most of the fruiting sites and creates a very twiggy, dense canopy through which light and air can’t penetrate. This is because heading cuts fork out after Ratherpruning.thangoing around the outside, reach
Uncovered swagger stick tells sad tale
Kingi Tahiwi was born on November 17, 1914, in Ōtaki. After schooling at Wellington College, he attended Victoria University from 1932-38, He was an active and popular student, and in 1935 he won the university’s prestigious Plunket Medal oratory contest.
This story acknowledges that every item in the Ōtaki Museum collection has at least three associated stories to tell – of itself (its qualities and its origin), of the person(its owner/user), and of the relationship between person and object.
Photo
Two years later, he joined the newly formed National Commercial Broadcasting Service as one of its first Māori announcers, going on air with 2ZB Wellington, which began broadcasting on April 28, 1937.
Along with the stick, I had uncovered the saddest of stories.
The person
Walking alongside a shelving unit, in the museum’s collection store, I spotted, poking over the edge of the top shelf, the end of something. What I had found was a baton identified as a “swagger stick”1 about 50cm long. The top half was carved, the bottom half tapered, but smooth.
He was a regular host on a session “aimed at female listeners and his smooth on-air technique and good looks quickly made him a favourite”.2
The next steps
In a complex twist of fate, one of the crew, Sergeant Alan Glover, had also been born in Ōtaki. He was 23 when he died. The four men are commemorated on the Alamein Memorial at the El Alamein War Cemetery in Egypt.
n Compiled with assistance from Rupene Waaka and Chris Gerritzen
Starting at the top is the tekoteko, representing ancient tribal ancestors who provide protection and guardianship for the iwi. They are often placed at the top of the wharenui; above the mahau (porch). The figure represented here is most likely Tūtānekai – representing Te Arawa, the iwi of his paternal grandmother.Thisinterpretation is reinforced by the carving of the pūtōrino (flute) –an instrument Tūtānekai played with great expertise – held in the fingers of the figure. This aspect also identifies the swagger stick as an item made for personal use.
based in Alexandria, Egypt.
A final thought: The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas said that life is but a flash of light between the womb and the tomb. In the case of Kingi Tahiwi, it was a great tragedy that his flash was not given the time to shine to the fullest brilliance that it would undoubtedly have reached.
Notwithstanding the explicitly personal nature of the swagger stick, and the strong kaitiaki representations, it did not accompany Kingi Tahiwi to war. After his death, it was found among his effects left behind in New Zealand.
On February 6, 1940, he was one
The swagger stick had belonged to Flying Officer Kingi Te Aho Aho Gilling Tahiwi, RNZAF. Its carved portion tells a unique story.
1 A swagger stick is a short stick or riding crop usually carried by a uniformed person as a symbol of authority.
On July 26, 1941, Kingi qualified as a pilot; on September 14 he sailed from New Zealand to England; from October 14 to July 30, 1942, he was in the United Kingdom with a variety of units. While there, he participated in a radio programme Calling New Zealand (see footnote).
whārangi 18Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022
DAVID LEDSON
The relationship
AIRMAN: Kingi Tahiwi in a colourised photograph of him, probably in Egypt, in full flying gear.
OtakiMuseum
Image: NicholascollectionAlbert
The final element is the representation of a mokomoko (lizard). In te ao Māori, mokomoko represent several things; in this case a kaitiaki (guardian) and as a reflection of the undoubted talent of Kingi Tahiwi.
VETERANS: Ōtaki Navy veteran Rupene Waaka holds the picture of Kingi Tahiwi at top, while his cousin, Army veteran Nicholas Albert, grasps the found swagger stick. Nicholas is Kingi’s nephew.
Kingi Tahiwi joined the newly formed
HĪTŌRIA /History
of its first Māori announcers, going on air with 2ZB Wellington, which began broadcasting on April 28, 1937. He was a regular host on a session “aimed at female listeners and his smooth on-air technique and good looks quickly made him a favourite”.
The object
On August 2, 1942, Kingi arrived in Egypt flying a Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber; on August 21 he joined No 203 (RAF) Squadron,
Ōtaki Today
Wednesday, September 30, was the final step, when he and his crew of three flew out over the Mediterranean Sea in their Martin Baltimore light bomber to carry out reconnaissance on an Italian convoy sighted steaming to the west of Crete. It was Kingi Tahiwi’s sixth operational sortie, and it was to be his last. Aircraft and crew disappeared without a trace.
ServiceBroadcastingCommercialNationalasone
of the announcers who broadcast nationwide the celebrations at Waitangi to mark the centenary of the signing of the Treaty.
2 Notes to a recording of one Kingi’s shows at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision: Search Kingi Tahiwi at ngataonga.org.nz
On March 23, 1941, five months after marrying Gretchen Ryan in Wellington, he enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in Levin, taking the first steps of a journey that would end tragically just 18 months later.
In 1909, Franklyn Barrett of the renowned French filmmaking firm Pathé Frères was entrusted to travel through New Zealand and capture scenic sights that the world would otherwise not know existed.
By Daniel White, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
In February of 1910, The Dominion published an article about Barrett’s successful endeavour. In the article, he is quoted as saying: “I believe that I have secured some of the finest scenic views ever kinematographed in the world, and its exhibition in all parts of the world should do New Zealand incalculable good, as it brings the scenic glories of New Zealand directly under everyone’s notice, no matter in what city or country they live.”
