UNITED KINGDOM Association NEWSLETTER

As intimated in the previous Newsletter, the pre-Christmas soiree is to be on Thursday 27th November in the Penthouse in New Zealand House. We are taking our customary turn as hosts to our Australian colleagues for this popular and now long established event. Our continued success in having such an attractive venue overlooking the heart of London's West End for the second time this year owes much to the ever watchful foresight of our Honorary Secretary. Thank you again Joanna.

Your attendance on this date has added value therefore and with your active participation, the evening has every prospect of convivial success. Bring your friends to meet your and other friends who will be there, drink well from the stock of fine beverages, eat fulsomely from the tasty buffet, spin your best yarns, and let the agreeable ambience of an accustomed gathering in prestigious surroundings take you forward through an enjoyable evening and on happily towards the Christmas season.

Note the Soiree details:

Location:	The Penthouse, New Zealand House, Haymarket, London,
Date:	Thursday, 27th November,
Time:	from 7.00 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. and going on for 9.00 or 9.30,
Cost:	£12.50 per head to cover food and drinks.

Please arrange your party and reply as promptly as you can to help ensure that the Committee can make all proper provisions to welcome you to a successful evening. (Reply Form)

A Special General Meeting

We are holding a Special General Meeting prior to the Christmas Soiree at 6.30 pm in the Penthouse. We have two items on the agenda which need to be voted upon as follows:

a) Amendment to the rules for the appointment of an Honorary Auditor.

Currently we appoint an Auditor at the previous AGM to audit the accounts for the following AGM. This has caused us some difficulties where the long lead in period has meant that the Auditor appointed has no affiliation with the UK Association once called upon to carry out the audit. We also have a shortage of people available to undertake the audit as the choice of auditor is restricted within our current rules to qualified accountants. The committee proposes to widen the choice of auditor and to make it easier to appoint an Auditor closer to the date on which the audit is required. We therefore propose the change to Rule 11(b) as given on the attached voting form.

At the last AGM, in the absence of any alternative under the current rules, we were forced to appoint a firm of accountants to audit our accounts for a fee. If the amendment is not passed we will incur costs in employing them next year.

b) Increase in Annual Subscription

Currently the annual subscription is set at £6.00. It has been at this rate for the last 10 years and can only be changed at a special meeting or AGM. Over that time communication, postage and printing costs have increased enormously. We also now find that we have to have Public Liability Insurance to cover us for the hire of function venues and our attendance at site visits. We may also incur other costs as outlined above. In order to make sure that we maintain a reasonable bank balance, so that we can cater for all events and promote New Zealand Engineering, the committee has suggested that the subscription charge be increased to £10.00 effective for the next financial year.

The committee hopes that you will all support this motion so that we can maintain our current level of service to members.

Please note that only financial members are permitted to vote at the Special General Meeting. If you are unable to attend you may send a postal vote using the form provided. These have been numbered purely so that we can check that the voter is qualified to vote and does not vote twice.

Other Forthcoming Events:

The Chief Executive of IPENZ, Warwick Bishop, is over here in early November. We have arranged to meet him in the Basement Bar at the ICE Building, One Great George Street (off Parliament Square) London at 6.30 pm on Monday 3rd November 1997. He is looking forward to meeting the UK branch so this is your chance to learn IPENZ current thinking first hand.

Malcolm Davidson's talk on Canning Town Station has had to be postponed for a couple of days and is now on Thursday the 6th November 1997. The venue is still the same at the Anvil, Basingstoke at 6.30 pm and is hosted by the ICE Southern Branch. All IPENZ members will be most welcome.

The Graduates Evening

Thanks to Brian Anderson and Nicholas Smith for organising the Graduates Evening. It was a great success with good attendance from graduates, NZCE's and Corporate Members. Brian and Nicholas gave excellent presentations on Routes to Membership and their own reasons for joining IPENZ. Unfortunately there was not enough time for Brian's talk "Engineers, Masters of the Universe" we will have to wait until next year, perhaps.

The ensuing discussions hopefully answered most of the queries and there were a number of points that we need to discuss with Warwick Bishop (IPENZ's Chief Executive) on the 3rd November. A number of mentoring partnerships were established. However, due to time constraints some people may have missed out. If you wish to be part of a mentoring partnership please let the Honorary Secretary know.

News from New Zealand

The coalition crumbles

The rock on which Bolger and Peters founded their coalition government a year ago has been weathering badly and now has every appearance of being in an advanced state of disaggregation. Its dissolution rapidly becomes nearer and seems to be already an effortless prospect.

The tremors of Tuku Morgan's underwear have given way to a sordid departure of junior health minister Neil Kirton, and the recent abandonment by Christine Fletcher of her portfolios. The Government backed referendum on proposals for a form of compulsory superannuation turned out a devastating rejection by over 9 out of 10 from 80 percent of the electorate. The popularity of New Zealand First has almost evaporated. A recent poll indicated less than 2 percent support. National continues to carry just over a third of voters' confidence but Bolger's tenure as leader raises more questions than at any other time during his premiership .

