Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand and Growers, who were calling the berries "melonettes", because the local name for the fruit, "Chinese gooseberry", had political connotations due to the Cold War, and to further distinguish it from real gooseberries, which are prone to a fungus called anthracnose. An American importer, Norman Sondag of San Francisco, complained that "melonettes" was as bad as "Chinese gooseberry" because melons and berries were both subject to high import tariffs, and instead asked for a short Maori name that quickly connoted New Zealand. In June 1959, during a meeting of Turners and Growers management in Auckland, Jack Turner suggested the name
Digital changeover dates in New Zealand Digital changeover dates in New Zealand The digital changeover is the name given to the process by which analogue television in New Zealand was replaced with digital terrestrial television. It is sometimes referred to as the "analogue switch off". In New Zealand, the switch off of analogue signals started in September 2012, with the digital switchover being completed in Hawke's Bay in the North island and the West Coast region of the South Island. The country's switch to digital terrestrial reception was completed on 1 December 2013 when analogue transmissions were switched off in the upper North Island. During 2011–12,