#moving companies palmerston north | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

greatworldwar2 · 4 years ago

Text

• 28th Māori Battalion

The 28th (Māori) Battalion, more commonly known as the Māori Battalion, was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army that served during the Second World War.

The 28th (Māori) Battalion had its origins before the start of the Second World War. In mid-1939, as war in Europe began to be seen as inevitable, Sir Āpirana Ngata started to discuss proposals for the formation of a military unit made up of Māori volunteers similar to the Māori Pioneer Battalion that had served during the First World War. This proposal was furthered by two Māori MPs, Eruera Tirikatene and Paraire Paikea, and from this support within the Māori community for the idea began to grow as it was seen as an opportunity for Māori to participate as citizens of the British Empire. At first the New Zealand government was hesitant, but on October 4th, the decision was announced that the proposal would be accepted and that the battalion would be raised in addition to the nine battalions and support units that had already been formed into three brigades of the 2nd New Zealand Division. Nevertheless, it was decided that the battalion's key positions, including its officers, non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and signallers, would initially be filled largely by New Zealanders of European descent. This decision was met with some consternation, so assurances were made that over time suitable Māori candidates would take over these positions. In this regard, it was decided that the battalion's first commanding officer would be a regular officer, Major George Dittmer later promoted to lieutenant colonel in January 1940 and that his second-in-command would be a Reserve officer, Lieutenant Colonel George Bertrand, a part-Māori who would take up the position with the rank of major.

Almost immediately effort was focused upon selecting and identifying the officers and NCOs. To this end volunteers were called for among units that had already formed as part of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) and from new recruits. At the end of November, 146 trainees reported to the Army School at Trentham, where even serving officers and NCOs were required to prove their suitability for positions in the new battalion. Concurrently, recruiting of men to fill the other ranks positions began in early October and within three weeks nearly 900 men had enlisted. The process was carried out by recruiting officers who worked closely with tribal authorities, and the recruits were restricted to single men aged between 21 and 35, although later married men were allowed to join, but only if they did not have more than two children, of similar ages. On January 26th, 1940 the battalion came together for the first time, marking its official raising at the Palmerston North Show Grounds. Upon formation it was decided that the battalion would be organised upon tribal lines. The unit consisted of a headquarters company and four rifle companies, designated 'A' through 'D': 'A' Company (Kamupene ā – Ngā Kiri Kapia – the Gumdiggers) was recruited from the Northland to Auckland ; 'B' Company (Kamupene B – Ngā Ruku Kapa – Penny Divers) from Rotorua, the Bay of Plenty and Thames–Coromandel; 'C' Company (Kamupene C – Ngā kaupoi – The Cowboys) from the East Coast from Gisborne to East Cape and 'D' Company (Ngāti Walkabout) from Waikato, Maniapoto, Hawkes Bay, Wellington and the South Island, as well as some Pacific Islands and the Chatham and Stewart Islands.

February saw the issuing of equipment and the commencement of training; punctuated by medical inspections and dental treatment as well as ceremonial duties. A lack of previous experience in technical trades also hampered the battalion's training, as the unit was short of men who were able to serve in roles such as clerks, drivers and signallers – most personnel were drawn from mainly rural backgrounds. Consequently, candidates for these roles had to be trained from scratch. The organisation of the battalion was finally completed in March, when the men were allocated to their respective companies, and on March 13th, 1940 the 28th (Māori) Battalion was declared on active service. After 14 days leave, the battalion conducted a five-week concentration period before embarking on May 1th, 1940. The battalion's strength at this time was 39 officers and 642 other ranks. Sailing upon the Aquitania via Fremantle and Cape Town, the battalion arrived at Gourock, Scotland, after six weeks at sea. Initially they had been destined to join the rest of the 2nd New Zealand Division in the Middle East, but due to concerns about a possible invasion of the United Kingdom by the German Wehrmacht, the decision was made to divert the division's second echelon, a brigade-sized force that included the 28th (Māori) Battalion, to Britain to help bolster the island's defences. In late June or early July 1940 the 28th (Māori) Battalion was attached to a mixed brigade under Brigadier Harold Barrowclough. During this time they manned defences in the south of England and undertook further training. The battalion suffered from a lack of equipment, largely due to the priority given to re-equip British units following the losses suffered by the British Expeditionary Force in France, and consequently training was largely focused upon anti-gas procedures and route marching. On July 6th they were inspected by King George VI and he was said to have been impressed by the "smartness of the close order and arms drill of the Māori Battalion" and "by the fine physique, keenness and determined demeanour" of the men.

Shortly afterwards the Mixed Brigade began quick deployment and defensive manoeuvres in earnest, as fears of invasion grew. In between exercises, further training was undertaken and the battalion also worked to improve fixed defences throughout July, August and into September. In September, a divisional review was undertaken and amidst massive German air raids upon London, the New Zealanders were declared to be ready for front-line service in the event of a German landing. Warning orders for deployment to Egypt were cancelled and the New Zealanders were placed under command of XII Corps, taking up defensive positions in the Folkestone–Dover region. In October, the Māori Battalion was attached to "Milforce", under Dittmer's command, along with a squadron of tanks, a squadron of cavalry and a medium machine gun company. Later in the month, the battalion received the order to begin preparing for redeployment to Egypt and an advance party was dispatched in mid-December. On January 7th, 1941 the rest of the battalion left for the Middle East. After sailing via Freetown, Cape Town and Durban, the Athlone Castle sailed up the east coast of Africa and entered the Suez Canal, arriving at Tewfik harbour on March 3rd, 1941. In the afternoon the battalion entrained and two days later they arrived in the desert, where they were met by motor transport which carried them to camp Garawi, about 20 miles (32 km) from Cairo. At this point they were met by about 300 reinforcements which were used to replace men who had been laid down with influenza and to bring the battalion up to a higher establishment. Shortly afterwards they were moved to Alexandria, where they embarked on the Cameronia, bound for Greece.

On April 6th the German invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia began. In order to help defend Greece, a composite force of three divisions of Australian, British and New Zealand troops were to be deployed, and were grouped together under the title of 'W' Force. However, by the time the invasion began only two of the three divisions had arrived, and the New Zealanders were consequently spread thin, holding a position to the north of Katerini, where they were tasked to defend the strategic Olympus Pass to the south. During this time, the 28th (Māori) Battalion was attached to the 5th Infantry Brigade, which was later grouped with other Australian and New Zealand units to form the Anzac Corps. Vastly outnumbered, within two days the situation for the Allies was not good as the Germans had broken through the defences along the Bulgarian border and the Yugoslav resistance had collapsed. As the situation worsened, orders came down from brigade headquarters that the passes would be held "to the last man and last round".

On April 9th, the fall of Salonika precipitated the order for the battalion to withdraw from their positions at Katerini south to Olympus. As events unfolded elsewhere, the battalion remained in position, digging in and constructing defences until April 12th when they were ordered to withdraw behind the Mavroneri Gorge and reposition themselves on the western aspect. At this time the 5th Infantry Brigade's orders were changed from a holding action to a delay and withdrawal. It was in the Petra Pass, alongside the 22nd Battalion, that the 28th Battalion fought its first engagement of the war. In preparation for the coming attack, the Māori built their position, running out barbed and concertina wire and digging in while German bombers droned overhead. As German forces were halted at Platamon by the 21st Battalion, thrusts towards Larisa once again put the battalion's position in doubt and they were again ordered to withdraw. In the end the Māori remained in position until April 17th. Throughout the previous two days the battalion worked hard to repel repeated attempts by elements of the German 2nd Infantry Regiment to infiltrate their lines, before they finally received the order to fall back. Withdrawing over difficult terrain towards the pass, the manoeuvre continued into the night as the Germans continued to harass their rearguard units. The move was carried out with considerable urgency because the intention was to blow a bridge up just after the battalion had withdrawn across it in order to delay the German advance. In the end the battalion only just made it. After meeting motor transport, the battalion moved back to Ay Dhimitrios, which they began to prepare to defend in order to help seal off the exit of the Olympus pass. The withdrawal continued, though, and on April 19th the Māori Battalion was called upon to conduct a delaying action as the rest of the 5th Infantry Brigade pulled back through Larisa towards Lamia, 80 miles (130 km) south. Here they took up position in a marsh and as they made preparations for its defence, on April 22nd, in Athens, the decision was made that the units of the British Commonwealth forces would be withdrawn from the country.

Over the course of the next two days, the battalion withdrew towards Athens, where they arrived in the early morning on April 24th. They continued on to the beach at Porto Rafti, destroying their vehicles and other equipment as they went. In the confusion of orders and counter orders, the battalion's carrier and mortar platoons had gotten separated from the rest of the unit. By 9:00 pm on April 24th when the final move to the beach commenced they still had not arrived. Of the various groups that had become detached from the battalion, some were able to make their own way to the embarkation beaches, but a number of them were ultimately captured. The battalion's casualties in Greece were 10 killed or died of wounds, six wounded, 83 captured, 11 wounded and captured. After being evacuated from Greece, the Māori Battalion embarked upon the landing ship, infantry HMS Glengyle and was taken to Crete where they formed part of the island's hastily formed garrison. On May 20th, 1941, the Germans launched the opening stages of their campaign with large-scale glider and parachute drops of troops from Maleme to Canea. The landings were focused around the airfield and no troops landed in the area being held by the Māori, nevertheless, a small force of glider troops were found to be occupying a house on the beach about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from them. A platoon was dispatched to attack them and after a brief fire-fight in which two New Zealanders were wounded and eight Germans were killed, the 10 remaining men in the house surrendered. The main German attack was focused upon the 22nd Battalion which was defending the airfield. Hard pressed, late in the day the 22nd requested reinforcements and the 5th Infantry Brigade commander, Brigadier J. Hargest, sent one company from the 23rd and one from the 28th. The task was given to 'B' Company and, as the company commander only knew the direct route, they had a night approach march of over 8 miles (13 km) to cover. During the march they came in contact with a platoon-sized force of Germans which briefly held up the company before reinforcements could arrive.

The German force surrendered, but in doing so one of their number threw a grenade at the New Zealanders, wounding two men. In response the Māori fixed bayonets and carried out the first bayonet charge by a New Zealand force during the war, killing 24. A short while later they killed another eight in a separate engagement. Continuing on towards the 22nd Battalion, they bumped into a number of small pockets of Germans before eventually linking up with the 22nd Battalion's headquarters where they were told to return to their own lines as the decision had been made to withdraw. Eleven hours later the company reported back to the 28th Battalion's lines. Over the course of the next ten days the battalion was involved in a series of engagements as they fought to defend the island, with the most notable probably being the bayonet charge that they undertook with the Australian 2/7th Battalion at 42nd Street on May 27th, in which 280 Germans were killed, with the Māori accounting for 100. However, it soon became clear that the garrison on Crete would need to be evacuated and on 28 May the bulk of Creforce began to disengage the Germans and begin the retreat towards Sfakia. The 5th Infantry Brigade took turns with two Australian battalions and the commandos of Layforce to carry out a rearguard action to guard the pass through which the troops had to traverse in order to escape. On May 30th, the final order was received, although due to shipping losses it was not possible to evacuate everyone. In order to maintain fairness, each battalion was allotted a certain number of men who would have to remain and defend the embarkation beaches to allow the others to get away. The 28th Battalion was allocated 230 men to embark, while six officers and 144 men would have to stay behind. A large number of men volunteered to remain, and at midnight the remainder headed down to the beach and were taken off on a landing ship two hours later. The battalion suffered 243 casualties during the brief defence of the island, including 74 men killed and 102 men wounded.

