Speeding policy simply unfair revenue-gathering

MAILBOX

Your editorial on the road toll ( Nelson Mail, January 3) is debatable, as are all opinions. New Zealand’s road safety authorities are adept at selective use of studies and statistics to support their strategy as long as it achieves a net gain from fines rather than any costs, as in road improvements or better driver training.

They certainly have never mentioned the, from memory, Sussex police who ceased involvement in camera operations due to their ineffectiveness and the negative effect it had on their relationship with the public.

But to say that if we don’t want fines we shouldn’t speed is simplistic at best. When the police use any excuse to apply a 4kmh tolerance, eg, school zones that operate from 7.30am until 6pm, or deeming the holiday period for the tolerance to extend from the December 22 until January 7, or the entire month of February, it is difficult to attribute any other reason than maximising revenue. Because it is much harder to stay within the 4kmh increment on most speedos than within 10kmh.

Unless the editor thinks that driving at 15-20kmh under the limit to be sure of not getting a ticket and thereby holding up traffic is a good thing. Unfortunately, those who drive for a liv- ing don’t think it’s a good thing at all – they need to travel at reasonable speeds to maximise income in very hard times. LOU GIRARDIN Nelson, January 3.

Sea level rise

I write to correct the public record. David Eccleston in his letter ( Mailbox, January 2) quotes Professor Morner as providing conclusive evidence that sea level is rising by, at most, 5 centimetres to 7.5cm per century.

I have worked on the analyses of long-term sea level change in New Zealand for 25 years. The tide gauge data is unambiguous – sea levels have been rising at an average rate of 18cm a century since 1900.

His number corresponds exactly with the best global estimates of sea level rise over the same time frame. Satellite altimetry data indicate this rate has increased to 3.2 plus or minus 0.4mm a year since 1993, although this result is still open to debate. Detailed references from high quality, peer reviewed papers can be provided to support these statements.

Unfortunately, and contrary to your correspondent’s assertion, Professor Morner is not, and never has been a recognised expert in the analysis of global sea level rise.

The widely recognised experts include B Douglas (Florida International University), P Woodworth (University of Southampton), J Church (CSIRO, Hobart) and A Cazenave (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France).

Your correspondent may find it enlightening to read their work rather than one who has no recognised international scientific credibility in the subject. JOHN HANNAH Stoke, January 3.

Earliest people

The question of whether Maori were the first in New Zealand is not a matter of whether arrivals were Egyptians, Spanish, or people from outer space.

If it happened at all, it is likely to be the Samoans or Tongans.

Their cultures are much older than the Eastern Polynesians ones the Maori claim to come from, and so time alone suggests it was possible.

The way we would know, is if we find Lapita pottery here. These cultures had pottery. The Maori did not.

It is possible some Lapita pottery could be found . . . perhaps in a box in one of the 300 small museums in New Zealand. This is not proof but would raise questions.

Perhaps, some day we will find pottery in a controlled excavation, where we could get a date.

This still would not mean that other Polynesians occupied New Zealand, but were possibly here on a temporary or accidental basis. Slim possibility but still a possibility. ROBERT LESLIE Nelson, December 29.

Mammon ruling

With Christmas behind us, a new year starting and Easter just around the corner, the question all churches, and church leaders, should be asking themselves is why they have departed so far from Christ’s original teaching. The teaching is explicit; you cannot serve God and Mammon.

Christ chased the money-changers from the temple and the clean slate policy existed for a few generations thereafter (debt abolished after seven years).

The omission of the word ‘‘debts’’ from the original Lord’s Prayer changed its whole meaning; ie debts are specific. Sins, the word now used, covers a multitude of things.

Surely, if churches had abided by his teachings, the world would not be in the massive debt situation it is today. Mammon is now ruling.

New Zealand’s total debt is now in excess of $492 billion, an increase of almost $42 billion in the last year.

Today’s world is ruled by money manipulators, not democratic governments. That should be your challenge. D L STEELE Stoke, January 2.