Rebuild hopes

It is always sad to see popular places destroyed, and the recent storm did plenty of that.

The Boat Shed Cafe´ on Rocks Road has as we see, suffered very severe damage and may be beyond repair. If this is the case I firmly believe it is time for it to go and not be re built. It may have looked Ok in years past but now it is sitting there all alone and terribly out of place. One would hope that the storm has also altered thoughts of putting a cantilevered walking platform on the old sea wall, as it would suffer the same fate eventually. I think that we may be to the point of having to consider a new sea wall out a little further and built stronger. With a little thought and careful planning there would be plenty of room for recreation between the new wall and the highway.

Planners should also be looking seriously at getting a rail link from the Port to the M.D.F. and Ravensdown. What about a below sea level rail line in a tunnel that people can walk on. praises Nick Smith’s article of January 31.

It further reveals that as a junior MPhe crossed the floor over the Employment Contracts Act ‘‘to provide for a graduated minimum wage for workers under 20’’, some of whom may then have rewarded him with their votes.

But what a pity he didn’t oppose the whole National Government bill that led to the possibly most regressive legislation in our recent parliamentary democracy (which he now so strongly affirms). If he had done so, many people might have viewed him differently over the years since.