Let nature work

Scuttle that dream

Taranaki Daily News editor Ryan Evans has put the wind up me with his dream of New Plymouth hosting the world’s biggest regatta at Port Taranaki should Auckland and Team New Zealand opt out (TDN, June 28). What oracle possessed him to float this idea?

For heaven’s sake don’t anyone cast that dream at Mayor Neil Holdom because next thing we’ll be hearing grandiose plans such as converting the power house chimney into luxury high rise apartments for visiting yachting moguls. Constructing a world class marina for super yachts and turning the old Cool Store building in Moturoa into a Marine Service facility.

We’ll also have the airport terminal upgrade fast tracked, redesigned to look like a sailboat, and the runway extended to take private Lear Jets and large aircraft bringing in hordes of yachting fans. Gosh the Air Espresso cafe would need a few extra coffee cups wouldn’t they.

I’m predicting a committee made up of five councillors and five members of the yachting fraternity would be formed to ‘‘generate items and make recommendations’’ on issues of a nautical nature. This committee would be able to authorise marine development grants greater than $10,000 without having to go through the full council. Setting up such a committee would undoubtedly result in ‘‘yachtracist’’ emails from places outside the district such as Wellington, Nelson and Tauranga who may feel a vested interest in hosting a regatta.

I’m sure Councillor John McLeod (Long John Silver) would mutiny against any moves by NPDC in this direction but in case he wouldn’t, let’s scuttle Ryan’s dream right here and now. Brian Turner New Plymouth

Iwi leaders

The establishment of New Plymouth District Council’s Te Huinga Taumatua committee was both democratic and in line with local government regulations, contrary to William Simpson’s letter (TDN, June 27). To describe the Iwi leaders as ‘‘self-appointed’’ is just wrong. The five iwi leaders on the committee are all elected representatives, voted onto their own iwi governance organisations, by the people.

The Council has statutory obligations under the Local Government Act 2002 to enable Maori to participate in the decision-making process and supported the creation of the committee at the Council meeting on Monday 26 June.

This governance partnership is about the future of our district and, fittingly, has been adopted at Puanga, the Maori New Year and a time of new beginnings.

We look forward to having senior iwi leaders around the table and working closely together. Cr Gordon Brown New Plymouth We live in the area around Lepperton that is now widely sprayed with the fungicide Agpro Jupiter in the vain attempt to deal with myrtle rust. As we all know myrtle rust has arrived here by wind, so there is little chance of eradicating it in the long term, even if we spray it to death in Lepperton and Waitara. Are we going to stop the wind to prevent it from happening again? MPI director Geoff Gwynn admitted himself : ‘‘There’s been no successful attempts internationally to eradicate this type of fungal disease’’. This begs the question, who is actually benefiting from the widespread spraying of Agpro Jupiter? Certainly not the children of Lepperton and Waitara, who will be exposed to chemicals for months on end. Certainly not the bees or beekeepers, who have been warned to keep the hives closed during and after spraying. Certainly not the tax payer, who has to foot the bill. A more sensible approach would be to allow the disease to spread and let trees build up their own resistance and immunity. This is called evolution. It is a completely natural process, no chemicals needed and it is also free. The strongest will survive, and we will end up with stronger, healthier trees. This has actually been proven true in Australia. In a matter of six years trees managed to build up immunity. To quote Russell Fransham: ‘‘While myrtle rust hammered Iconic Australian trees when it first landed, in recent years the trees fought back. There is little evidence of it now. Lots of fatalities, lots of damage, but the resistant plants are now in charge’’. Again, this begs the question, who is the real beneficiary of the widespread spraying of Agpro Jupiter? Irene Glennie Lepperton