Test of confidence

ALTHOUGH MEASURES HAVE been taken already to prevent further incidents of pathology test
misdiagnosis, the Government has been wise to ensure the ministerial inquiry into the Gisborne cervical
smear tests debacle is started and completed as soon as possible. The inquiry is scheduled to begin early next
month and report to the Government by June or July.

The whole affair has undermined public confidence in the standard of this country's pathology work, no
matter that peer review and other safety checks have been extended or implemented before or since the
discovery of the mistakes. The undermining of confidence will be especially strong in regional centres, such
as Gisborne, where some people, justifiably or not, feel health services are not the standard they once were.

The extent of former Gisborne pathologist Dr Michael Bottrill's mis-analysis is alarming. He picked up only
about one-fifth of serious or potentially serious cervical smear abnormalities and in all misdiagnosed hundreds
of other tests. Understandably, many women, not just those unfortunate enough to be directly involved, will
feel uneasy. They will wonder how this could have happened in the first place and if such misdiagnoses
could happen again, and to them. 

The whole episode has been more than unfortunate; it has been a personal tragedy for far too many women
and it has shaken the general confidence we have in our medical professionals, the vast majority of whom
are thorough and conscientious. Women have been encouraged to have regular cervical smear and breast
screening tests to detect the early signs of abnormalities that could signal cancer. Much good work in public
education has been done and it would be a pity if the Bottrill affair caused any long-term harm to the impetus
of health education campaigns. 

Neither test results nor clinicians are mistake-proof but the scale of the Gisborne pathology errors seriously
dents immediate confidence in the probability that they are nearly always right. The public, women
especially, need reassurance they can rely on test results. If there are any doubts it would not be unwise for
patients to seek a second or even third opinion.

Sensibly, Health Minister Annette King has deferred decisions on whether inquiries into other aspects of Dr
Bottrill's work are needed. The prime concern now is for the welfare of the women affected and the need
for a definitive resolution that provides assurance that adequate cross checks are in place. Mrs King has
given an assurance pathologists no longer work in isolation in any areas in New Zealand, and smear results
are now always double checked, regardless of whether the pathologist is operating in a small regional centre
or in a city environment. That is how it should be.

At the completion of the $900,000 ministerial inquiry, conducted by three eminent pathologists and sensibly
moved to Gisborne, we hope the range of measures recommended will go a long way to fully restoring public
confidence in pathology diagnosis.

Ombudsmen overwhelmed

THERE'S NOT much point in keeping a watchdog but not feeding it properly. Neither is there any point in
having such an animal but ignoring its warning barks. Yet this is the very situation one of New Zealand's
most important public watchdogs, the Office of the Ombudsmen, finds itself in. The Office, made up of just
two ombudsmen who are technically independent officers of Parliament charged with acting on requests for
official information and investigating complaints about government agencies at central, regional and local
levels, isn't being properly resourced. Further, it's expected to do too much within a legal framework which
needs streamlining. Yet its warnings about its predicament have to date been overlooked.

Chief Ombudsman Sir Brian Elwood was before the administration select committee the other day with a
familiar plea. His Office, he said, was at breaking point and the Government needed to make changes before
it "implodes on itself". The two ombudsmen have 35 investigatory and other staff, down from 39 in 1993, and
are expecting to deal with about 6500 cases in the financial year to June 30. That's nearly 18 a day, every
day of the year. While investigation staff can check the details, under the law all eventually must cross the
desks of Sir Brian or his colleague, Anand Satyanand. The process inevitably takes time and requires a high
degree of care. Last Year, it took an average of 73 working days (nearly 15 weeks) to resolve complaints
under the Official Information Act, and an average of 45 (nine weeks) under the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act. Sir Brian is right. The Office is bogged down.

( Evening Post, 8.3.00).

The too-hard basket

THE GREAT and the good have ended their misconceived communal festival of talk in the Legislative
Chamber and have discovered that, in a mixed society such as ours, taking on the noble and self-appointed
task of guiding the hoi polloi into republicanism is more likely to involve a path strewn with thorns than with
rose petals. The ability of the constitutional conference to reach a useful conclusion or define a positive
direction collapsed with the realisation that the biggest thorn on the path is the Treaty of Waitangi.