After their escape from Crete, the 28th (Māori) Battalion was evacuated to Egypt where they were re-issued with summer uniforms and began to receive reinforcements. In June they carried out a ceremonial parade for King George VI and the Queen, and the commander of the 2nd New Zealand Division, Lieutenant General Bernard Freyberg. Throughout July, the battalion undertook desert familiarisation training before moving to Kabrit where they concentrated with the rest of the 5th Infantry Brigade for a three-week combined operations exercise. Later, in August, they moved to a position 20 miles (32 km) west of El Alamein, known as the "Kaponga Box" where throughout September and into October they undertook the unfamiliar task of road construction. In October, the brigade received orders to link up with the rest of the division in preparation for their commitment to the battle along the frontier. Their first task was to capture the seaside town of Sollum, which was taken on 23 November from its Italian garrison with only a few casualties. Follow-up artillery inflicted 18 killed and 33 wounded. Two hundred and forty-seven Italian prisoners were taken. Following this, the 5th Infantry Brigade was placed under the command of the 4th Indian Division and the 28th Battalion took up positions near Bardia. Three days later the battalion attacked a column of tanks and motorised infantry before ambushing a column at Menastir on 3 December. Later, notable actions were undertaken at Gazala and at Sidi Magreb where over 1,000 Italians prisoners were captured. Following this, the battalion was deployed to Syria before returning to Egypt in June 1942. Now officially under the command of a Māori for the first time Lieutenant Colonel Eruera Love.the Māori took part in the 2nd New Zealand Division's breakout from Minqar Qaim, undertaking a successful bayonet charge. At this time, the battalion's skills with the bayonet earned them a reputation as "scalp hunters" among German commanders, including Rommel. In September and October the battalion took part in important actions as part of the offensive in the Munassib Depression and at Miteiriya Ridge during the Second Battle of El Alamein. In November the battalion supported the final breakthrough by Allied forces that decided the outcome of the battle. Nevertheless, the battalion remained in the fighting and in March 1943, at Medenine it undertook a defensive role before switching to the offensive at Point 209 in the Tebaga Gap, where it was responsible for almost completely destroying a German panzer grenadier battalion. Two weeks later, on the night April 20th, 1943, the battalion took part in the 5th Infantry Brigade's attack on the Tunisian village of Takrouna. The village was situated atop a steep slope, and the attack stalled due to heavy concentrations of indirect fire and landmines, which wounded a number of men. The battalion returned to Egypt with the 5th Infantry Brigade in late-May and underwent a period of refit and retraining, during which the bulk of the original unit was given three months leave and returned to New Zealand.

Having taken no part in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July August, the 2nd New Zealand Division was committed to battle again in late 1943 as part of Eighth Army during the Italian Campaign. The Māori Battalion subsequently arrived in Italy on October 22nd, landing at Taranto. 5th Infantry Brigade undertook a period of training in close-country tactics, remaining in camp at Taranto until 18 November when it was ordered to move north 250 miles (400 km) to join the Eighth Army. The 2nd New Zealand Division had moved into the front line in November in order to relieve the 8th Indian Division and would take part in the advance across the Sangro planned for the end of the month. The brigade subsequently occupied positions around Atessa, with the Māori Battalion in brigade reserve, occupying a series of low hills which formed the Sangro river valley. During December the 2nd New Zealand Division took part in the Moro River Campaign. By this time the attacking battalions had exploited forward towards the Winter Line and the Māori Battalion moved forward by truck on December 1st, crossing the Sangro. Heavy congestion on the road delayed the battalion's movements, and although scheduled to assault towards Elici, they arrived to find the 23rd Battalion and the Division Cavalry had already completed the task. The Māori were again ordered into reserve, occupying positions 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Castelfrentano. As part of the Fifth Army's advance up the Liri valley, the Māori Battalion's next major engagement came in early 1944 when they took part in the fighting around Monte Cassino. The position at Cassino was dominated by an historic Benedictine monastery. Throughout January the Allies continued their advance, but as they were checked by the German positions at Cassino the advance stalled. They met very stiff resistance, and although they managed to reach the railway station they were unable to wrest control of it from its defenders. Lacking armoured support, which had failed to arrive, they fought through the morning and into the afternoon, but when their position was assaulted by two German tanks they were forced to withdraw. In March they were again involved in fighting around Cassino, however, it was not until May that the position was eventually captured, by which time the New Zealanders had been withdrawn from the line, and transferred back to the Eighth Army.

In April 1945 the battalion returned to the front line to take part in the final stages of the war. On April 1th, the battalion entered the line near Granarolo along with the rest of the 5th Infantry Brigade and for the next month they were involved in five main battles along the Senio, Santerno, Sillaro, Gaiana and Idice rivers as the Allies pursued the Germans back towards Trieste. It was in Trieste that the Māori Battalion's war came to an end. Their involvement in the final stages of the fighting in Italy had cost them 25 killed and 117 wounded, while losses for the entire Italian campaign were 230 men killed, and 887 wounded. On May 2nd, 1945 news was received that all German forces west of the Isonzo River had surrendered. While this did not officially end the fighting in Italy, it was all but over. Five days later, on the night of May 7th, the battalion received the news that Germany had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, and that the war in Europe was over. Nevertheless, tensions remained high and concerns about the intentions of Yugoslavia regarding the disputed province of Istria meant that the 28th (Māori) Battalion remained on high alert. This continued until early June when an agreement was reached and Yugoslavia withdrew its troops east of the Isonzo River. Following this the routine of the battalion became more settled. Afterwards, preparations began for the battalion's return to New Zealand. The war with Japan continued however, and at the time it was believed that the Māori would take part in further operations in the Pacific. New Zealand policy at the time was that long serving men were to be repatriated and their places taken by men with less time in service. In this regard, commencing in late May, drafts of men departed in the order of their arrival at the battalion. On 15 August 1945 news was received of Japan's unconditional surrender, ending plans for the battalion to take part in further combat in the Pacific. In September it was decided that as part of the departure of New Zealand troops from the theatre, memorial services would be held at the locations of the division's major battles. The last batch of long service men had departed shortly after the battalion's arrival at Lake Trasimene.

Throughout the course of the war, 3,600 men served in the battalion. Of these, 649 were killed or died of wounds while another 1,712 were wounded. Another 29 died as a result of service following discharge, while two were killed by accident during training in New Zealand. The Māori Battalion's service against the Germans in North Africa earned them a distinguished reputation. Such was the respect that Allied commanders had for the Māori Battalion that they were frequently used as a spearhead unit. Bernard Freyberg, the General Officer Commanding of the 2NZEF, commented, "No infantry had a more distinguished record, or saw more fighting, or, alas, had such heavy casualties, as the Maori Battalion." The battalion's reputation was also acknowledged by their opponents. Some sources state that the Afrika Korps commander, Erwin Rommel remarked,"Give me the Maori Battalion and I will conquer the world".

#second world war #world war ii #world war 2 #military history #wwii #history #british history #new zealand #maori history #new zeland history #british commonwealth #long post #unsung hero #badass history #desert soldiers

123 notes · View notes

cyberneticpeoplespolis · 6 years ago

Text

On Blockading

A treatise on NVDA tactics from a Marxist perspective.

Update: 2019 edition!

I’m updating “On Blockading” for several reasons: For starters; this post got more popular than I could have predicted and that carries with it a greater responsibility to give up-to-date advice. There have also been several developments in Direct Action tactics in Aotearoa since I wrote this: the Weapons Expo has been officially kicked out of New Zealand thanks, in part, to the success of the 2018 blockade I wrote about here. I’ve also been a part of subsequent movements like the Ihumaatao campaign where Direct Action tactics were once again used. These experiences, as well as finding out how horrendously incorrect some parts of this guide were, meant I needed to revisit this piece and bring it up to date.

An introduction to NVDA in New Zealand Non-Violent Direct Action is the backbone of several movements in Aotearoa, a long and proud tradition that has historically seen successes in anti-nuclear proliferation, anti-racism, indigenous rights and anti-imperialism.

When US warships threatened to bring nuclear-capable missiles to NZ, community organisers built boats in their backyards, or got their rich friends drunk enough to agree to lend a yacht, so that they could amass a flotilla to harass US Navy submarines and missile cruisers. The blockades grew so successful (in part thanks to the sheer inability of the NZ Police to acquire adequate boats) that public pressure resulted in Nuclear-free legislation that amounted to a policy against port visits by major US Warships. When the Government’s resolve weakened and a visit by the nuclear-capable USS Buchanan seemed likely, it was once again groups of blockaders who forced the state’s hand into enforcing the Nuclear Free policy.

In 1981, a tour by Apartheid South Africa’s Springbok rugby team prompted a nationwide anti-racist movement that effectively halted the tour at several points through the use of Direct Action tactics. Organisers studied tactics from overseas closely, and developed several innovative solutions to state violence. Makeshift helmets and armor were common where clashes with the Police were likely, and the last test in the tour came to an abrupt end when Marx Jones flew a light aircraft over the pitch, dropping bombs made of flour and paper bags.

However the Springbok tour also showed the other side of NVDA. Many organisers suffered concussions, PTSD and other injuries and trauma that prevented them from continuing to work. A whole generation of talented activists were taken out of commission by targeted beatings and arrests - a sobering reminder that no matter how innovative our tactics are, the State retains a monopoly on violence, and will use it mercilessly when needed. Since the late 80s, NVDA has continued under the banner of the Peace movement, which remained strong but was ultimately sent into decline somewhat by the total devastation of NZ Unions between 1984 and 1991. The peace movement has been comprised of a mish-mash of anarchist, catholic worker, Tino Rangatiratanga activists, church groups and other miscellaneous community organisations. It also had a strong Marxist component from the early days right up until the global collapse of socialist groups in the 90s.

NVDA In 21st Century Aotearoa

In Aotearoa the main site of struggle that involved NVDA was the repeated attempt by peace activists to prevent the New Zealand Defense Industry Association from hosting trade conferences with major arms manufacturers, aviation companies, shipbuilders and private security firms. These forums, known as the “Weapon’s Expo” or “Wexpo,” happened yearly, usually around October, ever since the purchase of ANZAC navy frigates in the 1980s until the cancellation of the 2019 Wexpo. While in 2018, in the face of increasing public scrutiny, the event organisers claimed to not be showcasing any weapons, media access was restricted, and even if weapons were not conspicuously on display, delegates were still free to deal in them, or make profits on innocuous items that could be reinvested into arms manufacturing.

In 2018, despite a distant location, bad weather, vastly increased police presence, road checkpoints, extensive defensive barriers, intimidation tactics and fewer activists, we were still able to shut down the conference for many hours each day, using creative tactics.

