Milk price to fall

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 42, 9 April 1985, Page 1

Milk price to fall

The price of milk in Ohakune, Raetihi and Waiouru will drop by four cents a bottle from 1st July, and may drop a further two cents, to 35 cents, in a year's time.

However, milk supplied to National Park, will only drop in price by one cent from the current 41 cents initially. The Raetihi station will cease processing on 30th June and Waiouru, Ohakune and Raetihi milk will be supplied from Palmerston North. National Park will be supplied from Taumarunui. At present the alternative sources of supply are subject to confirmation and agreement with Taumarunui and Manawatu stations. Both these stations provide pasteurised, homogenised and non-fat milk and the Manawatu station has a wide range of other milk products, such as yoghurt, cottage cheese and cream cheese. These products will be available to consumers in the Ruapehu region from July: National Park at present receives a restricted (3-4 days per week) delivery for most of the year, increasing

to six days per week during the ski season. This frequency of service will continue from Taumarunui and the price of milk will reduce to 40 cents per bottle initially, to help offset costs incurred in rationalising milk supplies in the area, and eventually (approximately 12 months) will be brought into line with the Taumarunui area price — currently 38 cents per bottle. At the present time Palmerston North supplies as far north as Taihape four days per week and Raetihi will be an extension of this service. The consumer price of milk in Raetihi, Ohakune and Waiouru will reduce from 41 cents per bottle to 37 cents per bottle immediately and afterapproximately 12 months, will change to the Palmerston North station area price — currently 35 cents per bottle. The price of cream in all areas will remain at 65 cents per 300 ml bottle.

Over thirty people in Ohakune and Raetihi spend three evenings per week learning how to break bricks with their feet and shatter broomhandles across their shins. They are all members of the Ohakune Nam Wah Pai Club, and are taught by Vivienne BidwelT(pictured above). Vivienne has been doing Nam Wah Pai, a Chinese form of Kung Fu, for four years, but before that she was a black belt in another martial art — Tae Kwon Do. After approximately three months of training, Nam Wah Pai pupils are usually good enough to try for their first grading — a yellow belt. But lt takes three years before they begin to learn about internal forces, which enable them to smash baseball bats on their shins without leaving a mark. Vivienne and New Zealand master in Nam Wah Pai, Steve Kitson, gave a demonstration of their skills before a crowd of sixty people in the Ohakune Primary School hall oii Saturday. Vivienne had a broom-handle broken across one of her shins and had tiles, which were laid on her stomach, smashed with a sledge-hammer during the demonstration.