NZ public holiday announced for September 26
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said a State Memorial Service for Queen Elizabeth II would also be held in the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul on the same day.
The event will be televised and livestreamed.
"As New Zealand's Queen and much loved Sovereign for over 70 years, it is appropriate that we mark her life of dedicated public service with a State Memorial Service and a one-off public holiday," Ardern said.
"Queen Elizabeth II was an extraordinary person, and I know many New Zealanders will appreciate the opportunity to both mark her death and celebrate her life."
Ardern said the public holiday allowed people to pay their respects and for communities around the country to come together and pay tribute with local events.
"The decision to hold a one-off Public Holiday in the Queen's honour is also in line with similar holidays in the UK and Australia, and is in keeping with what is an historic event."
The death of the Queen was announced on Friday (NZT) and her funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.
A period of national mourning started immediately after the Queen's death was announced and will continue until the date of the National Memorial Service.
Ardern previously said New Zealand's memorial service would be held at some point after the funeral in the UK - and turned its mind this afternoon to setting the date when it meets today as well as whether to have a public holiday.
A one-off national public holiday has been confirmed in Australia on September 22. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese the move was "in honour of the life and service" of the late Queen and would coincide with a memorial service.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope told RNZ's Morning Report businesses had already suffered losses from the pandemic and the government had to be careful when making a call that would impose more costs on local businesses.
"Certainly, I don't think there's any problem with a memorial, I think there'll be a lot of people who will be wanting to attend that but to add another public holiday, as I said, at a time when many businesses have struggled is a bridge too far."
Even a half-day public holiday would still be costly for businesses, he said.
"We prefer not to have that."
King Charles has announced the day of the Queen's funeral - September 19 - would be a bank holiday in the UK.
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Poll: Should drivers retake the theory test every 10 years?
Drivers get where they need to go, but sometimes it seems that we are all abiding by different road rules (for example, the varying ways drivers indicate around a roundabout).
Do you think drivers should be required to take a quick driving theory test every 10 years?
Vote in the poll and share any road rules that you've seen bent! 😱
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49.5% Yes
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48.6% No
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1.9% Other - I'll share below
Here's Thursday's thinker!
I am lighter than air, but a hundred people cannot lift me. What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
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Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Why make picking up reserved library books harder? What do you think? Challenge: Write the last stanza for the first poem attached below.
Once books are reserved in Auckland Libraries books, when they are available no longer go alphabetically by customer but instead go into a Holds pickup shelf number based presumably somehow on when each book needs to be picked up by.
I had two books reserved that arrived on two different days in the Blockhouse Bay Library and hence each book has a different shelf number. Hard to find unless you knew the shelf number in the notification email. Even if you knew the shelf number I found myself three books by the same author on the two shelf numbers.
More recently yesterday a book I reserved was on a different shelf number than was specified in my notification email (see image below).
Sadly it is clear from library staff that a numerical system for reserves is here to stay.
I suggest that so that all books for each person has the same shelf number, the shelf number becomes the last digit of a person's library card (0-9).
Within each shelf number a book is found under the day the reserve arrives in the library (01 to 31, hopefully the same date the email is sent).
Since a customer appears to have 10 days to pick up a book, ten days of the month would appear to be required at any time (for each digit 0-9).
Once there are 10 days used the next day's reserves could go back at the beginning of the shelf number after any remaining books not collected (hopefully none) are removed (along with the old day number and the new day number (01 to 31) inserted) after the last day available and future days' books remaining moved forward to make room.
Each day number (01-31) would appear once for each shelf number (0-9) before the first book on that day- perhaps cover an old withdrawn book with paper with each day number on the spine?
When a reserved book arrives in the library the last digit of the library card could be placed on a piece of paper in the book to be removed when it is put on the shelf, to be recycled the next day.
What do you think?
See the image below and page 3 below for a letter appearing in the Western Leader on 9 September:
www.neighbourly.co.nz...
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