The remainder of this treatise is an exposition and refinement of the tactics used in our blockades of the 2018 Weapons Expo in Palmerston North. I write this both for domestic comrades who weren’t able to attend, and for international comrades who may be able to apply some of our tactics in an increasingly unpredictable world.

Blockade Tactics

In previous years, blockades were conducted in loose affinity groups centred around contingents from various left organisations. These groups were often uncoordinated, but also very fluid, hard to disperse, and generally able to cause chaos. Unfortunately these tactics were not always effective at keeping activists safe, and the arrest and injury rate at previous years was unacceptable.

During the debrief after the first day of blockades, our group reached a number of conclusions, especially after other groups commented on our cohesiveness and discipline. This was because we recognised the need for set roles within the group - namely, a coordinator, a radio operator, and a scout. The coordinator is able to make tactical decisions, the radio operator is able to devote full attention to staying in touch with other groups, and the scout is able to keep an eye on the overall situation away from the action. These three set roles needed to be known by the whole group, and needed to keep their distance from major actions so that they could continue doing their job.

The blockade team on the other hand was comprised of activists willing to directly confront police, and entrust any major decision making to the coordinator. This authority was necessary as most NVDA tactics require a degree of discipline so that individuals do not break a line, such as by stepping back from the action without finding a replacement.

In addition to the roles, we realised that some basic commands were necessary: these were:

Spread out: The blockade group disperses

Come Together: The blockade group converges

Lock: The blockade group locks arms and forms a tight line

Starfish: The blockade group lays down on the ground

We found it necessary for all group members to repeat the command as soon as they heard it so that all members could hear the call. We will now go into the tactics associated with the latter two commands.

Locking versus Police Lines

On the first day of action, after pulling down the first defensive barrier, we were confronted with the first police line. This included officers from the so-called “grab squads” who were identifiable by their black gloves, and were tasked with randomised arrests. Luckily, enough of the activists present had been trained in the correct way to lock arms and defend against a police line. Turning away from the police (if you are facing away you're less likely to be falsely accused of assault), we locked elbows, with our fists facing inwards. Our group split into the blockading team, and the coordinators - the radio op, coordinator and scout - as supporters outside the line were necessary to keep an eye on developments.

This formation was effective at preventing the easy arrest of random members (although one was pulled out successfully). However, it cannot hold indefinitely - the police are allowed to touch you, but the lightest tap on their shoulder is grounds for an assault charge. This prevents the line from simply pushing back. Ultimately it is an extremely passive formation that is only good for temporary delays. To counter the police line, you must make the police fear that their line cannot contain the crowd, however this is only applicable in situations where Police aren’t likely to simply panic and start assaulting people, such as a situation where there is considerable media coverage. Building up a force of activists on the flanks, while the police are spread out evenly across the road, creates a situation where the police will fear that you are going to be able to push through. In a situation where their duty is to protect something behind them, they will usually retreat to a narrower choke point if they cannot maintain a line. Successful applications of NVDA aren’t about passivity - it is about actively making the police have to reconsider their tactics by adapting to changes. The basic strategy is outlined below.

Starfishing versus convoys. In a situation where the police are trying to move a cargo (in our case, weapons company delegates), it is often necessary to stop vehicles in the road. The most effective method of using bodies to block a vehicle that we have found is the Starfish. Although, like many NVDA tactics, it assumes your opponent has a conscience - in practice, the drivers were sometimes willing to threaten the lives of activists in order to deliver the delegates on time.

The starfish constitutes four or more activists either sitting or prone on the road, arms interlocked in a circle facing inward or outward. Prone starfish usually result in the police pulling at activist’s legs, while sitting starfish are easier to pull apart at the arms. In order for a starfish to work - there needs to be effective support teams around them. The starfishing action is pretty hard on everyone’s bodies - not only are your elbows, hips or knees on hard bitumen, but police are often pulling at legs, hair or arms. The support team needs to be bringing water, filming police violence, informing drivers of their legal responsibilities (to not put protesters in danger), and keeping an eye on the situation and radios. In addition, support activists must get around the back of the vehicle to prevent reversing. Cars, lock-ons and other actions can all support the starfish.

Mobile Groups Due to the number of activists involved in a blockade group, it can be difficult to load everyone into cars and keep mobile. Drivers get lost or lag behind, members don’t hear the call to pull back, and generally the group will lose cohesion after a few hours of action. Larger blockade groups therefore were more effective on foot, where they could find strength in numbers, and individual car-loads of activists could not become separated. This also created issues on the first day. Police convoys were able to follow unusual routes to get to the venue, and for a while, the police had the initiative and could choose when and where to confront us. All struggle is about regaining the initiative - choosing your battles and turning passive or reactive action into unexpected action. To keep mobile, and to help us strike in locations the police didn’t expect, we found it necessary to create rolling blockade groups, that were centred not on a large group of activists, but rather an eight-seat van. These vans are relatively common, and many activist groups will have access to at least one or two. And from our experience, just one was a very potent force. On the second day, the police forces were gathered early in the morning around the arena. The previous day had been centred around the eastern entrances to the stadium, so roughly a hundred police were patrolling the eastern street. What they did not expect was for mobile blockade teams to arrive at the starting point for their convoys rather than the destination!

The van’s objective was to be relayed information on convoys by the scouts to the radio operator, the navigator would plot the estimated movements of a bus, and find a location to intercept it. The driver would approach the convoy as it moved towards the Weapons Expo and block its path forward. In the confusion, the two “blockers” exited the van and blocked the forward and back routes, while the van rolled up alongside the bus. The van was equipped with a ladder, firmly attached to a pallet on the roof. The ladder was lowered onto the bus, where a climber, assisted by another activist holding the ladder and any supplies they might need, would board the roof of the bus. The blockers would then inform the driver that they had been boarded, and it would be illegal to move until they come down. This process is displayed below.

The bus, now relatively immobilised, would have to wait for the police to arrive with ladders before proceeding. This gave blockade teams the time to get to the bus on foot and prevent any police counteraction. These tactics were more effective than our wildest expectations - for example, just one of these mobile blockade vans was able to stop three buses of delegates (perhaps 120 people overall) from leaving their hotels! All with only eight activists.

Criticisms of NVDA

NVDA is not Adventurism

The criticism that direct action constitutes an “Adventurism” has its roots in several conflicts in the 19th century, in particular conflicts between Marxists and advocates of Bakuninist programmes, ie. those which emphasise spontaneity, strikes and direct action rather than the prior building of party structures.

An article by Lenin - Revolutionary Adventurism - that appeared in Iskra in 1902 illustrates this well. In it, Lenin denounces the defense of terrorism offered by the Narodnik Socialist-Revolutionaries, who had advocated for a campaign of assassinations against Tsarist ministers... Already we can begin to see the false equivalency central to accusations of adventurism, NVDA is obviously totally dissimilar to terrorist assassinations.

The central point of Lenin’s criticism is that he refutes the SR’s claim that terrorist activities are able to transfer power from the state to the revolutionaries. He is correct in that it doesn’t follow that blowing up a minister would result in growth of the revolutionary movement, or that that minister’s power would somehow be gained through a destructive act. In this instance there is no transference of power, and so we can begin to see why a critique of NVDA as adventurism formed on the left - can we be sure that NVDA helps to build the revolutionary movement? This is a valid question that we should be asking, but in practice I think it is obvious. NVDA actions are, at their best, blockades of state apparatuses, or private interests that support the repressive apparatuses of the state. If we’re to make private industry grind to a halt, it's clear that we will need to eventually block the choke points of capital. But before that, do blockades assist in building the movement? It is clear that we can’t jump ahead to blocking off key industries in our tiny numbers, so is there a form of blockade that is effective, not only at wounding the state, but also building our own power?

To this I would offer our own experiences as an organisation engaged in NVDA as an example of blockading as a means of building the movement. NVDA, when done well, is not the actions of a small group of professionalised activists, but rather an expression of worker’s sentiment towards repression, it can also weaken the state (by preventing the army and police from effectively operating), build the experience of the organisation for later decisive blockades and galvanise public sentiment against the state (wherever undue repression is seen). None of these statements are true of the adventurist terrorism that Lenin denounced, and unlike the actions of the SRs, our participation in blockades involved a clear transference of power, and came at little cost to our organisations.

NVDA is not the same as Pacifism

As socialists, we are rarely pacifists. We recognise that the state, at its essence, is simply the police and army, and as such it comprises a tool of class repression. At a certain point, dangers to the capitalist class will be dealt with with violence, and we can’t fail to defend our friends and comrades simply because of vague moralistic sentiments. That being said, we should recognise that, at the current stage, pacifists have a lot to contribute to the struggle, and we are not yet at a stage where the state can operate unfettered by middle class morality. The media operates as a means for middle class morality to interfere with struggle - and this can either be to the benefit or the detriment of a worker’s movement depending on whether we are seen as active or passive actors in any struggle. Since middle class morality seeks to preserve the status-quo, it values passivity in the face of violence. For these reasons, if socialists are operating in a media-heavy environment, it sometimes helps to be seen as passive victims of police violence. We usually are anyway.

That being said, since NVDA often seeks to directly interfere with the everyday operations of capitalism, it is almost never seen as pacifistic by the media. The violence and anger of protesters is emphasised even when it is clear that the police are beating them and not vice-versa. Nonetheless, until middle class morality breaks down completely (as it will in a crisis), NVDA is our only means of direct strategic interference in production and exchange without bringing down the full force of the state on our movement. This is different to the popular conception of pacifism as passivity in the face of danger.

NVDA in future.

I hope that this post inspires comrades to pursue NVDA in areas where a direct intervention in the apparatuses of capital is necessary to build power and further the struggle. What the people of Aotearoa achieved is truly remarkable and it is doubtful that the NZDIA will be able to continue funding conferences like this in the future. In a world where the state apparatuses will only grow more brutal we need to begin taking action in meaningful ways - not as an individual display of adventurism, but as a mass movement capable of strangling the neck of capitalism in our home.

#nvda #non violence #marxism #wexpo

7K notes · View notes

enz-fan · 6 years ago

Photo

‘Split Enz On The Road’ story written for ‘Rip It Up’ magazine by lighting director, Raewyn Turner. Circa 1982.

“SPLIT ENZ – ON THE ROAD STORY

Raewyn Turner has been lighting director for Split Enz since 1975. She painted the cover for Frenzy and last year at Dennis Cohn Gallery exhibited drawings in her show entitled ‘On The Road Again’. Raewyn has written for Rip It Up, about behind-the-scenes- staging the 1982 Time And Tide tour of New Zealand.

Six months in a leaky boat and that story nears its end for the second time in two years, as Split Enz round the bend on their last lap of touring, finishing in New Zealand. The past five months have been a variety show, the star hosts mingle with us, briefly, from their conveyer belts, flanked by the extras who are directed to have walk-on and bit parts for the day. The many famed and fabled buildings and cities roll on the big rollers past the car windows, and lots of people pass us, in a hurry, to and fro, people with different accents, different smiles, clothes, lifestyles. While we sit and stand, walk and work, moving from car to aeroplane, airport to motel to theatre, the big rollers roll in the world’s projection room, on to the screens, which are our windows.

