Agree. But I think s375 of the Criminal Procedure Act prevents a Judicial Officer from entering a conviction if the offence can be an infringement offence, no matter how the proceedings were bought to court.

It will be better to be charged with a Category 1 offence, as the Judicial Officer is unlikely to fine you $1000 and you won't get a conviction anyway.

Some products have more regulation than others. Alcohol has more rules for supply and purchase than milk or butter.

The rules around renting out housing seem to be based on an historic NZ model where renting was for students and young people in the few years between leaving school and buying your own house.

That a landlord can ask you to move out with 45 days notice when your kids are at the local school, playing local sport seems a bit harsh. That may be o.k. where most renters are transient students but these days that is no longer the case.

If you are a landlord, you are renting out housing; warm safe shelter is a human right. Renting housing is different from renting out diggers or wedding marquees. It should be subject to more regulation. Why don’t we have rent control, w.o.f. for housing, security of tenure?

A lot of the housing bubble is caused by people buying investment property. The investment is the primary concern, and becoming a landlord is secondary or not thought of at all and contracted out to a property manager.

If we are going to have a more renting culture, we should have good regulation to support this. As a side effect, if regulation forces landlords to be serious housing providers, the more causal property investors may start leaving the market.

It may be interesting to compare the two time periods by sentence type. Were more people in the first time period convicted of a ‘strikeable’ offence sent to prison. And out of the group sent to prison, were they more or less likely to commit a 2nd 'strikeable' offence.

I’m not sure about the NZ Initiative. Each paper they have released seems to advocate policies that will benefit property developers. Not that there is anything wrong with that but sometimes it seems their arguments don’t stack up.

How much of a housing shortage is there in Auckland? There is more demand than supply but how much of that demand is from people buying second, third or fourth houses for investment purposes?

I believe if you want to be a landlord, your primary purpose is supplying a house for your tenants.

Couldn’t the housing situation be improved by just toughing up the Residential Tenancies Act? How about having a 180 day notice period? At the moment, a family can have kids in schools, roots in the community and be given just 42 days to clear out. With more people renting for longer terms, it’s probably time look at this Act. Strengthening this Act in favour of long term tenants may also make investors think twice thereby easing demand.

Yes. Following the newspaper trail, he was originally sentenced to death, then this was commuted to life imprisonment before, on appeal, he was found not guilty due to insanity.

This sad event reminded me of another sad event that has mostly been forgotten. New Zealand has had a similar school tragedy; in Waikino in 1923. I only know of it because it was my grandfather’s first day of school and he was one of the children that escaped.

I can’t get link to work from the Papers Past site but the headline is:

“Tragedy in School. Madman With Loaded Revolver Opens Fire On The Children Two Dead; Nine Wounded”

See Papers Past > Auckland Star > 19 October 1923 > Page 5 > TRAGEDY IN SCHOOL

Does anyone know where in Wellington I can purchase a keg of nice beer (preferably 20 or 30 litres) ?

I've tried Region Wines and Spirits but they don't sell kegs any more.

The actual sample taken will be destroyed, but the profile will remain on record indefinitely.

But only if you are convicted of an offence, and that has to be a qualifying offence. Otherwise the profile is destroyed.

Bush did move well. They're lucky they voted for Obama and not McCain. I can't imagine the old fella getting out of the way.

Though what would Obama do? Catch the shoes one handed, basketball twirl and sky hook them back?

Good recovery by Hallensteins in Lambton Quay. I was looking for a pair of trousers; the saleswoman said they had stopped making what I was after but there may be a couple of items left out back. She went to look and found a pair in my size. I paid for them and took them home.

The next morning, trying them on, they weren't my size at all. I went back to the shop at lunch time. The saleswoman had realized her mistake the previous day. That shop didn't have my size at all. She had sourced another pair from another location and had couriered them to Lambton Quay and they were in a bag waiting for me when I arrived.