Two a penny

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The Office of the Auditor-General says there are no grounds for an inquiry into Finance Minister Bill English’s housing arrangements. .

The Auditor-General’s conclusions were predictable, Mr English says.

“Importantly, the Auditor-General concludes that the current parliamentary system is designed to establish whether an MP maintains a current residence outside Wellington, rather than where an MP lives in an everyday sense.

“I welcome the Auditor-General’s confirmation that I correctly completed my declarations and provided other information as required to claim Wellington accommodation costs.

The report called for a “simple and sensible” system for providing MPs and Ministers with support for the costs of their accommodation while in Wellington.

Mr English came under fire after it was disclosed he received more than $900 a week in allowances while living in his family home in Karori, twice what he was able to claim for living in the same house as an Opposition MP.

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A man tried to snatch a 10-year-old boy just half a kilometre away from where Aisling Symes vanished two days later, can reveal.

The boy’s story has emerged as police announce the investigation into Aisling’s disappearance is to be further boosted by additional police staff. He offered to buy him sweets as he shopped in the Discount Food Mart, on Rathgar Rd, Henderson.

The schoolboy was approached by a man in his 30s two days before two-year-old Aisling’s disappearance, has learned. It made me feel weird,” the boy said.

“I asked the shop person the price of the candy and, when she said $4, the man asked if he could pay for me and said I could go along with him.

The boy’s mum, who is desperately concerned for Aisling, said: “It could have been anyone’s kid and even ours.

He ran screaming from the store, which is close to where two-year-old Aisling disappeared from her late grandparents home in Longburn Rd last Monday.

“From what has happened in the last week in this area it is going to make me a lot more careful. I always tell my son not to go off on his own but he doesn’t listen. Who knows if the guy was joking but my son did the right thing.

“I didn’t like hearing about what happened in the shop with my son.

Police spokesperson Noreen Hegarty downplayed the incident.”

Police questioned the boy on Thursday and again last night for several hours.

She said police were not seeking the man. She said police believed the man hadn’t made any attempt to “abduct” or “lure” the boy away from his family.

The boy, who has agreed not to identity, was in the superette around 12. Asked why police then interviewed the boy’s parents, Hegarty said they had to “take everything that comes to this investigation seriously”.

“I was by the candy and the guy came up to me and gave me a really strange look and started talking to me,” the boy said.30pm last Saturday while his mum and aunt were in Creative Cutz hairdressers nearby.

“That made me worried,” said the schoolboy.

He was concerned that the stranger, who described as about 33, Maori or Pacific Islander, wanted to buy him candy.

“I was scared, pretty scared.

“Suddenly I ran out of the store screaming for my mum as I thought he wanted to kidnap me.”

The brave lad knew he had to run away from stranger danger.”

The brave lad knew he had to run away from stranger danger. “I’ve been told that if someone wants to give you something or take you anywhere you just say `no’ and get away,” he said. .

Harrison Williams, the owner of Creative Cutz hairdressing, has also been spoken to by police.

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ASB’s $1 billion job creation scheme, launched three days before the government’s high profile Jobs Summit, has so far attracted just 10 firms who have borrowed less than $4 million. The bank maintains this has saved 41 jobs.

ASB said the previous month it would set aside $1 billion for a job creation loan fund, which is aimed at small businesses.
But a month into the scheme ASB has only managed to find ten takers with the total sum loaned totalling a mere $3. The fund offers businesses loans worth between $100,000 and $10 million at below market rates if a company can demonstrate a loan would help save or create jobs. .8 million. And the bank says these loans have saved 41 jobs.”
Mitchell said the nature of the loan process meant there was a lag as customers got their information together.
ASB’s head of relationship banking and financial services, James Mitchell, described the first month’s progress of the bank’s job creation scheme as a “great result for New Zealanders.
Meanwhile, ASB’s job creation term deposits – launched at the same time as the loan fund – have been far more successful, with 4,600 customers investing more then $370 million.
“We confidently expect this total to grow significantly in future months,” he said. The bank pays the same interest rate to investors putting money into the fund as it charges to businesses taking out loans from the fund.
Money invested by customers into job creation term deposits goes into the job creation fund pool, propping up the initial $1 billion put in by ASB.
Job creation loans and term deposit interest rates are now at 5.
Job creation loans and term deposit interest rates are now at 5.

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