Letters to the editor

JUST a tip for those who, like Steve Barkman, intend to stock up when the next crisis strikes. By all means stock up (you should be anyway in case of an earthquake), just don't do it all in a rush when the crisis happens. The easiest, and least damaging to your bank balance, is to buy just a little extra every week when you do your normal shop. As they near the end of their shelf life, move them to your pantry and replenish your stock on your next trip. Then, when the proverbial hits the fan, you are sorted. Chris Handley

Maori Hill

NOT withstanding a timely and uplifting opinion piece on trust (ODT, 31.3.20); the prolonged concealment of the Covid19 virus from both the 11 million citizens of Wuhan and the world at large, my trust in China's Communist Government remains at a healthy zero.

Dave Crooks

St Clair

THE article on the 1918 pandemic (ODT, 25.3.20) has a major error of fact.

It was not Canon Bryan King, of St Peter’s Caversham, who was one of the foremost organisers of Dunedin’s flu pandemic response (he died in 1915) but his son, the Rev Vincent Bryan King, one of New Zealand’s foremost social worker priests of the interwar generation.

I recently gave a lecture on him to last year’s Religious History conference entitled ‘‘Dunedin’s Flu Tsar and JuJitsu Parson.’’

It is was an offshoot of my PhD history of St Peter’s Caversham with the Otago history department.

Rev Hugh Bowron

St Peter’s Caversham

I WOULD like to take a moment to reassure Trevor Hewson (letters, 28.3.20) that not one word of my original letter was aimed at motels.

In another lifetime, I built a motel in the Bay of Plenty and operated it for 17 years, selling it, by coincidence, in the same year and month in which Mr Hewson took over his motel. That 17 years gave me a working knowledge of the pressures and pitfalls that can add interest to a motel owner's life.

My original letter was aimed, rather, at the activity and destination operators whose prices are aimed, with pinpoint accuracy, at tourists, most of whom are making their trip of a lifetime and expect to pay premium prices: the same premium prices that locals are also expected to pay.

My suggestion was that, to maintain some sort of cashflow while tourist numbers are at rock bottom, those operators might wish to consider lowering prices to attract some local business.

However, while my original letter was in transit from keyboard to print, we went into lockdown and the whole exercise became academic.

To Mr Hewson, I offer my understanding and sympathies for the strain his business is now under and I hope that it will end well for him.

B. Thompson

Weston

REMEMBER the old adage about learning from the lessons of the past so as not to repeat mistakes?

May I suggest that the ‘‘slash and burn’’ brigade reflect on the dismal failure of austerity measures introduced in response to the Global Financial Crisis.

Such policies only made the hole deeper. Let’s not go there again.

David BensonPope

Andersons Bay

I CHALLENGE your statement that ‘‘Anne Guenole, in her 70s, has been identified as the first Covid19 related death in this country’’ (ODT, 30.3.20). I cannot tell who had the first such death but say that it is most unlikely it was Mrs Guenole. The medical Officer of Health has recently explained that the country's public hospitals have been undertaking medical operations at about 50% of capacity to make way for possible needed Covid19 admissions, when the normal is around 100%. These scheduled operations which had been deferred or cancelled will be very considerable in terms of numbers. Most would have been to increase the quality of life but many I am sure are in part or totally to reduce the likelihood of imminent death. I claim that there will have been deaths of people who would have been successfully operated upon were it not for Covid19 that occurred before Mrs Guenole died and such deaths are also correctly described as ‘‘Covid19 related’’.

Allan Golden

Pine Hill

SHANE Jones’ solution to the Covid19 economic recession on News Hub staggers me. Does he think he is Michael J Fox in 1985, the slapstick sciencefiction movie Back To The Future with his suggestions of building and completing more motorways and slicing our environmental regulations in order to facilitate business profit?

If he were serious about solving

New Zealand’s problems, he would be focusing on the infrastructure that we need for a low carbon future — electric rail and public transportation and maybe promoting a New Zealand shipping corporation.

He should be advocating a low carbon infrastructure such as wind generators, wave power generators and solar power and new housing is sustainable and durable. This is the employment for the future. We must go forwards, not backwards.

Marvin Hubbard

Normanby

On the Sunday programme, (29.3.20), Dr Robert Webster (originally from Balclutha), said we had left it too late and not listened to science regarding the ‘‘Bird Virus’’, nearly 15 years ago which would lead to a pandemic. When the interviewer asked Dr Webster, ‘‘Why wasn’t it acted on then?’’ He replied, ‘‘Money.’’

Now the world is ruing the day, with the result that New Zealand like many other countries has gone into Alert Level 4, which is unprecedented in the history of our country. I, along with most New Zealanders, applaud the early stance taken by our Government and the people in the health sector and beyond for their ongoing resilience during this time. We are indeed in uncertain times and the phrase echoed loudly and clearly, ‘‘We are in this together’’, is so apt.