Split Enz, the audience, the judge, in the van with the video sensurround windows. The selection committee. In a chartered plane, seated in rows until a kind man appears and opens the exit door, ushering us into another windows room. We sit there, breathing in the muted greens and browns and admiring the blue sky, until we’re told to get out and into another room, where soft musak whispers that life is a breeze. Water flows from taps, milk is instant non-dairy whitener, food is but a phone call and an hour’s wait away, all-night television to lull to sleep, air comes from an air conditioner.

10.00 am on Monday, August 16 in Melbourne, and the band are making a film clip, ‘Never Ceases To Amaze Me’, that Noel has worked out with the director over long phone calls from Darwin. It doesn’t finish until 6.00 pm. Last night at the same time, the band had just come off stage, completing the last date of their Australian tour, an ‘Under-18s’ show in Melbourne.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17

Melbourne, 7.00 am. Grant Thomas, the tour manager, dutifully makes wake-up calls and in six homes scattered over Melbourne, the entourage is busily preparing and packing to make the flight, leaving at 10.00 am to Auckland. 9.00 am we’re at the airport, tired and grizzly, only to learn that the plane has been delayed for five and a half hours. Back home for some more sleep, while the road crew opt to stay at the airport and busy themselves making badges to display their membership of an exclusive social club – the crew’s very own ‘Split Enz Sports And Social Club’ – crew only.

The same day, 10.30 pm, ‘arrive Auckland and proceed to Hamilton, going by the itinerary. Oops. Noel has left his bag at the airport, so we have to double back. Check into hotel, and the band settle for some sleep while I go down to the Founders Theatre to set up for the first show of the NZ tour. The stage set, which has some technical peculiarities, has to be explained and put up and the special effects projectors babied out of their case and wheeled around. Although the lighting plot was sent over a month in advance, the rigging, cabling and colouring of lamps takes forever on the first set up, so we do all but focus tonight. 6.00 am we call it quits and go back to the hotel for a few hours’ sleep. Laurie Bell, the production manager works on, there are many details to be taken care of before the stage and sound people begin work at 9.00 am.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18

Sound check is early, everyone expecs the first show to be difficult because of the new, unfamiliar NZ equipment – PA, foldback and lights. The Finn elders arrive, Finn cousins playing with the beach balls backstage.

The dressing room is newly painted and most of the band find they have severe headaches the next day. But battle dress donned, they take the stage with enthusiasm and anticipation, because it’s great to be on home soil. The audience is quiet, polite and serious. It’s been a whole year since Split Enz toured NZ and they’re playing new material, working hard. There are a few technical difficulties, but only minor ones. Back to the hotel for some hot chocolate with friends, before retiring.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 19

1.30 pm. Wake up, and Eddie and I go down to the theatre to work on improving our computer programmes (Eddie’s synthesisers are digitally controlled and store many different sounds in computer memories). Computers and synthesisers are relatively new developments and computers, like humans, were not designed for the rigours of the road. Just as Eddie wanders around his hotel, wondering where he is and what he is doing there, these computers become similarly vacant and he is often to be found in a state of panic, trying to reprogramme his sounds minutes before a show. The lighting desk computer is but 120 channels of memories which can be reprogrammed for particular lighting scenes or progressions of lighting changes. However, it too has a habit of becoming vacant, or worse, storing more than its share, which means it could reveal the total lighting show at the press of one memory button.

The sound crew have been working all day, trying ti iron out the creases in last night’s sound.

Ed and Noel go off for a walk into town, looking for water pistols. The Ed Water Pistol Collection has swelled to number 120 over three years.

Soundcheck, dinner – Noel enthuses over the six veges – back to the paintstricken dressing room an hour before the show, to put on the ‘cossies’ (costumes), paint the faces, discuss song lists, tell a few jokes, wet the whistle (or sip a lemonade), do armstretches and leg raises, eat some peanuts or whatever is offering in snacks. The show goes ‘averagely well’ (probably ‘very good’ in another’s words), but we have our own rating system.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20

6.00 am, get up and drive to Auckland. The car breaks down on the way, but is fixed by a kind mechanic, free of charge. We feel that this could only happen in NZ. The production crew have been waiting outside the Logan Campbell Centre since 8.00 am, but the truck doesn’t arrive till 10. They begin work frantically and irritably, but still able to make light-hearted jokes, and the stage set slowly appears.

Meanwhile, Noel has gone to visit his folks. Tim and Neil arrive in Auckland with theirs, to spend the day together. Nigel, being the most boring (he is aware of the fact) member of the band, has experienced nothing of any interest whatsoever since arriving in NZ, not on this day, except for a sleepy interview with Colin Hogg. Eddie visits his sister and his friend Paul Crowther and they spend the rest of the day babbling about synths.

Backstage in the dressing room the champagne arrives – a greeting from the record company. The band have another of their ‘average’ performances, the crowd was ecstatic but the band are tired. The sound men aren’t feeling happy, so they make plans to spend all day tomorrow on improvements, to further dampen the echoes.

Back to the White Heron, now affectionately known as the Red Herring (no offence meant), for a few drinks with friends in the Carriage Bar. This is the first piece of glamorous living I’ve experienced for about a month or more – other people might call it just having a drink – but it means a lot being able to have the luxury of changing from work clothes to casual and being with friends.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 21

1.30 pm. Wake up and with Noel and Eddie go to Parnell Village where we have breakfast with Noel’s folks, who are in Auckland for both shows. A flying visit to a friend strapped in traction in hospital and it’s on to soundcheck and an early show.

Nigel has spent the day sleeping, jigging and walking, his three favourite pursuits. Neil and Tim are having dinner with their folks at the table over from us. They bribe the resident pianist into playing ‘Feelings’ as an after-dinner tribute to the band. (This song was on the top of the list for singing at the top of one’s voice while bumping along in a van through North America.)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 22

9.00 am. Depart the hotel for the airport, 9.55 flight departs Auckland for Palmerston North, without breakfast.

Tim feels detached from everything, and so opts for the hair-of-the-dog treatment, which will see him through until the end of the performance. The drinks backstage in the dressing room are there to be a starter motor, to kick a tired man into action. It’s an early show again, and it feels good to commence the performance about an hour after soundcheck. It’s still early enough to relax afterwards over dinner and watching TV.

MONDAY, AUGUST 23

10.30 am. Bags are being loaded into five cars, room bills are being paid, and we’re off to Christchurch. It’s a day off, everyone is anticipating what they’ll do, and probably they’ll do nothing. We’ve taken all the back seats in the plane and Ian Magan’s (tour promoter) Air New Zealand voice (fondly remembering “Ladies and gentleman, have you seen this?” on flights to London) booms from three seats away. Tonight he has promised the entourage a free dinner.

Eddie and I miss the free dinner – we’ve been invited to his brother’s house. This is one of the advantages of this job – seeing family and friends in all corners of the world at least once a year – where distance and fares would normally prohibit this. The visits are, however, usually too short and sweet.

The band enthuse over the selection of old cars in ‘perfect condition’ being driven around Christchurch, reeling off the makes as we drive around. Austin, Morris, Zephyr, Vanguard… Tim’s been after a Studebaker and is delighted to hear that people in the entourage have spotted three so far. Back home the Split Enz Club boasts a green FJ Holden (Neil’s), a black Mark II Zephyr (Tim’s), a pink Morris Major Elite 1963 (Eddie’s), a 1950 Black Triumph Renown (Noel’s) and a brown 1954 Fiat station wagon (Nigel’s).

Today Noel went shopping and got the costumes drycleaned. Nigel went for a five-hour walk along the Avon, Neil joined the road crew for a trip to the snow, there they used big plastic rubbish bags for sliding down hills and threw snow at each other.

Tim stayed in and did an interview, then cruised around, went for a walk, I think. Ed, Clark Flannigan (Polygram Records’ man on tour) and I finally got ourselves away from the hotel and went swimming at the QEII pool. It’s the first day of the school holidays and Ed and Clark get swallowed up in the crowds queuing for the hydrotubes. Clark can do 50m overarm in 35 seconds, he tries out the high diving board, but Ed and I only manage the lowest. End of day off.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24

7.00 am. Get up, shower and down to the Christchurch Town Hall by 8.00 am. It’s a beautiful day, warm with blue, blue skies, the smell of blossom, cold air and woodsmoke, peculiar to NZ.

The stage set is constructed quickly and looks good. I’d anticipated, with sinking stomach feelings, that as far as equipment and organisation of technical details go, the NZ section would be the worst and most difficult of this six-month tour (probably because it has previously been that). However, there have been vast improvements made in the expertise of the hired technical personnel and in the equipment to be found here since we toured last year. It has taken a lot of hard work to elevate it to this level, and although the equipment is different to the systems currently available in Australia, this in no way makes for a compromise situation.

At 10.30 am, I offer to get the food – three dozen donuts, one dozen cream buns, three dozen filled rolls, a bag of apples. We work on until 4.00 pm and soundcheck is at 4.30. After a while, the band drift into playing their oldies, searching for the perfect replacement for ‘Hard Act’, which they’re sick of.

The band are tired. After five months of constant touring and only two weeks off in the period – no weekends – they are finding it hellish to think clearly and with enthusiasm about their shows. They want to try a new set, a different way of playing particular songs, but the energy somehow keeps being channelled the same way. They shone for the Auckland shows and will probably shine for the rest, but they try to break out of their feelings of exhaustion and automatic gear.

Tonight’s performance is once again good, although lacking the fire that the band are striving hard to produce. The audience is enthusiastic. The band and crew and managers return to the hotel bar, where we tell each other jokes until the small hours, winding down for sleep after a long day.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25

8.00 am. Woken by chainsaws, jackhammers and the noise of concrete being made in a wheelbarrow. These are quite regular occurrences in hotels where we have stayed, so I drift back to sleep. But Eddie has had enough and has decided to move over to the posh hotel, where Tim and Neil have recently moved, to escape the noise. The hotel is twice the price and offers a complimentary morning newspaper, but we prefer the squat NZ motels, having spent too long in high-rise hotels, with Coffee-Mate (powdered non-dairy whitener) for ea milk.

Soundcheck at 4.30, still the search for the perfect song replacement. ‘In The Wars’, ‘Jamboree’, ‘Under The Wheel’ and a few others are fiddled with and discarded.

Tim, Neil, Eddie and I drive off for dinner and discuss our fatigue and the artistic value (or not) of the song produced under pressure of having to be sold by a record company. The issue of touring arises and they talk about giving it up in Australia and NZ for two years, except for the occasional ‘spectacular’ – an alternative that would provide opportunity for lots of ideas to be exercised. Or perhaps they’d like to do a film, taking a year off to make it and write songs, using that period to develop their musical ability as individuals.

Showtime, the crew are lying around on couches drinking coffee and the first band are pounding away. Eddie is in the dressing room playing his other favourite song, ‘Loving You’ by Minnie Ripperton, accompanied by Neil singing. He breaks away into Chopin.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26

A day off for some, but the three lighting technicians leave Christchurch at 9.00 am and arrive at Invercargill at 7.00 pm. (The truck has a sleep and they take turns at driving.) The rest of the crew fly down at 11.00 am and spend the rest of the day in the hotel’s spa pool. At 8.00 pm, Laurie, Glen (the set and projects man) and three loaders unpack the truck, having first to remove a fleet of five city council vans that were parked across the stage door. Glen gets to work putting up the stage set and is back at the hotel by 11.00 pm.

