1.
New Zealand State Highway 7
–
State Highway 7 is a major New Zealand state highway. Distances are measured from east to west with the junction list going from east to west. For most of its length SH7 is a single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses. There are a number of passing lanes at irregular intervals through the rural sections, the New Zealand Transport Agency classifies SH7 as a primary collector highway, preferring SH73 via Arthurs Pass as the strategic highway between Canterbury and the West Coast. The highway leaves SH1 at Waipara, some 60 kilometres north of Christchurch, after the junction with the Inland Kaikoura road there is a 13.7 km straight, the longest straight section of highway in New Zealand. On the western side of the pass, the highway enters the small spa town of Maruia Springs, before continuing northwest along the valley of the Maruia River to Springs Junction, where it meets SH65. From here, the crosses a smaller pass, the Rahu Saddle. SH7 has one spur, designated State Highway 7A and this 9.4 kilometre stretch links State Highway 7 at the Waiau bridge with the alpine thermal resort town of Hanmer Springs. List of New Zealand state highways List of roads and highways, for notable or famous roads worldwide New Zealand Transport Agency
2.
Regions of New Zealand
–
New Zealand is divided into sixteen regions for devolved local government. Eleven are administered by councils, and five are administered by unitary authorities. The Chatham Islands Council is similar to an authority, authorised under its own legislation. The regional councils are listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Local Government Act 2002, the Act requires regional councils to promote sustainable development – the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities. The current regions and most of their councils came into being through a government reform in 1989 that took place under the Local Government Act 1974. In addition they took over roles that had previously been performed by county councils. Auckland Regional Council, formed in 1989, was replaced by Auckland Council, the boundaries of the regions are based largely on drainage basins. This anticipated the responsibilities of the Resource Management Act 1991, most regional boundaries conform with territorial authority boundaries but there are a number of exceptions. An example is Taupo District, split between four regions, although most of its area is in the Waikato region, property rates are used to fund both regional and territorial government activities. There is often a degree of co-operation between regional and territorial councils as they have complementary roles. Regional councils have these specific functions under the Resource Management Act 1991, notes, These regions have unitary authorities. The Gisborne Region is still widely but unofficially known by its name or as East Coast. Some outlying islands are not included within regional boundaries, the Chatham Islands is not in a region, although its council has some of the powers of a regional council under the Resource Management Act. Councils may use a first past the post or single transferable vote system, the chairperson is selected by the elected council members. The Auckland Regional Council was preceded by the Auckland Regional Authority, the Wellington Regional Council was first formed in 1980 from a merger of the Wellington Regional Planning Authority and the Wellington Regional Water Board. In 1978, legislation was passed enabling the formation of regions with united councils, twenty regions were designated, excluding the Auckland and Wellington areas. For most of the country this was the first regional level of government since the abolition of provinces in 1876, councillors were not elected directly – they were appointed from the various territorial local authorities within the region. For example, in a number of cases the united council took responsibility for the allocation of revenue from regional petrol taxes, the united councils were based in the facilities of the largest TLA in the region and largely dependent on the TLAs for resources
3.
