Guns and mental health
In response to Vincent West’s letter “Strict gun laws must remain” (NZ Herald, April 16) I would like to mention that Switzerland, the country I grew up in, has the most guns per capita in the world. Every able-bodied man is enlisted in the army, has to serve compulsory military training and has to keep his army rifle at home to be at the front ready for combat within hours of the order being given. Mass shootings, however, are unheard of.
If such tragedies keep on happening here when they do not seem to occur in another country, in spite of the opportunity being there, then the question must be - why? I can’t answer that question, but I have worked in mental health back in Switzerland and I am a sheep farmer here. Switzerland has an excellent health system, mental health included, and a person is not as alone there as they are here when they need help. A little bit of counselling just doesn’t cut it in some cases.
Better mental healthcare and ongoing monitoring by qualified professionals could - and quite likely would - prevent more tragedies than taking guns of genuine people who need them for pest control.
Rita Shaw, Ōtorohanga.
Mall security
Is it time shopping malls beef up their security? A few suggestions could be: walk-through security checks like at airports for concealed weapons; an undercover armed police officer walking the mall during shopping hours; birdseye security cameras, like at casinos, monitoring people’s demeanour; security guards wearing bullet/stab-proof vests so they can approach offenders.
This is not an easy fix, especially when lone wolves are involved, but few places seem to be safe these days.
Glenn Forsyth, Taupō.
Top marks for students
I refer to David Seymour’s opinion piece (NZ Herald, April 10) in which he criticised school students for taking time off to protest about climate change, saying they needed to stay in school to eventually advance more technological solutions.
He couldn’t be more wrong. Climate change is here now, costing us billions, and technological solutions are also here now, waiting to be implemented.
What is not here now is resolve on the part of the boomer generation to lead society into accepting the need for immediate action in the face of overwhelming evidence that we need to do so. It seems the easiest path for politicians to fan the populist view that we need to do nothing and ride the wave that results.
These students should be in school but instead they, accurately, feel they are having to take action to persuade an irresponsible government to actually do something to implement change rather than just pretend they will do so.
I feel these students should be congratulated rather than criticised.
Jeremy West, Remuera.
Tunnel threat
The biggest threat to road tunnels is liquefaction. In an earthquake, liquefaction weakens the ground beneath the road tunnel, affecting the structural stability of the tunnel. Concrete linings in such tunnels on such occasions develop traverse cracks perpendicular to the tunnel axis due to ground movement caused by such liquefaction.
San Francisco had to abandon all but a few of its proposed underground road tunnels directly due to such liquefaction during earthquakes.
On at least six such occasions in earthquake-prone Wellington, liquefaction made its menacing presence felt, and it should be of prime consideration before going ahead with Simeon Brown’s proposed 4km underground road tunnel.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Kikuyu blight
On a recent trip from Auckland to the Far North, I was shocked to see the increasing dominance of kikuyu grass in the pastures we could see from the road. A parallel and related observation was a distinct lack of livestock.
Kikuyu is an excellent grass for lawns - vigorous and easily grown, drought resistant, it produces a soft, matted surface when regularly mown. It thrives in warmer climates and suffers from frosts that predominate further south.
As a pasture, kikuyu is demanding. Once established, the grass sends out runners (stolons) that put down roots as they spread. These runners tear off when cattle and sheep are grazing.
While the green grass is beneficial, the gnarly, rooted stolons often carry earth with them, and are distasteful. Unless kikuyu is controlled with regular grazing or mulching, the stolons continue to grow, dominating other pastures. They will climb and cover fences, shrubs and anything in their path.
We in the city should also be aware of kikuyu, as it spreads in the now mostly untended city parks that surround our maunga.
Nick Rowe, Greenlane.