In saying this, I implore all parliamentarians to heed that phrase and vote for this year’s general elections to be deferred until next year. If, and only when, this pandemic is under control, can a great deal of healing take place after the alert notices are lifted. People are suffering now, from bereavements, uncertainty, job losses, financial hardships and our economy has been brutalised, to name some. I believe we don’t need electioneering at this most vulnerable time.

Rev Wayne Healey

Oamaru

DAVID Seymour on Parliament TV, (31.3.20): Chiming in with; ‘‘why haven’t the daily newspapers been shut down?’’

One could suggest this comment is clearly facile, coming from a ‘‘lone’’ Parliamentarian desperately trying to create selfawareness through noise.

Yes, a classic example of ‘‘SeeMore’’ being ‘‘SeeLess’’.

Tony Crick Andersons Bay

ANNA Campbell (ODT, 1.4.20) considers the Covid19 crisis provides New Zealand with a timely reminder of our reliance on imported foods and that it is ‘‘time to reassess our entire food chains’’.

We have become good at growing cows and exporting dairy products but this would seem to be at the expense of other food items that are major contributors to the diet of New Zealanders. She mentions we are not producing much in the way of vegetables, beans or manufactured/ processed goods. This may well be true but she has omitted something which is of great importance: the fact that we are to a considerable extent reliant on wheat imports from Australia. The majority of bread sold in New Zealand is made from Australian grown wheat.

There has been considerable media attention focusing on the current unavailability of flour in supermarkets and it has been suggested that this has been a consequence of inability to meet production, packaging and distribution requirements associated with the current demand. These are pertinent issues, given that national survey data show that breads are the principal source of energy in the New Zealand diet (11% of energy coming from bread, 7% from grains and pasta and a further 5% from items which include bread such as sandwiches and burgers). Clearly the contribution of the humble wheat grain to the total calorie intake of New Zealanders is very important, about threequarters of our bread is made from wheat sourced from Australia. Can we therefore be certain that in times of national emergency, such as the present, that supply will be guaranteed? Until the mid 20th century New Zealand was largely selfsufficient in the production of the grain which is so central to our nation's diet. Despite repeated warnings, successive governments appear not to have adequately considered this and other aspects of national food security and sustainability of the food supply. We need to know now and into the future that our food supply both homegrown and imported is guaranteed. The Government needs to be able to reassure us that all new Zealanders will be food secure.

Jim Mann and Winsome Parnell

Waverley

IF Yan Campbell (letters, 4.4.20) is 70, recently returned from overseas and supposedly selfisolating he should not be out of the house. If Yan is ‘‘worried that I (he) might be spreading this virus’’ he should be in his house, in his bubble, so there is no chance at all that he may spread the virus.

Noreen Munro

St Kilda

As all public toilets have been closed, why doesn’t the Dunedin City

Council, and all other councils nationwide that have the ‘‘Autoloo’’ stainless steel, self cleaning toilets, reopen some of them for the health, safety and convenience of truckers?

These facilities selfflush on exiting, and go through a complete cubicle washdown as often as necessary. They could be programmed to do this thorough cleanse after every use, eliminating any chances of virus transmission.

The councils all have disaster funds which would pay for the extra detergent, disinfectant and hot water. A set close to main thoroughfares should be accessible to big rigs. The Transport Federation could advise on locations and numbers needed, depending on truck traffic volume.

N Bartrum

Oamaru

THE March edition of the FYI — Your DCC news does not contain one single reference to the Covid19 situation. I wonder what planet the editor, Graham McKerracher, and his staff live on?

Bill Cubitt

Dunedin

[Dunedin City Council Communications and Marketing Manager, Graham McKerracher, replies:

Reports of Covid19 in New Zealand started being reported towards the end of February 2020, at which time the March edition of FYI had already gone to print and was being delivered into Dunedin letterboxes. At that point, there was very little Covid19related public information. As the April edition of FYI was about to be printed, the country very quickly entered into Level 4 of the Covid19 response (the lockdown) and DCC made the decision that it would be inappropriate to publish FYI, as any Covid19related information was changing rapidly and would quickly become outofdate. Since the lockdown DCC has worked hard to keep people informed of DCC services and facilities and how they have been impacted by the national lockdown in what is a very quicklychanging situation. We look forward to being able to publish FYI again after the lockdown.

Rabbit problems

THE letters from Margaret Hall requesting answers from politicians as to the huge rabbit problem are entirely justified.

The responses have been predicable and wholly inadequate.

Eugenie Sage is privileged to hold the position of Minister of Conservation yet refuses to acknowledge the role science can play in this important area.

