Awards for new nurses
Computer banking service for Kaitaia
The opening of the new and improved ferry service as offered by the Hokianga Water Transport Company’s $45,000 vessel, the Kohu-ra, was a red letter day for the Hokianga and for Northland, the Minister of Marine, Mr. Scott, said at the official launching at Rawene on Saturday afternoon.
The chairman of the Northland Harbour Board, Mr. R. K. Trimmer, said the ferry was a great step forward in the progress of the Hokianga, and would mean the opening up of the district.
The official party at the launching included Mr. G.G. Dragicevich, chairman of directors, and Mrs. Dragicevich; the chairman of the harbour board, Mr. Trimmer, and Mrs. Trimmer; the chairman of the Hokianga County Council, Mr. J.G. Templeton, and Mrs. Templeton; Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Richmond and the Rev. A. Woodley, who conducted a brief opening service.
Welcoming the public to the occasion, Mr. Dragicevich said the manner of travel today is vastly different to that of 1843, when the first Hokianga ferry was operating from Opononi.
He congratulated the shareholders for raising $12,000 towards the ferry’s cost, and thanked the Marine Department, county council and harbour board for their co-operation.
— November 12, 1968 The Ma¯ori owners of the Moturoa Group of Islands off Cape Karikari, at a meeting in Auckland on Friday, unanimously rejected a Crown offer of $115 for the group, but may ask the Ma¯ori Land Court to make the group a Ma¯ori reservation.
“We thought at first the offer of $115 was a printer’s error,” one owner said at the meeting.
The islands, which are uninhabited, are Whale Island (25 acres), Moturoa Island (20 acres), Sugarloaf Island (13 acres), Rocky island (10 acres), and several smaller ones totaling 68 acres.
The Government offer followed representations for the preservation of wildlife and native vegetation made by the Nature Conservation Council and the Whanga¯rei Native Forest and Bird Protection Society.
The chairman of the Nature Conservation Council, Dr. R.A. Falla, had reported that the islands were the habitat of penguins, petrels, lizards and tuatara, and held much of botanical interest.
A representative of the Lands and Survey department told the meeting that the owners could give the islands to the Crown as reserves, and if the crown ever ceased to use them as reserves they would be returned to the owners free of charge.
There are 81 owners, between them holding 140 shares. The suggestion of a Ma¯ori reservation came when an informal discussion was held after the meeting.
The statement by Dr. Falla, that tuatara exist on Moturoa Island, has caused some surprise. It is known that these reptiles lived on the largest island in former years, but Mr. Theo Matthews said recently that the Ma¯ori owners in 1916 landed pigs there to winter them, and they exterminated the colony.
Kaitaia naturalists who have visited the group in recent years have not reported the tuatara. If they do exist it has been a very well-kept secret.
— November 19, 1968 At 3.40 p.m. on November 22 a small car will leave Kaitaia to link the district with a new development which promises to bring major changes to banking in New Zealand.
The car will be a courier, and it will link branches of the
National Bank and the Bank of New Zealand with an Auckland computer centre. Overnight, the centre will process all the branches’ ledger keeping. The courier will leave Auckland the following morning and will arrive back in Kaitaia at 10a.m. with all the completed documents.
Details of the conversion to computers were given by the National Bank’s manager in Kaitaia, Mr. J.H.N.Austin.
He said the courier car would transfer its satchels of documents at Pakaraka Junction and another car would travel down through Whangarei to Auckland, calling at branches on the way. The procedure will be reversed the following morning.
“The computer service will be provided by the Auckland Centre, which is one of a number established by an unusual company, Databank Systems Ltd.,” said Mr. Austin.
“This was formed initially by the two banks that will initiate the service. The three other trading banks have taken shares in the company and have announced that they, too, will use the centres when they convert to computer ledger-keeping.
“This promises a wide range of new services and a substantial change in the nature of banking in New Zealand.”
— November 12, 1968 Fifteen new Kaitaia Hospital Registered Community Nurses were presented with their medals and certificates on Wednesday night.
The two classes were congratulated by the medical super intendent, Dr. D. Tree, Miss A. Gibson, the matron, and the chairman of the Mangonui County Council, Mr. M. Srhoj.
“You form the backbone of the hospital,” said Dr. Tree, while Miss Gibson added, “You are now entering a new era of your lives.”
“I offer you my heartiest congratulations and sincerely hope that you will give many more