(Discaria tou-matou).

This prickly, sometimes leafless plant is the dominant shrub in tussock grasslands and shrub-lands of the mountain valleys, and river beds to the east of the South Island Main Divide. Although plentiful now, it was much more so before extensive fires destroyed it to make way for sheep in the tussock grasslands. It is also found on the sand dunes of the North Island southwards from the North Waikato Heads and in some dry localities inland. This plant is also known as matagouri.

It grows to a maximum height of 20 ft where conditions are favourable, but is reduced to a low scrambling shrub on rocky outcrops and other inhospitable habitats. Branches are opposite and many of the shoots are reduced to green spines which are brown tipped. When these die they become hard and bony and were sometimes used by the Maoris for tattooing. Under lush growing conditions, plants can be quite leafy and lack spines. In general, however, leaves are sparse or almost absent, being most plentiful in spring and becoming less as the season wears on. They are linear-ovate and about half an inch long or slightly more. Flowers are very small, greenish-white, and appear in fascicles in the axils of the spines.

The genus Discaria contains about 15 species, all of which are South American except D. toumatou in New Zealand and D. australis in Australia and Tasmania. These two species are very closely related. The New Zealand species is noted for its root nodules which have been the subject of recent study.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(Podocarpus totara).

The Maoris prized this forest tree more highly than any other because of the remarkable qualities of its timber. The heartwood is very durable and the Maoris found the wood could be readily split and shaped with primitive stone tools for canoes, building, and carving. The same properties made it a valuable timber to the first European settlers for house and wharf piles, and for those parts of buildings requiring durable members.

The tree is a conifer with a wide distribution in North, South, and Stewart Islands. It occurs more sparsely than rimu, the main large forest tree, but is plentiful on shingly river flats. It is closely related to another species P. hallii, or Hall's totara, which is a somewhat smaller species growing at higher altitudes. The prostrate or shrubby species of Podocarpus, P. acutifolius and P. nivalis – the former sometimes a small tree – are related to the extent that groups of hybrids occur.

Totara is a tree reaching 120 ft high and has a diameter of up to 6 or 7 ft through. Along with other conifers, in particular rimu, it usually forms the scattered, emergent storey stretching above the dense canopy of broadleaf trees. The bark is thick and stringy – that of P. hallii is thin and papery – and the leaves, linear and sharp pointed, are less than an inch long and very dark green-brownish in colour. The flowers are dioecious, the female being on short peduncles which turn red and often become swollen. The nuts are embedded in these.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

The cost of the initial installation of the scheme was beyond the resources of the racing and trotting clubs and accordingly the Government decided that this cost would be met by a deduction or levy of ½ per cent (1 ?d. in the pound) on all investments, both on-course and off-course. This levy, which was imposed for a period of five years, provided ample funds for the initial establishment of the scheme.

The board derives its regular finance from a 7 ½-per-cent commission on all off-course bets placed on the totalisator. This is the same rate of commission as that received by racing clubs on their on-course betting.

Bets are accepted at branches and agencies, for all horse racing and trotting meetings held in New Zealand where a totalisator is operated on the racecourse. Details of all off-course investments are collated at the head office of the board in Wellington and telephoned to the individual racecourse, where they are pooled with the on-course investments.

Approximately 95 per cent of the bets received by the board at its branches and agencies are in cash over the counter, the remaining 5 per cent (approximately) being postal betting and telephone betting against moneys previously deposited with the board.

Over 60 per cent of racing and trotting meetings are held on Saturdays, with the result that the major portion of the business is transacted on Fridays and Saturdays. Ticket sales after 12.30 p.m. on Saturdays are negligible. All offices are open to the public on Mondays, or the next business day after a race day, for the payment of dividends. Bets are for win, place, or double. Only one double is available to off-course investors at each race meeting. The minimum amount of an off-course bet is 5s. for doubles and 10s. for win and place.

Racing and trotting clubs require that off-course betting figures for win and place be available for record on the totalisator prior to selling commencing on each race. Consequently, off-course bets for win and place must be lodged at a branch or an agency not later than 90 minutes before the advertised starting time of the race concerned. Double bets must be placed not later than two hours before the advertised time of the first leg of the double. Agencies and branches are allowed 18 minutes for collation purposes for win and place betting and 25 minutes for the first leg of the double. All transmissions of figures are carried out per medium of the telephone system.

