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Castlerock Dairies abuse

Yet another pathetic fine from the courts that hasn’t addressed the severity of the offending, compared to other cruelty cases highlighted in The Southland Times. Those responsible should be in jail and banned from owning or having anything to do with animals for many years

The sheer number of cows involved is mind boggling, 193 euthanised and 761 requiring treatment is the result of abuse over a long period of time, to claim there was no malicious intent is a joke.

It states Graham McCullough had been involved in farming for a long time, if this is true there is no excuse for what he allowed to happen.

I guess the lawyers were able to convince the judge they were something they were not to be able to get away with such a light sentence.

MPI state this was the worst case of abuse they have put before the court and the sentence is appropriate, why then did MPI allow these so called farmers to get off so lightly?

Imagine MPI prosecuting a commercial fishermen for a serious offence (I know this is comparing apples with oranges but it is still MPI doing the prosecuting) they would be requesting forfeiture to the Crown of the boat and fishing gear plus a triple figure fine.

It is not inshore fishing boats that require cameras. Peter Dolamore Te Anau

China trip

In a Southland Times article (August 9) Councillor Soper said there was no reason Stuff (news media) should know that she was paying for her own travel (in regards to the sister city visit in China).

The article implies that this is because of her opposition to such overseas trips being council junkets.

While we applaud her position, she is meeting the delegation in China as she is already travelling to China on a private trip.

That then begs the question: if she had not been going on a private trip, would she have accepted a council paid trip to China ? Nobby Clark Spokesperson Invercargill Ratepayers Advocacy Group Cr Lesley Soper replied: For clarity, I have chosen to pay my own airfares to China, and am travelling separately due to my university commitments.

However, I am a full member of the Invercargill City delegation visiting our Chinese City City Suqian.

I am a member of the Invercargill City Council delegation visiting our Chinese Sister City Suqian.

I have never implied that Sister City relationship-building trips are ‘junkets’, though some trips for other purposes may have been in the past.

Invercargill, and all of us, are part of a global world and global market.

I support Sister City relationships as an essential part of being citizens of the world and preparing ourselves for tourism, education, cultural exchange and economic opportunities for the future.

China is the emerging global powerhouse of our world, and already New Zealand’s largest trading partner.

New Zealand sits in the Asia Pacific region, with strong historic, cultural, and respect links with China, which our Sister City relationship with Suqian can only build on.

China will be our long-term friend, but we need to meet that relationship halfway by respectful and appropriate contact and trustbuilding, of which political-level reciprocal visits is an important part.

For an insight into my family’s long-term relationship with China, I invite your correspondence to read ‘Live & Let Live: the history of the Soper family‘, 2nd edition, 2011; particularly Chapters 7 (Gold - Nokomai and the Nevis) and pp.189 and 206-212.

Considering that the Asian community makes up around 11 per cent of New Zealand’s population, the Sopers are by no means the only Southland family with historic links with China.

Same sheet

The article written by Carla Forbes (August 19) is little more than a copy of National Party propaganda, and there is no doubt that the mouth from the south and Forbes are both singing from the same song sheet.

Sadly both are out of tune with New Zealand society. Gary McEwan Wyndham