An Earthquake ‘Grab Bag’

By Jim Webber

I recently listed the contents of our ‘grab bag’ — the last thing to grab as one heads out of one’s creaking house.

And here it is, ready for the ‘Big One,’ neatly packed in a zippered bag (mine’s an 18-litre actually)…

The List:

A gas lamp and spare gas, spare cellphone (charged)
A list of phone numbers (including insurance company)
Wipes and toilet paper, pills and medications (sticking plasters etc) for at least a week
A small LED lantern and focusing LED torch
Large sharp knife (remember that Survivors movie?)
Bottled water
Energy snacks
Cigarette lighter
Battery radio
First aid kit
And a CD or USB flash drive, with valuable up-to-date computer files.

STORY OF THE WEEK

Kāpiti Coast councillors have toured of one of Aotearoa's unique buildings, the heritage - listed Rotunda at the former Otaki Health Camp, the country’s first.

Jeremy Smith reports that the 105-year-old, eight-sided rotunda predates the Health Camp.

It wasn't actually built in Otaki, but was one of two built in Rotorua in 1915 as part of a military hospital, on the site of Rotorua’s present public hospital.

Later they were taken to Otaki for the opening of the health camp in 1931.

Full story in the main column (December 19).

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.

Kāpiti and Coast Independent

What Have We Missed?

An Earthquake ‘Grab Bag’