No doubt Barrett was right, and his footage drew many visitors to the shores of this country – renowned still for its scenic wonder.
Early footage of timeless natural scenery
whārangi 19HĪTŌRIA/History I Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022
GOT OLD PHOTOS? If you have old school photos – or any photos of old Ōtaki – please get in touch. We’re building our archive so we can keep publishing snapshots of life when the town and district were younger. Email us, or give us a call. Include names and other information as you can. Contact debbi@idmedia.co.nz especially if you have additions or corrections to captions.
Back row: Brian Young, Jimmy Simcox, Uma Carkeek, Wayne Smith, Noel Turnbull, Gavin Sims, Johnny Gerrard, Peter Tse.
Row 2: Teacher Ian Tollan, Alan Meads, Terry Hart, Graeme Peter, Paul Lewin, Mike Manga, Puke Wara, Warwick Lawry, John Rice, Douglas Garrity.
Ōtaki
Barrett’s visual record of the glacier in its former days
The opening shots in Across the Mountain Passes of New Zealand follow a horse-drawn passenger coach as it winds its way through the beautiful and perilous Buller Gorge and bushy South Island
The fruits of Barrett’s labour were later featured in two short films from Pathé Frères – Across the Mountain Passes of New Zealand, and Coasts of New Zealand
Row 4: Theresa Barker, Karen Townrow, Arlene Hazelwood, Helen Rowe, ?, Phillipa Vincent, Lorraine Waitoa, Carol Edwards, Betty Chung.
SCHOOL
surrounds. Notably, the footage has some colour – rare for the time. This was achieved in post-production by cutting stencils for each colour and hand-painting each frame of film – a technique dubbed Pathécolor. The technique adds an impressive depth of field to the otherwise black and white footage. It also emphasises the abundance of green within the South Island valleys.
Barrett’s second film, Coasts of New Zealand, spotlights tourism in the lower South Island. The opening shots showcase Milford Sound, and we see impressive numbers of visitors viewing the classic panorama from boats. British writer Rudyard Kipling had visited Milford Sound in the 1890s and declared it “the eighth wonder of the world”, so the popularity a decade or so later is no greatThesurprise.filmthen captures the journey of tourists who have boldly chosen to traverse a land route to reach “the most picturesque spots”. The route is unclear, but we later see the tourists climbing Franz Josef Glacier. What is striking – and somewhat sobering – is seeing footage of the glacier sprawling far down the valley. In years since, a changing climate has seen it retract steadily into the chillier alpine heights. We are fortunate to have
an impressive establishing shot of men and women gathered by a wharf, we’re shown a large carriage crossing a river ford. We then take a trip down a much calmer waterway with unmistakably New Zealand vegetation at either side.
FRONT ROW: Rodney Radcliffe, Peter Evans, Ross Drake, Barry Pearce, Graeme Moss, Graham Doyle. Photo courtesy of Pauline Watson. Assistance with names: Barbara Macdonald, Lois Pritchard (nee Sharp).
A small, motorised passenger boat in frame is tugging the boat on which Barrett’s camera is filming. Barrett would surely have been relieved when his camera and precious footage made it to the end of his venture intact.
n
SCENIC ROUTE: A screenshot from Across the Mountain Passes of New Zealand (1910), F10078. Image courtesy of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
OLD PHOTOS: School Form 2, 1969
The film then turns its attention to New Zealand’s waterways. After
Row 3: Shirley Searanke, Vicky Farrow, Elizabeth Cook, Alice Te Oka, Denise Tapp, Gwen Gallagher, Debra Bird, Gillian Gray, Melinda Seng, Marie Akuira.
Compiled by Debbi Carson
ŌTAKI SCHOOL, Form 2, 1969:
Ngā Taonga has a huge number of recordings that capture New Zealand life. They can be explored online at ngataonga. org.nz. Get the Ngā Taonga newsletter using the Sign Up button at the top of the page.
BACK ROW: Peter Whiteman, Terry Jacobs, Brian (‘Chooky’) Cootes, (?), David Wallace, Terry Wall, James Lambie, Ron Wylie. ROW 2: Teacher Ian Tollan, Noel McCutcheon, Lorraine Husband, Judith Bird, Susan Hakaraia, Rangi Ropata, Joy Jensen, ? Pratt, Frank Wilton. ROW 3: Dubby Wehipehana, Marion G, Glenys Arcus, Faye Purchase, Wendy Kyle, (?) Faye Taylor, Helen Hunt, Barbara Macdonald, Susan Husband, (?). ROW 4: (?), Alison Stewart, Maureen Macdonald, Sylvia Fulford, (?), Jenny Brown, Josie Gilbert, Pauline Hull, Beryl Robinson, Frances Bradbury, Aileen Page.
Photo and names courtesy of Debbi Carson.
Rare copies of these delicate early 20th century nitrate films are cared for in a Wellington vault by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, where they have been part of the collection since being acquired by the New Zealand Film Archive decades ago. Thanks to digitisation, viewers can easily watch them from home (search Franklyn Barrett at ngataonga.org.nz).
Our quality journalism attracts more readers. Your advertising attracts more business. The smarter ad spend. Go to: otakitoday.com/Advertise
• To watch these and other scenic films online, visit ngataonga.org.nz/searchlanding and type in any keyword – locations, people, or even years. Try “1910” to see what else was new the year these films were made.
