Free Methodists in colonial Christchurch : the church, community and commercial lives of some immigrants from Sunderland : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University

This thesis tells the story of a small group of immigrants to Canterbury from Sunderland, England in 1858 and follows their lives and the events in their community up to the time of the First World War. John Thompson Brown and his fellow-settlers belonged to an off-shoot of the Wesleyan Methodist Church – the Free Methodists. Their commitment to this denomination and its ethos and the influence of religion on their lives is a central theme in their story. Life in pioneer society was hard. The environment made it so as much as anything and there were many privations. The sacrifices made by the early settlers and the generation of colonials that followed them were invariably perceived from the perspective of both material conditions and social values. A new community cannot be built without a vision of what that community should be like. This blend of the visionary and the pragmatic co-existed in the beliefs and actions of the early settlers and the colonials, and probably to the generations beyond. The values of the Free Methodists emphasised self-improvement and self-reliance and were supportive of the development of New Zealand as a Christian community As with other denominations their church was a central part of their community which they fostered both spiritually and materially - a considerable commitment of heart and mind in the demanding colonial environment. [FROM INTRODUCTION

Effect of mowing a legume fertility-building crop on shoot numbers of creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.)

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Perennial weeds with spreading root systems, e.g. Cirsium arvense, are difficult to control in organic arable rotations, particularly in those without grazed leys. Competitive crops and repeated mowing are proven methods of control that can be applied to the legume fertility-building crops in stockless rotations. An experiment at ADAS Terrington in 2000 compared a standard treatment of mowing at 45 cm legume height (x4) with mowing every two weeks (x8), and mowing when thistle flower buds were visible (x3). Thistle shoot numbers counted in July 2001 were around 75% less than at start of mowing in April 2000 (mean of 9.5 shoots per m2). The results suggest that achieving and maintaining a dense competitive crop has more influence than mowing frequency on creeping thistle survival under a clover fertility-building crop

Proceedings of a workshop on Florida Spiny Lobster Research and Management, 24 August 1984

Agenda, abstracts, bibliography of recent literature on spiny lobsters, and list of participants. Workshop held at the Florida State University Marine Laboratory, 24 August 1984. (25pp. W.F. Hernkind (ed