Supposing the present coalition gave way to one by the Labour and Alliance parties, would its government be any less flaky? There is not much promise that solid cohesion would ensue. At present the practice of election by MMP itself appears to be very vulnerable..

..... as plans for a larger Parliament take shape

The last election raised the number of members of parliament from 95 to 120. Their arrival in Wellington overcrowded the existing facilities. So plans to complete the old Parliament building have been reopened. Its familiar state of imbalance due to only half of the structure being completed in 1911 is due for enhancement by the completion of its long delayed original design,

Particularly interesting is the consequence of this completion on land use. The Beehive would have to be moved. Its 20,000 tonnes would be jacked to allow the insertion of 1800 mm bearings under its main perimeter wall. Concrete beams would support these bearings as the structure moves, first 100 metres south, then 90 degrees rotation, and finally 50 metres west. The movement interfaces would be stainless steel on Teflon. Jacking systems would provide motive power. The operation would take an estimated 6 to 10 months and cost some $30 million.

The Government has support from Labour for this plan but other parties are fiercely critical and assert that the realistic solution is fewer MPs.

Bolger's foreign affairs

With so much domestic strife in his own political farmyard, it must have seemed a relief to Jim Bolger to pack his bags for a round of overseas statesmanship at the end of this month. The centrepiece has been the biennial Chogm (Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting) in Edinburgh. He has had to discharge his responsibilities as the immediate past chairman in handing over to Tony Blair and attending an audience with the Queen. The last meeting in New Zealand was notable for its suspension of Nigeria because of the execution of human rights activists in that country.

Of longer run significance is the resumption, following the end of nuclear testing in the South Pacific, of normal friendly relations with France. His meetings in Paris are to set the seal on them and to focus on co-operation in the Pacific where France is the only country in the European Union with substantial interests. Matters such as maritime surveillance and disaster relief will be on their meetings agenda.

The Ngai Tahu settlement

A year after the outline of this settlement has been agreed, the details have taken final shape and the chief negotiators, Sir Tipene O'Regan and Justice Minister Doug Graham have initialled an 1800 page deed of settlement. It will now be put to the tribe's 12,000 voting members for their acceptance. Both negotiators have hailed the offer of settlement as a chance for the Crown and the tribe to renew the relationship originally intended under the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

Features of the compensation include;

• a compensation sum of $170 million,
• a full public apology, to acknowledge past injustices,
• purchase of Crown properties; those still in use to be leased back to the Crown
• Mt. Cook to return to the tribe who will rename it Aoraki/Mt. Cook and then gift it to the Nation,
• title to lands in Lake Ellesmere and surrounds, and two islands near Stewart Island
• greenstone resources to return to the tribe,
• wider use of Maori place names,
• purchase of high country stations with mountain tops gifted to the nation and conservation areas leased back for continued conservation management.

When the Government coalition formed last year, a review of immigration policy was agreed. The review is now under way but is taking place against a sharp fall in new settlers. 29,000 came in the year to June 1996. This last year has seen the number fall to 16,000.

Tourism has also turned down but for apparently unrelated reasons. British and Asian visitors continue to grow in number but big spending American, German, and Japanese visitors are fewer and revenues in the industry are lower than last year.

Exceptional rainfall in Wellington and Hutt Valley at the beginning of the month caused dangerous local flooding, mainly in the Hutt valley. Two people died when their car was engulfed 6 km north of Upper Hutt. One body was recovered 20 km away in Wellington harbour the following day. A stormwater pipe burst in Ngauranga Gorge and turned the dual carriageway of the main road into a torrent.

A project to rebuild the kiwi population in the Lake Waikaremoana forest makes headway. Two mature chicks raised in Napier from eggs found in the forest have been returned there. Their natural enemies, stoats and ferrets are being intensively trapped to assist attainment of a viable survival rate for kiwi chicks.

Volcano management has come under scrutiny following experience of the Ruapehu eruptions in 1995 and 1996. Dr Bruce Houghton has called for a task force to co-ordinate the activities of the numerous agencies concerned. He has highlighted a need for the quick and accurate delivery of news to the media.

The independent O.E. is good for one says Professor Kerr Inkson. It is much better to go overseas on one's own than be sent by an organisation. The self-reliance needed by independent travellers is important in preparing young people for careers of flexible employment with which so many now have to cope.

Perhaps the most dreadful O.E. in the country's history was the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. The sun is now almost set on those who remember because the second-to-last NZ veteran, Les Leach, has died in Sydney aged 99.

Dates For Your Diary

3rd Nov. 1997	Warwick Bishop Visit
6th Nov. 1997	Talk on Canning Town
27th Nov. 1997	Pre Christmas Soirée with IEAust in New Zealand House Preceded by a Special General Meeting
April 1998	Trip to Big Ben
Spring 1998	Trip to Canning Town
Spring 1998	Trip to Jet Nuclear Fusion

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