Flavour of New Zealand

01-Jun-1979
Carless day stickers were introduced in response to the need to conserve petrol at a time of rising oil prices. Motorists had to choose the day of the week on which they would leave their car at home and attach the appropriate sticker to the windscreen. ³

10-Jun-1979
The Silver Star, an all-sleeper train between Wellington and Auckland which had started service in 1971, was withdrawn because of low passenger numbers and rising costs. ³

07-Nov-1979
The MP for Northern Maori, Matiu Rata, resigned from the Labour Party and announced his own party, Mana Motuhake. This ended the political alliance between Labour and Ratana which had exisited since the time of Michael Joseph Savage. ³

17-Dec-1979
Arthur Allan Thomas, who had been convicted of the murder of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe at Pukekawa in 1970, was given a free pardon and $950,000 compensation. ³

18-Dec-1979
Seventy years after the first printed telephone books, the first directory printed using computerisation was distributed in Gisborne. ³