Tim, Neil, Clark, Eddie and I have made plans to drive to Akaroa for some fish and chips and scenery, but Eddie and I spend until 2.00 pm buying second-hand furniture for future use, by which time Clark isn’t to be found. The free day has just about slipped away. We make rearrangements with the cars and Tim and Neil go to Akaroa. Noel, Eddie and I take a drive that meanders along a peninsula beyond Lyttleton, and we end up driving along a tractor path up a mountainside. The green pastures, trees in blossom, the mountain and valleys, we can’t wait to settle back here and enjoy the countryside. Tim and Neil return with tales of spectacular scenery, quite in awe of the beauty of the countryside. Neil, in surprise, says it’s always so much better than he’s remembered. Of course, all this talk about ‘nature’ crops up in our conversations especially after a few months on the road, staying in orange and purple hotel rooms. At the same time, the touring lifestyle has another advantage – it provides the blinkers and forces a total commitment to work.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27

9.00 am. Wake up call from Grant, we move quickly and tiredly into the day.

Arrive Invercargill and greeted by an over-officious officer on the sidewalk at the airport. Magan has an argument with him and Neil throws him a coin as we drive away. Later, Magan receives a speeding ticket from the same officer.

Stop off on the way to the hotel, at the art gallery for a typical photo of the band posing next to a huge anchor for the local papers.

I go straight to work. The crew, having become accustomed to the equipment, are working very fast these days and focus is early. The set works well in the Civic Centre, because the tiers of balconies tower over the stage, which is shallow and therefore the sail has a steep incline. I don’t have a good show, getting my fingers jammed in the faders, despite a grand performance by the projector operators, Glen and Keith, who are by now quite skilled.

Noel apparently just about falls backwards off his drums, fatigued and the rest of the band are tired. But there are only 11 more shows to do, so they attack each one with enthusiasm.

After the show, the musos’ club is less than hospitable, hassling the band at the door. Eddie, Tim and Neil leave and end up helping Magan, who is hosting a three-hour radio show.

The road crew have busily packed clean socks for the Saturday soundcheck before heading off to Queenstown in search of the thrillseeker jetboats. Bed.

Part two of this feature will appear in next months ‘R.I.U’.”

#splitenz #live/tour #1982

2 notes · View notes

nebris · 6 years ago

Text

Scots running amok

As loan sharks, drug smugglers, generals and plant hunters, Scots played a central role in expanding the British Empire

The history of the British empire in Asia cannot be told without the Scots. As loan sharks, drug smugglers, diplomats, generals and plant hunters, they played key roles in expanding Britain’s imperial reach. They kept the empire caffeinated via extortionate loans and opium; they smuggled the lucrative and much-coveted Camellia sinensis (tea plant) from China to India; they lent legitimacy to these efforts by planning and leading Britain’s first embassy to China; and, when this failed, they instigated war with China and looted its palaces. In the process, these Scots ensured that increasing numbers of British consumers could enjoy their daily cup of tea with the empire reaping the financial benefits, and increasingly disastrous consequences for China.

Scotland’s long tradition of migration and soldiering, its poverty and uncertain harvests, encouraged many young Scots to set sail for the East Indies. As far back as the Middle Ages, Scots were an unusually outward-looking group, travelling and settling across Europe, from the Netherlands to the Baltic. For centuries, they exported their martial expertise to Irish chiefs, English kings and European monarchs. By the 18th century, civil war and languishing family fortunes, as well as the promise of new ones, added urgency to the exodus of Scots out of north Britain. They left home very young, often as teenagers, to pursue new economic opportunities made possible by the East India Company’s conquests in India and its growing tea trade with China. But many of them, particularly the Highlanders, had few better options available to them in the aftermath of the so-called ’45. Their failed attempt to restore the Scottish Stuart line to the British throne in 1745 resulted in the devastation of local Highland communities by the British army, in addition to a long-term draconian project that restructured and assimilated the Highlands according to English economic, cultural and political norms.

The Scots’ relative poverty when compared with their southern neighbours, the resistance they faced obtaining administrative positions in London, and their experience and willingness to travel beyond the borders of the British Isles meant that Scots in Asia tended to be better educated and often better represented than their English counterparts in a range of professions across the empire, particularly the East India Company’s military. Towards the end of the 18th century, English observers commented, with a parochial dose of hyperbole, that everyone in India was either Scotch or Irish, or that you seldom saw more than five English to 20 Scotch in India; English traders complained about their clannishness, partiality to their own countrymen and national pride.

What these English observers perhaps could not see was that ‘colonisation’ of Britain’s empire by the Scots held the nascent British state together. The fragile and volatile political union of England and Scotland in 1707 was, in fact, reinforced through the efforts of several Scottish patrons in London. With the blessing of Sir Robert Walpole, regarded as Britain’s first prime minister (1721-1742), imperial gate keepers, such as John Drummond of Quarrell, placed their countrymen in various East Indies posts. Because positions in Scotland were insufficient and appointments in London were fiercely guarded by English interests, the East Indies came to serve as an important outlet for patronage and a means of securing Scottish loyalty to the British state. Many Scots got jobs with the British East India Company, as captains and mariners on its vessels, and as civil, military and medical personnel in its settlements. But no matter their particular profession or title, they leveraged these opportunities provided by the imperial machine to dabble in money ventures of their own. By the middle of the 18th century, Scottish interests in Asia had been well-established and their networks deeply entrenched. The most fortunate Scots returned to Britain as wealthy nabobs, infiltrated the directorate of the East India Company, and became some of its principal stockholders. Their successes laid the foundation upon which future generations would build.

During the second half of the 18th century, a numerically small but economically influential group of Scots flocked to China. They set up shop in the port city of Canton, modern-day Guangzhou, where they created an important financial niche for themselves. As Britain’s tea trade with China grew over the course of the 18th century, both the East India Company and the Chinese Hong merchants – tea brokers licensed to trade with foreigners in Canton – found it difficult to finance their respective ends of the tea trade. Their capital supplies (silver coin) could not keep up with the growing demand for tea. Around the same time in India, British conquests in Bengal and Madras brought a great deal of new wealth and opportunity for personal enrichment to the East India Company’s civil and military employees. Robert Clive, who helped to found Britain’s territorial empire in India during the mid-18th century, is perhaps the most infamous nabob, but there were others. With money accumulating in private British hands in India, Scots quickly got to work, tapping into their network of friends, kin and countrymen in India and Southeast Asia to move commodities and capital across the Indian Ocean.

Scottish financiers transmitted the private fortunes of their clients to England via China by depositing their money in the Company’s Canton treasury in exchange for paper bills, which could be cashed in London. The remainder they invested in usurious loans of silver to the Chinese merchants, sometimes above 20 per cent per year. On the one hand, in bringing precious silver to Canton, Scots played a critical role financing commerce between Britain and China. On the other, they created an unstable financial mechanism, which relied upon risky credit relationships. The result, unsurprisingly, was a major financial crisis in the early 1780s. Half of the Hong merchants were ruined; two of them, Yngshaw and Kewshaw, were jailed by the Chinese government and eventually deported to Xinjiang Province. Several of the Scottish brokers also went bankrupt but avoided imprisonment in both China and Britain. In an effort to encourage local authorities to assist them in recovering their money, Scottish brokers and their clients bribed two Royal Navy admirals stationed near Madras to dispatch a warship to Canton in 1779 and 1780. One broker went so far as to confiscate and occupy the warehouses and property of several Chinese merchants with a small private army of Indian soldiers. Six decades before the First Opium War, Scottish brokers and merchants flirted with war in China.

It was not just in the far-flung outposts that these enterprising Scots charted the course of empire. Expatriate Scottish brokers and financiers also communicated frequently with Henry Dundas, an especially important Scot in London. As de facto head of the Board of Control for Indian affairs, Dundas oversaw Britain’s expanding empire in Asia and set in motion the next evolution of the empire’s dealing with China. Under the advice of Scottish brokers, ship captains and his good friend, David Scott – a former private trader who had become a director of the East India Company – Dundas decided to send an embassy to China in 1787, Britain’s first to that empire, to be led by the ambassador Charles Cathcart, another Scot. With the help of Dundas, Scottish traders not only put an embassy to China on Britain’s political agenda but helped to define the embassy’s goals and strategies. Many of their recommendations, most notably for a permanent independent British settlement, a permanent British consul, and a treaty of friendship, found clear expression in the government’s official instructions to the ambassador, sometimes verbatim. Working with Dundas, Scottish traders found a sympathetic and energetic partner whose imperial vision aligned with their quest for private profit, free trade and greater opportunity in Asia.

Britain’s first embassy to China foundered on the two respective government’s conflicting understandings and traditions of diplomatic engagement, as did a second embassy in 1816. Afterwards, the Scots, in particular William Jardine and James Matheson, the doyens of opium smuggling, pushed for war with China. Like their 18th-century predecessors, Jardine and Matheson financed Britain’s lucrative tea trade in Canton by moving their clients’ money from India to China. Instead of transferring these fortunes through a variety of legal Indian and Southeast Asian commodities, namely cotton, pepper, wood, tin and saltpetre, as had been done in the past, the Scottish traders relied increasingly on a contraband product: Indian opium. In defiance of the laws of China they, along with private traders of different nationalities including Americans and Indian Parsis, smuggled tens of thousands of chests of opium into China each year during the first half of the 19th century. In the late 1830s, the Chinese government finally committed itself to enforcing its laws against opium import. They dispatched the former governor of Hunan and Hubei, Lin Zexu, to Canton who confiscated 20,000 chests of opium from private smugglers. Jardine and Matheson responded by using Matheson’s newspaper, the Canton Register, to agitate for war and pressured the foreign secretary Lord Palmerston with letters and petitions. Jardine even returned to London and met with Palmerston to press the case for military intervention in China.

Jardine and Matheson ultimately got their war. But, interestingly, the Treaty of Nanjing that ended the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839-42) – or the First Opium War as it was called by its critics in Britain – never mentioned the substance that had sparked the conflict. The legality of the opium trade remained unaddressed until 1856 when the British government used an obvious pretext – the boarding and arrest by Qing officials of the British-flagged Chinese smuggling ship, the Arrow – to declare war on China and negotiate more favourable commercial terms from the Chinese government. The Second Opium War (1856-60) and the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin opened China’s borders to two foreign ‘opiates of the masses’: opium and Christianity, by forcing the Chinese government to allow Indian opium and Protestant missionaries to enter China legally.

