Letters to the editor: Hemo sculpture and te reo

The large flame sculpture Te Ahi Tupua installed on the Hemo roundabout at the southern entrance to Rotorua. Photo / File

I really enjoyed the article on the correct pronunciation of te reo and the stories around place names which are hidden when we mispronounce them (News, September 16).

I applaud Sonny Ngatai on his efforts and attitude toward those of us who so often get it wrong. As he says, it is a difficult process learning to get one's tongue to correctly navigate unfamiliar sounds.

All of this brings me to Te Ahi Tupua and the various attempts to justify the cost, the positioning on a busy roundabout, and a continuance of the proven ability of our council to utilise precious local funding on grandiose visual monuments to its own achievements.

The editorial by Zizi Sparks (Opinion, September 16) comparing it to the Eiffel Tower was timely and made me think that perhaps when the tourists come back we could close that stretch of road for say two days a week and charge for sight-seeing trips from the centre of town, thus recharging council coffers.

Perhaps too, we should look at renaming it Te Hemo because this is easier for my Pākehā tongue and overused rememberer.

The Bible's correct when it says that the poor will always be with us.

John Williams
Ngongotahā

Cultural asset

Your otherwise balanced editorial (Opinion, September 16) concludes with a rhetorical question which tactfully kicks for touch.

Whatever form a sculpture takes, it expresses something flattering about the powers that be and this may explain the objections to it as a vanity project. The flipside is that this sculpture, Te Ahi Tupua, symbolises community solidarity and unites Te Arawa with local and visitors alike.

As for the cost, it is the price we pay for the value of a cultural asset.

Mike Byrne
Rotorua

Thank you

A thank you to InfraCore for its efforts in picking up recycled bins, strewn clean rubbish on the road this morning at the business end of Pukuatua St.

I've never seen such devastation in the early hours of the morning.

C Spitz
Rotorua

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