Canterbury Regional Council
–
Canterbury Regional Council is the regional council for Canterbury, the largest region in the South Island of New Zealand. It is part of New Zealands structure of local government and it uses the promotional name Environment Canterbury, frequently abbreviated to ECan. The area of its jurisdiction consists of all the river catchments on the east coast of the South Island from the Clarence River, north of Kaikoura, to the Waitaki River, in South Canterbury. The region includes the Canterbury Plains, north and south Canterbury, the braided rivers of the South Island, the Mackenzie Basin. Canterbury Regional Council has strategic responsibilities for air, water and transport, Christchurch often has temperature inversions which trap pollutants causing air quality issues. Ecan set up the Clean Heat Project in 2002 and it ran until 2011 to assist with cleaner burning home heating, however this united council was replaced by the current regional council in 1988 after local government reforms. Environment Canterburys main office is at 200 Tuam Street Christchurch in a friendly building designed. The old building was demolished in 2011 after the Canterbury earthquakes, all staff moved into the new building on 18 April 2016. ECan also has offices in Timaru, Ashburton, and Kaikoura. Until May 2010, Canterbury Regional Council was governed by 14 elected councillors who were elected on a first-past-the-post basis from eight regional constituencies. On 24 September 2009, Alec Neill became Chairman after the previous Chairman, Sir Kerry Burke, Burke remained a regional councillor Sir Kerry Burke had been re-elected chairperson in October 2007. The councillors vote was tied between Burke and Alec Neill. Sir Kerry Burke has been a councillor since 1998 and was the Chairman from 2004. The four were, David Sutherland and Rik Tindall, who stood as Save Our Water candidates, the other councillors were Mark Oldfield, Bronwen Murray, Ross Little, Jo Kane, Carole Evans, Pat Harrow, Alec Neill, and Bob Kirk and Sir Kerry Burke. The National Government initially promised a return to elected councillors with the elections in October 2013. In September 2012, this was revised for commissioners to stay until the October 2016 local elections, nick Smith, as Minister for the Environment, stated that it may be appropriate to consider these options beyond 2019. Louise Upston, as Associate Minister for Local Government, justified the mixed model as it could provide the stability for Canterbury from 2016. Former district councillor and now member of parliament Sage criticised the government backdown as denying Cantabrians to make their own decisions
4.
Territorial authorities of New Zealand
–
Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities,12 city councils,53 district councils, Auckland Council, six territorial authorities also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are unitary authorities. A unitary authority may also have local boards, currently only Auckland Council has them, territorial authority districts are not subdivisions of regions, and some of them fall within more than one region. Taupo District has the distinction of straddling the boundaries of four different regions, Regional council areas are based on water catchment areas, whereas territorial authorities are based on community of interest and road access. Some activities are delegated to council-controlled organisations, the boundaries of councils tended to follow the edge of the built-up area, so little distinction was made between the urban area and the local government area. Regional councils were reduced in number from 20 to 13, territorial authorities from 200 to 75, the new district and city councils were generally much larger and most covered substantial areas of both urban and rural land. Many places that once had a city council were now being administered by a district council, as a result, the term city began to take on two meanings. The word city came to be used in a formal sense to describe major urban areas independent of local body boundaries. This informal usage is jealously guarded, gisborne, for example, adamantly described itself as the first city in the world to see the new millennium. Gisborne is administered by a council, but its status as a city is not generally disputed. Under the current law the minimum population for a new city is 50,000, since the 1989 reorganisations, there have been few major reorganisations or status changes in local government. Incomplete list,1991, Invercargill re-proclaimed a city,1992, Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council abolished by a Local Government Amendment Act. Of its territorial authorities, Kaikoura District was transferred to the Canterbury Region,2004, Tauranga became a city again on 1 March. 2006, Banks Peninsula District merged into Christchurch City as a result of 2005 referendum,2010, Auckland Council, a unitary authority, replaced seven local councils and the regional council. Reports on completed reorganisation proposals since 1999 are available on the Local Government Commissions site, the split areas as well as the current North Shore City would form a Waitemata local council. Waitakere local council would consist of the current Waitakere City as well as the Avondale area, tamaki Makaurau would consist of the current Auckland City and Otahuhu Manukau local council would consist of the urban parts of the current Manukau City and of the Papakura District. Hunua local council would consist of the entire Franklin District, much of which is currently in the Waikato Region, along with areas of the current Papakura District. The entire Papakura District would be dissolved between urban and rural councils, the National-led Government responded within about a week
5.
Hurunui District
–
The Hurunui District is a political district on the east coast of New Zealands South Island, north of Christchurch, New Zealand. It forms part of the Canterbury region and stretches from the east coast to the main divide and its land area is 8,660.43 square kilometres. The district had a resident population of 12,700 as of June 2016. Local populations could even recognise the identities of every local Maori or Asian recorded in the census, during the period,1853 to 1876, the area north of the Hurunui River was administrated as part of the Nelson Province. After the abolition of the provinces in 1876 the Amuri and Cheviot counties were formed, in 1989, these counties were merged with the Ashley and Waipara counties to form the present district. The current district mayor is Winton Dalley, who was elected in 2010 upon the retirement of previous mayor Gary Jackson, media related to Hurunui District at Wikimedia Commons Hurunui District Council website
6.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