It was a Scottish general, James Bruce, the 8th Earl of Elgin, who was sent to China to fight the Qing government in the Second Opium War. His brother, Frederick Bruce, was appointed in 1858 to be Britain’s first residential minister in Beijing. Their father, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, is perhaps best-known for removing half of the Parthenon’s surviving marble sculptures from Ottoman-controlled Greece and then selling them to the British government in the early 19th century. Looting might have run in the family, for in 1860 Lord Elgin, the younger, ordered the sack and plunder of the Chinese emperor’s summer palace (Yuanmingyuan) outside Beijing. The act came in retaliation for the torture and murder of 15 members of Elgin’s negotiating party, including 10 Sikhs and one ‘embedded’ British journalist. Many of the items stolen by British soldiers from the Old Summer Palace, including a British-made stage coach, English howitzer guns and various astronomical instruments, had been given to the Chinese emperor as tokens of peace and friendship during Britain’s first diplomatic mission to China almost 70 years earlier. Some of these and other items may have ended up in the British Museum, along with the Elgin marbles.

Between the two Opium Wars, another Scot, Robert Fortune, was making his own mark on the history of the British empire and China. A botanist turned plant hunter, Fortune was sent to China on a secret mission by the East India Company. The aim was to free Britain from its commercial dependence on China. In 1848 and again in 1849, Fortune travelled in full disguise, including the traditional Qing dynasty hairstyle with a shaved hairline and long braid, deep into the countryside of Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian provinces. He was searching for the finest tea plants in China. Having acquired thousands of specimens and seeds, he shipped them all, carefully packed in airtight glass cases, from Hong Kong to the East India Company’s Botanical Gardens in Calcutta. From there, they went further, to the Company’s gardens in the Himalayas. Fortune also arranged for Chinese tea growers and artisans to follow these seeds to India and work on the new tea plantations in Assam. In 1865, only 3 per cent of the tea consumed in the United Kingdom came from India; just over 20 years later, it claimed 41 per cent of the market, and Scottish planters cultivated most of it. This was import substitution on a massive scale. The seeds sewn through the botanical espionage of this Scot with a green thumb helped to launch Britain’s tea industry in India and establish commercial independence from China.

By facilitating global capitalism, through fair means and foul, and expanding Britain’s imperial reach, strategically placed Scots left their mark on the histories of Britain and China. Scots played an outsized role in the intertwined trades of tea and opium, giving rise to social, economic and cultural developments that changed the macro relationship between Britain and China as well as everyday cultural practices and patterns of sociability. By the middle of the 18th century, tea drinkers up and down the social ladder and across the British Isles and its American colonies could be found sitting around the table sipping their breakfast and afternoon infusions from Chinese porcelain cups. These remarkable cultural transformations came with profound economic effects. Widespread tea consumption brought vital revenues to the East India Company and the British state, while import substitution in British India stimulated the growth of new British agro-industries in the 19th century. Tea consumption in Britain also had profound implications for its Atlantic empire. When British consumers began sweetening their Chinese tea with Caribbean sugar, these two commodities, one from the East Indies, the other from the West, reinforced one another. The result was new fuel for the industrial revolution. In addition to coal, sugary tea made the revolution possible by helping British workers endure inhumanely long shifts in the textile factories of the industrial North.

Tea consumption in Britain paralleled opium consumption in China. Scots realised that it took one addictive substance to finance another. The historians Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann and Xun Zhou have recently questioned the addictiveness of opium and its destructiveness to the Chinese state, society and economy. But there is no question that the wars fought over the drug led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in China and have had profound effects on modern Chinese politics. Not because the wars were particularly transformative at the time – only with the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-5 did it become painfully clear to many that the Qing dynasty would not survive – but rather because for almost a century the Communist Party has been using the Opium Wars to justify its power. In the Communist telling, the Opium Wars were a turning-point in Chinese history, when Scottish capitalist imperialists, such as Jardine and Matheson, poisoned China with a noxious drug and the Communists emerged to save China. This narrative of Chinese humiliation at the hands of British opium smugglers is still powerful: in 2010, when the then UK prime minister David Cameron and his delegation to China wore their Remembrance Day poppies (the flower from which opium is made) on their lapels, Chinese officials requested that they remove them. Cameron, who coincidentally is Scottish on his father’s side, refused.

Jessica Hanser is assistant professor of history at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. She works on the British empire in early modern maritime Asia and her book, Mr Smith Goes to China: Three Scots in the Making of Britain’s Global Empire, is forthcoming in August 2019.

https://aeon.co/essays/from-tea-to-opium-how-the-scots-left-their-mark-on-china

1 note · View note

nschat315 · 2 years ago

Text

Handler dating in wodonga vic

Latest and Breaking News | The Age Live Australian and World News Feed.

Wodonga west hook up - Dating Free.

Single dating wodonga vic：Free Dating Sites：.

Dating Free：.

Matchmaking agencies greenvale vic: The Best Dating Sites.

The best dating sites - Home.

Two-headed snake born in captivity in Wodonga, Victoria | Daily Mail Online.

Speed dating south in marangaroo western australia.

Free Online Dating Sites. Wodonga Singles VIC.

Science | Latest Science and Tech News | Herald Sun.

Border closures: Victoria strengthens NSW bubble, permits... - news.

Your Blog - Real online dating.

Meet some of the love-seeking farmers, and their potential wives.

Wikizero - Hawkesbury River railway bridge.

Latest and Breaking News | The Age Live Australian and World News Feed.

In partnership with customers, ISS drives the engagement and well-being of people, minimises the impact on the environment, and protects and maintains property. We bring all of this to life through a unique combination of data, insight and service excellence at customer sites across globe. Turn-around targets. Above 4%. Find and Meet Local Single Men and Women in Wodonga, VIC. Wodonga city is 300 square kilometre north-east of Melbourne, Australia with an estimated population of 38,559. With an evenly balance female to male ratio, you are sure to find a particular person to have fun. It is a charming destination for any couple looking to spend some quality.

Wodonga west hook up - Dating Free.

Handler dating in saint albans west virginia, seven hills dating county, hookup clubs medina ohio, dating your 50 in west palm beach, local dating near. 8 swanton rd, saint albans, vt 05478-1577 1 802-528-8505 website add hours.onlinedating near granville wa - can also see it in the architecture of the real estate properties around the. #1. Single Women Wodonga Vic. Dating Clubs Beaumaris Vic. Online Dating Service：. Real Online Dating on Strikingly. Professional Dating Sites In Greenvale Vic.... Handler Dating In Thornbury Vic - DOLLARBUMBLE.NETLIFY.APP. Real Dating Sites In Thornbury Vic, Hook Up Sites Bunbury Wa, Geelong West New Dating Apps, Free Gay Dating Websites Near.

Single dating wodonga vic：Free Dating Sites：.

Dame Helen Mirren is truly one of a kind. With an impressive career that spans over five decades, the British actress has remained one of the top stars in Hollywood thanks to her boundless talent, outspoken interviews, and quirky yet chic sense of style. In 1967, Mirren joined the iconic Royal Shakespeare Company as a young actor and starred in plays such as Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra. Furniture Movers that Care. Our highly experienced, professional Geelong removalists offer comprehensive moving and storage services that will save you money! From QLD, NSW, SA, ACT, TAS, WA and other parts of VIC. You can request a Geelong backload with fliexible moving dates to save even more money. 0.0 (0 Review) Visit website. Linfox is Asia Pacific's largest privately-owned logistics company with operations employing more than 24,000 people spanning 12 countries. We are a family company, founded in 1956 by Lindsay Fox.

Dating Free：.

Farm Tender is a nationwide network of almost 60,013 agricultural buyers and sellers. Browse our listings or post your own—it's free to register! preharvest listings page 4340. From 11.59pm on Tuesday, only those with a permit will be able to cross the NSW-Victorian border under a harsh new lockdown designed to keep Melbourne's spiking COVID cases out of NSW.

Matchmaking agencies greenvale vic: The Best Dating Sites.

Handler Dating In Thornbury Vic - DOLLARBUMBLE.NETLIFY.APP. Dating on line palmerston nt - FREE DATING SITES powered by Doodlekit. Best Date Ideas Near Wodonga Vic, Free Online Dating Sites Near Cleveland, Korean Dating In Como Western Australia, Gay Singles Near Bondi, Dating New In Quakers Hill Nsw, Carlingford African Dating, Woman Seeking. The best dating sites - Home. Hi there! Nice to meet you! I'm Zoe - a food enthusiast and full-time blogger. My husband, Rob, and I recently had to relocate for his job and we needed to make smart choices to stay within our new budget. This is how I discovered my joy for cooking delicious, organic, all-natural meals that you can actually afford!. Handler dating in warwick western australia... in southport queensland Date hookup near bateau bay Matchmaking services in kingston tasmania Wodonga west hook up Gay online dating in qld... Victoria Connect and Chat. You are a Looking for Age 18. to 100... Indian Dating > Bundoora, Victoria, Australia Sterling24. 44 Bundoora, Victoria. Cadet.

The best dating sites - Home.

We're seeking a responsible person with horse experience who can also do general ranch work. Responsibilities include sole care of ranch horses, some trail riding, as well as helping with jobs around the ranch, depending on your skills. We produce hay on our meadows and have several projects building and fixing things and caring for the land.

Two-headed snake born in captivity in Wodonga, Victoria | Daily Mail Online.

Dating Site For Free In Port Lincoln South Australia, Free Gay Dating Websites Near Elwood Vic. Dating Free:. $20-30/hr Lawn Mowing Services MORWELL, VIC 3840.... Gascoyne Murchison | Western Australia. Handler Dating In Saint Albans West Virginia, Seven Hills Dating County, Hookup Clubs Medina Ohio, Dating Your 50 In West Palm Beach, Local. Trading as Dogs Victoria. 655 Westernport Highway, Skye 3977. Postal Locked Bag K9, Cranbourne, 3977 Office hours 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday Telephone number (03) 9788 2500 Fax number (03) 9788. Wodonga, VIC. View. John Deere 8335RT. Machinery; Tractors; John Deere 8335 RT Tractor 353 HP Power-shift- 16-4 Full Power-shift 25" Belts. 3m Spacing, Tracks in Excellent Condition 5 Sets of Remotes 3 Point Linkage & PTO Power Beyond Full Weights Air conditioner Gas replaced in Feb 2022 Services and up to date. Stock/Ref #: 102802 Listing.

Speed dating south in marangaroo western australia.

The Best Dating Site in Wodonga, Australia P is one of the largest communities of singles Wodonga women and men and other Australian cities. It helps single people to start dating in Wodonga and finds true love, meet worthy friends, and make long-lasting relationships. More and more single people choose us. Download the free Rewards App. Earn $1 for every $10 you spend.

Free Online Dating Sites. Wodonga Singles VIC.

Wodonga apprentice chefs can handle the heat against state's best Neighbours and crews help put out fire in shed at Wodonga home Get the latest Wodonga news in your inbox. Located approximately 630 kilometres north of Sydney and 340 km south of Brisbane, Queensland. We offer Speed Dating, Matchmaking, and Livestreaming in Grafton. Plenty of Fish Dating is the #1 free dating site for singles in Grafton. Dating Events Man In Wodonga - EGYPTSEXDATING.NETLIFY.APP.Hook up apps in launceston tasmania - DATING FREE powered by Doodlekit.Broadmeadows Dating A Guy - SITESOFFICE.NETLIFY.APP... Handler Dating In Thornbury Vic - DOLLARBUMBLE.NETLIFY.APP. Date Singles Near Broadmeadows Tas. Dating White Palmerston Qld - RELATIONSHIPRA.NETLIFY.APP. Dating.

