Trout farms will create black market Greatness

It is unbelievable that this Government would even consider trout farming in New Zealand.

It is amajor recreational sport for all ages and normally brings many overseas anglers to catch and release.

Not only will we be open to more disease, in our already struggling waterways, but a black market and poaching on lakes and rivers will blossom.

At present it is illegal to sell trout, which keeps the greedy and unscrupulous at bay.

Our existing bodies, set up to administer trout in New Zealand, are underfunded and ineffective.

Chris Goom, Harewood

Trout enforcement

Another downside of allowing trout farming (Nov 23) is that enforcement becomes very difficult.

At present, if you are selling a trout, it is awild trout and it is illegal.

As soon as trout farming is allowed, wild trout can enter the market and there is great difficulty showing that it is awild trout.

William Hughes-Games, Waipara

Wearing masks

I amresponding to the letter ‘‘Masked nanny state’’, written by Hans Andersen (Nov 24).

Of course we should all wear masks throughout New Zealand to protect all of us. How can anyone be sure that someone from the North Island has not boarded a plane in the South Island with a connecting flight? Or by driving here or travelling by bus or train and using the ferry then deciding to take a plane?

Someone could be caring for someone in isolation in the South Island, as has happened before, and catch Covid. I do not see this as a nanny state but away of protecting us and trying to stop this dreadful virus from spreading.

I amthankful to live in this country that has done so well and made good decisions with Covid so far.

J A Steer, Bryndwr

How stupid?

One of your correspondents (Nov 24) asks ‘‘how stupid can you be?’’ in a letter objecting to the advice of Jacinda Ardern and her medical experts to wear face

masks while travelling in the South Island. Your correspondent assures us that the virus doesn’t exist here. As the

Covid-19 virus is 10,000 times smaller than a grain of salt, I suspect that scientists, medical advisors and PM Ardern will be less sure of its non-existence in Te Wai Pounamu.

Given the consequences of stupidity in Trump-inspired mask resisters in the USA, namely 12 million cases, more than

250,000 tragic deaths, a lot more with ongoing health problems, hospitals and morgues overwhelmed and thousands lining up for food parcels, I think the answer to your correspondent’s question should be obvious – about that stupid. Rod Lewis, Sumner

Freedom camping

Banning freedom camping, banning the vans, and penalising the travellers who drive them is an overreaction, and certainly not a solution to the freedom camping issue.

Not only that, but it unfairly targets young backpackers, many of whom are hard-working, environmentally conscious, and contribute much-needed support to our service industries.

Instead of penalising young travellers in vans, NZ Tourism should tweak the paradigm in its marketing, quit its obsession with numbers through the gate, and restore some sort of control and balance in visitor arrivals.

Thereby the doors will still be open to the young, the restless, and the adventurous, even in their vans while, at the same time, more higher-value tourists would be encouraged to visit us.

These travellers would have little interest in freedom camping, and would hopefully contribute serious money to New Zealand’s economy.

Ian Badger, Akaroa

Worrying precedent

Levi Painter has been valorised in the media for drawing attention to C1 cafe owner Sam Crofskey’s alleged bullying in the workplace.

The problem is, no formal complaint appears to have been lodged; nor has anything been proved. This is aworrying precedent, and, if Iwas an employer, I’d be concerned.

The law exists to protect us all, and going onto social media in the first instance, and then to the media, is not the most effective way to resolve problems in the workplace.

In the wake of Ms Painter’s post, exemployees of C1 have come out with complaints against Sam Crofskey. What this highlights in a lack of understanding around employee rights and the correct way of dealing with a complaint, and in a timely fashion.

Awareness of rights and correct procedures around raising and resolving a complaint is the better route to follow; and it has to be said that, whenever employees keep silent, they run the risk of making it easier for bad employers to continue with their behaviour, and to go on to affect more people.

This is not meant as victim-shaming, but is a plea to aggrieved employees to seek education on employee rights and complaint resolution for a better result for all concerned.

Raymond Shepherd, Strowan

Energy needs

Thank you so much for the article (Nov 14) by John McCrone about the ideas of Professor Susan Krumdieck.

The articlemade very clear the limitations of many Green technologies, and the temptation to government and big businesses to ‘‘greenwash’’ development.

Prof Krumdieck exhorts us to cut down our energy use and scale it back to the way we lived (comfortably) in 1955. She makes so much sense. If we do this, New Zealand is well-equipped to provide enough energy for our needs, with its hydro and geothermal resources.

In particular, Prof Krumdieck underlines the vital importance of investing hugely in public transport of all types.

I hope her message is really taken on board by all political parties and local government.

Mary McCammon, New Brighton (Abridged)

Rawlings appreciated

As a Ghanaian in New Zealand, I was heartened to see the feature on President J J Rawlings (Nov 21).

JJ divided opinion. For some, he was a hero who saved the country from the dark ages of corruption in the 1960s and 1970s.

Others disliked him for the ‘house cleaning’ and the austerity programme of the 1980s which left many unemployed and poor.

A Ghanaian proverb,

eda a aponkyerene bewu na yebehunu ne tenten,

means we see the full measure of aman in his death. In that regard, President Rawlings is a stalwart in a region where the norm is for the head of state to amend the constitution, removing term limits, allowing them to rule in perpetuity.

He did not seek any further power after his second term, and he went on to use his influence to work for peace in East Africa. For that, hewill be always appreciated. Cephas Samwini, Prebbleton

In response to correspondents Aitchison and Saunders (p15, Nov 24), the path to human greatness is not led by inveterate naysayers but by those who ‘‘seize Fate by the throat’’.

Lorne Kuehn, Sydenham

Rumble strips

Why have rumble strips on the left hand side of our highways?

They force drivers towards the centre line unnecessarily?

D F Bailey, Belfast