The first problem for republicans is what to do with the Treaty. Maori will not give it up because, backed by
successive Privy Council and Court of Appeal decisions, along with support from accommodating
governments, it has been given modern legal force and status and cannot just be discarded. It could be
renegotiated to reflect modern New Zealand, as one participant suggested, but who would be the negotiating
parties? Maori are, after all, quite legitimately on both sides of the fence. Who would represent, for instance,
those who claim to be members of the tribe without mana, urban Maori? 

It may be possible for the Treaty to be incorporated more formally in our constitutional arrangements but
what would be the point? It is a document of 19th-century colonialism and reflects that era, not the present.
Its principles could be enshrined in a formal constitution, but which principles and what would they mean: the
notion of partnership, shared governance, sovereignty? And again, who would collectively represent Maori?
For the republicans, there is an even bigger problem: the Treaty was a document "negotiated" between Maori
and the Crown. Remove the Crown from the equation and who or what represents that section of the
"partnership" who do not proclaim themselves Maori? With whom do Maori negotiate? An MMP majority
coalition?

Far from achieving its declared objective of shaping the future of the debate on a constitution, the conference
illustrated just how distant we are from that prospect. While there are people, and probably most of
participants in the conference, who cannot conceive of a national New Zealand identity without the country
becoming a republic with a written constitution, serious constitutional reform is one thing, the rest is
nationalistic bunkum. As one of the more sensible conference participants noted, nationalism and
constitutional reform ought not be mixed.

This view was in marked contrast to some of the more extreme Maori advocacy, which included a complete
re-think of all law and economics, the dissolution of existing concepts of property rights and the rule of law -
because all this was subjugating Maori, as was the existence of a parliament in which the majority rules. The
majority system was a "tyranny" said some; others wanted cabinet votes to have the agreement of Maori and
non-Maori members; another suggested the electoral boundaries should be changed to increase the number
with Maori voting majorities; others wanted a Maori parliament.

The range of views illustrated that the creation of a New Zealand republic would be a very difficult and slow
process. The Government sees no need to promote any major changes in the near future, according to Prime
Minister Helen Clark, and we are not surprised to learn that. It would be a brave government prepared to
step on to this minefield before there was widespread consensus among the people for change. The desire
for change simply does not exist beyond the outer reaches of Maoridom and in some quarters of
argumentative academia. A focal point is not yet apparent here, nor, as Australia discovered last year, does it
exist across the Tasman. Our constitution, such as it is, has evolved informally; that seems to suit most of us
for the present.

Economic bellows

A FRESH stream of air could soon be blowing through economic development in Otago. Mayors and council
chief executives, backed by the Community Trust of Otago, are spearheading moves to form a new
region-wide economic development agency. The sceptics will point to the disappointment in recent decades
of the Otago Development Council or the limitations and withdrawal of Government support for the Otago
Business Development Board. But they should understand that this is a new and different concept, one that,
at this early stage of gestation, promises much.

Proposals are that the new agency will be modelled on the apparently successful Venture Taranaki Trust.
Not only would it operate across parochial district boundaries, it would also, unlike the previous development
council or business board, not grant money to specific businesses. That would be the role of Government's
new Industry New Zealand with its initial $100 million funding or private investors like recently formed
Southern Venture Capital with its backing from the Skeggs Group, Aotea Jones and Wilson Holdings.

In Taranaki, nine economic development units were closed and the trust was set up without political or local
body representation. The board was made up of chief executives of major Taranaki and international
companies which generate income of about $3.5 billion. The board was paid on performance and staff
recruited on short-term contracts for specific projects.

It seems a good idea. Let us leave politics to the politicians and economic development to the most expert
people we can find. For that reason, calls for involvement in the project by both the Otago Chamber of
Commerce and Industry and the Otago Council of Trade Unions should be treated with caution. While input
from groups with close stake in economic development is important, a key for a trust such as that proposed is
not to become cluttered with factions and different interests. The only exception so far is the Community
Trust of Otago, which has both the Otago-wide focus and the financial muscle to launch and support the
agency. As its chairman, Dr Clive Matthewson, has said, "economic good health underpins social good
health".

