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The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) commissioned a management training needs analysis of the 6,000 members in 1988. The objectives were to determine the specific management subjects required for further education and training of experienced graduate engineers and their preferred methods of learning. The survey commenced with pilot study interviews with professional engineers leading to a questionnaire sent to a representative sample of IPENZ members throughout New Zealand. The results showed strong agreement about the managerial content of most professional engineering work. They also indicated a large majority who recognised the need for further education in business management subjects. The analysis indicated the most preferred management subjects from a comprehensive list ranked by professional engineers: personal and interpersonal management skills; general management and decision making; individual, group and organisational behaviour; finance and accounting; personnel management; project management. The least required management subjects chosen from the list were quantitative methods and information systems. These management subject preferences are not satisfied by the majority of short management training courses presently offered to professional engineers.

A survey was carried out recently in New Zealand manufacturing firms to identify typical quality management policies and operating practices and to determine changes in recent years. Product design quality and quality control procedures were investigated, together with testing and quality control of finished products and the procedures for dealing with customer complaints. Training in quality assurance methods and overall costs of quality management, and attitudes towards external verification of quality management procedures were also examined. Managers have recognized the importance of high quality standards for ensuring company survival in competitive markets. More has been spent recently on improving quality policies and quality management training, but serious gaps were identified between quality policies and operating practices.

The need for management training for experienced professional engineers in New Zealand has been well recognised for a long time. Research with professional engineers in New Zealand, including a training needs analysis, has indicated a strong need and high potential benefits from management training, particularly in personal and interpersonal management skills. A list of 25 most appropriate personal and interpersonal skills was developed. A three‐day management training workshop was developed as a result of the research for engineers working in small groups. A book on management skills for professionals was written to reinforce the teaching. The course has since been run several times per year at the University of Canterbury and has attracted large numbers of engineers. Feedback from the course participants has been very positive, saying that it provides much needed opportunities for self‐development and learning.

Competition in New Zealand and Australian markets for manufactured goods has increased in the last five years. Reduced government licensing and trade barriers have been major causes of the increased competition. This has caused changes in the management practices of many manufacturing firms. There has been an increased focus on quality, service and productivity by firms needing to compete successfully. Looks at a survey designed to check the state of manufacturing practices in Australia and New Zealand carried out in 1994, in which the responses from manufacturers were checked by benchmarking visits and case studies were developed. The survey identified the use of best practices in each firm and compared this with business performance. The top 20 per cent of firms, with regard to their extent of use of best manufacturing practices, correlated strongly with the top 20 per cent of business performers. The study confirmed that “leaders” in the adoption of best practices generally enjoy better sales growth, superior export growth and positive cash flows.

The purpose of this study is to present an approach to evaluating the usability of digital libraries in terms of knowledge states within the information search process (ISP) by investigating the connections among components with which users interact, perceived usability and task stages. The China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the most popular digital library in China, was chosen to be studied.

With the research framework, measurements were generated for perceived usability in task stages for efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. Two usability experiments and usability tests were administered to 22 subjects in two groups. Three information retrieval tasks were designed according to the characteristics of knowledge states within the ISP for each experiment. The transaction logs were captured and the experimental results were recorded. The users completed a pre-search questionnaire and post-search questionnaire, and interviews were conducted.

The study showed that both interactions on components of the digital library and usability scores differed with sequential tasks characterized by knowledge states within the ISP; new usability problems relating to the CNKI were found based on the empirical results.

Many studies on the usability evaluation of digital libraries focused on the outcome rather than on the ISP. This study proposed an effective approach to usability evaluation based on users’ knowledge states within the ISP.

1. Preservatives should be prohibited in all articles of food and drink offered or exposed for sale whether manufactured in this country or imported, except that—(a) Sulphur dioxide only should be permitted, (1) in sausages in amounts not exceeding three grains per pound, (2) in jam in amounts not exceeding 0·3 grains per pound, (3) in dried fruit in amounts not exceeding seven grains per pound, (4) in preserved (but not dried) whole fruit or fruit pulp in amounts not exceeding five grains per pound, (5) in beer and cider whether in bottle or in cask in amounts not exceeding five grains per gallon, (6) in alcoholic wines, non‐alcoholic wines, and cordials and fruit juices sweetened and unsweetened in amounts not exceeding three grains per pint; (b) Benzoic acid only should be permitted (1) in coffee extract in amounts not exceeding three grains per pound, (2) in non‐alcoholic wines and cordials and sweetened and unsweetened fruit juices (as an alternative to sulphur dioxide) in amounts not exceeding five grains per pint, (3) in sweetened mineral waters and in brewed ginger beer in amounts not exceeding one grain per pint. The methods of estimating the foregoing preservatives should be prescribed by the Minister of Health.

