Letters: Rachel Stewart, Māori signage and cost of dental care

A reader is impressed by Rachel Stewart's courageous columns. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Rachel Stewart: woman of courage! (Opinion, January 23.)
It does take courage to speak of the tough, scary things happening on the planet and among us people: ie climate change and extinction.

In the face of your courage and the current desperate need for truth speaking about these matters, I overlook the arrogance in your last column, look forward to your next one and will be part of real discussions that involve reason, listening and action.

Mary Rose
Greerton

Cost of dentistry

I lived on the Kapiti Coast for many years. During all that time I visited the dentist every six months for a check-up, clean and polish. The last time I used this service, late 2015, the charge was $80.

Dentists in Waihi and surrounding areas are, in my view, too posh to clean and polish – they only check. You have to see a hygienist to get a clean and polish.

I am told this is a better system. The last time I used these two services the cost was $240, three times what I had been paying previously.

Cost is a real barrier to dental health. I now ration my visits – the dentist one year, the hygienist the next. How is that better?

Rosemary Hancock
Waihi

Māori place names

Shame on all our local authorities who are so insistent on Māori names for parks (for example: Phoenix park) libraries, streets and the polytech.

The very least you could do is put the English name up as well. If confusion is what you are trying to achieve you are doing a great job.

The toilets in Bayfair are just as bad, how would any tourist know what "tane" and "hine" meant? Just give us a break.

Māori are 14 per cent of the population and, whether you like it or not, the English language is the universal language. To save on mass confusion have the decency to at least put both languages up.

The Katikati library is the same. You wouldn't know it's a library, in my opinion, no sign just some long winded Māori name. It is amazing how many people have to ask where the library is.

Placing all these signs in just Māori names is, in my opinion, dumb and arrogant. (Abridged)

C Humphreys
Katikati