A Westport man who sold whiskey to a Buller High School student prior to the teenager's death has been sentenced to two months in prison.

Having a middleman able to absorb the criticism and stay immune to the moral and emotional elements of the Pike tragedy makes sense politically, writes Gerard Morris.

A Haast man was sentenced to nine months' supervision and ordered to pay his former partner $500 for emotional harm after being convicted of an assault.

The West Coast search for missing Christchurch tramper Rex Leslie Taylor, 50, has been suspended, after another two-day search failed to yield more clues as to his whereabouts.

Newborns and unborn babies in later pregnancy have been dying in South Auckland at a higher rate than the national average for most of the past decade.

A Buller man who has been plagued by medical problems since 2008 may have to wait at least another two months for an ACC review to be completed.

Fears are growing that a missing Christchurch tramper could have been swept away in a swollen West Coast river about two weeks ago.

The much vaunted Great West Coast Whitebait Festival in Christchurch has left the Hokitika organisers $100,000 out of pocket.