Thank you all for your help

MAILBOX

I just want to say thank you to all the people who attended my mishap on Wednesday, June 27 on the Appleby Bridge ( Nelson Mail, July 3).

First to the police and fire service; then to the ambulance crew for their professional skills in checking me out and Kerry Walker for his assistance to help carry on with the job I set out to do. Also to Sefton at the Upper Moutere Store for the coffee and sausage roll and Caroline at AMI Insurance for taking over the recovery and all other aspects of that side of things.

As our van was a total writeoff, that left us with no way to carry on with our weekly tasks. One call to Bowater Toyota and Tony and his advertising buddy Al had me in a new van by lunchtime. Then to all those calls and texts messages I received from the top of the south – wow, that was truly a humbling experience. Thank you ever so much.

TONY GILLAN NELSON, JULY 3.

The truth about debt

The latest charade in Europe ($100 million bailout) demonstrates the truth contained in The Democracy Sham by Bryan Gould, The Grip of Death, by Michael Rowbotham, and We Hold These Truths by Richard C Cook; to name a few of the books on financial reform, which highlight the problems of debt. The Grip of Death shows how world economies will collapse by debt strangulation without financial reform.

It is almost 20 years since C H Douglas pointed out that you cannot have a democracy without an economic democracy, which we do not have – that is, until the Reserve Bank becomes the issuing agency in our case for all new money (credit), instead of bailing out failed banks or finance companies, we can never claim to live in a democracy. We certainly are slow learners. The majority of the world is on its knees now, through debt burden to banks. Four of the six letters to Mailbox on June 28 were related to debt issues, and all missed the crux of the problem. D L STEELE Nelson, June 29.

Council’s flood obligation

In his letter about flooding, Jim Butler ( Mailbox, June 30) describes the flood of 55 years ago as causing little damage. As Wakatu chairman Paul Morgan pointed out, the future will be different. Sea levels are rising and it is likely this will accelerate. Also, climate change means our region will get wetter. We only have to look at the devastation caused by heavy rains in Golden Bay, Tapawera and Nelson, with hundreds of slips.

A 2006 inspection of the Motueka stopbanks found these to be inadequate to withhold a flood. Wakatu Inc invested millions of dollars in horticulture, which is vital to our region and rightly wants to protect this. When a major flood occurs and the stopbanks fail, it is unrealistic to think that it will only be water that remains. Every big rain brings tonnes of silt off the hills and this will ruin the trees.

I do not think relying on insurance is realistic, either. Tasman District Council has an obligation to protect people’s property. As it is,the council is aware of the situation and, by failing to address it, it could well be liable, but it will all come back to us ratepayers. BORIS LEEGWATER Motueka, July 1.