Get it off your chest: Letters to the editor

Public sector must lead

You say (Editorial, July 4) Andrew Little's plan to pay "the living wage" to public sector workers is not a good idea, as it would attract "the best workers ... at the expense of productive industries".

Are these so-called productive industries doing well at the expense of people's lives?

A living wage that allows workers to thrive will benefit the whole community. It's up to the public sector to lead the way.

ANGELA STRATTON, Durie Hill

Selling assets

In response to my recent guest editorial, former Whanganui district councillor Stephen Palmer (Letters, July 4) argued that asset sales are measures that have been tried before, without success. He is correct.

But what Mr Palmer conveniently fails to inform readers is that they were unsuccessful because there was no political appetite for asset sales because councillors cop too much flak.

Almost every time council staff have recommended an asset be sold, a small, vociferous section of the public protests and councillors back down, fearing being thrown out at the next election.

While public consultation is important, there does come a time when councillors need to look at the bigger picture - huge debt.

For Mr Palmer to suggest there is nothing to sell is incredulous. I would humbly point out to him that the Whanganui District Council has almost $116 million worth of "Operational Land & Buildings" and over $23 million worth of "Investment Property" on its register.

If only a small proportion of unneeded or under-utilised property could be sold, this would make a huge dent in our ever-increasing debt and the ever-increasing rates the good people of Whanganui continue to have to pay.

Mr Palmer talks about innovation which is, indeed, an important part of the equation and council must do more in this area.

I commend our present council staff for the innovation they have shown and for which they have received prestigious awards.

I commend our district councillors for their efforts and their teamwork, but they also need to be strong and make bold decisions that will reduce debt and ensure a brighter future for Whanganui.

The status quo is simply not good enough - dawdling along the facile path of least resistance may make life much easier for councillors but it will get us nowhere.

STEVE BARON, Whanganui

Last straw

Danny Keenan's contention that "colonial terms should be put in the bin" (Chronicle, June 29) and Potonga Neilson's assertion that "history is ever-evolving" (Chronicle, June 30) have just broken this camel's back.

In the 1860s, the words "fanaticism" and "barbarism" were appropriately applied to the Moutoa Gardens monument in terms of descriptive word usage at the time.

These terms are not specific to past colonial activities and, indeed, can be used today to describe fanatics and those guilty of barbaric acts.

As for Potonga, he is correct to a degree. History is being updated with specific archaeological discoveries, for example. However, the meaning and/or intent of words remains the same regardless of the passage of time.

Unfortunately, some people in this country have earned a very nice living by managing to convince organisations such as the Waitangi Tribunal and successive governments that 19th century wordage can be bent and twisted by assigning 21st century usage to their advantage.

I am savvy enough to know that inevitably Maori will have their way regardless of the feelings of non-Maori on almost every issue, but please let's leave Moutoa Gardens historical monument alone.

There is no need for additional information to be applied to the monument to placate a few.

Just as the Whanganui River is being used overseas as an example of how to turn a waterway into a bloke or blokess, explaining or altering descriptive text on monuments could become the next worldwide business phenomenon.
- Edited

D PARTNER, Eastown

The eyes have it

In his letter "Time to read up", Russ Hay challenged my statement that suggested that the geological time available would not allow "the evolution of a fully functioning eye from a light sensitive proto eye patch, with the only available mechanism being random chance".

He then assured us that Sean Carroll's The Making of the Fittest can "replace wondering with factual answers".

Carroll states: "Given an eye equipped with visual pigments, one or a few changes in pigment proteins alter their properties and help organisms adapt to different light environments". There is no explanation about how the "eye equipped with visual pigments" evolved in the first place.

David Berlinski commented on an article by Nilsson and Susanne Pelger called "A pessimistic estimate of the time required for an eye to evolve". Berlinski states: "The article contained ... calculations that if we assume this, and we assume that, we'll get an eye in 400,000 generations. There was absolutely nothing by the way of supporting evidence or documentation."

This means that the "factual answers" in Carroll's book are very limited.

Mr Hay states that evolution is not "driven by random chance alone", and cites "three major factors - natural selection, time and chance - along with continuing mutations". He then says that quoting a 1985 book was misleading because Alan Hayward "wrote the book ... before most modern genetics deriving from the discovery and continuing research on DNA".

Natural selection involves random chance.

Different species arise when different populations of a species become reproductively isolated from each other, because they are separated by geographical or behavioural barriers. These are chance events, as are mutations themselves, unless you believe in intelligent design.

All the genetic mechanisms cited by Mr Hay were discovered before 1983, before Hayward's book.

Mr Hay asserts that Hayward was not qualified to write about evolution because he was a physicist. Hayward was a trained scientist, well acquainted with the scientific method - he was thus able to look objectively at the field of evolution.

Can Mr Hay do this, I wonder?

DAVID GASH, Whanganui

Team effort

Sleep well tonight - you deserve it after what you have put into bringing the America's Cup back to New Zealand and, as a proud Kiwi, I thank you all.

What a parade - 80,000 people, so we are soooo proud of you all.

If there is any chance of bringing the Auld Mug into our area, it would be great.

Looking forward to seeing you all in Wellington on Tuesday.

GARY 'GAZZA' STEWART, Foxton Beach