The operations of the Totalisator Agency Board over the years have met with a minimum of criticism and there is little doubt as to the effectiveness of the scheme itself. It has satisfied a long-felt want so far as the off-course investors are concerned and has been responsible for the huge reduction in the volume of illegal bookmaking in New Zealand.

The scheme has attracted world-wide interest and several overseas countries have adopted the system either in part or as a whole.

by William Mouat Bolt, Executive Officer, Gaming Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

The board, which commenced operations on 28 March 1951 with branches at Feilding and Dannevirke, now has 25 branches and 289 agencies. A very wide coverage of New Zealand has been achieved.

During the period 1951 to 1965 the total amount invested on the totalisators through the off-course scheme was £346,747,593. The board made profits during this period totalling £9,960,535, which have been distributed to the racing and trotting clubs on the following basis:

1. Fifteen per cent of the total annual profit being divided equally among all clubs.

2. The remaining 85 per cent being divided proportionately among the clubs in relation to the on-course and off-course turnover for each club for the particular year.

The off-course turnover for the year ended 31 July 1965 was £36,276,258, and the profit available for distribution to the clubs was £1,109,689.

As the Government was determined that a betting-shop atmosphere would not arise, the following conditions were laid down in respect of all branches and agencies:

1. Where branches or agencies were established, no other business could be transacted on the premises.

2. No radios should operate on the premises within the hearing of the general public.

3. No information should be given on the day of the races as to the results of such races.

4. Credit betting not to be permitted.

5. No payment of dividends on the day of the races.

6. No seating to be available for investors, and loitering on the premises not to be permitted.

7. No advertising by branches or agencies, but small location notices to be permitted.

8. In general, the transactions should be similar to those carried out daily in banks and post offices.

Because of these conditions, no undesirable features in the operation of the scheme have as yet arisen.

1. Cash investments at agencies and branch offices.

2. By telephone to a branch or agency against a deposit previously established at such agency or branch or against winnings which have been credited to the investor's account.

3. By postal instructions accompanied by cash or its equivalent at agencies or branches which have been nominated by the board as open for postal investments.

The board is comprised of eight members – the presidents of the New Zealand Racing Conference and the New Zealand Trotting Conference and three members elected from each of these conferences. The chairmanship of the board alternates annually between the two presidents. The Government has no representation on the board.

In general the main function of the board is to provide for the receipt of off-course investments at totalisator agencies established throughout New Zealand, the transmission of particulars of the investments to the racecourses for registration on the totalisator, and the subsequent payment of dividends on winning investments.

The board is also required to determine the distribution of profits annually from its operations among the various racing and trotting clubs.

The administration centre is situated in Wellington. Provision is also made for:

1. Head Office Collating Centre at Wellington. This centre collates all the figures received from district collating centres and transmits the results to the various racecourses at which meetings are held.

2. Branch offices (or district collating centres) coordinate the figures received from agencies under their control and transmit the results to the Head Office Collating Centre.

3. Agencies collate the figures of the investments received and forward these to district collating centres.

Investments are received and dividends paid at branch offices and at agencies. The new head office is at Lambton Quay, Wellington.

On 22 March 1946 His Excellency the Governor-General appointed a Royal Commission to inquire into and report on the existing law relating to gaming, the present administration and control of practices relating to racing, and, generally, all other matters connected with gaming and racing. The Royal Commission conducted sittings during 1946 and 1947 and presented its report in December 1947.

Its major recommendation was that provision should be made for the legalisation of off-course totalisator betting; it also recommended that a scheme submitted by the New Zealand Racing and Trotting Conferences should be adopted.

Because of the controversial nature of this recommendation, the Government decided to refer the issue to the people by way of a referendum and, on 20 January 1949, His Excellency authorised the holding, on 9 March 1949, of a special poll under the Gaming Poll Act of 1948. The proposal contained in the voting paper was “that provision be made for off-course betting on horse races, through the totalisator, by means to be provided by the New Zealand Racing Conference and the New Zealand Trotting Conference”. A total of 623,625 votes was recorded (approximately 56 per cent of the electoral roll), 424,219 in favour of the proposal and 199,406 against.

