The level crossing where the reactivated Castlecliff railway crosses Heads Rd on its way towards its old destination, Port Whanganui. Sadly, it's not going to go all the way there.
Castlecliff line
I read with interest the commitment to upgrade the Castlecliff rail line.
However, it was left unclear whether the upgrade would extend past the end of Gilberd St to the Wanganui port.
Currently, the line services the privately owned freight hub at the old Hollander's tannery, but it fails to go the full way to the port which we, the people of Wanganui, own — despite the rail corridor and old lines to the port being still largely intact.
I am sure Mars Petfood and various other Wanganui industries would be delighted if the end of the line was reopened and a secondary freight hub established on port land.
Who knows, it may even give momentum to the development of the port itself.
Some thought would need to be given to the Horizons-built flood bank built across the line at the end of Wharf St, the proposed line of the cycle way to the mole (which appears to be planned on the rail corridor) and also the access to the boat ramp. But I'm sure these minor issues could be overcome.
DAN JACKSON
Durie Hill
End of life choice
To Father Francois Laisney, K A Benfell and V Gregory (Letters; March 29): Has any of you lived — or is living — with sometimes unbearable pain that no drug can eliminate? For years?
I still don't know where V. Gregory and, in an earlier letter, Melinda Bolton, got the knowledge that in Belgium and the Netherlands voluntary euthanasia has become involuntary euthanasia (or murder).
And to Fr Francois Laisney: Not everyone believes in purification of sins through suffering. If people are not suffering, they must be either very pure or just not privileged enough to get purified, in your view.
I believe in a loving higher entity, not a punishing God. I also believe that if we have illness or pain it is our bodies trying to tell us something. And I believe it is kind to give people the choice to ask for help if they can't deal with what they are facing.
It is kind to give them the opportunity to be with loved ones when they die and to say farewell. It all comes down to what we believe in, and that is the end of the discussion.
If you believe that suffering is good for you, you can go through with it. But if you don't believe that, you should have a choice at the end of your life.
ANNE MOHRDIECK
Whanganui
Assisted dying
David Seymour (letters, March 21), let me quote your own bill to you, with regard to who would be eligible for assisted suicide in NZ according to Section 4... a person would be eligible who:
"experiences unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner that he or she considers tolerable; and
(f) has the ability to understand—
(i) the nature of assisted dying; and
(ii) the consequences for him or her of assisted dying."
I think that leaves everything very much open to personal interpretation, as pain is very much subjective. As for psychological impairment, I believe a person facing death, or enduring chronic pain may easily be suffering from depression, do you not agree? So whether or not a person has a "serious psychological condition" is also left up to the discretion of individual doctors.
As for being in an "advanced state of irreversible decline in capability", sir, that is called ageing. Furthermore, you hope to reduce elder abuse with your bill. By killing them? Interesting "remedy".
PS: Lastly, I did not realise one must supply a reference list with their letters to the editor, I apologise, I'm not good with that APA referencing stuff. Yours seems to be missing also.
MELINDA BOLTON
Castlecliff
Opinions
Your correspondent Jean McDavitt suggests that men should not have or share an opinion on the issue of abortion, because they have not had an abortion.
By this logic, I shouldn't have or share an opinion on slavery, since I have never owned a slave.
I wonder if Ms McDavitt will also campaign for men to not have to pay child support for the children whose lives she suggests they should have no say over?
Taking Ms McDavitt's proposal to its logical conclusion, I would suggest that decisions about abortion should only be made by those most directly affected by abortion, the unborn children.
A BENFELL (Mrs)
Gonville
A human issue
Jean McDavitt and Keitha Malcolmson are wrong. Abortion affects men too, whether as male babies with lives in the balance, or as potential fathers who are denied a say in the future of their babies.
The proportion of abortions undertaken following rape is minuscule compared with total numbers but routinely trotted out as an argument to shut down caring people who value human life.
MANDY DONNE-LEE
Aramoho
Massive problem
A couple of things puzzle me, and I was hoping some of our smart young high school students in the Whanganui region could help me out.
We all know the sun is basically a gigantic hydrogen bomb, and some of you have probably done the calculations to show the warmth and light we get from the sun is formed by the fusion reaction of 5000 tonnes of hydrogen every second into 4965 tonnes of helium plus pure electromagnetic energy.
That means the mass of the sun is reduced by 35 tonnes every second, or by 11 billion tonnes every year. So our galaxy must be losing about 1000 quadrillion tonnes of mass every year, because the Hubble space telescope has shown there are about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way.
Other Hubble observations have shown there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the universe. This means the universe must be reducing its mass by more than 100 trillion quadrillion tonnes every year. And since the pull of gravity is proportional to an object's mass, that reduction in the galaxies' mass must be causing a corresponding reduction in their gravitational hold on each other, eh?
So can some of you clever young folk tell me: Is the universe expanding at an increasing rate because the gravitational pull on all its galaxies is being reduced?
Or does most of the electromagnetic energy being radiated from the 10 trillion billion stars in the universe get sucked back into black holes to be converted into (very!) solid matter again?
JOHN ARCHER
Ohakune
Lobby groups
On March 23, Mary Byrne omitted to mention she is the leader of Fluoride Free New Zealand.
This group is affiliated to the US group Fluoride Action Network, which is affiliated to Health Liberty Group.
This group believes in chemtrails, is anti-vaccine, makes millions selling untested natural remedies, and has been taken to court for misleading customers.
The source of fluoride is irrelevant. Once it is in drinking water it has to pass strict safety standards laid down by the World Health Organisation So it is harmless at the levels used in community water fluoridation.
The American Academy of Pediatrics commented that "The Cochrane Review of community water fluoridation had excluded 97 per cent of the evidence.
"Those considering this Cochrane Review or embarking on a further review of water fluoridation should bear this in mind".
Mary mentions the Bashash report done recently in Mexico as evidence against community water fluoridation.
Dr Angeles Mier Martinez, one of the lead researchers in the recent Bashash et al Mexican study, relayed:
1. "As an individual, I am happy to go on the record to say that I continue to support water fluoridation."
2. "If I were pregnant today, I would consume fluoridated water, and that if I lived in Mexico I would limit my salt intake."
3. "I am involved in this research because I am committed to contribute to the science to ensure fluoridation is safe for all."
C PRICE
Palmerston North
A good start
That was a good editorial on parenting (Chronicle, March 26). There are other factors. Education in the Western world is basically, fundamentally, left-wing and pragmatic.
There are no ideals for humanity to aim for, except material comfort. Materialism is not high enough for an individual to lay down their life for. A journalist's task is to examine anything that is self-serving.
The fall of Rome is a good example, among others, where once the gods were rejected the populace chose between epicureanism (comfort) and stoicism (self-discipline).
Editorials like the above, along with letters to the editor, are encouraging readers to make a similar choice for New Zealanders. Although this is not the end of the road, it is a good start.
F R HALPIN
Whanganui
Send your letters to: The Editor, Wanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Wanganui 4500; or email editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
Former members are 'more than welcome' to return, RSA Welfare Trust president says.