LAST MONTH’S PHOTO: ŌTAKI SCHOOL, Form II 1956
More than 100,000 New Zealanders have signed a petition to ban single-use plastic bottles. When the petition was handed over on the steps of Parliament, activists created a largerthan-life sculpture of a toroa bird. Its 10-metre steel-frame wing was filled with discarded plastic bottles. Greenpeace worker Juressa Lee said the
Thirty one new emojis have been approved for 2022, and will be released later this year. Emojipedia is the company responsible for choosing the colourful images used by people all over the world. Despite the coloured hearts being popular emojis, a single plain pink heart has never been released, but will be this year, along with a light
FUNTA M ARIKIWORDMAKEROT KIDS’ NEWS Then Animals in Vehicles is the perfect gift. Do digger-haveyoualovingkid? debbi@idmedia.co.nz027Orderavailable.T-shirtsfrom:6987529or only $20/ copy COLOURING COMPETITION NAME: AGE: PHONE: The word science comes from the Latin word scientia, which meant knowledge, expertness, or experience. By the late 14th century, science meant collective knowledge. It has consistently carried the meaning of people seeking, systematising and sharing knowledge. Check out our list of words on page 21. only $20/ copy only $25/ tee T-shirts available. Order from: 027 698 7529 or debbi@idmedia.co.nz
wincolouredDropSnowmanCoatHailSnowflakesStormRainColdScarfyourpictureintoŌtakiToday’sboxatRiverstoneCafébySeptember11toa$20bookvoucheroran
Animals inVehicles book.
Giant snails invade town Ice
Giant African land snails have invaded a town in Florida in the United States. The snails are big, slimy and are causing a lot of trouble. There have been more than 1000 snails reported in more than 20 homes across the town of Tampa. The pests are a giant African land snail, according
PETITION TO BAN SINGLE USE PLASTICS
blue and grey heart. Other newbies include a donkey, an angel wing, a jellyfish, an afro comb and a Khanda, which is the symbol of the Sikh faith. The emojis will go through a final round of approval in September before they are released. Once approved, Apple, Google and Samsung will have to make their own designs for the emojis.
Kyuss’S ????? SEARCH Look UP, look DOWN, ACROSS, DIAGONALLY and BACK! Put a line through each word as you find it. Snow
sculpture, nicknamed Birdy, was created by artist Michael Simpson as a tribute to a real albatross found struggling in the surf by a family at a Napier beach. The toroa’s death inspired Greenpeace’s campaign to ban single-use plastic bottles, culminating in the petition. New Zealanders discard more than a billion plastic bottles every year.
31 New emojis set for release is e n cc e Did you know the number of words that can be made out of the word SCIENCE is 37
to the Florida Department of Agriculture. The snails are extremely destructive and are illegal to keep or transport in America. They eat more than 500 types of plants and will even eat the plaster off a building. African land snails can lay up to 2500 eggs a year and grow up to 20cm long.
whārangi 21HAPORI/Community I Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022
ŌTAKI PLAYCENTRE Mill Rd. 364 5787. Mon, Tue, Thu 9.30am-noon
ŌTAKI WOMEN’S INSTITUTE Rema Clark remaclark@xtra.co.nz
ŌTAKI FOODBANK 43 Main St, Lucy Tahere 364 0051
EQUESTRIAN HORSE CLUB 364 6181: Horse Trekking club Debbie 364 6571; Ōtaki Pony Club Paul Pettengell 364 5781
COMMUNITYMEDICAL
ŌTAKI POLICE 06 364-7366, corner Iti and Matene Sts
BIRTHRIGHT ŌTAKI OPPORTUNITY SHOP 23 Matene St, Ōtaki. 06 364-5524
AROHANUI HOSPICE SHOP 11 Main St. 06 929-6603
COBWEBS OPPORTUNITY SHOP TRUST 60 Main St. OCEAN VIEW RESIDENTIAL CARE Marine Pde 06 364-7399 Hart, Lorraine and Sue.
The award-winning group of volunteers led by Sheila and Tony Hart provide a range of hearty soups from 11am every Thursday to whoever drops in, often up to 60 people.
