New Zealand has only been an independent nation since November 1947, and before that we were a colony of Britain, which could make whatever changes it wanted to our constitution. The Treaty of Waitangi did not make us a nation, it just made us a colony subject to British law.
Anyone, including Maori, who has a problem with anything that happened before November 26, 1947, should take a case against Britain. It would be much better if all Kiwis united to get just reparations from Britain rather than fighting among ourselves.
Let's correct Norman Kirk's mistake and make November 26 New Zealand Day.
Where did I get this idea? Well, a great part of the inspiration was the new Prime Minister's 2002 speech in which he outlined how uncontested interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi were driving public policy and how we needed to address the Treaty issues before they destroyed us.
You can read it at - www.nzcpr.com/the-treaty-of-waitangi-and-new-zealand-citizenship.
(Abridged)
TERRY O'CONNOR, Whanganui
Cost of living
How come so many people just can't earn enough money to live on?
We go to school to learn how to live in the modern world. We then get into a job or business to earn our way in the world. So what goes wrong?
People who have money can buy anything they like, so prices rise to soak up the available money.
My father was a farmer. He worked on the farm and earned the income; my mother was a homemaker who looked after the house and brought up my sister and me. Dad paid her housekeeping and provided necessary items of furniture and so on.
It is true that mother started early, getting breakfast and finished late after the evening meal, but she could curl up in a window seat for a couple of hours in the afternoon with a cowboy book and a packet or raisins. And things worked out well.
However, now I see that some couples both "go out to work". This brings in extra money but it means that they are doing three jobs rather than two. And prices rise to soak up the extra funds.
Unless the couple live on a strict budget and invest the extra income, they are no better off or even worse off.
If working couples spend as much as they earn they will never be able to buy a house. You still have to save. When you come to retirement, the children will be off your hands but you will have to find accommodation.
Much depends on what you really learned at school, in apprenticeship or higher education. What can you do that some employer or customer will pay you to do?
Are you willing to learn new skills to make yourself employable?
And are you prepared to buy only what you need and refuse to be "sucked in" by clever advertising?
TOM PITTAMS, Whanganui
Lake health
Two recent articles on conservation by Brian Doughty and Nicola Patrick point to a clear lack of understanding of the broad environmental problems facing the region.
Symptoms such as the unswimmable local lakes which no cows have been near. The bloom is a symptom of the lack of appropriate light length and yet this is not mentioned.
These things are measurable and only require the will to do so.
Measurement of the causes (rather than the effects) are not being done.
Surely by now Horizons should have better atmospheric monitoring and would therefore have a better predictive ability.
ROBIN GOYMOUR, Marton
Hate speech
Susan Devoy wants the police to record hate crime statistics to combat racism - good idea.
Would that also include hate writings? If so, I suggest the police read the Koran - plenty of hate in that book, it would keep them busy for years.
JAMES BROWN, Hawera
Rodeo wrong
Last Sunday I went to the Kimbolton "Backyard Bullride" rodeo billed as "a spectacle not to be missed". What I saw was shameful.
As the bull and rider are being prepared for release, spectators can hear the animal bellow from the pen. It's clear why - from the stands you can make out the men forcefully tightening a rope around the bull's torso.
The bull is worked up to a state of agitation and panic so that, upon release, it is desperately trying to shed itself of the source of pain to its abdomen.
The crowd is asked to take pleasure in watching the bull suffer.
We live in a beautiful country where you can do pretty much anything you like for recreation. So why it's necessary to seek entertainment in tormenting a harmless animal, is beyond comprehension.
PETE FAMILTON, Palmerston North