Another key to any new trust is "transparency". Each year, an annual report can show exactly how many
jobs it claims have been added or saved. The costs for projects can be itemised and district councils can see
exactly where economic development money is going.

Already, the Clutha District Council's economic development board has gone some way towards having
outside business involvement on its board. Forestry processing is an issue dear to its interests. Clearly, it
would make sense for forestry or, say, horticulture proposals to be dealt with province-wide. In time,
Southland authorities might be able to join in a regional approach. But given the importance of pressing ahead
now, we believe the backers of the project should push for Otago first.

Those behind the moves stress they are in the early stages. Economic development is so, so important in the
South that we will all watch with interest and with encouragement. The new agency, like fireside bellows,
can help spark the embers of economic potential. Hopefully, these can then flare into many more sustainable
jobs and businesses across our region.

Broken promises made good

THE GOVERNMENT'S decision to make a one-off grant to the Nuclear Veterans' Association so it can
take a class action against the British government overturns a broken promise that cost the National
Government many friends. The Government has made a grant of $200,000 for legal expenses in a case
seeking compensation from the effects of being used as human guinea pigs in British nuclear bomb tests in
the Pacific 40 years ago.

The decision brings easy kudos for the Labour Government, recognising the political advantages as well as
the humanitarian prerogative to assist those and their families seriously harmed by the effects of the bomb
test during Operation Grapple near the Malden and Christmas Islands. Many veterans have since been
plagued by health problems and are convinced such illnesses can only be attributed to exposure to nuclear
radiation.

The previous National administration accepted the advice of the Foreign Affairs Ministry which said it should
not fund court cases against one of our allies. The decision, and such a craven piece of advice, was petty
and mean spirited.

( Wanganui Chronicle

GM food

GEEHING WONG calls for scientists to apply "the power of quality research" to the debate on GM foods
(1.5.00). This is exactly what the Australia New Zealand Food Authority has done in developing a safety
assessment process for foods that have been genetically modified. The ANZFA safety assessment examine
the effect of the genetic modification on toxins, the ability to cause allergies, nutritional value and any
potential health issues - such as the introduction of antibiotic resistance genes - associated with the foods.

Our food standards already require that no new GM food will appear on the shelves unless it has been
thoroughly evaluated by ANZFA. Food manufacturers will have to meet some of the most rigorous safety
standards in the world before they will be allowed to sell GM products to the public. This process is open and
transparent. It gives all members of the public, interested experts and other groups the opportunity to
examine the assessments and to submit their views and comments.

Dr Marion Healy 

Chief scientist, 

Australia New Zealand Food Authority, 

Canberra

West Coast

EIGHT MONTHS ago, Helen Clark launched her assault on the West Coast. Like the Russians in
Chechnya, we were promised it would all be over in days immediately Labour was elected. Six months later,
we are still waiting - indeed if anything the noise of battle just gets louder and more and more senior
members of the Government get sucked into the fray.

No reason for the assault on the West Coast was given in Labour's policy, and none has been given since, at
least none that sticks for very long. Crook science, values, a mandate, have been successively shot down and
now we are into insults - pro-loggers, feral and inbred Coasters, followers of Mugabe, and the latest, pixies!

What do we make of it? A cynical election stunt? Labour has good policies, but the big guns are tied down
on the West Coast so nothing much else happens. It was to have cost the free gift of Timberlands'
plantations, but now it's $120 million which could have been spent on so many other things. And all for what?

John Purey-Cust 

Gore

Christine Rankin

AS A DEVOTED patron of the Blackball Hilton, I was intrigued to be shown recently your article, "Battling
the Blackball Bureaucrat" ( ODT , 23.2.00), in which Elspeth Mclean suggested that Blackball people were
"chuffed" by Christine Rankin's "inspiring" rise and that she ". . . will be the talk of the town for a while yet".
While delicacy precludes exact quotes, the comments greeting Ms Rankin's career progress have little to do
with being chuffed or inspired! As for still being "the talk of the town", my assiduous inquiries at the Hilton
bar, undertaken at the cost of innumerable dark ales, disclose that the locals are mainly unaware of the Winz
boss having ever lived there. With the old red banner in the corner still proclaiming "United we stand, divided
we fall", we were absolutely chuffed at the May Day gathering announcement of the Milton lockout group
finally being awarded compensation after eight years battling. But chuffed by Winz and Christine? I think
not!