Science | Latest Science and Tech News | Herald Sun.

Wyndham Funeral Services 5 Synott St Werribee, Victoria 9741-4544. Yarrawonga-Mulwala Funerals Pty Ltd 67 Ely St Yarrawonga, Victoria 5743-2967. Wimmera. Dating App For Over 50 In Rochedale South, Sexy Dating Near Richmond Qld, Melton West Best Online. Oregon West Hook Up. Gas, Oil & Fuel Companies, West Wodonga, VIC 3690. More info. 2 2 Romet Rd, West Wodonga, VIC, 3690 | 1.35km. Call. 0428 360 250. More info. Reliance Petroleum. Gas, Oil & Fuel Companies, Wodonga, VIC 3690. More info. Wodonga's best 100% FREE online dating site. Meet loads of available single women in Wodonga with Mingle2's Wodonga dating services! Find a girlfriend or lover in Wodonga, or just have fun flirting online with Wodonga single girls. Mingle2 is full of hot Wodonga girls waiting to hear from you. Sign up now!.

Border closures: Victoria strengthens NSW bubble, permits... - news.

Victoria , TX Bois De Arc Gun Range As local communities continue to update Covid-19 regulations, local state parks, ranges and preserves, as well as many stores may be closed. Plan your route in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. My account My personal real time info Menu Show on the map. Getting around. Trip Planner; Stop Finder; Schedules; Service Updates; Fares; Paratransit Info. WikiZero Özgür Ansiklopedi - Wikipedia Okumanın En Kolay Yolu. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851.. After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland, under the.

Your Blog - Real online dating.

Wodonga's best FREE dating site! 100% Free Online Dating for Wodonga Singles at M Our free personal ads are full of single women and men in Wodonga looking for serious relationships, a little online flirtation, or new friends to go out with. Start meeting singles in Wodonga today with our free online personals and free Wodonga chat!. Daniel Andrews has brought in tough new rules for border residents on Victorian-NSW state lines to try and keep Sydney's Delta cluster out.

Meet some of the love-seeking farmers, and their potential wives.

Listings 31-44 (out of 44) in Search for Air Compressor hire in Crows Nest, NSW on Felix Vendor Marketplace. Get quotes from Australia's largest online construction marketplace for free. A Treasury analysis shows Australian mothers earn less than half of their pre-birth wage in the five years after childbirth. That's worse than for women in the US, UK, Denmark and Sweden. Today. 775 Forrest Hill Avenue ALBURY 329, 331 & 333 Wagga Road LAVINGTON 591 David Street ALBURY. Specialising in distributing your advertising material into letterboxes in Albury Wodonga. Email for.

Wikizero - Hawkesbury River railway bridge.

Mahmoud El-Zayat got down one knee and proposed to his girlfriend Claudette Tannous in Wodonga, Victoria, after he was freed from remand for trafficking drugs. Gay Hookup Apps 2021 In Noble Park Vic. Go on memorable dates in Melbourne. As the world's largest dating site, Plenty of Fish knows all the work that goes into two singles connecting for their first date. We're focused on making it fun, easy, and free to find the other half that understands the real you in Melbourne.

Other content:

Italy Dating In Nunawading

Christian Dating Site Near Bunbury Sa

Speed Dating For Singles Near Croydon Sa

Dating At College In Thornlie Wa

Best Dating Coach Frankston East Vic

0 notes

alwynmccallum · 3 years ago

Text

Work

Happy wife, happy life. How about happy career and job, more likely to want to get out of bed this morning?

Of course there are two things keeping me here in Palmerston North, but that doesn't mean you have to be happy in this job and not work elsewhere in this area?

The problem is exactly what Brian said. Either you back the hell up, or get the hell in. Do you want to stay there any longer and let it get worse?

Breakaway and move somewhere new entirely? Are you going to make a change now try another company? Change career completely? Wait, for how long, under what circumstances, managing the stress how? You need to make up your mind and stick with it.

You can't keep complaining, taking it personally and letting it affect your mood. It is not healthy, but what's more, it isn't worth it. They seem fine with it and don't think twice about replacing staff or sticking to their guns, so why should you? You have no obligation to them to stay, do what is best for your career and if you aren't happy you don't have to stay.

Literally many months and years of complaining to my closest. The stress, the tears, the annoyance, the unfairness, the treatment, the terrible organisation and internal battles. The constant fight to keep going because you don't get as much as you do for the effort you put in. A terrible structure and support system that will never change.

What this means. Is that you need to decide what to do next, actually start asking around, touch up all your documents, look on ads, prepare for some conversations and see who may be looking exactly for someone like you.

The ideal goal for you especially over the next few years is to be wanting to go to work everyday because you enjoy it but also because it will be a huge part of your life. Therefore you can adjust all of your other parts of your life once this one is your rock and your go to just like your family. The pay and experience sort themselves out, once you are happy this issue will be such a smaller part of your issues, you'll wish you did it sooner.

Just make some small starts now, doesn't have to be any leaps, you have your timeframes, you have started your plans, just begin the actions and you will be heading in the right direction.

Don't be scared, you've done this before, you can do it again. Personal or work.

0 notes

williamdevan · 14 days ago

Text

Tips for Finding Affordable Moving Services in Wanganui Without Compromising Quality

Relocating can be both exciting and stressful, and one of the biggest concerns is managing costs without sacrificing the quality of service. Finding the cheapest moving company in Wanganui that also delivers reliable and professional services might seem like a challenge, but it's entirely possible with the right approach. This blog explores practical tips to help you secure affordable moving services while ensuring your belongings are handled with care.

1. Research and Compare Moving Companies

The first step to finding an affordable moving service is thorough research. Not all moving companies offer the same services, rates, or quality, so taking time to compare your options is essential.

Get Multiple Quotes: Reach out to at least three different moving companies in Wanganui for quotes.

Look Beyond the Price Tag: While affordability is important, also consider customer reviews, service quality, and reliability.

Check for Hidden Costs: Some companies might offer low initial quotes but add extra charges later.

By comparing quotes and reading customer reviews, you'll gain better insight into the balance between cost and service quality.

2. Understand What’s Included in the Quote

Not all quotes are created equal, and understanding what’s included in your moving estimate can prevent unexpected expenses.

Ask About Inclusions: Does the quote cover packing, unpacking, insurance, and fuel charges?

Clarify Extra Fees: Will there be additional costs for stairs, long carries, or heavy furniture?

Request a Written Estimate: Verbal agreements can lead to misunderstandings, so always request written confirmation.

Understanding these details will help you make an informed decision when choosing the cheapest moving company in Wanganui without compromising on service quality.

3. Plan Your Move During Off-Peak Seasons

Timing can have a significant impact on the cost of your move. Peak moving seasons, such as summer or weekends, often come with higher prices.

Choose Mid-Week Moves: Moving mid-week instead of weekends can save you money.

Avoid Peak Seasons: Try to schedule your move during less busy months.

Book in Advance: Early bookings often secure better rates and availability.

Strategic planning can help you find an affordable deal without sacrificing the quality of the service provided.

4. Declutter Before You Move

Reducing the volume of items you need to move can significantly cut costs. Most moving companies base their prices on the number of items or the total weight being transported.

Sell or Donate Unwanted Items: Get rid of things you no longer need.

Pack Smartly: Use efficient packing techniques to save space.

Dispose of Bulky or Damaged Furniture: Avoid moving items that aren’t worth the cost.

Decluttering not only saves money but also makes unpacking at your new location much easier.

5. Ask About Discounts and Special Offers

Many moving companies offer seasonal discounts, referral deals, or package offers that can help reduce costs.

Look for Promotions: Keep an eye out for seasonal deals.

Ask About Referral Discounts: Some companies offer discounts if you're referred by a previous customer.

Bundle Services: Combining packing, transportation, and unpacking services can sometimes result in a lower overall price.

Don’t hesitate to ask your chosen cheapest moving company in Wanganui if they have any ongoing offers or discounts.

Conclusion

Finding affordable moving services doesn’t mean compromising on quality. By conducting thorough research, planning ahead, decluttering, and understanding your quote, you can secure professional services at a budget-friendly price. The cheapest moving company in Wanganui isn’t always the one with the lowest price, but rather the one that offers excellent value for money. With these tips in mind, your next move can be both cost-effective and stress-free.

FAQs

1. How can I find the cheapest moving company in Wanganui? Compare quotes, read reviews, and ask about any hidden costs.

2. Are cheap moving companies reliable? Affordable doesn’t always mean poor quality—research reviews and service guarantees.

3. When is the best time to book an affordable moving company? Mid-week and off-peak seasons are usually more cost-effective.

4. Do affordable movers offer insurance for belongings? Many do, but always confirm coverage details beforehand.

5. Can I negotiate prices with a moving company in Wanganui? Yes, some companies are open to negotiation, especially for larger moves or off-peak bookings.

#Cheapest moving company wanganui #palmerston north movers #furniture movers #House Movers Wanganui #Single Item Movers Wanganui #Man With A Van Wanganui #Furniture Movers Wanganui #Movers Wanganui #Moving Companies Palmerston North

0 notes

truckabout · 4 years ago

Photo

Cheap Movers Christchurch

Long distance moves are a very stressful thing to go through. Even moving locally is something full of many burdensome tasks that make for a very unpleasant experience. It doesn’t have to be that way. The house movers Palmerston north are a great way to minimize unnecessary stress. The biggest problem most individuals have with gathering moving company estimates begins with an unwillingness to even consider moving companies. When you are analyzing the burdens of moving, you might make an uneducated decision that moving companies are an unnecessary expense. On the contrary, not utilizing a moving company is a mistake that most families can’t afford to make. The moving may sound cheaper at first, but the time and energy invested is excessive, not to mention that you aren’t backed by the same service insurance that moving companies provide.

More importantly, house movers Palmerston north cost much less than one might think. It can be surprising to know that moving companies are an affordable alternative to the cost of replacing damaged items during the move. In fact there are other ways that moving companies can help save money too. The best way to find out is to go ahead and contact your local moving companies and record all estimates, including whets contained in each quote. Comparing moving company estimates its important not to choose the best moving company estimate you receive. Most moving companies have a policy where they will meet, or beat, any competitors offer. For this reason, you should put more attention into whets included with the quote and then choose the best value for the money. If you are moving long distance, you should focus on moving companies that include the cost of fuel in their estimate.

While this may be more expensive than an estimate that does not include the cost of fuel, there won’t be any hidden surprises when it is time to pay the bill. Ideally, you should record about different moving company estimates, and keep a chart based on what is important. It is always a good idea to have insurance covering your materials, and choose a reasonable deductible that you can afford to pay in case anything becomes damaged. One of the best ways to choose house movers Palmerston north is not based on the estimate but based on user feedback. There is a difference between testimonials that a moving company displays on its website, and the feedback that consumers publish elsewhere.

FOR MORE INFO-: https://www.truckabout.co.nz/

0 notes

amolakdas · 4 years ago

Text

What is the Need of Best Computer Repair Services?

