Today in history
Today is Thursday, February 28, the 59th day of 201. There are 306 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1525 — Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec emperor, is interrogated then executed by Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes.
1784 — John Wesley signs the ‘‘deed of declaration’’, formalising the establishment of the Wesleyan faith, or Methodists.
1825 — Britain and Russia sign a treaty settling the border between Canada and Alaska, then a Russian possession.
1853 — The provincial boundaries of Canterbury, Wellington, Nelson, Otago and New Plymouth are defined and constituted. The New Plymouth region’s name is changed to Taranaki in 1858.
1861 — Southland separates from Otago to become
a province in its own right.
1890 — The RMS Quetta is wrecked near Thursday
Island, with the loss of 134 lives.
1899 — A large meeting takes place in Dunedin’s town hall to consider forming a society for the protection of women and children.
1921 — The Kronstadt Rebellion begins in Russia when sailors of the Baltic Fleet and workers at Kronstadt naval base rise up against the communist government.
1951 —A Gazette notice is issued by the Government cancelling the registration of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Industrial
Union of Workers, as a result of the discontinuance of employment on the waterfront and refusal of union representatives to negotiate. 1975 — In the worst underground train crash to date in Britain, 42 people die when a train crashes into the buffers at Moorgate Station, London.
1982 — Fire destroys Braeside Stables, Melbourne, which once housed 1930 Melbourne Cup winner Phar Lap.
1986 — Sweden’s prime minister, Olof Palme, is assassinated on a street in Stockholm while walking home from a movie theatre.
1991 — After 42 days of the Gulf War, United States and allied forces officially cease fire, as do Iraqi forces.
1993 — Four federal agents and six members of a religious sect are killed when authorities raid the sect’s headquarters in Waco, Texas. A 51day standoff ensues, which ended with the deaths of approximately 80 sect members in a fire.
1996 — Daiwa Bank Ltd of Japan agrees to plead guilty to a criminal coverup of $US1.1 billion in bondtrading losses and pay $US340 million in fines, settling one of history’s biggest banking frauds; calling it the saddest day of her life, Britain’s Princess Diana agrees to divorce her estranged husband, Prince Charles.
2001 — A highspeed passenger train collides with an oncoming freight train in northern England at daybreak, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 70.
2002 — A $5.02million redevelopment of
Dunedin’s University Oval is announced. The venue will replace Carisbrook as a firstclass and international cricket venue.
2007 — Dunedin city councillors vote 121 in favour of plans to proceed with a roofed stadium in Awatea St and dump plans to upgrade the city’s Carisbrook Stadium.
2008 — Nai Yin Xue is captured in Atlanta, Georgia, ending five months on the run after allegedly murdering his wife, Anan Liu, in New Zealand and dumping his 3yearold daughter, nicknamed
Pumpkin, at Southern Cross Railway Station, in Melbourne.
2013 — KiwiRail is left counting the cost when 40 of its locomotives are withdrawn from service after the discovery of asbestos inside one of the vehicles. As a cheaper option, KiwiRail imported the locomotives from China, leading to the closure of Dunedin’s Hillside Workshops in 2012.