David Tranter 

Greymouth

[Our sources advise that Christine Rankin, nee Parker, was the daughter of a Blackball miner. She lived
there until the age of 5. - Ed.]

Politics

WHAT AN undignified spectacle it is to observe the Leader of the Opposition struggling to justify nine years
of creating misery for the majority. Hoping to be "irresistible" by the next election caused much hilarity but
the assumption that citizens have very short memories is insulting. As, daily, we hear of tragedies caused by
a government determined to pursue policies doomed to fail human needs, we do not need to be told that "we
should have listened to people". The dying don't really want to hear such pathetic utterances. Rather than
find a new identity or, as you so accurately state, "put a confused new label on an indifferent product" ( ODT
2.5.00), I suggest a burial of the National Party and accept the fact that there is no past to be proud of. The
few National Party remnants would be sensible if they formed a new political party once they have defined
what they believe in.

Kathleen Dawson 

Dunedin

Long-term view needed on road transport 

PERHAPS AA district manager Kevin Taylor and the AA need to be reminded that motorists are not the
only people entitled to use the road environment ( ODT, 3.5.00). For many people who do not have a car, or
who choose not to drive one, their domestic, recreational, and work environments are made dangerous, noisy,
and unattractive by motor vehicle transportation of people and goods. I resent Mr Taylor's reference to
cyclists as "hazards" and while I do not use a skateboard I would like to respect others' right to do so in a
manner which does not endanger me.

The issue here is not really about skateboards though. The hazards presented by planning of an environment
in which motor vehicles are the dominant feature is the real problem. The AA is a powerful lobby group
whose main objective is to protect the interests of motorists. Perhaps AA members could recognise that
membership of this organisation is first and foremost a vote for motorisation at the expense of safer, cleaner,
and more human modes of transport. I believe we will one day look back at this era with disgust and regret
for our excesses and our failure to take a long-term view on transport issues.

K Kypri 

Opoho

[Abridged. - Ed.]

Waikouaiti

COLLEEN Hartley (4.5.00) used an apparent stalemate at a Waikouaiti intersection as a denouncement of
heavy traffic in the town's residential streets. There is another way of looking at the (for want of a better
word) incident as described by Ms Hartley. The truck driver, in resolving the stalemate by waving her
through the give-way sign, showed appropriate common sense and courtesy, two qualities that are in
seriously short supply on our roads.

Perhaps when driving through Waikouaiti's residential streets in future, Ms Hartley might consider it
worthwhile following that truck driver's example, thereby forestalling the "inevitable fatal accident" that she
fears.

B. A. Thompson 

Oamaru

To corrrespondents

Bill Willers. Our mistake.

E. Steciurenko. This point has already received extensive debate.

A plan runs out of puff

GET REAL. That's the message the Alliance caucus has given Health Minister Annette King on
anti-smoking legislation. The caucus confirmed it would oppose a ban on smoking in pubs and bars, and that
also raises questions whether a similar ban in cafes and restaurants will be workable.

The idea of heavy-handed anti-smoking commissars - for that's what would be required to implement a
proposed smoke-free law amendment - stretches the credulity of the coalition's junior partner and doubtless
many non-smokers, too.

There'll be a gasp of relief in the hospitality industry, particularly by owners of pubs and bars. None of them
was mollified by looney suggestions that trade would increase because bans would open the floodgates to
non-smoking drinkers and diners.

There's no question that tobacco use is damaging, and that there are good reasons for limits and for
education about its use. The choice in this area, however, should lie with the hospitality trade. Responsible
proprietors of pubs, bars and eateries already reserve areas for smokers. If owners want to go smoke-free
altogether, let them do it on their own account.

A law change proposal based on good intentions is not always useful. This one would have been
unenforceable, and thus an ass.
( Evening Post

No soft options

IS IT MERELY coincidence that community leaders and politicians are having second thoughts about giving
in to the soft option school on curbing anti-social behaviour? The Minister of Justice, Phil Goff, has ordered a
review of the reduced drinking age just six months after it started; the National Party appears to have
stopped dithering over decriminalising cannabis; several very experienced long-serving police officers have
risked their careers by publicly stating their opposition to "softer" drug laws; and a retiring police officer with
many years' experience has suggested the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act is a major
reason why youth offending rates have not declined.

