Your views: Readers' letters

Under suspicion

For some months Kiwibank has treated me as a robber suspect when I go in to pay a power bill.

Until I take my hat off, I am not allowed to pay the bill.

If a bank robber came in with guns and wearing a balaclava and the teller said, "Please take your balaclava off and face the camera", she would probably get shot.

The remaining tellers would then be told to hurry up with the cash.

Bank tellers are normally advised not to agitate robbers and follow instructions.

For withdrawals I usually use the ATM. It never tells me to take off my hat or sunglasses.

I suggest the bank tellers approach their union, as it may save their life.

DON MCMILLAN
Gonville

All for nothing?

I understand the four new councillors parading under the banner Whanganui Beyond 2030, and the three who were against building the new plant, may now be inclined to accept the base plant as planned. Don't tell me common sense has finally prevailed.

However, I also understand that they are intent on doing away with the sludge dryer entirely or scaling it back significantly. Their argument is that Imlay's waste is no longer part of the equation.

The silly thing is that the dryer is probably the most logical and cost-effective component of the new plant, which the group continues to fail to comprehend or chooses not to.

An earlier major rethink of the plant design and costs was brought about by the announcement from Bonnie Glen and its sister operation, Hampton Downs, that they might double their charges for accepting wet sludge or prohibit it entirely. Bonnie Glen now won't take wet sludge.

For us, this obviously means a loss of control over the process and its cost and creates huge risks. Adding the dryer enables us to retake control, providing three alternatives for disposing of the dried sludge, including as pellets, which could be applied to land, eg, as fertiliser to our large blocks of coastal sand country and reducing operating costs.

We continue to observe this "capital cost reduction at almost any cost" mentality. Even scaling back the dryer, if that were possible, might save $1-2 million in capital, but what of the city's capacity to attract new industry, meet the Whanganui Beyond 2030 group's target of increasing the population by half, and providing a service for and revenue from those dozens of plants in the lower North Island all with wet sludge issues?

With Imlay involved, the dryer was going to pay for itself in just three years with ongoing cost savings. And now, lo and behold, it seems Imlay may still be in!

Have we gone through this huge fear campaign for nothing? I'm still waiting to hear about the vision for Whanganui (up to let alone beyond 2030) and their supporting arguments, apart from just "let's increase the population to 60,000 and attract new industry".

MARTIN VISSER
Whanganui

Feigning fear

Ridiculous. The American democrats conjured up a demon.

And now some are trying to derail the democratic process by feigning fear of that imaginary beast.

I hope we never see such ridiculous behaviour here in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

If so, we too would have to drain the swamp.

POTONGA NEILSON
Castlecliff

Election deniers

Your correspondent Renate Schneider made some interesting comments about the results of the US elections, many of which I would agree with.

On the other hand, I agree with Chester Borrows, who Renate chastises for his view that the reactions of some Americans to the election result are hilarious.

The celebrities in tears over Hillary losing, videoing themselves crying, riding around in their chauffeured Rolls-Royce like Lady Gaga trying to pretend to be one of the people, or threatening to go to another planet like Cher. These people and their elitist egos are inherently ridiculous and only worthy of a good laugh.

Renate refers to the gap getting wider between rich and poor, the growing violence in America, and the "me-me generation", and is correct that they are issues that have been important in the election and its aftermath.

As many commentators have repeatedly pointed out, Hillary Clinton supported, and was supported by, exactly those wealthy elite who want the rich to get richer and wages kept low for everybody else.

It has also been pointed out that groups like Black Lives Matter, who call for police officers to be murdered yet say nothing about the major killer of black Americans -- other black Americans -- are clear examples of the growing violence in America, and were both supporters of and supported by Hillary Clinton.

As for the "me-me generation", commentators point to a prime example of that in the college student rioters currently causing so much damage in some US cities. They refuse to accept their candidate losing the election. Perhaps they would be happier in a country like North Korea where the election is a foregone conclusion every time.

No one denies the right of people to be upset about the election result, or even the right of peaceful protest, but these rioters, whining celebs and hysterical YouTube stars simply prove what Trump and his supporters have been saying all year: there is something sick in the state of USA.

And, hey, they are funny!

K A BENFELL
Gonville

Left-wing press

Anna Wallis (Editorial, November 11) is aghast at the election of Trump for president. His rise was created by the one-eyed, left-wing press, and obviously we take from Anna's editorial that the Chronicle office is in the left-wing bubble.

These members of the "free" press practice censorship of the things they don't want you to see or hear; you might get the wrong idea. They twist and turn statements to reflect what they want you to believe.

They don't realise it is their duty to leave their personal beliefs at the door when they arrive at work. They are there to inform accurately so you can make a well informed decision. They lose the readers' minds when they become a propaganda machine.

The BBC used to be believed; not any more, they take sides. You have to go to Al Jazeera if you want sound reporting.

PS: William Partridge and I can't email one another, it won't deliver. That's how powerful the climate change scammers are. We have to use mail for hard copy. How sick is that? As if we can affect the conversation very much. I just hope your refusal to print my letters is not some part of this totalitarian -- worldwide, it appears -- state.

G R SCOWN
Whanganui

Please explain

I make no apology for the comments that follow, which may offend a few people, but I feel clarification is needed in this instance, and indeed justification.

I was delighted to read on page nine in today's Chronicle (November 15) that the grave site of Henry Sarjeant has been renovated and is due to be rededicated on November 20 to mark the anniversary of his birth. As we all know, he was an Englishman who came here in the late 1850s and, on his death in 1912, bequeathed money to the Wanganui Borough Council for the establishment of the now-famous art gallery.

To my limited knowledge, it would seem that his burial plot was bought by family members and belongs to the occupant.

Here is an Englishman buried abroad in accordance with the rites of his religion. One assumes that that religion is to be represented by Archdeacon Goodin in the format appropriate to the deceased.

Accordingly, I question the need for a kaumatua of the local iwi (now known as "Uncle" John Maihi) to participate in the rededication. The site is still consecrated ground, and I can see no reason for iwi to be a part of this event.

It seems to me that this is just another example of the local iwi endeavouring to stamp their mark on every happening in this area. (Abridged.)

D PARTNER
Eastown