Letters: National to blame for housing crisis

The National Party is to blame for the housing crisis, a reader says.

In my view, the National Party is embarrassing itself with its comments about housing. During the nine years of National Government, the population increased by 500,000 so we needed 200,000 new houses, but only 150,000 new houses were built (Statistics NZ figures).

That was 50,000 new houses short of what was needed, 50,000 homeless families as a result, and National still has no realistic plan to do any better.

Peter Dey
Welcome Bay

Sovereignty

I have noticed a new word in recent writings about the Treaty of Waitangi. That is "sovereignty" in relation to Maori assets.

The Treaty is clear, in my view, that the sovereignty of New Zealand was vested to the British Crown, that Maori could continue ownership of their possessions and that any sale of land must be through the Crown. Further, that Maori became British subjects.

Many books and articles have been written on the Treaty over the years with a number of different views and emphases.

There can only be one sovereignty, and that is to the British Crown, coupled with the general understanding that we are one people.

There has been recent talk about renewing the teaching of New Zealand history in schools. We were taught it in the 1950s, and I am not sure what has happened since. I have no problem with whatever current teaching being upgraded but it will be a shambles if it is not full and comprehensive.

There's a fair chance it will end up being very divisive, which is OK, provided we also look forward as a nation. (Abridged)

Bill Capamagian

Tauranga

Sea levels

Matt Welsh (Letters, February 16) has just revised the predicted sea level rise to the end of this century of about 1 metre down to 100mm.

Good news, except that he has done so by assuming the rate of 1.8mm/yr from the past century to be linear. Unfortunately for us all, the rate has already increased fourfold since the 1870-1924 period, to 3.1mm/yr during 1993-2012, and looks set to increase ever more rapidly into the future.

The reason?

Sea level rise due to melting alpine and polar ice sheets has now overtaken the rise due to thermal expansion of seawater. The collapse of parts of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets is under way and the rate of sea level rise is predicted to increase, rapidly. The exact degree depends largely on how quickly global greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced. CO2 has now reached the level it last stood at about three million years ago when around one-quarter of the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet collapsed, raising sea levels about 20 metres higher than today's.

Losing much of our ice sheets will be inevitable if we don't reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

Peter Otway

Omokoroa

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