Letters, February 6: Telecom and Transpower

Picture this – no power and no XT in Auckland at the same time, Aucklanders without lattes, chilled chardonnay and mobile phones. John Banks would declare a civil defence emergency.

Makes you wonder though, how come Telecom is "targeting" everyone south of Taupo and looking after Auckland?

Guess that Transpower will be looking to see how they can do the same.

DAVID G NATZKE

Hamilton

 

Enormous impact

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Judi Clements claims 89 per cent of respondents to a Health Ministry survey agreed they wanted to be as supportive as possible to people with mental illness (Waikato Times, January 27).

Well, who wouldn't be? But Ms Clements confuses "wanting to do something" with "actually doing something".

Those two human traits are, of course, entirely different. But irrespective of whichever it is, the answers beg the question of just why there are so many mentally ill individuals in our communities.

As long ago as 1996 the eminent United States criminologist George Kelling – who devised the successful "broken windows" strategy of crime reduction and control – wrote that the deinstitutionalisation of the mentally ill had an enormous impact on urban life. Adequate numbers of community health centres had not been built to provide care for those now out of institutions and so the ability of the police to manage the disorder such individuals posed decreased. Kelling went on to say the "... deinstitutionalisation of the mentally ill had momentous consequences for our cities. Apart from increasing the level of disorder on streets, (it) undercut the basic authority of the police to intervene and manage this type of disorder ..." (Abridged)

TREVOR W A MORLEY

Wellington

Thin cow controversy

I was bemused by the Waikato Federated Farmers president's suggestion that farmers' assessments of a cow's body condition could be as subjective as farmers' taste in cars (Waikato Times, January 29) and that three different farmers could give three different answers. Times readers who viewed the protruding ribs and vertebrae of the cows photographed by Clive Dalton might likewise come up with three different assessments – emaciated, haggard and undernourished.

No need to come home, Fred Dagg. New Zealand's rustic humour is in good hands.

DAVID FOREMAN

Hamilton

 

AgResearch's morality

In the Waikato Times of January 26, scientists were urged by Andy West to feel morally obliged to use genetic modification to solve the food crisis. Dr West, boss of AgResearch, seems to thinks it is the moral obligation of all scientists to work towards genetic engineering to prevent the world's population going hungry.

Not often does a man of his standing in the community make such a badly chosen statement, particularly since he seems to be trying to influence his fellow scientists.

It is great to be given to understand the present way of farming needs improvement and is not sustainable. And if Dr West's considered research finally has found we cannot sustain an ever-growing population without jumping to GM food, then please make this message clear: start thinking about possible solutions and start looking at the real future.

Scientists do not have to be urged to be morally bound to work towards genetically modified food by the chief executive from one of our supposed top research facilities. I challenge individual scientists to start a debate about their moral function in life as a scientist. (Abridged)

J DE JONG

Paeroa

Physical altercation

As an observer to recent "gang justice" I feel compelled to correct some inaccuracies in the article in the Waikato Times of January 21 and subsequent letters. A man known to me as the president of the Tribal Huks approached a man dressed in a red T-shirt and red cap.

After some heated words punches were thrown. A man, later identified as second in command of the Tribal Huks, became involved in a physical altercation with a second man from Auckland.

Only after the visitors had been punched to the ground, and the realisation passed through those waiting that these were the people responsible for attacking the Delta Hotel in Ngaruawahia, did others then attack.

TERRY PEAUTRAIS

Huntly

 

Valuable material

It takes about 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide, together with about 200 tonnes of water, to produce about 180 tonnes of plant product – food, fibre, wood or other – and to also produce about 190 tonnes of oxygen. This all by courtesy of sunlight and green chlorophyll.

Each day billions of tonnes of plant material are thus produced, removing from the air billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.

This, of course, has to be renewed at the same rate, otherwise we would soon either starve to death or suffocate from lack of oxygen.

Any moves to remove, or reduce, the carbon dioxide from our air will have disastrous consequences, resulting in reduced life on Earth, even possible extinction of all living things..

It should be noted that since carbon dioxide resonates with only a few narrow band-widths of the infra-red radiation coming from Earth, its greenhouse effect is very small indeed. It is a very minor player in this and its climate effects can safely be ignored.

It seems strange that we would never allow the removal of water being available to plants and yet to save the planet we are prepared to condone, even assist, the removal of carbon dioxide from plant life.

JOHN MILLS

Matamata

Maori representation

Peter Elliott (Waikato Times letters, February 1) believes that the main reason why Maori are under-represented in the public sector is that they do not make themselves available.

Why should they bother to stand for office when the chances of getting elected under the first past the post electoral system are loaded against anyone representing a minority?

A change to single transferable votes would rectify this disadvantage. In addition, with better minority representation, eventually the other disadvantages reflected in the current low socio-economic standing of Maori should be rectified as well.

It is pretty difficult to run an effective election campaign without having a good education, a sizeable amount of spare dosh and a strong support network, however decent a society we may be. Let's start with being fair as well.

SABINE PAHL

Hamilton

Poor service

I am writing to complain about the service that I received from a local Four Square in Silverdale, Hamilton, after I phoned them three times to let them know that a container of yeast that I had purchased for baking bread had expired over a week ago.

Normally when I have been in this circumstance people are more than happy to help and are very apologetic about the situation.

Not only was the owner not impressed that I was telling him about the yeast being expired, but he hung up on me three times – I do not live close enough to just walk down the road to take it back.

I didn't realise that there were still people out there who are willing to treat others badly – do they not realise that people talk and bad news gets around?

This is not the first time that I have had problems with this particular store.

Isn't it time that store owners were made to be more accountable for their attitudes and actions and maybe a smile once in a while would go a long way. (Abridged)

MARGARET CLARK

Hamilton

Anil Patel, owner of Silverdale Four Square replies: We were surprised to hear about this customer's experience in our store.

We take pride in offering an excellent standard of customer service to the community and are always happy to work with customers if they have a complaint.

We would like to apologise to this customer and would like to offer a replacement product as well as giving her a refund.

Clan reunion

The Clan Davidson Society is attending the Paeroa Highland Games at the Paeroa Domain on Saturday, February 13. If your name is Davidson, Davison, Dawson, Davis, Davey, Day, Deane or Key including variable spellings, and you would enjoy learning more about your family tree and Scottish ancestry, visit the clan tent for a no-obligation chat and enjoy a great event.

Further information available from S Davidson, 073049356.

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