Asmall effort and such fun Impoverished view

Why do some New Zealanders just pull down the blinds when theMa¯ori language is used?

It is such a fun exercise to break down the components of radio and TV introductions and translate, and after a whilewe can roll them off ourselves, just as we do with once-strange foreign words like pizza and force majeure, or oncestrange Ma¯ori words like wha¯nau and iwi.

Correspondents like Reg Fowler (Letters, Sept 17) conveniently ignore that earlier generations of Ma¯ori were punished for speaking their own language so it is not surprising that many are not fluent today.

It only takes a small effort to embrace and use aword or phrase a day to take part in the revival of a language that is unique to Aotearoa/New Zealand and defines our growing sense of nationhood. Marg Pearce, Whitby

‘Barns’ work for me

Iwas rather disappointed by Dave Armstrong’s column ( Brecht can’t help with nuts and bolts problems, Sept 15).

I amnot a skilled tradesman but on occasion have to get involved with various household maintenance or repair jobs. In addition, my wife is an avid gardener and from time to time we need advice on problems we are facing.

Our experience in this area has been exemplary at our local ‘‘giant hardware barn’’, Hastings’ Mitre 10 Mega store, where the staff are very knowledgeable, polite and always ready to help.

Accepting that Dave did not know the difference between a screw and a bolt, his problemwas probably in expecting the front counter staff to be as knowledgeable as ‘‘shop floor staff’’.

This is rather like the receptionist at the medical centre being able to offer a prognosis on whatever problem you were presenting with. Thesemembers of staff have their own skill set and should therefore refer you to the relevant expert.

I too remember the days of the small local hardware which probably had one counter and a small number of shelves, displaying their small inventory.

Today’s ‘‘giant hardware barns’’ stock many thousands of items which negates the necessity of visiting several outlets. A definite improvement inmy opinion.

Bill Smith, Havelock North

Campaigns and speeches

We the voting public do not believe, and if we did we would be utterly astounded, that our politicians on all sides of the political aisle implicitly believe in the unvarnished truth of their campaign speeches.

Moreover, why are election campaigns necessary? Those denizens inclined to exercise their democratic rights have through their own built-in prejudices already decided both what party vote they will cast andwhat uptick they will give to their leading candidate.

We all know that voting apathy is rampant, so polling on October 17 will attract an underwhelming majority of disaffected voters.

Brian Collins, Petone

New Zealanders may find comfort that Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies remains in the National Library, but the policy that insists on ‘‘rehoming’’ 625,000 ‘‘overseas publications’’ suggests that the librarians in charge of ‘‘rehoming’’ have not read Popper.

An ‘‘open society’’ does not exclude ideas or people simply because they were conceived ‘‘overseas’’ and are thereby excluded as ‘‘foreign’’.

The National Library has just listed an additional 70,000 books for ‘‘rehoming’’ including 11,000 history books, 27,000 on technology, 13,000 about art and recreation, 11,000 on literature, and 11,000 ‘‘unclassified’’ covering many topics.

The books which apparently do not tell ‘‘NZ stories’’ concern rugby (who knew rugby was created outside New Zealand?), and concern people who do not meet the National Library’s definition of New Zealanders including Indians, South Africans, Brits, Scots, Americans, Chinese, Malaysians, and Japanese.

TennesseeWilliams, Keats, Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt, Kipling, Rodin, and Eliot, like Allen Ginsberg, join Jack Kerouac ‘‘on the road’’ to an unknown destination.

About 120,000 books are already gone, some inaccessible to New Zealanders, outside the institutions which ‘‘rehomed’’ them. The Lions and Rotary sell the unchosen in October.

Shouldwe accept this impoverished view of New Zealanders’ cultural and intellectual heritage?

Dolores Janiewski, Highbury