SCIENCE WORD MAKER ANSWERS from page 24: 6 letters: 1. scenic 2. nieces. 5 letters: 3. cense 4. cines 5. cines 6. scene 7. since 8. 4sinceletters: 9. cine 10. nice 11. cees 12. ices 13. sice 14. esne 15. seen 16. sene 17. sine. 3 letters: 18. cee 19. cis 20. ice 21. sec 22. sic 23. ens 24. ins 25. nee 26. sen 27. sin 28. ese 29. see 30. sei. 2 letters: 31. en 32. in 33. ne 34. ee 35. es 36. is 37. si. ORDER your Ts at debbi@idmedia.co.nz or text 027 285 4720 namesstreetŌtakiincludedstreeteveryOTAKI WAERENGA ROAD MAIN STREET AOTAKI STREET MAIRE STREET TARA TOTARA PLACE STREET ATMORE LEMON STREET MCLAREN PLACE KIRK STREET GARDNER PLACE TEMUERA STREET MATAI STREET MATAI HINAU STREET WAY ITI STREET RANGATIRA STREET MATENE CONVENT ROAD WAIHURIHIA LUPIN TĀMIHANA PLACE STREET LANE TASMAN CONVENTROADROADTE RAUPARAHA STREET DOMAIN ROADRAUKAWA STREET MATENE STREET ANZAC ROAD HADFIELD STREET RIVERBANK ROAD AKE PLACE KATEA STREET MIRO STREET TĪTOKI STREET NIKAU PLACE SUE AVENUE PLACE JEAN DUNSTAN HARIATA STREET ARTHUR STREET BERTELSEN COURT MILLHAVEN PLACE KINGI TE AHO AHO PLACE KNIGHTS GROVERANGIURUROADMILLROADMANUAOTEROADOLD COACH ROAD BENNETTS ROAD WAIORONGOMAI ROAD MARINE PARADE MĀNUKA STREET TOI STREET HEALTH CAMP ROAD NGAIO STREET KOROMIKO STREET RATA STREET MOANA STREET KOWHAI STREET KŌNINI STREET SEAGRASS ROBERT STREET STREET PLACE SCOTT COUNTY ROAD RAHUI ROAD WAITOHU FREEMANS ROAD LUDLAM AO ELPHICKSTREET SPERANZA TE RINGAWHATI ŌTAKI GORGE ROAD ADDINGTON WAKA ROAD TŌTARANUIPŌHATUWAIHŌANGA BEVAN DRIVE JIM ALEXANDER WINIATA PLACE LETHBRIDGE STREET CRESCENT BABBACOMBE AVENUE MARINE PARADE MAHOE NORFOLK CRESCENT DODDS CRESCENT STREET PLACE ROAD YATES STREET MOUNTAINVIEW TERRACE PLACE BROWN TE WHĒNĀ STREET KĀPITI LANE ATKINSON AVENUE kids only $25/ tee $30plus p+p ADULTS sizes: S, M, L,XL, XXL, 3XL, 5XLwhite or black Ts Children’s sizes: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 STREET NAMES and Ōtaki Today Order your T now! Some of the soupers team celebrate their fifth anniversary. From left they are Sheila Hart, Helen Thompson, Tony
ŌTAKI AND DISTRICT RSA, 9 Raukawa St 364 6221
FRIENDS OF THE ŌTAKI RIVER Trevor Wylie 364 8918
ŌTAKI PROMOTIONS GROUP Cam Butler 021 703095
KĀPITI COAST GREY POWER June Simpson 021 109 2583
ŌTAKI STROKE SUPPORT GROUP Marian Jones 364-5028
ŌTAKI FLORAL ART & GARDEN CLUB Macha Miller 364 6605
ROTARY HALL HIRE Pete Heald 027 536 5616
Memorial Hall, Main St.
GAZBOS GOLDEN OLDIES Doug Garrity 364 5886
ŌTAKI
FOREST & BIRD PROTECTION SOCIETY Joan Leckie 368 1277
ŌTAKI WOMEN’S NETWORK GROUP Michelle McGrath
WILD GOOSE QIGONG, CHEN STYLE TAIJIQUAN (TAI CHI) & CHUN YUEN (SHAOLIN) QUAN. Sifu Cynthia Shaw 021 613 081
ZERO WASTE ŌTAKI Jamie Bull 027 444 9995
Ōtaki Baptist cnr State Highway 1 and Te Manuao Rd 06 364-8540 or 027 672 7865. Sunday service at 10am. otakibaptist.weebly.com
EASY-CISE/WALKING GROUP (BODY & SOUL) Joseph 364 6191
CHURCHES
The Hub 157 Tasman Rd, Ōtaki. Leader Richard Brons. 06 364-6911. Sunday service and Big Wednesday services at 10.15am. horowhenua/hub-church/www.actschurches.com/church-directory/
P-pull walk-in Drug advice and support, Birthright Centre, every 2nd Thursday 6-8pm.
KIDZOWN OSCAR 0800 543 9696
RĀHUI FOOTBALL AND SPORTS CLUB Slade Sturmey 021 191 4780.
GENEALOGY SOCIETY Len Nicholls 364 7638
No payment is expected – koha accepted if you feel like it. It’s a formula that has been hugely successful, and which provides not only nutrition, but the opportunity for local people to meet and chat.
