NEWSLETTER
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UNITED KINGDOM Association NEWSLETTER |
| No 151 | May 1998 |
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Forthcoming Events:
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Annual General MeetingCombined Technical Talk | AGM/Reception Reply Slip |
| Past Events | ||
| Other Association News | ||
| NZ News | ||
| Dates for Your Diary | ||
| Contact Details | home page |
It is time to look ahead to the Annual General Meeting in June and formally arrange ourselves for the year that follows. Bookings have already been made for further events this year but there is still plenty of scope for the new committee to arrange more events.
The AGM of the Association will be held in the Penthouse, New Zealand House, on Tuesday 2nd June at 6.30 p.m.. It will start promptly to properly precede the Annual Reception which will follow immediately after at approximately 7.00 p.m.
The Agenda, minutes of the last AGM, and copies of the Accounts for 1997/98 will be available at the meeting.
Nominations are invited for the posts of Chairman, Honorary Auditor, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, and the Committee for the year 1997/98. Send nominations signed by the proposer, seconder, and nominee to the Honorary Secretary at the Association's address. Nominations may also be made from the floor at the meeting. We are all grateful for the time and effort that the Committee has put in over the past year, particularly Ian Kirker. Please note that Ian is unable to stand for a further term as Chairman.
We are still in urgent need of a speaker and topic for our Combined technical talk with the Australians and would welcome any contributions. Please let the Secretary know if you have any ideas for future visits or talks they would be most welcome.
Please come along and take part in the meeting. This event is your best opportunity to make your views known on what we should do, what we should be, and anything else relevant to our function.
As is our custom, the Annual Reception releases the members who have toiled through the AGM into the agreeable task of meeting together again in the splendid Penthouse with all the others who have come along, and to enjoy a time of pleasant eating, drinking, and discourse with old and new friends. Be sure to be there too. Gather your guests and reply promptly please by returning the enclosed slip to the Honorary Secretary as soon as you can.
Note the details.
| Location: | The Penthouse, New Zealand House, Haymarket, London. | |
| Date: | Tuesday, 2nd June | |
| Time: | AGM: | 6.15 p.m. for 6.30 p.m. |
| Reception: | 7.00 p.m. | |
| Price: | £12.50 per head for members and their guests to cover food and drinks. |
At this time of the year we normally get together with the Australians to present a technical talk on a topic of interest to Engineers from many disciplines. Our Chairman Ian Kirker had kindly volunteered to present a talk on his current ongoing project in Malaysia. Unfortunately, whenever we try and pin him down for a date he says that he has to go out there to sort out the next part of the project and is unsure when he will return. Does anyone else have an interesting and exciting project that they could present to the membership. The committee would be delighted to hear from you.
Bookings have been made for our annual Family Day and Barbecue at Henley Rowing Club on Sunday 2nd August 1998. Let us hope that we have a return to good weather this year. Make sure to keep your diaries clear for this event.
We have reached our maximum allocation of 10 people for the Big Ben visit on Thursday 22nd of October. However if you wish to take part and have not yet told the Hon. Secretary there may still be a place if someone has to drop out at the last moment. The trip has been arranged with the British Watch and Clockmakers Guild who will take us up the clock tower. It has been suggested that we meet beforehand to learn a bit more of the background over lunch. More details to follow. Remember that there are 292 steps to the clock with a further flight up to the bell chamber so health and fitness is essential (Honorary Secretary please note).
Our thanks to Robert Minchin for organising a brilliant tour of the JET complex complete with presentation beforehand. The unfortunately low turn out meant that he had to cancel the official talk but he more than made up for this by explaining the essentials to us. Nuclear fusion experiments were not being undertaken at the time (we understand that these are usually of short duration at inconvenient times due to their high load on the national Grid). However we were able to see inside the Torus via numerous cameras, and were able to watch the delicate operation of removing and replacing base tiles, designed by Robert's team, using a very sophisticated robot and tools (even if one of the tools did look suspiciously like a crowbar). If you would like a small taster of what you missed visit the JET web site is http://www.jet.uk and Robert's department is under Current Activity for which the address is http://www.jet.uk/rh/extweb/index.htm.
