16 Jan 2013

Summer Report: local papers

8:23 am on 16 January 2013

Wednesday's headlines: Department of Conservation enters another round of restructuring; bigger, houses replacing the standard three-bedroom property in Canterbury; man lay in ditch for 17 hours after quad bike accident.

NZ Herald

The New Zealand Herald reports a man lay injured in a ditch for 17 hours after his quad bike fell on top of him at a farm in Matamata on Tuesday.

Waikato Times

The Waikato Times says about 200 Kawhia residents gathered at a town meeting on Tuesday night to discuss Friday night's attack on a policeman. The report said the mother of the accused made a plea for unity in the town.

And a Chinese tourist was impaled on a wooden post after the vehicle he was travelling in smashed into a fence.

Dominion Post

The Dominion Post reports that house prices have reached new heights, with the median price up almost 10% to a record $389,000.

A Hawkes Bay iPhone app developer has created a free game called The Blockheads, which has reached two million downloads in five days.

The Press

The Press reports people in Canterbury are looking to build bigger, more comfortable houses, with the standard three-bedroom, one-bathroom house is becoming rarer.

The paper also speculates what might be covered in the Lance Armstrong interview with Oprah Winfrey.

ODT

The Otago Daily Times reports that the residential property market in Queenstown finished strongly last year, with 160 houses sold in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Department of Conservation staff have been told another round of job losses are possible as it enters another round of restructuring.