H debate
I read Margi Keys interesting letter about inserting the "H" in Wanganui, but she did not mentioned why the "H" was inserted.
When the last Whanganui District Council wanted to insert the "H" in Wanganui, I looked for some information. What was found is that on May 23 and May 31, 1840, the Treaty document was signed "Chief of Wanganui".
In the Treaty there are no words spelt with the "H" - the word for "land is wenua".
Also, talking to the Waitaha paramount chief I was told that Wanganui is a Waitaha name. Wa is energy, nga is many, nui is large, and the name Waitaha means "beside the waters, who lived close to the sea, lakes, or rivers".
There is a pa just outside of Wanganui called Waitaha Pa; also Wanganui in the South Island is spelt without the "H".
Margi also mentioned Aotearoa. New Zealand has never been called Aotearoa.
IAN BROUGHAM
Tawhero
Back up claims
Mandy Donne-Lee's scatter-gun argument against assisted dying is a grab-bag of the fundamentalist Christian right's favourite objections to living in the 21st century.
She seems to claim the 1977 legalisation of abortion as some sort of quod erat demonstrandum re her slippery-slope prognostication for assisted dying being "an inevitable thin end of the wedge leading to much less selective application in future". Yet that law remains exactly as it was 40 years ago with its ridiculous requirement to line the deep pockets of two "consultants" while pregnant women race against the clock to prove giving birth would be a danger to their life, physical or mental health.
It reflects the conformist New Zealand society of the 1970s when the birth control pill was in its infancy, working mothers pretty rare, and consensual homosexual acts were a jailing offence for nine years after the abortion law change.
In other words, lives of even non-believers were tightly controlled by the falling numbers of church-goers. They still are as our leaders pass the buck on Easter Trading.
I won't dignify with a response the remaining items on her list that have led us to this Sodom/Gomorrah-like state, but I do demand that she produce links or citations for peer reviewed studies to support her claim that event B will necessarily (or probably) follow on from event A in any of them. She should also share with Chronicle readers the name of the particular religious sect from which she derives her beliefs regarding these issues, which affect every member of NZ society, not just the rapidly declining numbers of her fellow Christians.
CAROL WEBB
Whanganui
Details please
A letter for the Whanganui Labour candidate:
Any idea on what expansion to the public service will be required to administer Labour's election promises. Head count, departments and cost, please.
BERNARD CORKERY
Whanganui
Compensation
The recent ruling that Teina Pora's compensation award can be inflation-adjusted raises another issue.
Should we also adjust the compensation awarded to take into account the cost of housing and feeding him for 21 years?
I'm not singling out Teina but we seem to incarcerate a lot of "innocent" people and subsequently end up paying quite a bit of compensation.
Those recipients seem to receive a lot more than they would have earned if they had been working outside, as well as not having to pay rent, board or mortgage repayments, plus usual day to day living expenses.
DOUG PRICE
Castlecliff
