SEATING DISPUTE BODES ILL FOR TRIBUNAL HEARING

The urgent hearing before the Waitangi Tribunal in Lower Hutt got off to a slow start, and the portents for agreement were poor.

Once inside, several female elders were seen arguing with Crown lawyers about who should sit in the front row.

"We were here first," may not have been the wisest opening submission by the Crown briefs.

"But we're speaking second," was the retort.

"But we're the Crown," an exasperated lawyer fired back.

"So?"

The lawyers won in the end, taking their chance when the kuia ducked out for a cuppa.

PROTEST SIMMERING OVER BIG RISE IN COFFEE PRICE

Is there a boycott brewing in the halls of power?

There is nothing more Wellington than coffee and Parliament, but the price of a flat white has climbed 7.5 per cent at the Beehive eatery Copperfields, causing rumblings among the caffeinerati who point out the price of coffee and milk is falling.

The price rises at Parliament's "staff cafe" and at the Beanhive takeaway outlet were unveiled yesterday.

A long black is now $4 and a flat white $4.30  among the highest prices around, and above those at specialist coffee outlets neighbouring Parliament.

TREASURY CAUTIOUSLY POSITIVE ON GROWTH

Treasury remains positive about the prospects of rising annual growth this year, as the earthquake rebuild picks up pace.

In its latest briefing to ministers, it said current annual average growth of 1.7 per cent was close to Budget 2012's 1.6 per cent pick.

The surprise 1.1 per cent growth in the March quarter was welcome relief.

But it warned that while the outlook in Europe was broadly consistent with Budget assumptions, "stresses are increasing and the stakes are becoming larger as the crisis spreads to the bigger economies of Spain and Italy".

PM REVEALS SUPPORT FOR TENNIS BATTLER MURRAY

It seems Prime Minister John Key has got a thing for the underdog.

As six-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer beat Andy Murray yesterday to claim his seventh title, Mr Key admitted he'd been rooting for the Scotsman.

"I wanted Andy Murray to win. I didn't want Federer to win. He's already won six before this one, I mean Andy Murray ... this is his lifetime dream shattered," he said on TVNZ's Breakfast show.

Mr Key joked that he would have to do better when he played a nine-hole golf round for charity, which was auctioned off recently.

- © Fairfax NZ News