To all those who espouse the doctrine of reconciliation or compromise, I remind them of the following descriptions:
interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see; prejudiced men, who will not see;
and a certain set of moderate men, who think better of the dominant authority than it deserves.
And this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this continent than all the other three.

- Thomas Paine
 

The way to stop financial "joyriding" is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.

- Woodrow Wilson
 

It isn't my intent to say anything libellous.  It is my belief that what is contained herein is factual.  If any reader has knowledge to the contrary, please contact me.

A Tale of a Bad Investment - Briefly: together we've invested millions of dollars in a forestry trust - some of us even invested at the direction of the NZ government to qualify ourselves to immigrate; however, our funds - millions of dollars - evaporated leaving us nothing...

>	Introduction - details the origins of Flat Rock Forests Trust and the mission of Unitholders: "Why, to attempt to get some or all of our investment back..."

How and Why We Came to Immigrate, to Invest in a Forestry Trust, and to Start, Then Liquidate, a Business - "...we felt Wellington was the place we most wanted to live.  We lodged an immigration application with the local immigration specialist recommended by the Chamber of Commerce..."

Sources of Information - The function of a record in the Companies Office is to transmit information to subsequent others who seek it.  It is the means by which a discovery can be authenticated in the long run.  Readers of the record can pick holes in the flow of events or test for consistency by telling whether diverse documents can be welded into an integral, coherent whole.  It should not be a place where questions of authenticity arise easily...

List of Forests - The Manawatu Forests: Aokautere, Shannon, Pukehou, Medlicott, Manuka; Wilanda Downs; Matauri Mara; Lake Alice; Kai Iwi; Otaika; Bideford/Rangitumau; Turret/Hunua/Paparimu; Flat Rock: Arbor: Francis Creek, Lawrence; Rocky River.  Click photo at right to bypass flash front-end.

Flat Rock Forests Location Map - this brochure was produced by the receivers to entice still other investors to buy the forests we had thought belonged to us...

Does Money Really Grow on Trees? - Well, it certainly seemed that way in the beginning...

Is It Structural? - The cracks appeared to extend a long way down...

What Happened to the Forests? - Other than the fact that they no longer belong to unitholders?...

Excerpt from the New Zealand Forestry Information Memorandum - which shows why our investment should have been a good one...

Pine Log Prices For 20-7-98 - If our forests had been harvested and sold at these prices, what might we have earned?...

News Article Archive - all the news I could find that mentioned Flat Rock...

Hatch's Certainty Principle - The world is a network of relationships: the once absolute is now subject to change, renegotiation, endless reconstruction of new out of old, endless waves and repercussions intersecting.  Complete truth isn't graspable as one point of view, but the total of several distinct views.

For ideas on where we go from here, check out The Future page.

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