Northland news in brief: Scholarship for young beekeepers; and hospital visitor restrictions

Young Northlanders keen to get into beekeeping can apply for a scholarship to help them get started.

Beekeeping scholarship
Young Northlanders interested in a beekeeping career can apply for the annual Ron Mossop Youth Scholarship, sponsored by Mossop's Honey and Apiculture New Zealand.
The scholarship was set up three years ago as a way of giving young people the best possible start in the apiculture industry. The scholarship includes $2000 to be put towards best-practice training and/or set-up costs. It also includes membership of industry body Apiculture New Zealand for a year and attendance at the industry's national conference in the year of the award. For more information and how to apply, go to https://apinz.org.nz/scholarship-in-beekeeping/

Hospital visits change
Alert level 2 rules for visitors to Northland hospitals have been changed due to the extra risk posed by the Delta variant, including allowing only one visitor or support person per patient at a time. Only adults (16 and older) are permitted. Visitors must wear a mask and scan the QR code or sign-in at the entrance. Visiting hours have also been changed to allow social distancing. The new times are 10.30am-12.30pm, 2.30-4.30pm and 5.30-7.30pm at Whangārei Hospital; and 11am-8pm at the Kaitāia, Dargaville and Bay of Islands hospitals.

Shack burns
Firefighters were called to a public reserve in Kerikeri about 9.30am yesterday [Thursday] to extinguish what appeared to be a burning shack. The fire in the improvised dwelling, near Kerikeri River's Fairy Pools, is thought to have been deliberately lit. The shack was not occupied at the time. One fire truck and one tanker responded. Police are investigating.

Dirt bike rider flees after crash
A rider ditched his dirt bike and fled on foot after he colliding with a moving car in Whangārei. Neither he nor the car's female driver was reported as injured in the crash on Murdoch Cres in Raumanga about 2pm on Thursday. Police inquiries were ongoing.

Level 4 warning for boaties
Northland police are reminding boaties that entry into waters part of the greater Auckland region is prohibited. There have been reports boats from other regions have headed into Auckland waters - specifically around Aotea Great Barrier Island - despite alert level 4 restrictions. The message from police to people outside of Auckland is to help keep everyone safe by enjoying fishing and boating outside of this area.

Extension on transport papers
As a result of the Delta outbreak, driver licences, Warrants of Fitness (WoFs), Certificates of Fitness (CoFs), vehicle licences ("regos") and licence endorsements that expired on or after July 21 this year will be valid until November 30, 2021, says Transport Minister Michael Wood. "While this extension won't officially be in force until next Wednesday, I wanted to provide certainty to the public and industry that we have heard their concerns," said Wood. "Like last year's extension, we're providing this extension to give certainty to the public that they won't be issued infringement notices for using their vehicles appropriately during higher alert levels.

Job listings slip
Job listings in Northland have fallen by 8 per cent month on month but remain up 27 per cent compared with pre-Covid figures (2019), according to the latest SEEK Employment Report for August. This reflects the current nationwide trend, showing the effects of level 4 lockdown on the number of jobs advertised on seek.co.nz, breaking a national five-month streak of record job ads. Yesterday there were 416 jobs advertised in Northland on seek.co.nz . Nationally, the industries showing the biggest decline month on month are trade and services (-18 per cent), hospitality and tourism (-29 per cent) and manufacturing, transport and logistics (-13 per cent). Industries with the most job listings in Northland include roles in trades and services, healthcare and medical, and administration and office support.

Marsden Pt petition
A Social Credit Party online petition, calling on the Government to declare the Marsden Pt Oil Refinery a nationally strategic asset and to buy all the shares from private owners using money created by the Reserve Bank, has reached more than13,000 signatures. The petition was launched after Refining NZ last month decided to stop refining fuel and turn the site into a fuel import storage terminal only. The petition - at https://www.change.org/p/the-government-of-new-zealand-put-new-zealand-s-fuel-security-first-not-oil-company-profits - calls on the Government to turn it back into a state-owned enterprise that continues to refine crude oil into the fuels needed to keep the New Zealand economy operating.