Cruise ship smoke has reader steaming
The Viking Orion cruise ship arrived into Port Chalmers at 9am Saturday trailing a plume of filthy smoke behind it, just the latest in the 94 ships scheduled to pass through Dunedin.
It sat in port running its generators and continuing to discharge pollution into the atmosphere, up wind of the many rural properties whose occupants rely on collecting rain water for their personal consumption. If my car did the same, it would fail its WoF and not be allowed to drive on the road.
In theory new New Zealand Marine Protection regulations should prevent this, but it appears not. Why is it that of all the commercial ships that enter Otago Harbour, it is only the cruise ships which leave this obvious trail of pollution?
The industry is worth an estimated $70 million-$100 million per year to the Otago regional economy. This sounds a lot until you consider that Viking Cruises in just the three months to Sept 30, 2024 had revenue of $1.6 billion and adjusted gross margin of $1b. Extrapolate that over the year and over all the cruise ship companies and those are huge numbers.
Expecting more regard from this industry for our air quality and environment does not seem an unreasonable request.
Compare and contrast
Taranaki Smith (Letters ODT 30.11.24) compares tribal land tenure with New Zealand legal land tenure, preferring the tribal approach because of stewardship, environmental protection and sense of belonging. No mention of the extinction of the moa, Haast eagle native geese and ducks, nor introduced rat and dog in this stewardship. No mention of land, family baches passed down from generation to generation or trusts that own land let alone the national collective owning nearly a third of New Zealand via Doc, no mention of chiefs selling land.
There seems to be a notion that tribes had a proto Ghandi-esque existence. Māori are humans just like all people in all cultures and just like all cultures do bad things to the environment and each other. We’re all the same. And given time, as is the case globally, any post-Stone-Age culture becomes more sophisticated as does the approach to land tenure as the population and technology increases.
Help the aged
So, this government may review the way the Department of Conservation runs its business? I wonder if Winston Peters at least would like to put in a word for retired trampers who love the wild places but just can’t make it under their own steam.
I know the country is saddled with the yoke of private equity so Kiwis can’t get out in to their parks or afford tourist facilities but the government could at least improve the presentation of the conservation estate so as to be accessible to young and old alike.
What about the gold card brigade who have done their duty to the nation and wish to interact on a less physical level? Why are there no trails built for such people in the accessible margins of Fiordland National Park?
Refighting the musket wars via the letters page
I wish to address letters from two of your regular contributors. Bernice Armstrong once-again lamented Dunedin’s George St revamp in Saturday’s paper (Letters ODT 7.12.24), stating that no-one had "ruined" the original George St in Edinburgh. Actually, several of Edinburgh’s streets are becoming pedestrianised, including George St, to make it safer and more accessible.
In the same letters column, Russell Garbutt made two factual errors. Firstly, it has been established that Māori did not cede sovereignty when signing Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Secondly, the Musket Wars had largely abated by the signing of Te Tiriti. This nonsensical belief that Māori were somehow "saved" by the signing of Te Tiriti is 1950s school journal hogwash.
However, I do wonder if Mr Garbutt’s concerns around columnist transparency also applies to ex-Act New Zealand MPs Hilary Calvert and Gerry Eckhoff?
The man himself
The commentary from John Cooney (Opinion ODT 4.12.24) seems to have us all believe that a written Māori language was taught and understood by all the Māori signatories to the Treaty within a 25-year time span. I assume John believes literacy classes were set up by missionaries and they also taught basic common law during the time the Musket Wars were fought between Māori pre-Treaty. Were land transfer laws along with the implications of sovereignty included in these teachings? Hardly, as is John’s belief in a partnership between Māori and the Crown.
We all need to pause to ask ourselves are we better off under the way New Zealand has developed since 1840 or should we return to the " idyllic" ways of pre-1840?
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