The cardinal point to note here is that the development (and unfortunately the likely potential) of area policy is intimately related to the actual character of British social policy. Whilst area policy has been strongly influenced by Pigou's welfare economics, by the rise of scientific management in the delivery of social services (cf Jaques 1976; Whittington and Bellamy 1979), by the accompanying development of operational analyses and by the creation of social economics (see Pigou 1938; Sandford 1977), social policy continues to be enmeshed with the flavours of Benthamite utilitatianism and Social Darwinism (see, above all, the Beveridge Report 1942; Booth 1889; Rowntree 1922, 1946; Webb 1926). Consequently, for their entire history area policies have been coloured by the principles of a national minimum for the many and giving poorer areas a hand up, rather than a hand out. The preceived need to save money (C.S.E. State Apparatus and Expenditure Group 1979; Klein 1974) and the (supposed) ennobling effects of self help have been the twin marching orders for area policy for decades. Private industry is inadvertently called upon to plug the resulting gaps in public provision. The conjunction of a reluctant state and a meandering private sector has fashioned the decaying urban areas of today. Whilst a large degree of party politics and commitment has characterised the general debate over the removal of poverty (Holman 1973; MacGregor 1981), this has for the most part bypassed the ‘marginal’ poorer areas (cf Green forthcoming). Their inhabitants are not usually numerically significant enough to sway general, party policies (cf Boulding 1967) and the problems of most notably the inner cities has been underplayed.

At a meeting of the Barnstaple Rotary Club on November 5th, Mr. Percy Penhale, Borough Veterinary Inspector, read a paper upon bovine tuberculosis. Mr. Penhale said he wished to speak with particular regard to a pure milk supply, which was a vital topic to them all. With consumption so rife as it was among human beings, veterinary surgeons marvelled that “the powers that be” apparently continued to regard the present state of affairs with apathy, and it was high time sweeping measures were adopted. There were various methods of infection, but cohabitation and inhalation were by far the most frequent, and almost always in a cow shippen or other confined space where tubercle bacilli had been voided from the bodies of previous subjects of the disease. In the early stages there were no appreciable symptoms, and the general condition of the animal might afford no information. Following a technical description of the disease, Mr. Penhale passed to its importance on the health of the general public. It did not stretch one's imagination far to see that the dairy herd was likely to be far more affected with tuberculosis than other cattle, as these were more often confined together in buildings. It was estimated by many eminent authorities that at least 33 per cent. of the dairy herd to‐day were tuberculous. In support of that he would say that in 56 herds tested around the Birmingham district 37 per cent. were found to be affected. It then became necessary to show that bovine tuberculosis was transmissible to mankind. This had been completely proved over and over again, but to what degree the general public was in total ignorance. In 1912 Mitchell, working in Edinburgh, discovered that 90 per cent. of cases of tuberculosis in the human being were bovine in origin. Those figures raised considerable criticism in the medical profession, but some time later Beng, working in the same city, confirmed Mitchell's experiences. It might, therefore, be taken as a fact that bovine infection was responsible for the majority of cases of tuberculosis in the human being. And bovine infection was but another name for milk infection. In the early days of life, when resistance to the disease was at its lowest, and cows' milk was the staple article of diet, the child was brought into contact with the constantly‐recurring possibilities of infection. To analyse the methods suggested for our protection, Pasteurization and boiling of milk had been the reiterated cry of many, and it was true that milk heated to 85 degrees centigrade (or 185 degrees Fahrenheit) would destroy all the tubercle bacilli or spores that the milk contained. But scientists were about equally divided. One half said that Pasteurization or boiling destroyed some of the necessary vitamines and salts that raw milk should contain. In any case, such methods should be unnecessary, and to his mind it was merely condoning an evil. Then microscopical examination of milk was very uncertain, and was not the safeguard so many would have them believe. Where could they look for the salvation? He unhesitatingly replied to the tuberculin test—the safest and surest test they were ever likely to know. He would have it applied to every milk‐bearing cow. In his view the milk of re actors should be forthwith condemned, or Pasteurized and used for calves.

In concluding their review of the environmental and social performance of some 86 worldwide retailers Storebrand Investments (2003) argued that “Shopping is increasingly becoming a leisure activity – done not out of necessity but out of luxury. The long term effects of encouraging consumerism, which is in direct conflict with the definition of being sustainable, is a real conflict to tackle as a retailer” and they encouraged retailers to address this important challenge. In many ways consumerism has become an increasingly defining characteristic of modern, nay post modern, societies (Stearns, 1997) while at the same time sustainability has moved higher and higher up political agendas around the world. This short article looks to explore some of the tensions between consumerism and sustainable retailing. It begins by providing a basic outline of sustainable development and consumerism and of the role of retailing in linking production and consumption and it then examines some of the ways in which UK based retailers are looking to address sustainability agendas.

The case, briefly reported in the last issue of BFJ, an appeal to a Milk and Dairies Tribunal arising out of a local authority's refusal to grant a licence to a milk distributor because he failed to comply with a requirement that he should provide protective curtains to his milk floats, was a rare and in many ways, an interesting event. The Tribunal in this case was set up under reg. 16(2) (f), Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963, constituted in accordance with Part I, clause 2 (2), Schedule 4 of the Regulations. Part II outlines procedure for such tribunals. The Tribunal is similar to that authorized by S.30, Food and Drugs Act, 1955, which deals with the registration of dairymen, dairy farms and farmers, and the Milk and Dairies (General) Regulations, 1959. Part II, Schedule 2 of the Act provided for reference to a tribunal of appeals against refusal or cancellation of registration by the Ministry, but of producers only. A local authority's power to refuse to register or cancellation contained in Part I, Schedule 2 provided for no such reference and related to instances where “public health is or is likely to be endangered by any act or default” of such a person, who was given the right of appeal against refusal to register, etc., to a magistrates' court. No such limitation exists in respect of the revoking, suspending, refusal to renew a licence under the Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963; an appeal against same lies to the Minister, who must refer the matter to a tribunal, if the person so requests. This occurred in the case under discussion.