ŌTAKI
Rahui Netball Kylie Gardner 0275 490 985. Junior Rugby Megan Qaranivalu 022 165 7649
ŌTAKI
To your group,
ŌTAKI MONTESSORI PRESCHOOL Haruātai Park, Roselle 364 7500
or update contact details, email debbi@idmedia.co.nz
TAE KWON DO Jim Babbington 027 530 0443
ŌTAKI BRIDGE CLUB Tim Horner 364-5240
TE KŌHANGA REO O TE KĀKANO O TE KURA Te Rauparaha St, 06 364 5599
LITTLE GIGGLERS PLAYGROUP Baptist Church Hall, Te Manuao Rd. 10am-12noon Friday each fortnight. Denise 027 276 0983
ŌTAKI ATHLETIC CLUB Kerry Bevan 027 405 6635 BOATING CLUB Trevor Hosking 021 642 766 BOWLING CLUB Paul Selby 927 9015 CANOE CLUB Jane Bertelsen 364 5302 DANCE GROUP Barbara Francis 364 7383 GOLF CLUB 364 8260 GYMNASTICS CLUB Nancy 027 778 6902 INDOOR BOWLING Jane Selby-Paterson 927 9015 MASTERS SWIMMING CLUB Sonia Coom 04 292 7676 PETANQUE CLUB Val Clarke 364 5213 RAILWAY BOWLING CLUB Maureen Beaver 364 0640 SPORTS CLUB: TENNIS, SQUASH & SOCCER Hannah 027 327 1179 SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB Kirsty Doyle 021 102 0058
CITIZEN’S ADVICE BUREAU 06 364-8664, 0800 367 222. 65a Main Street. otaki@cab.org.nz
Photo Ōtaki Today
ŌTAKI TOY LIBRARY 027 621 8855 Saturday 10.30am-noon
ŌTAKI SPINNERS & KNITTERS’ GROUP, Barbara Austin 364 8381
DeNeen Baker-Underhill 027 404 4697
ŌTAKI
KEEP ŌTAKI BEAUTIFUL Margaret Bayston/Lloyd Chapman
list
Ōotakiwomensnetwork@gmail.comTAKIWOMEN’SCOMMUNITYCLUB/SUNDAY MARKETS
ŌTAKI
RESOURCE RECOVERY CENTRE Jamie 027 444 9995/Drew 021 288 7021
WHITI TE RA LEAGUE CLUB Kelly Anne Ngatai 027 256 7391
Rangiātea 33 Te Rauparaha St. 06 364-6838. Sunday Eucharist 9am. Church viewing during school terms Monday to Friday 9.30am-1.30pm. St Mary’s Pukekaraka 4 Convent Rd. Fr Alan Robert, 06 364-8543 or 021 0822 8926. Sunday mass: 10am. Miha Māori mass, first Sunday. For other masses see otakiandlevincatholicparish.nz Ōtaki Anglican Rev Simon and Rev Jessica Falconer. 06 364-7099. All Saints Church, 47 Te Rauparaha St. Church service every Sunday at Hadfield Hall, 10am, Family Service. For Hadfield Hall bookings, email office@otakianglican.nz
Ōtaki Presbyterian 249 Mill Rd, Ōtaki. Rev Peter Jackson. 06 364-8759 or 021 207 9455. Sunday service at 11am. See otakiwaikanaechurch.nz
TOASTMASTERS OF WAIKANAE Graham 04 905 6236
SPORTS CLUBS
PLUNKET MANAKAU PLAYGROUP Honi Taipua St, T & Th 9.30am noon
HAWAIKINUI TUA RUA KI ŌTAKI (waka ama)
ŌTAKI HERITAGE BANK MUSEUM TRUST 364 6886
AMICUS CLUB OF ŌTAKI 364 6464
KĀPITI HOROWHENUA VEGANS: Alastair 364 3392 Eric 367 2512
ŌTAKI POTTERY CLUB Rod Graham 027 445 7545
TAI CHI Gillian Sutherland 04 904 8190
SOUPERS CELEBRATE: The Cobblers Soup team celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 28 with not only a birthday cake, but – as expected – soup at the Gertrude Atmore Lounge adjoining the Memorial Hall.
ŌTAKI PLAYERS SOCIETY Roger Thorpe 364 8848 or 021 259 2683
FRIENDS OF THE ŌTAKI ROTUNDA Di Buchan 027 683 0213
ŌTAKI
ŌTAKI ARTHRITIS SUPPORT GROUP info@arthritis.org.nz
Kerrie Fox 027 340 0305
CHILDREN
ŌTAKI
ŌTAKI
COBBLERS SOUP LUNCH GROUP: Thursdays 11am-1.30pm Gertrude Atmore Lounge. Free soup (koha appreciated).
ŌTAKI COMMUNITY PATROL Martin McGrath otaki@cpnz.org.nz
ŌTAKI CHRISTIAN WOMEN awomensoccasion@gmail.com
ROTARY CLUB OF OTAKI Michael Fagg 021 294 3039
ŌTAKI TITANS SWIMMING CLUB Carla Lingnau 021 235 9096
Ōtaki Medical Centre 2 Aotaki St, Ōtaki 06 364 8555 Monday-Friday: 8.45am-5pm. EMERGENCIES : 111
ŌTAKI MENZSHED 022 406 9439 OtakiMenzShed@outlook.com
TIMEBANK Suzanne Fahey 021 1275 074
COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS
MORRIS CAR CLUB Chris Torr 323 7753
ŌTAKI HISTORICAL SOCIETY Sarah Maclean 364 2497
ŌTAKI
ŌTAKI
TE KŌHANGA REO O RAUKAWA 5 Convent Rd, 06 364 5364
ŌTAKI
ŌTAKI SCOUTS, CUBS AND KEAS Brent Bythell 364 8949
ŌTAKI KINDERGARTEN 68a Waerenga Rd. 364 8553
MAINLY MUSIC Hadfield Hall, Te Rauparaha St. 021 189 6510
ŌTAKI & DISTRICT SENIOR CITIZENS Vaevae 027 447 7864
AFTER HOURS: Team Medical, Paraparaumu: 04 297 3000 Coastlands Shopping Mall. 8am-10pm every day. Palmerston North Hospital emergencies, 50 Ruahine St, Palmerston North • 06 356 9169 Healthline for free 24-hour health advice 0800 611 116 St John Health Shuttle 0800 589 630
WAITOHU STREAM CARE GROUP Lynda Angus 020 459 6321
SKIDS ŌTAKI out of school care, St Peter Chanel School. Sonia 027 739 1986
When the soup lunch is over, the team and other volunteeer helpers also deliver soups throughout Ōtaki to people who are not able to get out and about.
