New Zealand Herald

INCIS – Bouma Murder – All Black Parade – Muriwhenua Row – Burglars – Rescue Commerce – America’s Cup – Sam Hunt – Boy Banned – Hero – Mt Cook – Whangamata – Editorial Winston Peters

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INCIS: Computer company IBM told police as early as July 1996 that it would no longer guarantee the performance of the Incis system, official documents reveal. The company withdrew its guarantee after police opted to make a major change to the project despite IBM misgivings.

BOUMA MURDER: Henk Bouma has not been back to the Reporoa farmhouse where Beverly, his wife of almost 25 years, was shot dead last November. The memory of being woken from his sleep by four armed intruders - and the tragedy which followed - is still too raw.

ALL BLACK PARADE: As the All Blacks and the country count down to the final stages of the Rugby World Cup, Auckland local body leaders are already scrapping over who will pay for any welcome-home victory parade. The Auckland City Council has decided that if there is to be a party, it is not going to be stuck with the bill. It will provide no more than $20,000 towards a parade that its staff say will cost a minimum of $153,000 - and as much as $259,750. But councillor Phil Raffills said the "mean-spirited

MURIWHENUA ROW: Claims that an elderly Maori leader was bullied on his sickbed to sign a document have inflamed tensions in the Far North. Police have been asked to investigate how the Kaitaia-based Muriwhenua runanga got a signature endorsing its approach to Treaty of Waitangi negotiations from a man previously regarded as an opponent.

BURGLARS: Two burglars who attempted to empty a Papakura house of its contents yesterday will probably be wishing that they had stayed well clear. They were caught in the act and taken on by the owner - a police officer.

RESCUE COMMERCE: Two rescue helicopter operators who fought a bitter battle for emergency work contracts two years ago have now been rapped over the knuckles for being too friendly. The Commerce Commission says St John Ambulance and the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust breached the Commerce Act by colluding over Government tenders for air ambulance work.

AMERICA’S CUP: The America's Cup is up and away, but it isn't yet yielding big dollars. Six months ago, it cost up to $3500 for full membership to the exclusive American Express Yacht Club in the Viaduct Harbour - now it is down to $6 a day. American Express is offering the variable daily rate to anyone wearing smart-casual dress after slow sales of regatta-long membership passes.

SAM HUNT: A disenchanted Sam Hunt left St Peter's College in 1962 with university entrance and a request from the principal not to return. Yesterday the poet broke that edict, not for nostalgia or revenge, but for the students - to present Sam Hunt Writers' Scholarships to two budding writers.

BOY BANNED: A former policeman who runs a shop in the Manawatu township of Tokomaru has posted notices banning an 8-year-old boy for stealing a $1 chocolate bar. Peter Wilson has placed two notices in the window of his general store, naming the culprit and saying: "[The boy] stole from this shop. He is banned from this shop for two years."

HERO: Auckland's Hero Parade will be postponed until November next year because of financial concerns. The gay community's annual celebration, which is built around a parade down Ponsonby Rd, is usually held in February.

MT COOK: The 90-year-old mother of a missing Wellington climber died on Friday, the day before her long-lost son's body was found in a glacier that flows off Mt Cook. John Cousins, then aged 25, and Michael Goldsmith, then 22, of Timaru, disappeared in November 1963 while attempting to climb the notorious Caroline Face of Mt Cook.

WHANGAMATA: Residents and visitors to Whangamata can have a say over the next week in deciding the town's future. Environment Waikato, Thames Coromandel District Council, the Department of Conservation and the Hauraki Maori Trust Board will be seeking an opinion from everyone, from schoolchildren to shoppers, on how development should be handled.

EDITORIAL – WINSTON: Winston Peters loses none of his instinct for the interesting idea, even when the idea is an old one like compulsory military training. It is 27 years since the country annually drafted some of its young to be trainee soldiers. In all that time the idea has never been forgotten, perhaps because it ended rather perfunctorily. In 1972 the newly elected Kirk Labour Government carried out a campaign promise immediately, by setting the next year's intake at zero. There had been a small but spirited opposition to the scheme within universities, invigorated by opposition to the Vietnam War, though there was never a suggestion that New Zealand's part-time conscripts be sent to that conflict. In the 10 years of the National Service scheme, several thousand 18-year-olds every year were balloted by birthday to spend 14 weeks in uniform and attend annual camps for some years thereafter. It was a pleasure for some, a pain for others, and when it ended, few cared.

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