The authority for the establishment, constitution, and operation of the Totalisator Agency Board to develop an approved scheme was then given by the Gaming Amendment Act of 1949. The scheme itself was approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs on 20 September 1950.

There is no completely satisfactory definition of a tort. Sir John Salmond described a tort as a civil wrong for which the remedy is a common law action for unliquidated damages and which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or the breach of a trust or other merely equitable obligation. Torts and crimes have for centuries been distinct, although the same act – for example, assault or conversion – may be both a tort and an offence. The principal function of the law of torts is to compensate individuals for harm done by others. The criminal law on the other hand exists mainly to protect society by preventing the commission of prohibited acts. The compensation paid for injury to person or property (although it must be made clear that a right of action does not lie for every injury) is initially a burden on the wrongdoer. The introduction, however, of compulsory third-party and industrial accident insurance, the growth of voluntary insurance, and the effect of insurance on prices, are spreading the burden over the community.

The law of torts has been developed almost wholly by the Courts. Since New Zealand Courts are zealous to keep in line with English decisions, and since what legislation there has been is mostly adopted from England, the local element in our law of torts is small. The indirect effect of local legislation has not been studied but is clearly considerable.

Examples of common torts are conversion of goods, nuisance, and defamation. Nuisance is the use of property in such a way as to interfere wrongfully with our neighbour's enjoyment of his property. The “natural use” of land is not a legal nuisance, and as the growing of trees is treated as a natural use, the common law gives no remedy for harm caused by overshadowing trees. This has led in New Zealand to recent legislation to deal with the problem. Our law of defamation differs in some respects from English law, most notably in the absence since 1954 of any distinction between libel (broadly, written defamation) and slander (spoken defamation).

The most important tort, however, is negligence, the breach of a duty to take care. The Courts often recognise new situations in which there is a duty of care, and this part of the law is far from static. Perhaps the most common fields of negligence are industrial accidents, vehicle accidents, and accidents to visitors. Together they form a considerable proportion of the civil cases coming before the Courts.

In New Zealand most negligence actions in the Supreme Court are tried by a jury, and compensation for loss is sometimes awarded without too strict an examination into whether a duty of care has been broken. Pushed to a conclusion, this could effect a radical behind-scenes change in the basis of liability. Recognising this, and taking account of the growth of liability insurance, it was suggested that in such fields as motor accidents the law should openly abandon the notion of a duty of care. A committee was set up in 1962 to examine the desirability of introducing strict liability for personal injuries caused by the use of motor vehicles. Its report was against such a change for the present.

by Bruce James Cameron, B.A., LL.M., Legal Adviser, Department of Justice, Wellington.

• The Law of Torts in New Zealand, Davis, A. G. (1959)
• The Law of Torts, Fleming, J. G. (1961)
• The Law of Torts, Salmond, J. W., and Heuston, R. S. V. (1957).

(?–1873).

Maori poetess.

A new biography of Te Rangitpeora appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Topeora was born at Kawhia and died at Otaki in 1873. She was a sister of Te Rangihaeata and a niece of the celebrated Te Rauparaha. A member of the Ngati Toa tribe, she was of high rank and traced her descent from Hoturoa, chief of the Tainui canoe. Other important lines of descent made her a woman of highest rank amongst her own people and the closely connected Ngati Raukawa tribe.

She was noted for her love affairs, and her first husband, Te Ra Tu Tonu, was called from a besieged pa to marry her because she admired his bravery. A son from her second marriage was Matene Te Whiwhi, one of the first advocates in the fifties for the Maori king. By her third husband she had a daughter, Rakapa, who became noted as a composer equal to her mother.

Topeora was best known as a composer whose compositions ranged from love songs to cursing songs pouring hatred on the enemy. A masterful woman, she had a pitiless temper and once ordered the death of a beautiful girl with whom her husband was associating. True to her pride, she chose the name Queen Victoria when she was baptised by Bishop Selwyn at Otaki, and she was known as Te Kuini or “Queen of the South” by her people, who venerated her. Proud to the end of her days and disdaining European clothing, she remained a commanding figure, haughty and scornful, a Maori to the last.

by John Bruce Palmer, B.A., Curator, Fiji Museum, Suva.