Mathie, Ray Mackle and Jill Watson. Absent are Mary Malloy, Lyn McPherson, Lynda Nicholls, and soup-makers Pamela
ŌTAKI PLAYGROUP otakiplaygroup@hotmail.com
ŌTAKI
TUE 23 AUG 00:28 06:29 12:53 19:13
SAT 27 AUG 03:24 09:28 15:37 21:45
TUE 30 AUG 05:06 11:08 17:16 23:23
TUE 6 SEP 05:00 11:21 17:46
QUIZ
THU 15 SEP 00:05 06:23 12:28 18:40
FRI 19 AUG 02:14 08:33 14:44 21:00
SUN 4 SEP 02:27 08:49 15:02 21:28
THU 25 AUG 02:09 08:13 14:27 20:37
SAT 3 SEP 01:28 07:51 13:56 20:16
THU 8 SEP 01:14 07:26 13:38 19:54
SUN 21 AUG 04:10 10:32 16:59 23:19
6. Which familiy’s owned the farming area before Riverbank Road was created?
FRI 26 AUG 02:48 08:53 15:03 21:12
3. Their daughter Susannah Brown married which wellknown Ōtaki entrepreneur?
SAT 20 AUG 03:08 09:27 15:45 22:05
THU 1 SEP 06:20 12:20 12:21 18:32
WED 24 AUG 01:24 07:27 13:45 19:59
5. Which family is this area named after?
12. What did the Ōtaki Surf Life Saving Club celebrate recently?
SUN 11 SEP 03:43 09:53 16:00 22:08
2. Who were the original owners of this house?
MON 5 SEP 03:39 10:01 16:23 22:49
FRI 9 SEP 02:09 08:21 14:31 20:42
whārangi 22PUZZLES PAGE I Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022 CROSSWORD #1841A Crossword solution below. SUDOKU PUZZLES thepuzzlecompany.co.nz HARD #48H Use logic and process of elimination to fill in the blank cells using the numbers 1 through 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and 3x3 block. Puzzle solution below. PROTEKT PEST CONTROL phone PAUL 06 364 5759 or 027 448 3910 or Wellington 04 472 9948 ANTSANTI UNWANTED ANTS ARE OUR SPECIALTY! Our treatments are guaranteed odourless and stain free. We also have solutions to control wasps, flies, spiders, cockroaches, mosquitoes, silverfish, moths, plus rats and mice Our quality journalism attracts more Your advertising attracts more business. The smarter ad spend. Go to: otakitoday.com/Advertise CLASSIFIEDS Ōtaki AugentranceRivertides10-Sept16 https://www.metservice.com/marine/regions/kapiti-wellington/tides/locations/otaki-river-entrance Please note: The actual timing of high and low tide might differ from that provided here. Times are extrapolated from the nearest primary port for this location, so please take care. HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH WED 10 AUG 01:22 07:29 13:48 20:04 THU 11 AUG 02:21 08:30 14:44 20:57 FRI 12 AUG 03:14 09:24 15:34 21:46 SAT 13 AUG 04:03 10:13 16:21 22:32 SUN 14 AUG 04:50 10:59 17:06 23:16 MON 15 AUG 05:34 11:43 17:49 TUE 16 AUG 00:00 06:18 12:25 18:33 WED 17 AUG 00:43 07:01 13:08 19:17 THU 18 AUG 01:27 07:45 13:53 20:05
