North & South

In this issue, we cover the kinds of big topics that are in North & South’s DNA — in this case, what’s going wrong with the newly established medicinal cannabis industry, China’s big-spending presence in Samoa, and a dive into California’s Esalen Institute, which has had outsize influence in the field of personal development for 60 years. And we’re also having some fun too. Holding on to that holiday feeling as long as possible, we’re rich with adventure this month. Journalist and seafaring enthusiast John McCrystal took a cruise on our behalf, boarding Heritage Expeditions’ Heritage Adventurer in Tauranga for a voyage that ended in Bluff. It did rain a bit, but this is New Zealand so that wasn’t entirely unexpected and John found plenty of worthwhile diversions both onboard and…

This month’s best letter wins a Blooming Braid from Metal Metcalfe, valued at $395. At approximately 170cm long and with two fixing points, this piece is perfect for both interior and exterior settings. Hawke’s Bay based artists and sisters, Katie and Amy are METcALfe (Metal Metcalfe), creating joyful metal artworks from repurposed 44 gallon steel drums. They demonstrate their unique solutions reusing this waste material, giving it new life and value. Visit metalmetcalfe.com for more information.…

Viva Vietnam I am fortunate to work for the largest independent asset-management firm in Vietnam. During the last 15 years, I have seen incredible changes in its capital markets and growth of the economy. One key message we repeatedly tell investors is that Vietnam is a country, not a war. Your article “Our Man in Saigon” (by Pete McKenzie, January) was a fascinating glimpse through the eyes of the players during a chaotic moment in history. The war in Vietnam still clearly resonates and should never be forgotten. However, what might have also been interesting for your readers is to understand how Vietnam has developed as a nation since then, and to discuss the incredible progress which has been made. For example, Vietnam has one of the fastest cases of poverty reduction –…

Peter Bale Peter Bale is a New Zealander who has spent many years away from home but is fascinated by how the country can punch above its weight. He writes the “Foreign Correspondence” column, bringing interesting voices into it while reserving the right to do a little commentary. He is a former Reuters correspondent and editor and has had senior roles at the Financial Times, News Corp, Microsoft and CNN. He was the chief executive of the investigative-journalism group, the Center for Public Integrity, whose International Consortium of Investigative Journalists arm published the Panama Papers. John McCrystal John McCrystal has been working as a freelance writer for the last 25 years. He has written, co-written and ghost-written over 50 non-fiction books, including a collection of stories of disaster and survival arising from shipwrecks,…

Sir Howard honoured in his hometown, Karen Walker’s Katikati connection, keeping time around the motu, and more “Dad was a man of the people,” says Donna Morrison (Te Arawa), her voice echoing in a large studio above the foyer in the newly refurbished venue named for her late father, the legendary entertainer Sir Howard Morrison. “This building represents his Ngāti Whakaue whakapapa, where he comes from.” Built for the Rotorua Borough Council in 1938, on land gifted by Ngāti Whakaue, the building originally known as the Municipal Office and Theatre — comprising an administration wing, concert chamber and the Regent Theatre auditorium — was rendered in a Spanish Mission style, designed by the influential English-born architect Edmund Anscombe. It was refurbished in the 1990s and given a new name, the Rotorua Convention…

There’s a town in the Bay of Plenty called Katikati. You will have driven through it on the way to Waihi Beach or Tauranga. They grow avocados there, damn good ones. And kiwifruit. They have murals. Murals are their thing. That and avocados. The murals illustrate the town’s story, many of them moments in its colonial past. They feature a lot of horses and women in long skirts. One of them stars my great-great-grandfather, William Gray. He looks handsome although it’s not actually his face in the painting. The face is that of a contemporary Katikatian who paid a few hundred dollars to have his countenance painted on my great-great-grandfather’s body. I assume all the faces on the mural are paid face-placements. I don’t know about the golden retriever at…