If the streets are badly paved or the pipes providing water or taking away waste and stormwater are defective, this affects the value of a property and, therefore, its capital gain. No one expects to pay the same insurance bill for a $340,000 property as a $100,000 one.
The property owners in St John's and Springvale are rubbing their hands with glee that both the value of their property has increased and that their rates bill will not be as high as it should be.
If the rating system artificially lowers rates in one suburb it must be wrongly increasing them in another. As it is, the rating system in Whanganui is biased against the ratepayers in the suburbs of Gonville, Castlecliff and Aramaho and this only rubs salt into the wound.
If the assumption in the article is true, the council officers concerned should hang their heads in shame, they have let down their profession.
As for the politicians, one can only assume that the principle that "only the rich people vote so you can stuff it to the poor" holds true.
JAMES R WHITE, Whanganui
Singling out Jews
Regarding the Fred Frederikse article, "Trump seals unholy alliance" (Chronicle, May 30), I was dismayed by the level of yellow journalism when I read this article.
Instead of raising the level of debate on Middle East issues, it debased it by singling out Jews seven times just to identify them.
Doing that does not contribute anything to the article and is redolent of anti-Semitic articles.
As the article says, they are 0.1 per cent of the world population, which is 15 million not 20 million. Jews have just reached, in 2017, their pre-1939 number of 15 million.
"Lesser" countries than the United States, France, Britain, China and India deal in the export of military hardware, such as Sweden, Switzerland, Brazil and Italy.
The biggest buyers of arms are not Middle East countries, but Asian ones, with China and India the largest buyers.
I thought that when people from Europe and other countries emigrated to New Zealand, they left their prejudices behind at the border.
It did not matter which ethnic or religious group you came from - that was the beauty of New Zealand.
But I see that anti-Semitism is alive and, unfortunately, there is no antidote to that.
Fred better stick to geography and travelling.
(Edited)
LEON BENBARUK, Whanganui
Proof of the divine
In reply to Paul Evans' letter entitled "Where's proof?" in which he asks for "empirical proof of divine interference in anything during their lifetime", I have just that.
During the Christmas holidays of 1969 on a hot summer afternoon on my uncle's farm, I and five siblings were climbing in a plantation of gum trees that were closely planted.
I recall being about five metres up a tree and out on a limb away from the main trunk.
On that limb I had been crawling low to keep balance, however, I attempted to stand and get back to the trunk and immediately I started to lose my balance and extended my arms straight out to each side of me. Alas one foot came off the branch and I started to fall to the ground.
An unseen hand "cupped" my lower wrist and assisted me back safely by taking my weight on the falling side, enabling me to restore balance and get back to the safety of the trunk.
My three brothers and two sisters can attest to the veracity of this story.
The cupping of my wrist enabled my guardian angel to seamlessly withdraw his hand when his job was done, which would of been problematic for him if he'd grabbed my hand, as then he would be in the awkward situation of having to extricate his tightly gripped hand from a frightened eight-year-old boy who just would not want to let go in that distant summer.
PS: I am 56 now.
TIM FARRELL, Whanganui
Duty to stand up
Regarding the Derrick Storey letter in the May 22 issue, "Apathy costs", Derrick is right to say it is our duty to stand up and be counted.
The Tiriti o Waitangi was an agreement between Queen Victoria and tangata Maori who were given the "same rights as the people of England" (Article 3).
The Treaty was ratified by the borders of New South Wales being extended to encompass "all of the islands of New Zealand" and Maori became instant British subjects.
As British subjects cannot be in partnership with their monarch, the word "partnership" is absent in the Treaty and racial privilege is non-existent in English law.
The Treaty isn't our founding document. Queen Victoria's Royal Charter of 16-11-1840, ratified on 03-05-1841, the day New Zealand was born, separated us from New South Wales, gave us our first constitution, our own courts to oversee English law only and our own flag.
It contains no racial privilege.
(Edited)
IAN BROUGHAM, Tawhero
Narcissists
Jay Kuten gave a psychiatrist's description of a narcissist, inferring that President Donald Trump was one. I wonder, Jay, if you could look in the mirror and read that description.
He also infers that President Trump is undermining democracy, something I thought the US Democratic Party and its toady press were doing a pretty good job of.
The Democrats are showing all the traits of the dictator - they won't accept the election results; somehow someone - their belief it's the Russians - pinched it.
In a democracy you have to accept the results. You can't keep doing what the Democrats are doing, chasing ghosts.
G R SCOWN, Whanganui
