New Zealand Herald

Woman’s Ordeal - Airways Investigation - Telecom Obligations - St Stephens Bullying - University Moratorium - Northland Prison - Maori Trust - Underage Prostitution - Petrol Rise - Logging Truck Danger- Imperfect Murder - David Crowe Dies - Immigration Decision

WOMAN’S ORDEAL: The third car pulled up hard against the kerb and the driver pushed open the front passenger door. "Are you right? Do you want a lift?" the short-haired, clean-shaven man politely asked the 30-year-old woman walking along.

AIRWAYS INVESTIGATION: The Auditor-General will investigate an Airways Corporation bid for the British air-traffic control system and the packages offered to three of its executives as part of the deal. The Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Mark Burton, confirmed last night that the three would leave the company and work in Britain on a five-year secondment if the corporation and its jointventure partners can pull off the purchase.

TELECOM OBLIGATIONS: Telecom would like to hang up on its obligations to rural communities, selling outlying phone networks or leaving services to local companies. The idea has been floated in Telecom's submission to the Government's telecommunications inquiry.

ST STEPHENS BULLYING: A pupil at a Maori boys' school needed hospital treatment after another student hit him over the head with an iron bar. The assault, which happened about 10 am on Friday, left the St Stephen's School student with a gash in his head that needed stitches.

UNIVERSITY MORATORIUM: The Government has announced a moratorium on new universities. Legislation introduced to Parliament this week will prevent any more universities being created while the new Tertiary Education Advisory Commission reviews the university sector, Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey said yesterday.

NORTHLAND PRISON: KAIKOHE - A Northland prison to be built at Ngawha will lead the way into a new era of rehabilitation, says Corrections Minister Matt Robson. The minister gave approval yesterday for the final step needed to designate the $60 million prison on rural land near Kaikohe.

MAORI TRUST: Urban Maori advocates Willie Jackson and John Tamihere have notched up a major victory in winning Government backing for a pan-Maori trust to control a share of the high-frequency radiowaves spectrum. But Opposition MPs attacked the plans, outlined by the Government yesterday, as a form of racism.

UNDERAGE PROSTITUTION: Having sex with a prostitute aged under 18 will become illegal under law changes the Government must make before it can ratify an international convention on child labour. The Minister of Labour, Margaret Wilson, said yesterday that New Zealand would ratify the convention, aimed at eliminating the worst forms of child labour, by the end of the year.

PETROL RISE: A 5c rise in the price of petrol makes the cost a litre the highest people can remember - and they can expect no guarantee that it will come down. BP announced its 5c rise for unleaded 91, unleaded 96 and diesel yesterday afternoon, effective immediately.

LOGGING TRUCK DANGER: TAURANGA - More than one logging truck rolls over on New Zealand roads a week, the Tauranga District Court has been told during a prosecution resulting from the deaths of four Auckland women near Katikati a year ago. A Rotorua truck driver, John Earle Branson, 55, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of careless driving causing death and two charges of careless driving causing injury.

IMPERFECT MURDER: ROTORUA - It was almost the perfect murder. For 31/2 years after he murdered Auckland peanut salesman Mile Vukotic during a fight over money, Christopher Stephen Schuler told only two people. He should have kept it to himself. In the High Court at Rotorua yesterday, a jury of seven men and five women deliberated for five hours before finding Schuler guilty of murder.

DAVID CROWE DIES: The scoreboard at Eden Park yesterday announced: D W CROWE c and b 66. At the ground which was his second home, Dave Crowe was farewelled by more than 700 people, including past and present cricketing greats.

IMMIGRATION DECISION: Immigrants resident in New Zealand will no longer be able to travel overseas indefinitely then have automatic re-entry. Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel announced the change yesterday. It rescinds a decision by the previous Government in October that people would not have to apply for an entry visa each time they entered New Zealand.

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