Time to see packaging that reflects the product

WE all have to eat and, sadly, most of us use the local supermarket.

To that end, I believe I have a very simple solution to ensure the weekly or daily shop is a lot cheaper.

I read somewhere that supermarkets make close to a 52% markup on what they sell. When I see the prices of some fruit, vegetables and the like, the poor producer must be doing it hard sometimes.

I believe there is a certain level of duplicity in that supermarkets sell items in packaging that does not allow the buyer to see how much of a product they are actually buying.

Examples are cereal, coffee, preprepared pasta, a bag of lollies; how about a bag of nuts or fruit pieces or that pack of biscuits or crackers that have an unnecessary and polluting plastic partition sleeve that seems more plastic than product.

What I propose is that any items sold in supermarkets be housed in packages that are the same size as the contents they house.

I would love to see a commitment to only putting items on shelves that are exactly the same size of the contents. That way, the producers of the packaging will use less product, which should make the items cheaper. Likewise, as supermarkets find they have more space available, it gives them the opportunity to put more items on their shelves.

Graham Bulman

Roslyn

[Abridged]

Book review

I WOULD like to thank Jim Sullivan for his understanding review of The Nine Lives of Kitty K (Weekend Mix, 3.4.21). He grasped where I was coming from better than most people.

It is a forgotten period of New Zealand history. The Land Wars in the north had settled down as had the excitement of the gold rushes in the South.

It must have been hard for the newspapers to stir up anything so newsworthy! The worst depression this country has had would not have made for great headlines.

I really enjoyed being caught on the hop, asking God to save the King rather than the Queen.

But Middlemarch, where did that come from? I offered to buy an icecream for any of my friends who could find it in the book. None could, so I’m offering to buy Jim a new red pencil if he can show me where it is.

Some people have queried Miller’s Flat, and that’s fair enough. In Kitty’s day, there was a Miller’s Flat in the Wakatipu Basin. In 1910 or so, its name was changed to Wharehuanui Valley. There still exists a memorial stone commemorating the closure of the Miller’s Flat school.

Another debatable point: how long is a generation? In working out the timelines of whakapapa, a generation is reckoned at 25 years. Kitty was in her heyday in the 1890s and I think that must be reckoned as more than one generation ago!

I was born in 1929 and have greatgrandchildren, and I am prepared to debate the point. I am usually prepared to debate anything with anybody, and I thank Jim Sullivan for giving me the opportunity.

I would like to repeat that I think that he wrote a brilliant review and look forward to posting him his red pencil. Margaret Mills

Waiheke Island

Temple column

AN excellent piece by Philip Temple (Opinion, 8.4.21) on the misrepresentation of colonial history. Good to see it dealt with from a more balanced, reasonable position acknowledging the past, but looking to the future.

The grievance industry and the victim mentality are a sham and will in time be consigned to history.

Chris Menzies

Maryhill .....................................

BIBLE READING: He has a city prepared for them. — Hebrews 11.16.