Quakes rattle South Island
A sizeable earthquake rocked the top of the South Island yesterday, following two earthquake that jolted the West Coast earlier in the day. According to Geonet the latest earthquake was 15 kilometres northeast of Kaiko¯ura and was magnitude 4.3. Two earthquakes rocked the West Coast with the first at a depth of 5 kilometres, 60km south of Hokitika, about 1.05pm. It was magnitude 4.5. A 4.8-magnitude quake affected the same spot seven minutes later. The quakes came minutes after a ‘‘weak’’ 3.8 magnitude earthquake near the Canterbury town of Methven.
Body on top of train
A 38-year-old man whose body was found on top of a container train in Tauranga is thought to have fallen from an overbridge. He has been identified by police as a Whakamarama man. His body was found on top of a train as it arrived at the Port of Tauranga yesterday morning. It appears that the man fell from an overbridge in the Whakamarama area and landed on top of a train carriage, a police statement said. Police are not treating the man’s death as suspicious.
Clean slate bill set to pass
Parliament was likely to allow for the wiping of historical homosexual sex convictions last night. The Criminal Records (Expungement of Convictions for Historical Homosexual Offences) Bill has its third reading due, after passing its second with unanimous support. It will set up a system where men charged with consensual homosexual conduct (or their families) under old laws can apply to have those convictions wiped from the record. The Government believes there are about 1000 of these men still alive. The old law made no distinction between consensual and non-consensual male homosexual sex, meaning the expungement process could not be a simple cleaning of the slate. Homosexual sex was legalised in 1986 after a firestorm of protests and counter-protests, but the convictions under the old law still stood – leading to discrimination in employment and other areas.
Woman dies in crash
A woman died and other people were injured following a serious crash in north Auckland. The incident happened shortly after 12.30pm yesterday at the intersection of SH16 and Centennial Park Rd, Wellsford. This comes after six people lost their lives over the Easter holiday period.
Te Kanawa selling art works
A collection of fine art owned by opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will be up for auction in Auckland. Art worth $4-5 million will go under the hammer at an auction of Important and Rare Art at the International Art Centre in Parnell on April 10. Te Kanawa’s collection includes three major paintings by New Zealand artist Charles Goldie. Most of Te Kanawa’s collection has been on long-term loan for 25 years to the Auckland Art Gallery, Toi O Ta¯maki.