Have Your Say

Its time to stop calling people karens.

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Under NZ First – Any non-citizen who commits violent or sexual crimes, fraud, migrant exploitation, or is involved with organised crime will be DEPORTED

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐃: 𝐍𝐙 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝-𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐈𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming New Zealand First’s policy to introduce a 10-year welfare stand-down period for visa holders, with an Official Information Act request showing that this policy would save at least $19.19 million in Auckland Metro alone.
New Zealand First’s policy would make all non-citizens ineligible for jobseeker, accommodation supplement, or any other benefits during their first 10 years in New Zealand.
The OIA request shows that:
– Over four years, the Ministry of Social Development granted $1,270,574.06 in Special Needs Grants to visa-holder categories in Auckland Metro, excluding protected persons and refugee categories.
– A further 1,008 Emergency Benefit grants to visa-holder categories had a combined gross weekly rate at the point of grant of $344,584.61, equivalent to $17,918,399.72 per year if annualised.
– MSD says the total amount paid through Emergency Benefits is not centrally held and would require officials to manually review individual client files.
– The request does not include permanent residents.
Taxpayers’ Union Investigative Lead, Rhys Hurley, said:
“A 10-year stand-down would protect taxpayers from becoming the backstop for immigration settings that bring people into the country before they can support themselves.”
“In Auckland Metro alone, taxpayers have funded at least $1.27 million in Special Needs Grants to visa holders, and that is only the part of the bill MSD can centrally identify.”
“The Emergency Benefit grants recorded for visa-holder categories add a further $17.9 million in Auckland Metro. Spread across the whole country and across every available benefit, the true cost could be many millions more.”

for naaska.

the other day about “the Passing of the Drovers”. Can you remember the names of any Martinborough Drovers we have not mentioned below? Droving is the task of gently moving a herd of livestock along a road or across country. Move them too fast and the livestock will lose condition and flag. Move them too slow and no one is happy because time is money. It was a difficult balance to keep, and a good Drover always hit the “sweet spot”.

Another factor was that the livestock were getting a free feed of grass from the “long acre” along the road. This might be helpful if the farmer who owned the livestock was short of grass or “feed” say at the end of winter or a long hot summer.

Droving was an important part of the Wairarapa farming landscape from the start of pastoral farming in 1844 up to the mid 1960’s. At Mukamuka rocks just past Corner Creek on Ocean Beach, the sheep originally had to be carried through the surf, one at a time. Te Ara notes that for roughly the next century, seeing a drover and a flock of sheep travelling along the east-coast beaches was commonplace. Large herds of cattle and sheep were shifted from property to property after sales or to the meat works at Waingawa, Masterton, Gear at Petone and also to the Ngauranga meat works. Drovers took livestock both over the Remutaka Hill road and around the wild south coast to Eastbourne and beyond.

The various Roads Board and Councils purchased “Holding Paddocks” at strategic intervals, so that the Drovers could rest stock overnight with somewhere to get them off the road. Many of these little plots are still owned by the District Council today. The Councils also had metal “borrow pits” at strategic locations to get metal for the road formation. Sometimes they were used as holding paddocks also.

At Lake Ferry records in the 19th century, the pioneers drove stock around the coast. If the Lake Onoke outlet was “open” to the sea, the hotel licence-holder was obliged to provide boat to transport the drover and his stock across the lake. That is where the name “Lake Ferry” came from. The ferry charges board is on display in the South Wairarapa District Council offices.

About February 1923 a herd of 120 bullocks accidently swum out to sea when being driven around the Whatarangi bluffs in Palliser Bay. Four of the beasts drowned but the rest made it back ashore ok. There were rumours that they were “put through the works as corned beef” averaging 975 pounds (442 kilograms) per head. The “Devils Mile” between Pahaoa and Te Awaiti on the east coast was so named by the early drovers, because of the risk of loosing their livestock charges to the sea.

A Drovers “Plant” consisted of:

• a pack horse; a saddle and working gear; drovers whips and a cash box
• A good dog or two
• A tarpaulin or tent and swag or sleeping blanket for sleeping on the job with the livestock
• Billies for cooking, eating plate/utensils and maybe a Thermette or kettle for making tea
• And his ability to get work moving stock

It sounds like a fairly hard existence.

There was a transition from drovers to moving livestock in trucks. This seems to have been happening from the 1920s onward. By the late 1960’s trucking was becoming more efficient at moving livestock and droving gradually faded out.

There is a fascinating 1923 Wairarapa Age article headed: “MOTOR LORRY v. DROVER”. It compares fat lambs transported to the freezing works under the care of a drover with those carried by motor lorry. The article records a comparison involving 209 lambs sent under a drover against 211 transported by motor lorry. With the conclusion that the lorry did a better job. I bet the Drovers of that time disagreed!

SoSome of the names older folk might remember are William J. Gray of Whatarangi, Arthur and William Allsworth from Masterton, Harry Charles Barton and Stanley Roberts from Pirinoa, and Tex Charteris, Neil McLaren, Geoff Diederich, Ewen Bruce, Buster Rolls, Roy Amos, Jack Rawhiti (Rafferty), Derek Orchard, Freddie Bird, Bub Salsbury , Les Briant, Terry & Eve Youngman, Webb Harris, Tex Charteris, Bob Buick, Dave Harris, Bob Sargent, Webb Harris, Bob Madden, Link Campbell and Ian Moffitt are still remembered with respect in the Martinborough district. Peter Youngman remembers “My dad Terry Youngman was the droved in 1960’s he drove from White Rock to Martinborough all-round the place

According to Ewen Bruce Jack Rawhiti drove the last herd of sheep to the Featherston Railway yards in about 1965. Ewen had some great stories from the Droving days – has anyone got any stories we can add to this developing article?

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