Selwyn has also put a link to Robert's site on our own web site.
Subscriptions were due at the beginning of April so several members are in arrears. We wish to publish the contact details list with the next Newsletter so if you have not paid by then your details will certainly not be included. Please let the Hon. Secretary know if you change your address so that your details can be updated and you can continue to receive Newsletters. Reminders are included with this Newsletter for those people still to pay.
Mercury Energy says it accepts part of the report into the Auckland Power Crisis which criticises the company strongly. The report says that Mercury did not properly maintain cables that had been incorrectly installed in the first place.
A group planning to sue Mercury believes the report can only help its argument that Mercury was negligent. They hope that up to five hundred retailers will join the class action, many of whom have been turned down by Mercury's fast-track compensation scheme.
Textile, clothing, carpet and footwear employers and workers joined on protest marches in 16 centres nationwide in their fight to slow Government tariff reductions. The protests were organised jointly by the Trade Union Federation, the Apparel and Textile Manufacturers Federation and the National Distribution Union, and between 4000 and 5000 people took part. The protesters presented the mayors of 16 centres with letters requesting they write to Commerce Minister John Luxton, asking him to delay tariff reductions planned for between 2000 and 2005 on imports of clothing, textiles, carpets and shoes.
Following Jim Bolger's resignation, and his reincarnation on the diplomatic stage, the resultant by-election was held last Saturday. National's former majority of 10,233 was slashed to just 966. ACT came second, Labour third and the Alliance fourth. Way down the list was NZ First, with its candidate Robin Ord getting only 548 votes, putting the party behind Christian Heritage. In the 1996 general election, Dr Ord polled second clearly showing the current feelings of the electorate against New Zealand First
A geyser which suddenly appeared in a Rotorua couple's garden has them concerned they are living next to a natural time bomb. A nine-metre geyser exploded outside their home two days ago, causing a gigantic hole in the front yard.
Ground temperatures around the house have risen to seventy degrees and the geyser hole now has boiling water in it.
The local council is aware of the situation, has put a fence around the hole, and are looking into it. Unfortunately they can't predict whether the geyser will erupt again.
A landslide in Dargaville on Monday killed an elderly woman. She died when several tonnes of dirt slid down a hill and into her flat in Station Rd. She was believed to have been killed by being hit on the head by a beam. She was buried up to her neck in earth. Her flat, and that of neighbour, are awaiting demolition.
An Earthquake Commission spokesman said engineers are compiling a detailed report on the ground movements. He said that the demolition of the flats has been put on hold until technical reports determine if it's safe to remove the buildings without fear of more slips.
The Dairy Board's yearlong battle against British Customs' allegations that it underpaid duty on butter imports has ended. All fraud charges against board companies and executives have dropped in London's Old Bailey. The charges had been laid in April 1997 but five of them were withdrawn last year. Criminal charges laid against several board companies and six European-based executives carried maximum penalties of seven years' jail and unlimited fines. The board repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
There isn't a tapu on the top of Mt. Cook, says the tribe with ancestral affiliation to New Zealand's highest mountain. Claims last week that Ngai Tahu had said mountaineers should not actually stand on the top because it was tapu brought a barrage of complaints including comments from Sir Edmund Hillary. Ngai Tahu chairman Charles Crofts said all the tribe required was respect for the mountain, which included the removal of rubbish. 'We are not placing any tapu on the top of the mountain. All we are asking is that people respect it, and we've been asking that for a number of years now.'
| AGM and Annual Reception | Tuesday 2nd June 1998 |
| Combined Technical Talk (if possible) | July 1998 |
| Family Day and Barbecue | Sunday 2nd August 1998 |
| Big Ben Visit | Thursday 22nd October 1998 |
| Christmas Party at Australia House | Friday 4th December 1998 |
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