Tarlton’s Theft - Bottrill Inquiry - Snake Three - Weekend Toll - Altered Evidence - Drunken Smash - Piano Controversy -
Tauranga Floods - Rings Web Frenzy - Constitution Ends - TV Discovery - Homeless Services - Editorial: Health Reforms
TARLTON’S THEFT: An irreplaceable collection of maritime treasure salvaged by one of the country's most colourful divers
has been stolen - and police fear it is headed overseas. Northland police have issued airport alerts for a man they want
to question about the disappearance of up to $500,000 of historic gold jewellery, coins and relics from Kelly Tarlton's
shipwreck museum and restaurant at Waitangi.
BOTTRILL INQUIRY: Doubts about the health and performance of Dr Michael Bottrill were circulating in Gisborne before the
pathologist retired in 1996. Some doctors switched from using his laboratory to one with an external checking system.
SNAKE THREE: The quick reactions of a crane worker spelled the end yesterday for yet another unwanted Australian
stowaway. The 70cm snake was caught on an Auckland wharf after the worker saw it inside the locking hole of a container
he was shifting.
WEEKEND TOLL: Nine people are dead after the worst day of carnage on North Island roads this year. Four people died in
yesterday's worst accident, involving a three-car pile-up at Ohaaki on State Highway 5 between Rotorua and Taupo, at
2.07 pm. Six others were injured.
ALTERED EVIDENCE: The police have reached a settlement with a man who claimed $850,000 in damages after being arrested
on fabricated evidence. The High Court at Palmerston North found in 1998 that two police officers altered evidence
against Dannevirke man Craig Withey, aged 29, then lied about it.
DRUNKEN SMASH: Constable Rikki Watling said a little prayer when a drunk driver smashed into his police car at high
speed in Otahuhu. "I said, 'Help me, God,' as we were spinning around and He came through," said Constable Watling.
PIANO CONTROVERSY: New evidence has emerged to fuel the debate about the originality of celebrated director Jane
Campion's screenplay for The Piano. The Canberra Times has released correspondence by Campion in 1985 in which she says
she was "inspired" by the novel The Story of a New Zealand River by Jane Mander when she prepared an outline of a film
to be called The Piano Lesson.
TAURANGA FLOODS: Torrential rain caused flooding in Tauranga and other parts of the Bay of Plenty last night. The water
was so deep in some parts of Tauranga that cars floated along streets.
RINGS WEB FRENZY: A two-minute trailer for The Lord of the Rings movie has spawned a global online frenzy as J.R.R.
Tolkien fans devour and dissect it frame by frame. Hundreds of Websites devoted to the film trilogy have been running
hot with talk about what the fleeting images posted on the Internet represent and how accurate they are.
CONSTITUTION ENDS: A weekend conference to discuss a New Zealand constitution failed to reach any consensus and left the
Government unmoved. The "Building a Constitution" gathering in Parliament's Legislative Chamber ended without any
resolution, although a call for the establishment of two "constitutional commissions" won some support.
TV DISCOVERY: An Auckland-born television producer has upstaged the world's scientific community by doggedly pursuing a
hunch that crocodile blood contains an infection-beating agent that might one day be a powerful antibiotic. Top BBC
science producer Jill Fullerton-Smith was filming a documentary on salt water crocodiles in Australia and wondered why
terrible wounds on the reptiles never became infected when the water they inhabited was so dirty.
HOMELESS SERVICES: Some of those who provide services to Auckland's homeless families have publicly thanked the
Government for its commitment to abolish market rents for state housing tenants by the end of the year. Auckland's
Sisters of Mercy, gathered at Mt Roskill's Monte Cecilia House at the weekend as part of their 150th jubilee
celebrations, presented Housing Minister Mark Goshe with a letter praising the Government's pre-election promise to
return to income-related state housing rents.
EDITORIAL: HEALTH REFORMS: Annette King's proposed constitution for elected district health boards sounds a clang of
warning of their democratic limits. The Health Minister will have the right to sack not just the entire board but any
individual members - virtually at will. The right of government to dismiss an elected body that spends taxpayers' funds
cannot be denied. It is the Government that must collect the revenue that the newly elected health boards will be
spending and the Government is ultimately accountable for the use of the money. But the right to dismiss an entire board
is quite different from the power to pick off elected members piecemeal, even if the Government must cite what it
considers "just cause."