First call on government revenues? Surely a Labour-led Government has promised to put the people first.
But that won't happen until our politicians opt for the legal option of credit-funding from our sovereign Reserve Bank. It can be done; can't be denied.
HEATHER MARION SMITH, Gisborne
Mike's hot air
Mike Hosking's opinion column (May 16) starts off with "it was only a matter of time ... " before he gets into rubbishing the suggestion to reduce balloon use.
A little research would have shown the emphasis was on helium balloons, rubber or Mylar, which fly with the wind and potentially end up in the sea.
In fact, the Stuff article I found showed pictures of parts of a balloon along with a plastic spoon that had been removed from a giant petrel found near Whanganui.
Poor Mike has not got his head around the problems that single-use plastic bags create for wildlife and the environment and how many sea creatures ingest them and die. Surely he hasn't been in such a bubble (undoubtedly plastic) that he hasn't seen images of seabird remains surrounding the remnants of the plastic that killed them.
Mike: "So what the zealots are after are symbols - the things that we relate to". Damn right. I would rather be called a zealot than have my head in the sand.
His ignorance shows up in his comments about "carbon credits, carbon syncs [sic]". He does not understand about carbon credits or the international market for carbon, which has long been criticised for being a system open to abuse.
I see Mike went off to cover the royal wedding, which would be a great opportunity to understand what a carbon sink is. His return flight to Britain will create 3.9 tonnes of CO2, which Air New Zealand calculates using their carbon offset scheme will cost $111.90. It is not much extra and will plant quite a few trees.
The environmental movement, particularly the Greens, have long advocated a basic tax on carbon, which would be monitored at source (oil companies, for example) and would be an incentive to cut usage.
It is plain to see Mike Hosking is out of "sync" with the rest of us .
JOHN MILNES, Aramoho
Judge scrutiny
In a recent edition, I was amused to see an article that identified that a lawyer had been let off a charge of criticising a judge.
Aside from fully agreeing with her comments, the arrogance and pomposity of the Lawyers Standards Committee left me a little disgusted.
A quoted statement said: " ... but that these comments must not cross a line that could cause the public to lose confidence in the judiciary."
I would ask the committee if they thought the judge's comments were appropriate. More often than not it is judges who both undermine public confidence in the judiciary and bring the court into disrepute.
Or do they consider judges should be untouchable, not subject to public scrutiny nor be accountable?
If that is their view perhaps they need to be reminded we live in a democracy.
MURRAY SHAW, Bastia Hill
Date error
Obviously even newspapers have bad days.
I was looking for Monday, May 14, Chronicle to re-read an article.
I found Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and all of last week's, but no Monday, May 14. I did, however, find one dated Monday, April 14, under the Wanganui Chronicle banner on the front page. I thought that was funny as I had recycled April's papers.
I decided to check and, sure enough, the rest of the pages were all dated Monday, May 14. April 14 was actually a Saturday.
Did anyone else notice this error?
DOUG PRICE, Castlecliff
■Editor's note: Well spotted Doug, and our apologies - due a momentary lapse in concentration, the Chronicle editorial team were sucked up into a time warp.
Minerals key
We are so very lucky in Wanganui to have access to raw milk - in support of G R Scown's letter (Chronicle; May 16).
Also from the same gentleman - "Mental illness" (July 27, 2017), lauding treatment with minerals, mainly zinc.
With processed food kept to a minimum, and practitioner prescribed minerals used, we would all be well on the way to health and happiness.
RAEWYN DRINKWATER, Whanganui
Better way
Terry O'Connor reckons there was no Maori nation. Some say this is because Maori had no form of central government.
I say there was no need for such an expensive and bureaucratic system - all that has given us is a duplicate of 19th century England with all of the inequities.
All the so-called "Treaty settlement" has done for my iwi is turn the real iwi - that is, all of the hapu - into the poor relations of the governance body. And, worse still, deemed that hapu shall forever be objects of charity.
This is contrary to what settlements should be about. The Waitangi Tribunal recommended that it was the hapu who suffered the loss and that the hapu should be compensated.
Those pokokohua in the Office of Treaty Settlements and the other pokokohua who signed that settlement on my behalf had no idea what my iwi is all about.
I say that an iwi is every individual who can whakapapa to the tribal territory, and that all us descendants of Maori can find connections to many tribes. But through governance entities, we are kept in place, "clinging to the petticoats of the Pakeha".
We could still obey the instructions of Kingi Tawhio - "Pupuhi e te hau e ua e te ua kia mau ki to mana maaor e." (Though the wind may blow and the rain may fall uphold your mana Maori).
How do we do that? Dump that governance entity and return to the real world.
POTONGA NEILSON, Castlecliff
Natural chain
I hope animal activist Sandra Kyle doesn't feed MEAT to her two dogs and two cats - always remembering that cats are obligate carnivores.
Does she understand that to feed dogs and cats, other animals have to be killed?
SUE BEARDSLEE, Aramoho
Cite your sources
Would Alida van der Velde (Chronicle letters; May 17) cite her source for saying "72 per cent of New Zealanders want a choice in the way we die."
This is a little like saying parliamentary submissions would strongly suggest she is incorrect.
F R HALPIN, Gonville