4. What is the name of land and houses well known to Ōtaki people on Mill Road?
SAT 10 SEP 02:58 09:09 15:17 21:27
FRI 2 SEP 00:40 07:02 13:04 19:19
WED 14 SEP 05:45 11:50 18:00
7. What was the name of the (Civic) theatre before it burnt down in 1935?
SUN 28 AUG 03:58 10:02 16:10 22:17
8. What were the nightcartmen famous for back in the early-mid 1900s?
MON 12 SEP 04:25 10:34 16:41 22:48
FRI 16 SEP 00:44 07:03 13:08 19:24
11. What exhibition is the Ōtaki Museum currently running?
ŌTAKI HISTORY
CROSSWORDSOLUTION#1841A ACROSS:1.Bankrupt,7.Smoko,8.Reminisce,9. Rua,10.Rare,11.Lustre,13.Mullet,14.Snitch, 17.Absent,18.Lawn,20.Pav,22.Stalemate,23. Exist,24.Delicate.DOWN:1.Borer,2.Numeral, 3.Rang,4.Possum,5.Moore,6.Monarch,7. Setting,12.Persist,13.Magpies,15.Tuatara,16. Innate,17.Avoid,19.Niece,21.Hemi. ACROSS 1. Insolvent (8) 7. Tea break (colloq) 8.(5)Talk about the past (9) 9. Type of potato (3) 10. Uncommon (4) 11. Shine (6) 13. Hairstyle (6) 14. Inform (6) 17. Missing (6) 18. Area of cultivated grass (4) 20. Type of dessert (abbrev) (3) 22. Deadlock (9) 23. Be (5) 24. Fragile (8) DOWN 1. 4.3.2.beetleWood-eating(5)Digit(7)Phoned(4)Importedpest (6) 5. Former NZ Prime Minister, in office 59 days (5) 6. Swan 12.7.butterflyplant(7)Context(7)Persevere (7) 13. Nickname of Hawkes Bay’s rugby team (7) 15. Creature on former 5c coin (7) 16. Inborn (6) 17. Dodge (5) 19. Female relative (5) 21. Maori version of James (4) ŌTAKISTREETNAMESQUIZANSWERS:1.Kaingaraki.2.FredericandMaryAnnBright.3.ByronBrown.4. Rikiville.5.TheRikihanas.6.TheRydersandtheElliotts.7.TheCosyTheatre.8.Theycollectedpeople’s excrementatnight,anddumpitat‘manuredepots’onthetownoutskirts9.Māoriland’sLibbyHakaraia.10. TraditionalMāorimusicalinstruments.11.TheWayWeWere:GlimpsesofDaysGoneBy.12.100years. #48HHARDSOLUTIONSUDOKO GOT A JOB GOING ORFORLOOKINGAJOB? If you’re an Ōtaki business looking for local staff, or if you’re a local looking for work, post a free listing on Ōtaki Jobs. The Facebook page has been set up by Ōtaki Today to put prospective employers and job seekers in touch with each other. 1234 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ŌTAKI FOODBANK INCORPORATED Notice of 2022 AGM Wednesday, August 24, 1pm at the Foodbank, Main St, Ōtaki AGENDA (a) Minutes of the 2021 AGM (b) Annual Reports (Chairperson + Manager) (c) Financial Reports (d) Election of officers (d) Appointment of honorary Solicitor and Reviewer (e) General Business (to be submitted by August 10) CLASSIFIEDS ŌTAKI TODAY NEWS STANDS Ōtaki Today has news stands at RiverStone Café, Ōtaki New World, Ōtaki Library, Café SixtySix, and Ōtaki Beach dairy. Out of town, there’s a news stand at Manakau Market, The Sponge Kitchen in Levin, and Olive Grove Café, Waikanae.
1. What is the name of the grand old house south of the SH1 shops?
10. What are taonga puoro?
9. Which local woman was recently awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to the film and media industries?
WED 7 SEP 00:08 06:19 12:36 18:57
MON 22 AUG 05:20 11:46 18:14
TUE 13 SEP 05:06 11:13 17:21 23:27
MON 29 AUG 04:32 10:35 16:42 22:49
WED 31 AUG 05:42 11:43 17:52 23:59
The planting will begin again in the planting season next winter.
“Ironically the end result was the creation of a further community board for Raumati South.
“I believe strongly in the role of community boards and in their grassroots importance to the people of Ōtaki and Kāpiti and I will fight to maintain that.”
OTAKI YESTERDAY
PITOPITO KŌRERO/News I Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022 whārangi 23 Summer Breeze looks back 46 years page 7 ŌTAKI YESTERDAY ISSUE 2021 To order copies of the historical magazine Ōtaki Yesterday, contact Debbi Carson by email at debbi@idmedia.co.nz or phone 027 285 4720. $25 per issue, plus $6 post/packaging throughout New Zealand. Also available at RiverStone Cafe, Books & Co, Māoriland Hub, Koha Hair Design and Ōtaki Museum.
The rare beehive kilns were built by renowned potter Mirek Smíšek on his Te Horo property before he died in 2013. They were in the path of the expressway construction zone and were in danger of being demolished.However, the historical significance of the kilns was recognised and they were shifted – only by a few metres – to a site that will become part of a new arts centre. The kilns were dismanteled brick-by-brick, numbered and thenTherebuilt.newarts centre, operated by the trust, will include two other historic structures also on the site –the former Te Horo railway station that had been bought by Mirek and relocated to his property, and what’s known as the Red Cottage, a railway building dating from the 1860s. Mirek used the cottage to display his pottery work.
Photo Ōtaki Today
The 2021 issue of Ōtaki Yesterday (left) featuring local band Summer Breeze on the cover, and the 2020 issue (right) featuringRikihana.Queenie
“The completion of the expressway and the recently announced housing developments will bring significant changes to Kāpiti and Ōtaki. I want to be able to help to mould those changes for the betterment of our whole community.”
The plan is to develop a multicultural centre as a resource for the local community and to create a unique visitor attraction.
The site is expected to be available to the trust to begin work in earnest about this time next year. Access will be from the eastern side along a new Winiata Lane,
Terisa Ngobi said it was a special for the whole community.
Local insurance and mortgage company Inpro Group and the Winiata family were the latest donors of native trees for the banks of the Ōtaki River.
The tree-planting is organised by the Friends of the Ōtaki River in a major effort to restore the eco-system along the northern bank of the river. So far more than 100,000 trees have been planted.
At left, from Inpro Group are (from left), Becky Spiller, Rebecca Graham, Casey Saul, Greg Scott, Rex Duckett, Monique Duckett and Marjie Pacan.
so named in recognition of the previous owners of the land.
Ōtaki Community Board chair Chris Papps announced on August 4 she would be standing for election as Ōtaki ward councillor.
Ōtaki MP Terisa Ngobi and members of the Mirek Smíšek Arts Trust were treated to a tour of the restored kilns at Te Horo by the Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway team on July 19.
coordinate the board’s fight against a council proposal to abolish the four Kāpiti community boards during a representation review.
More riverplantedtreesforrestoration
The trust is hoping to have a potter in residence staying in the Red Cottage as part of the centre’s activities.
