George Pain taonga Maori collection on first display

Some 35 Maori artifacts/taonga Maori collected by late Martinborough businessman George Pain,  likely from the South Wairarapa region, are on exhibition in Wellington Museum for another month. 

The collection ranges from kete (flax baskets) to tewhatewha (a two-handed weapon), mere tangiwai (a club made from bowenite, a softer version of pounamu) , piupiu (short flax ceremonial kilt), hoe (gardening use) and tao (a long wooden spear).

It also includes functional objects like fishing hooks, stone adzes, knotted wood mallets and wooden carved walking sticks.  … Continue Reading

Gutters, footpaths and water pipes

The Red Cone Brigade marched onto Jellicoe St recently as contractors dug out 200-plus meters of old gutter and replaced it. 

Lines of Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s pet punch-bag guided cars, utes, trucks, log haulers, buses, camper vans slowly (30 kph) through the work zone, as workers, diggers and trucks laboured under the hot sun.

From the other end of the country, a special diamond-shaped purple sign _ originally from Southland _ warned drivers: “Please slow down, my DAD works here.”

Earlier, street works saw major footpath extensions and new gutters adorn one side of Easther, Regent and Malcolm streets, about a kilometer of extra concrete.

A council question which asked who should pay for Martinborough’s expanding urban footpaths and gutters drew 140 local submissions.  … Continue Reading

Hot, cool and high quality vintage in 2024

By Joelle Thomson

Vintage is a loaded word in any wine region at this time of the year, let alone one that is having

an exciting lead up to harvest after two challengingly rainy years.

“It feels like we can be more in control of this harvest, which feels very much like 2016 and 2020

where we had great power and concentration in the wines,” says winemaker Wilco Lam, chair of the Wairarapa Wine Region.

Lam predicts an early harvest with the first picking to begin between 8 and 10 March.

“We will probably look at picking Pinot Noir in the next 12 days or so,” he said, when interviewed for this story on 29 February. … Continue Reading

Fire and Emergency says powerless over long grass hazard

By Ray Lilley 

Long grass is a key feature in incidental fires which have sparked across the dry, dusty, drought-hit Wairarapa since before Christmas.

Despite repeated warnings late last year, and a current fire ban, some locals warn that uncut long grass poses a huge fire danger – and the fire service is apparently powerless to take action against landowners with such grass. 

Why? No proof of an “ignition source,” a key requirement for the brigade to legally step forward.

With tinder dry conditions continuing across the region, there are reports of rural locals deeply concerned about uncut long grass.

One farmer, who did not want to be named, reported that despite several neighbours trying for over a decade to get a neighbour to cut their long grass, it remains a full one metre high, including on boundaries and around buildings.  … Continue Reading