Letters: Govt right to buy electric vehicle fleet

WHAT a bogan rant from luddite Mike Hosking regarding Government purchase of an electric vehicle fleet. Shame on the Chronicle for publishing that.

The sale of electric cars is increasing exponentially, 10,000 registered on NZ roads as of last September. How many Bentleys and Ferraris registered, Mike?

Considering they are still more expensive than the petrol equivalent, that is traction. The Government is trying to increase the number of non-polluting vehicles on our roads. Even NZTA, on its website, says emissions kill more people in NZ that cancer.

Does Mike not consider all the recent research on the effect on unborn babies and small children, buggies at exhaust fume level, climate emergency? No, he just wants a flash one and assumes everyone else needs a status symbol.

The people willing to buy upfront and then increase the number of secondhand cars are increasing. The number of secondhand electric cars is increasing and so cheap to run, I can't remember the price of petrol.

Around town they are fantastic and the latest models are smoothing range anxiety. Rapid charging points are everywhere now, even one in Whanganui.

ELAINE HAMPTON
Durie Hill

Praise for air ambulance

This is an appreciation of the medical care provided by Whanganui Hospital and the Air Wanganui Ambulance service.

I didn't know Air Wanganui provided an air ambulance service to Wellington Hospital. I'm very glad they do. Heartfelt thanks to both organisations.

CHRISTINE TARRANT
Brunswick

Honour the Treaty

Someone by the name of "Potanga" Neilson has been accused of spreading false accounts of history. So what's new? That sort of thing has been going on for a very long time. We are also informed the Mangapapa lands were sold, not stolen.

The Waitotara lands occupied by my people were also sold. But many of the Maori people living in Waitotara at that time only learned of that "sale" when soldiers turned up to eject them.

So here we have the real falsehoods of history. And the underlying treachery and Treaty breaches that have resulted in the never-ending war of words since 1840. Tikanga Maori was defined by Te Whiti of Parihaka fame as "God's Law" and a very important part of that Treaty was destroyed with the stroke of a pen and the imposition of individual title on Maori lands.

Consequently, any Tom, Dick or Rangi could sell Maori land. And many did. Even though they had no right to do so.

Tikanga Maori was a protection mechanism for all Maori resources. And there was no such thing as absentee landlords.

Of course this was all done in the name of "progress" but progress for whom? The effect on Maori was quite the contrary. And still is, to this very day.

So get down off your high horses, those Pakeha who are not deaf but will not hear. There have been many Treaty settlements but few of them will stand the test of time.

That Treaty can never be settled. It can only be honoured. When it is, we may or may not become one people. But we are all in the same waka, this global village. And the great melting pot is gaining momentum. Would it not be possible for us all to be one in all our diversity?

Stop moaning and pay the bill.

POTONGA NEILSON
Castlecliff

Riverbank work of art

There is a fascinating engineering work of art coming together on the banks of the Whanganui. It warrants respectful attention. Much speculation about the method of spanning the river. When is the big day?

Also, a visit to the sideways boat theme being constructed near Putiki is rewarding, especially conversation with the on-site clerk of works.

BERNARD J CORKERY
Whanganui

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