She believes the debate around the science of climate change is settled yet refuses to even consider the role of science around the 30yearold CRISPR technology.

The facility of Invermay surely awaits scientific trials to show this technique is as close to a ‘‘silver bullet’’ as we are likely to find.

The Minister’s closed mind is why illegal introductions of organisms to control rabbits will occur — again. Gerrard Eckhoff

Alexandra

EUGENIE Sage has not grasped the seriousness of the rabbit plague. Fine to try and control rabbits on ‘‘hot spots on conservation land’’ but what about the ongoing destruction of our agricultural land?

If farmers had a gun and four hours a day to spare, maybe.

We have plenty of rabbits hopping around suburban Wanaka, eating our veges and doing what rabbits do best.

As Marie Antoinette may have said, ‘‘let them eat rabbit’’.

Ross Carrick

Wanaka

Flu jabs

BEING a nonhoarder, but observing the days and nights are ‘‘fair drawing in’’ (as we say in Scotland) and being over 65, I thought it was time for my flu jab.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health assured us all that there is enough flu vaccine for all and sundry in the country and that there is no problem with supply.

When I phoned my doctor I was told that they have run out and the waiting time will be two to three weeks.

This is not the fault of the surgery by any means, but my idea of a plentiful supply (readily available) and the ministry’s (two to threeweek wait) seems to be a good example of polar opposites, and a reality differential between government departments and the people they serve.

Iain Mitchell

Kaikorai

YOU are sending the wrong message to your readers with your picture of a nurse giving flu jabs (ODT, 2.4.20) without a mask or gloves and the boy hunters and the Waverley group standing closely together.

I find it cringeworthy.

Susan Easterbrook

St Kilda

Forestry

SO coal mining has been declared an essential industry. Fine. It keeps West Coasters in jobs.

But down south many boilers had been converted to using biomass — wood chip fuel. Saturday's Resilience supplement (ODT, 27.3.20) published progress on this issue and about time, mainly itemising education facilities — local schools, Otago University.

Woodchip suppliers include sawmills, stationary enterprises and portable chippers. Surely they must be considered essential operations. Niagara Sawmill near Invercargill supplies woodchips to many schools and other institutions in both provinces.

The article was timely, but my own research goes back 15 years, this incudes a sixmonth study for Holcim’s proposed cement plant at Weston. The main problem was volume and consistent supply. The heat energy required by industries this size are a lot higher than institutions such as schools, in fact, between 20 and 40 megawatts. Most such institutions require between one and seven megawatts.

Fonterra has stated a preference for using wood energy but stalled at the volume and processing required. Some plants have resorted to cofiring (mixing chip with coal to cut payments under the Emissions Trading Scheme).

In my submission to the carbon tax amendment Bill, I suggested that instead of exporting lowvalue bottom grade logs it would be sensible to subsidise these logs for onshore processing.

Creating jobs through chipping mills.

Currently the proof is in the pudding, as logs pile up on the wharves of our major ports. Go figure! Jim Childerstone, Forest Services Hampden

Power of attorney

I SEE (ODT, 6.4.20) that richlister Andrew Barnes is calling for changes around making a will. Perhaps at the same time he could also look at enduring powers of attorney? In New Zealand these can be done only through a lawyer or a trust company, at a significant cost.

My sister lives in Queensland and I, in the last few months, organised for her a will and EPOA at no cost. Form 2 under the Powers of Attorney Act 1988 is a 17page document. This can be down loaded from the internet. The first seven pages are instructions and can be completed before a number of people including a Justice of the Peace.

Cyril Gilfedder

Opoho

Predator free NZ

AS Alan Smith (letters, 01.04.20) rightfully states ‘‘a predatorfree 2050’’ is simply a dream.Sixtyfive years ago the undersigned was an possum trapper in Haldane (part of the Catlins) at the tender age of 11 and a walk along traplines to the accompaniment of native birds flying around with a wonderful cacophony of sound was, and remains, the greatest thrill of one’s life.

Sadly, the same can no longer be experienced and one can only tell one’s grandchildren and try to explain the reasons. Four years ago, on a trip to the Cathedral Caves, on the walk through the native bush which is necessary, I was astounded at the lack of sound and physical presence of bird life (not one either going or returning).

On the drive to Owaka, an Asian couple with two young children were noticed looking perplexedly at a sign proclaiming the fact poison was present, which the vast majority of Aotearoa accepts as the norm.

Bewilderment aptly describes the anomalies which exist surrounding the laying of poisons on the one hand, and the drive to plant millions of beech trees which suggest a ‘‘feed ’em, kill ’em’’ scenario and the cycle is neverending. Returning to Alan Smith's suggestion of eating the abundance of wild life, the answer is no thanks, always remembering the Asian experience in recent history which raises the question — where may another virus be hidden? Bernard Barrett

Milton