Horticultural hazard
Foot and mouth is a very serious, highly infectious, incurable, viral disease that affects cloven-hooved animals. Sheep, cattle, pigs, deer, and goats.
Presently there is a serious outbreak in Bali, where hundreds of New Zealanders travel each year, and where livestock can roam around free. With the virus within minuscule
animal droppings on the street, humans can unknowingly pick up the infection on their footwear, and clothing. It can then very easily be bought back to this country.
Few people, except farmers, seem to understand the seriousness of this potential disaster. The Government should consider immediately banning any travel between Bali and New Zealand. Anyone returning from now on should also be vetted thoroughly by quarantine staff, discarding footwear or being cleaned with virus-destroying chemicals.
This is one of the most important potential catastrophes in NZ's history. It must be acted upon immediately.
Dr Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.
Here's an example
Rod Lyons (NZ Herald, July 19) writes that he cannot recall a major project in New Zealand over the past 20 years which has been completed on time or within budget.
Can I refer him to the duplication of the Mangere Bridge and widening of State Highway 20 from 2009 to 2011? This project was completed on time and within a multimillion-dollar budget. It won many local and international awards and has made a huge difference to traffic to and from the airport and its environs.
I am proud to have been part of the team that delivered such an excellent outcome.
Peter Brooks, Mairangi Bay.
Tax excised
Fred Jones seems to have assumed (NZ Herald, July 19) that fuel tax is calculated as a percentage of the retail price, like GST. He, therefore, concludes that the 25 cent cut represents only half of the extra tax collected as the retail price has jumped.
However, fuel tax is an excise tax. It is applied as a fixed amount per litre of petrol, similarly to alcohol and tobacco taxes.
Increases in market prices do not cause increases in excise taxes. Of course, GST increases with the market price, but by nowhere near as much as the amounts suggested.
Rowan Hill, Mt Eden.
Continued presence
John Minto's recent attack on Israel (NZ Herald, July 13) lacks foundation.
Archaeology and definitions of indigeneity confirm Jews are tangata whenua to Israel. The Jewish people have had an unbroken presence in the land, including directly prior to the rebirth of Israel. We have expressed through our prayers, teachings and songs a desire to return there since at least the time the Romans expelled the Jews from Jerusalem in 70AD.
Masafer Yetta was declared a military training ground in the early 1980s. There had not been any permanent settlement on this land. Those who had dwelled there tended to be nomadic Bedouin passing through the area. The High Court decision on Masafer Yetta was made due to proof from historical photos that no villages or buildings have been in the area, meaning its residents" arrived after the IDF closed off the area for military use, thereby debunking that its "long-standing residents were evicted from the land".
Rob Berg, president, Zionist Federation of NZ.
Call for support
Thanks are due for publishing John Minto's alert (NZ Herald, July 13) to Israel's aggressive colonisation, which is proceeding largely unseen by most people. What is happening in Masafer Yatta is a possible precursor to wide-scale annexation in the West Bank.
This latest decision by the Israeli Supreme Court enables a population of over 1000 Palestinians to be expelled.
Successive governments here and abroad waffle on about being committed to a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike as if they were equal partners with equivalent power.
Come on Kiwis – lend your support to the Palestinians and let your MP know where you stand.
Janfrie Wakim, Epsom.
