Letters to the editor: Out-of-town homeless occupy Rotorua motels

A reader says they are annoyed about the surge of homeless people coming to Rotorua. Photo / File

I agree with Watchdog Security chief Brett Wilson regarding out-of-town homeless people (News, November 25).

I know I'm not the only resident annoyed that we have had a surge of out-of-town homeless people converging on our city and living in nice motels.

It's costing not only taxpayers but also ratepayers huge amounts and we certainly didn't have this many before lockdown.

Lockdown is over, hopefully, so isn't it time for the out-of-towners to head back to their own towns and cities?

I thought they were only supposed to stay in motels or hotels for a certain number of weeks but they seem to be permanent residents.

Viv Radley
Rotorua

Prison labour force

In reference to Phil Hickling's letter regarding tapping into the labour force within the prison walls (November 18), I would like to report that it has been done before.

In the 1930s, my father was the manager on a government farm at Mapui, in the King Country.

On the property was a large barrack-type building which housed several reformable inmates, from nearby Waikeria prison, who were the workers on the farm.

The scheme seemed to work well and as I remember the men appeared happy to be there.

I don't know when the scheme ended, possibly with the onset of World War II.

Another source of labour for the fruit and vegetable picking would surely be a few of the nearly 370,000 working-age people receiving a main benefit (as at the end of September 2020.)

In the days of the swaggies when there were no benefits, those guys did anything to earn a few bob or a meal.

I wonder if Mickey Savage's welfare nation has become a too well-fed nation.

Gwyneth Jones
Tauranga

Time to pick seniors

Here's a proposition for farmers and crop growers desperate for help.

If you seriously are desperate for help are you willing to be a little patient, maybe pay fewer dollars and collect pensioners every day?

Pensioners, are you up for a few hours of work picking fruit etc, and putting a few more pennies in the pension pot?

We will need nearby toilets (or bushes!) and a place to lean our crutches, but we don't do drugs (other than those prescribed), we don't drink that much and give honest toil.

Do we have grounds for conversation?

Jim Adams
Rotorua

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