Justin Lester’s labours
If Justin Lester was not standing for Labour (PM throws Lester under bus, Oct 15) why did Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson mail me a personally addressed letter asking me to cast my vote for him because he was a Labour candidate?
Is the prime minister now distancing herself because, in spite of MP Robertson’s efforts, three of the four local candidates who failed to secure reelection to Wellington City Council were older males standing on a Labour ticket?
As has been pointed out, the last single-term Wellington mayor was the late Ian Lawrence nearly 40 years ago. He was also the last mayor to have been elected on a ticket closely associated with the National Party, the Citizens.
After the demise of mayor Lawrence, National stopped being involved with our local elections. Perhaps, after Wellington’s recent failures to obtain any advantage from the Government, we would be better off in future if we no longer got letters from local MPs asking us to vote for purely political purposes. Michael Gibson, Northland
Money talks in cricket
NZ Cricket has put the almighty dollar ahead of development and promotion of the sport in this country. Television and other media provide positive exposure for any sport and the publicity helps to increase the membership accordingly. Many sports would be extremely grateful if they had the publicity cricket has.
Now that live cricket played in this country will only be available by streaming, it will mean a number of cricket fans will miss out. They will not be able to stream because of cost, poor reception or lack of internet access.
Streaming may be the way of the future but does not take into consideration the many fans and players of the sport who play for pleasure and may not want to be an elite player.
Brian Hearfield, Wadestown
Cancel Cup, help people
Surely people are more important than rugby.
Let’s show respect and support for the people of Japan. Cancel the Rugby World Cup, send all players to help those in areas devastated by Typhoon Hagibis.
Let’s get our priorities right.
Hazel Herbert, Lower Hutt
World Cup losers
After kicking up about the possibility of their game being cancelled and then losing it anyway, will that mean the Scots go home with haggis on their faces?
Don Eddie, Karori
Celebrate Cook’s arrival
In the decades before the Treaty of Waitangi, Cook detractors Arama Rata and Tina Ngata’s female ancestors existed in a climate of insecurity where rape, abduction, slavery and murder following battles were common. Because of Cook’s voyages to New Zealand and the subsequent development of the country, Rata and Ngata, and other Maori, have access to the cash economy, modern housing, hospitals, schools, universities, retail outlets, transport and technology.
Referring to the Endeavour as a ‘‘death ship’’ (Dominion Post, October 14) is not backed up with evidence. Unfortunately, misunderstandings over ownership and theft in what Cook called Poverty Bay led to the deaths of some Ma¯ ori, but in other places where he landed good relations were established. The British high commissioner has issued an expression of regret for the deaths at Tu¯ ranganuia-Kiwa, so why not something similar from the descendants of the Ma¯ ori who murdered and ate 10 men serving under Tobias Furneaux in 1773? On the television programme Coast they were unapologetic, and described what happened to Furneaux’s men as ‘‘cultural process’’.
Cook’s arrival in New Zealand is unquestionably one of the most important events in our history. His charting of our shores, and the reports and illustrations from his three voyages set in train the modern development of the nation. He is a hero who should be celebrated with pride. Roger Childs, Raumati Beach
Forest farming the answer
Sea of pines to balance carbon budget (Oct 12) was good but not complete.
1. To maximise greenhouse gas offsets the IPCC says you need production forestry – growing a forest, harvesting wood to substitute for fossil fuels and then growing the forest again. Some land is too unstable to risk harvesting, but where practical, forests need to be harvested and replaced.
2. Forestry is a very good export earner. With only a third the area of sheep and beef farming, 1.7 hectares versus 5.2 million ha, forestry consistently exports two-thirds the value of meat and wool.
3. A well-managed forest can be more labour intensive than sheep and beef farming, providing jobs along with better water quality and biodiversity habitat than farming. It is also much more profitable in my experience.
We need a system rewarding wellmanaged production forestry with controls to avoid the risk of blanket forestry being milked for its carbon and then abandoned.
A good example of all the best features is the emerging wood treatment technology of ‘‘Accoya’’ wood. This involves acetylation of wood partly developed at Scion, but not adopted in NZ. The wood is durable enough for canal liners and stable/strong enough for motorway bridges.
And the best wood in the world for the process – pruned NZ radiata pine.
Denis Hocking, Bulls
Let’s back Boris, Brexit
While us Kiwis smugly sit by and await Brexit at the end of this month, we forget that it does affect us a lot.
Jeremy Corbyn and her majesty’s loyal opposition have had many opportunities to debate a negotiated withdrawal from the European Union and have turned them all down. He (Corbyn) has been playing politics while Britain burns. The opposition don’t want an election because they know they will lose.
The British people voted for a withdrawal, end of story.
All of this critically affects us because of the enormous trading possibilities and also our whole system is based on British law and commerce.
Let’s make some noise in support of Boris Johnson and wish him and his Government well for a non-negotiated Brexit. He and they need our support.
J. W. Stephen, Otaki
Wrong? Yes. Abuse? No
I refer to Trish McBride’s letter (Oct 14) on Joy Cowley’s comments.
I am troubled by the indiscriminate use of the word ‘‘abuse’’ to describe relationships between celibate clergy and apparently consenting women. In such cases there is an infringement of the oath of celibacy; there is also from the Catholic point of view the wrongness of extramarital sexual relationships, which applies to both parties. These, however, do not amount to ‘‘abuse’’. If it did, then every consenting extramarital adult sexual relationship involving power differentials would have to be deemed to be abusive.
Besides the power differences that McBride names, based on differences of age, gender, role, and status, there are also the less quantifiable and seductive forms of power that some women may exert through flirtatious behaviour such as that which Cowley has described.
In the area of sexuality, this is not an inconsiderable sort of power.
The responsibility for keeping relationships safe does not lie with just one side. Adult Catholic women of whatever age also have an equal responsibility to ensure that they keep an appropriate distance and demeanour between themselves and their celibate clergy. Adult women who plead diminished responsibility in consenting relationships on account of their gender or age or status harm female strides in, and aspirations towards, equality as well as their own status as moral agents. Doreen D’Cruz, Palmerston North