Don’t be surprised, you were warned
With some incredulity one reads the report of Friday’s meeting of the Clutha District Council meeting (ODT 22.1.24) to the effect that a number of councillors expressed "horror” and “disbelief ”at the increase in costs anticipated in funding provision of water services for the immediate and long-term future.
To his credit, Mayor Cadogan has done his very best to increase awareness of the issue and that without significant reform in this area the district would face these alarming increases in rates to provide these essential services. Those who were sidetracked by political personalities, ownership of pipes and co-governance are — at best — disingenuous in feigning shock at the reality now faced, but very well foreshadowed .
Noel O’Malley
Balclutha
Recognising diversity
I am regularly reading in the media that New Zealand is a bicultural country which is in fact quite misleading. I have found it hard to find up-to-date information from Statistics NZ on the population make-up in NZ in 2023, however I did find that in 2018 the figures were as follows — European 70.2%, Asian 15.1 %, Pacific 8.1%, Maori 16.5%, and Middle Eastern-Latin American-and African 1.5%.
Accordingly it is obvious that we are indeed a multicultural nation, so we need to recognise that fact and celebrate this wide diversity of the people who call New Zealand home.
We seem to be a divided nation with some groups not willing to consider other people’s ways or points of view. Confrontation is not the solution but instead we need peaceful dialogue, understanding of others’ views, willing to make changes for the benefit of all, and then, and only then will New Zealand be a place where peace and justice for all people will prevail
Margaret Hall
Wanaka
Let it go
Team Galer is set to save the city’s old houses from destruction to make way for “unsightly apartment blocks" (ODT 26.1.24). Those early grand Dunedin houses were built by capitalistic, labour-exploiting businessmen based on gold from Otago’s hills and gullies.
Perhaps it is time for many of those old fashioned, expensive to maintain, houses to go. The Stuart St heritage tree, if it is to be removed, will have to go through due process. Property developers have the resources, experience and ability to ensure their case is properly understood in a council hearing.
Jim Moffat
Secretary, Protect Private Ownership Of Trees Society
Better living
Much contemporary architecture makes me feel pretty glum; a sentiment apparently shared by many of your correspondents. As someone who likes modernism’s simplicity and clean lines, a lot of current building feels fussy, ill-proportioned and bland.
I also know that my aesthetic sense simply does not matter in the greater scheme of things. The last decades of design have actually happened and new buildings are more cost effective to build than old-house restorations, sustainable, warm, dry, easier to look after, and vastly more comfortable
We need to decide whether we wish to cleave to twee, middle class notions of heritage aesthetics, or if we want Dunedin to develop and become more socially and environmentally sustainable — which is not incompatible with good contemporary design.
Personally, I doubt I’ll like the look of some of what will be built, but they will be so much better to live in.
David Cohen
Kew
Just what are government ministries there for?
THE media have been leaked a confidential document from the Ministry of Justice on the Bill designed to clarify exactly what the Treaty of Waitangi means. Immediately the media support the view by those attending the meeting called by the Maori King that the Treaty doesn’t mean what it actually says, but rather what they think it might have said.
There are unasked questions: who from the Ministry of Justice leaked confidential documents and for what purpose? Are ministries there to enact government policy or are they there to pursue their own internal agendas? Do ministries accept that they have no right to dabble in governance? Do Maori actually want separatism or was this meeting nothing other than what Shane Jones described as a “moan fest”? The last general election delivered to the parties that make up our coalition government a clear mandate for change and clarity. It seems like some people want the opposite, which raises the question as to whether they believe in democracy.
Russell Garbutt
Clyde
An incomplete list
Ewan McDougall (ODT 24.1.24) calls the Treaty of Waitangi "our founding document". This incorrect cliche is being spouted by many including MPs. An incomplete list of our founding documents
includes the 1835 He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni, the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand (North Island tribes only, southern tribes weren't party to it), the Treaty of Waitangi 1840; the 1907 proclamation changing New Zealand from a colony to a Dominion; Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947; NZ Constitution Act 1986; Imperial Laws Application Act 1988; Magna Carta 1297, Petition of Rights 1627, and the Bill of Rights 1688.
Bernard Jennings
Wellington
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