Even if the device you purchased recently is faster than old ones or have the latest technology, it may need a tune-up when it breaks down. When your machine breaks down, you get a big repair bill or have to live without a computer. If that happens, then its time to employ the right Laptop Repair Palmerston North company.

One thing you fear is to employ the wrong computer repair company to fix your damaged computer. With that in mind, you must pay careful attention while choosing the technician. Moreover, a technician doing a lazy repair job will mess with your gadget results.

Consider experience

The history of a computer repair company speaks for itself; hence, you want to employ a iPhone Repair Palmerston North company that has been in operation for many years. All companies must start somewhere, but a company that has been in operation is a good choice. To fix your precious budget, you want to trust the most professional repair firm. Moreover, such a company knows what they do and they know how to do it correctly.

Find out the area of expertise

The selection of a repair company should be based on your brand. Not all computer repair firms are specialized in all computer brands. Therefore, you must have a repair company specializing in repairing or preserving your computer model or brand to make sure you obtain assured services.

Check Reviews

One of the recommendations for the right computer repair company is to check out and read feedback online. You may also ask the better bureau to make sure that you are hiring a competent organization. Reviews are important to help consumers get a sense of trustworthy local repair service providers. You may also seek recommendations from your relatives or family members who may have used repair services prior because they have credible references.

On-site Support

Nowadays, due to technical innovations and steep competition in the market, a Mobile Phone Repair Palmerston North provider will easily come to your business or office to diagnose and repair your device. It is a convenient choice for you as it saves your time to move your device to and from the repair shop.

Guarantee of Service

A trustworthy provider of computer repairs provides assured repair services. Moreover, if the problem is not fixed, a trustworthy organization would not charge you. It is therefore advisable to choose a company which provides warranty on the spare parts that it uses and on the labor. Such a company would not charge additional fees if you ask them to re-repair within the period specified.

Verify credentials

Your nephew or friend's son may be good with computer repair, but they don't have a damage policy when they fried hard drive accidentally. For computer repair firms, liability insurance is necessary because you are not responsible to the repair technician for making an error while fixing the system. You must ensure that the service provider is fully registered to offer computer repair services and that licenses are updated. Ask the company to show you their repair technicians' educational qualifications and to ensure they are eligible. You can also contact the local authority to check the repair company's business number.

0 notes

truckaboutnz · 5 years ago

Photo

House Relocation in Christchurch

At Truck About, one of the things we pride ourselves on is professionalism. Other removal companies in Christchurch get the job done as quickly as possible, cutting corners and not treating you or your belongings with respect.

Our house relocation christchurch is completely different. You and your family will be treated courteously at all times, we are dependable, and we’ll do everything we can to deliver on any requests you make. Compared to other removal companies in Christchurch, our reputation and standing in the industry are second-to-none, plus we have a long list of satisfied customers who we have helped move.

We can help you too – contact us now to find out more about our furniture movers Christchurch services.

Our enclosed truck can load up to 16m3 so it’s big enough for up to 2 bedroom households in one trip. Click here to see truck’s dimensions. If you have a larger move to make and you are moving locally we can make multiple trips and still save you money. You also get the added benefit of easier access with a smaller truck and not having to pack all your items into one load.

Although based in Manawatu the main areas in the Lower North Island we operate in include:

#moving truck hire christchurch #household movers christchurch #house relocation christchurch #house removals christchurch #furniture removals wellington #wellington movers

0 notes

suffrageinstitchesnz · 5 years ago

Photo

Maker’s name: Lyn Parkinson

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Dawn Louise McAndie

Relationship to maker: Mother

“Who is the girl with the startled look? Resembles Bambi – out of a book. On pins so slim as she trips by... ‘Daybreak’ the local lads all cry!” My mother, Dawn, that's who.

Dawn Louise Tomlinson was born in Palmerston North and raised in a modest home in the small town of Rongotea (just out of Palmerston North). She was the eldest of seven children, six surviving into adulthood.

After leaving school she nursed in sanatoriums in places such as Otaki and Rotorua, required for the ailments of the late 1940s. She met her 'Sailor Sweetheart' on the train from Palmerston North to Auckland. They married not long after and had a family of six children – raising us children in Auckland, Fielding, Waiouru, and Wellington.

Sadly, my father passed away at a relatively young age in Wellington. My mother took on the burden of raising and providing for me and my two younger brothers who were still at home at the time. Through her grieving she showed a fierce independence and 'can do' attitude. She had not even driven a car until this point, so her driver's licence was obtained rather smartly!

My memories of my mother were of her sitting at her sewing machine (at night as she held down a job during school hours), and creating something wonderful but practical for her children. I think she preferred sewing to other handcrafts – her sewing machine was always on the dining table right up until her passing. I am now the proud owner of that machine; I remember her fondly when I use it.

Mum moved to Tauranga in the mid 1970s to be closer to her own mother and sisters. She enjoyed the company of others around her, so spent most of her later years working – she had been such a hard-worker all her life, a habit she could not give up. My mother enjoyed watching her children grow, marry, and have children of their own. She left a wonderful legacy to all who remain to tell her story.

Panel materials: Recycled main fabric (old cotton basinet sheet), cotton, embroidery cottons, beads, cotton lace, and old buttons from my mother's collection. No fabric or embellishments were purchased new for this panel, but gathered from either what I inherited from my mother's stash of sewing bits and bobs, or from my own stash.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.544

0 notes

jordan-c-read · 7 years ago

Text

|| About ||

| Qualifications |

2012: Bachelor of Landscape Architecture

2008: Level 3 NCEA: English, Calculus, Physics, Photography & Graphics

2012: Certified Child Restraint Technician

| A Bit About Me |

During my studies in Wellington I came to realise that although I was passionate about the environment I was not interested in designing landscape. I knew if I were to become a graphic designer I would need to gain some experience in this field. I interrupted my 5th year as an opportunity to work in a company whose values so strongly aligned with my own came up. Antipodes taught me a lot of work experience; administration, marketing skills, and gave me an opportunity to work along side a number of designers and photographers. This opportunity gave me a taste of something I really enjoyed.

After a period with Antipodes my partner had the opportunity to move to Palmerston North, so when the right job came up I followed. Watson Real Estate has been fantastic, I love working alongside so many different personalities and designing for each of them. I support the marketing team and am able to really get into some fun design jobs. Here I learnt a lot about marketing strategies for small businesses. Watson Real Estate has been essential in my growth, and it is now that I feel I need to move onto a company that can further grow my skills in the design world.

During my spare time I exercise a lot, I loving taking my dog out to the Totara Reserve for small day hikes. My partner and I enjoy lifting heavy things, and are hoping to compete in Powerlifting competitions in the future.

I am a student of life and am forever researching new things, whether it is a powerlifting technique, something in my diet not sitting right, looking into new board games and the strategies, or following the latest design trends. I have an appetite for reading and understanding the world around me.

| Contact Details |

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: 027 226 1229

For my Curriculum Vitae please email or call me and I will promptly forward it to you

2 notes · View notes

awabrand2 · 6 years ago

Text

Ernest Adams: A Thorough Analysis

History:

Ernest Alfred Adams was born in Wellington, England in 1892. The son of a baker, upon finishing his education, he went to work for his father and learnt the trade. Sadly, soon after, his father was forced to declare bankruptcy, moving on to Australia for a new start. In 1912, Adams joined him, opening his own bakery in Victoria in 1915.

After the untimely death of his first wife and second son in childbirth, Ernest moved his life to Christchurch in 1921. It was here that he met an elderly baker named Hugh Bruce. An impression must have been made as Bruce, who was looking to sell his business, changed his mind and went into partnership him. The company was called Adams Bruce Ltd. By 1929, there were bakeries not only in Christchurch but also Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin. During this time, the company did split between the North and South Island, the South Island company becoming known as Ernest Adams Ltd. A merger between these two companies occurred in 1974, making Ernest Adams a nationwide company. Acknowledging his tough experience with his father’s bankruptcy, he successfully steered the business through the Great Depression of the 1930s by cutting his own pay to avoid redundancies, among many other unusual tactics. He also managed to keep his retirement benefits for his employees intact and financially supported those of his ‘working family’ that fought in WWII. As these times eased, Earnest Adams Ltd was the largest bakery business in the South Island. In 1962, Adams received an O.B.E. from the Queen for his community work. Throughout his working career, he had taken an active interest in better education and welfare for those less fortunate. He also served in the Christchurch City Council from 1953 to 1956 and through his affections for Arthur’s Pass; he was on the Pass’ National Park Board from 1948 till 1958.

(From http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/ernest-adams-arrived-in-christchurch-1921/)

Founded in 1929 by the Adams family of bakers, Ernest Adams is a trusted Kiwi brand that has been delighting generations of New Zealanders with delicious bakery treats. Today, Ernest Adams is still proudly made right here in New Zealand with a team of over 80 dedicated staff producing an extensive range of ready-made cakes, slices, loaves, and cookies – including gluten-free options. Ernest Adams is the No. 1 selling Christmas brand* with the most comprehensive range of seasonal products including Christmas cakes, puddings, fruit mince tarts and trifle sponge. Ernest Adams also produces brandy snaps, éclairs, profiteroles and meringues. In addition to this large range of every day and seasonal sweet baked products, the Ernest Adams site (in Palmerston North, New Zealand) manufacturers a range of ingredients that includes pastry and icing. Ernest Adams products are distributed and sold locally and overseas.

(from https://goodmanfielder.com/portfolio/ernest-adams/)

Price: At Countdown supermarkets, Ernest Adams 350 gram biscuits retail for $2.70, whereas at New World Supermarkets they sell for $2.79. Comparing these to Pak’n’save prices, Pak’n’save sell Ernest Adams biscuits for $2.69. In summary throughout these three supermarkets, the price of these biscuits varies between the $2.70 to $2.80 region, however, they do not rise above $3.00 or fall to $2.50. It is clear that Ernest Adams is setting the price of their biscuits accordingly with the perceived value of these products in the minds of consumers.

Place: On supermarket shelves, Ernest Adams sits at eye level, alongside Farkbake (competing company). This tells me that the supermarkets aim to introduce specials, or really anything primary that they want to the consumer to notice. By doing this, it allows the supermarket to sell exactly what they are intending to. For Ernest Adams, it is important that their products are at eye height because it enables them to communicate through placement as opposed to promotion. It is a more direct and assertive approach to consumers.

Product: Ernest Adams biscuits come in a 350-gram bag. The bag features a photograph of the biscuits themselves, as well as other various supportive elements such as illustrations etc to help promote the product. The colours of each bag are plain and relatively basic, which in a way reflects the simplicity of the bag of biscuits. Despite the slices, Christmas cakes, and loaves that are within the Ernest Adams range, it seems the biscuits are amongst the cheapest of the lot.

Promotion: In terms of promoting and advertising their products, Ernest Adams has a distinct lack of presence, and I feel as though it is because their owners Goodman Fielder are not providing enough opportunity for the brand to grow. The only promotive advertisement that I could find was a singular YouTube video that wasn’t really advertising the brand itself, despite it being the official Ernest Adams YouTube account.

Competition:

Target Audience:

0 notes