“While community board members, even chairs, have no actual ‘rights’ to speak or vote in council debates, as the Ōtaki ward councillor I will be in a stronger position as of right to advance and argue the causes which most affect Ōtaki and the interests of our people. I’m focused on the future for Ōtaki.
Chris wardseeksPappsseat
“Our thanks to Heritage NZ and folks from the community in helping us achieve a great result that’ll be admired for generations to come.”
“The community clearly showed its opposition to the proposal,” she says.
During that time she has taken an active role as a member and leader of a range of groups dealing with both the positive and negative effects of the Peka Peka to Ōtaki helpedthebeforetoisconstructionexpresswayandlookingforwarditsopeningtheendofyear.In2021Chrisleadand
MP gets peek at historic kilns
KILNS: Ōtaki MP Terisa Ngobi, centre, Mirek Smíšek Arts Trust deputy chair Jane Manthell and trustee John Draper at the historic kilns that will form part of the new arts centre at Te Horo.
Manthel said the trust was grateful for the work Fletchers and Waka Kotahi had done and it was looking forward to the kilns being open.
She says attending council meetings, briefings taking part in debates has given her a clear view of how he council and council’s administration and management work – or not.
Chris has been a member of the board for nine years and chair for the past six.
“The kilns are a wonderful piece of heritage for locals and people further afield to be able to see and learnKilnabout.”trustdeputy chair Jane
Our winter codes, meanwhile, are wrapping up their seasons with some great results.
The tournament was on the weekend of July 22-24. Since it began in Ōtaki in 1991, it has been contested in many towns and cities throughout New Zealand.
This time ŌSC got the win, 11-7, to win 3-0hadSimranonlyat3-2.thecompetition.theIplayedat1forboys,andwonKentPollard,2,lost0-3,hislossallseason.Singh,at3,acleansweepwin.DeclanPrentice,at
In fact, as we head toward summer, our Love Tennis event on September 11 could be a good time to sample our hospitality and see what we are all about.
This year 28 teams entered the competition, down from 36 due to several participants contracting Covid-19 in the previous week.
For local sports fans there’s no better place to be than Haruātai Park when all three of our codes are in action. If you haven’t visited our club before, come and check it out some time.
Each weekend all 20 teams head to the same park for the event, and each time Ōtaki’s Haruātai Park hosted it, the place was packed with families and excited children having a ball (excuse the pun).
Ōtaki fire chief Ian King and wife Heather took out the plate final, with Heather also winning most improved player. The consolation plate final was won by Hoani Taratoa and Sam Paroli, also of Ōtaki.
Our top men’s squash team has finished its winter season on a high, recently winning Wellington Division 3.
TĀKARO/S port
4, won 3-2 with a huge fightback from two games down.
Tasha teamed up with players from the Kāpiti Squash Club to play in the district champs D grade competition. They beat Masterton’s Red Star team in the final and, as a result, the team is on its way to the D grade nationals to be held in September.Ourfootball players are also getting some great results and have everything to play for this month.Thewomen’s team, Ōtaki Kāeaea, was third in Wellington Division 2, at the start of August, and behind the second placed team only on goal difference. With two games left in their season, they will be fighting to make that second place their own.
GOOD SPORTS
Photo supplied
He twisted his ankle in the first game, losing that game and the second, and then dropping to 1213 down, matchpoint to Masterton, in the third Amazingly,game.Declan then got his movement back, clawed his way past the Masterton player to win that third game, and then the next two, to claim the victory and help give his team the win.
Each year a different brigade hosts the tournament, with Ōtaki hosting in 2022 for the first time since 2016.
Way to go, Declan! Congrats, too, to Tasha Webby for her recent squash success.
Ōtaki Volunteer Fire Brigade staff acquitted themselves with distinction as they once again hosted the New Zealand Fire Service national snooker pairs tournament.
IMPROVED: Heather King receives the most improved player trophy from Ōtaki senior station officer Mike Watson.
The annual tournament is open to firefighters from all over the country and is an opportunity for firefighters to meet and reconnect with colleagues, and to share ideas, support and friendship.
Never too soon for a good game of tennis
their season, will also be looking to move up the table.
The men’s team, Ōtaki Purutaitama, was fourth in Horowhenua/Kāpiti Division 1 at the start of August, and with games against lower ranked team to finish
The team had just one loss in the 10-round season. It was to Masterton’s Red Star, and they faced them again in the final in Masterton.
Is it too early to be thinking about summer?
whārangi 24Ōtaki Today Ākuhata/August 2022
The future of Ōtaki football is also looking bright. This season we had three teams in the Kāpiti Fun Football Festival, an event for under-8s new to the sport.
Brigade hosts snooker tournament
Love Tennis is a nationwide celebration where tennis clubs throughout the country open their facilities to let the public try out various fun tennis activities.
It’s a fantastic format – no goalies and no referees, just a bunch of youngsters chasing the ball – and so much fun to watch.
HANNAH GRIMMETT
The results of the competition were: Championship winners Joe Koia and Dick Cook of Gisborne. Consolation final winners were Mike Alderton and Kevin Salmons (Ōtaki and Levin respectively).
Not for our tennis players, who are getting ready for Love Tennis on September 11.
n Hannah is president of Ōtaki Sports Club
Come and join us at Ōtaki Sports Club, and bring the family. There’ll be something for everyone: give our ball machine a go, get free lessons for the kids, go into a nationwide draw to win an awesome travel prize, and more on the day.