The realisation may be dawning that there is nothing new about human misbehaviour that has not already
been learned over the course of history, nor is there anything fundamentally new to be learned about the best
methods of containing its effect on the community. Those hard lessons suggest it is nonsense to make liquor
more readily available to youth without adequate controls to manage excess; that it is dangerous to make
more broadly available in the community another mind-altering drug; and that it is foolish to create a world
where the sanctions of being caught or publicly denounced are absent.

Mr Goff has sent his officials off to gather statistics relating to the lowered drinking age. We hope these
officials also examine the reported increased instances of drunken youth behaviour since the change and that
they consult those authorities and those members of the public who have had to deal with the consequences.
There have been many instances of youths being caught for drinking under age, but the instant $200 fine
system is not working because the fines are being ignored. They have to be recovered through the Youth
Court, but the starry-eyed legislators who thought up the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act
obviously believed young offenders would happily pay their fines. The fact is non-payment of youth fines has
long been a problem because the Act prevents young offenders from appearing in the lower court unless
they face serious charges. We are reminded of the legislators from La-la land who decided skateboards are
motor vehicles . . . 

The cannabis debate is becoming farcical, at least on the political level. Encouragement to ignore the laws
relating to this drug has been quasi-official for years. Enforcement has been poorly funded and often ignored
- not surprisingly given the mixed messages from the lawmakers and many others in the community. And the
police are still getting mixed messages from the politicians. Originally, the Minister of Health, Annette King,
proposed Parliament's select committee on health should review the cannabis laws. She had no popular
mandate for this. The National Party has discovered in recent weeks that its membership strongly opposes
decriminalisation, and many oppose a softening of the law relating to personal use of the drug. The party has
now challenged the Government to review the law itself and thus take all the responsibility for the
consequences. This is all rather rich considering that the select committee, at National's instigation last year,
held an inquiry into the health effects of cannabis and concluded the law should be reviewed. 

In the face of such inconsistency, Mrs King has other options: she could have a ministerial review, or call for
a report from a committee of experts or a review conducted by government officials. But perhaps she, and
others who think the best thing to do with an itch is always to scratch it, should heed the comments of Senior
Sergeant Phil Spackman, who is retiring after 33 years with the police, the last 10 spent with young
offenders. He reports that the age at which youth offending is taking place is much lower than it was, and
the seriousness of crime by juveniles and young women is worse. This experienced policeman believes
decriminalising cannabis would "destroy young people" because the increase in juvenile crime has gone hand
in hand with unemployment and drug use. And he offers a simple idea to the lawmakers: community policing
and having police on the streets will reduce crime. His are wise words, and they ought to be heeded.

Possums

THANK GOODNESS Tamahine is making inroads in to possum numbers ( ODT , 31.5.00). Someone needs
to. Tamahine's closest source is Frasers Gully where there are myriads of the dratted things. Our property
backs on to the bush at the top. After losing to possums the only four apples my three trees produced, in
retaliation I restarted trapping them. On a fine night with one Timms trap, I never miss. There are so many
of them. It took a while to twig where the bait went. The first possum in, using a choker hold, flips the trap
with its death throe. The next possum along gets the apple and conditions itself to the trap. They just keep
coming.

Citiworks is laying off staff. Why not direct them in to helping Tamahine (and me)? Plucked possum fur is
fetching a good price and their meat could be used for pet food. They could make a killing!

Barrie Kendall 

Halfway Bush

Chatham Islands

THANK YOU for printing the decision of the Press Council on my complaint in full, with a full-page
headline so promptly after its release ( ODT , 27.5.00). It contrasts somewhat with the printing of my
submitted article, heavily edited, in the letters column after a two-week delay. Oddly enough, the Chathams
experienced a tourism boom from January to March despite the various news media depictions of us as a
desolate hole, populated by drunken hooligans. It seems that all publicity is good publicity, even bad publicity.
Yes, the visitors, including jet-setters from the Channel Islands, went away singing our praises.

R. L. Clough

Waitangi, Chatham Islands

[A two-week delay on publication of letters is undesirable but not unusual. - Ed.]

Pedestrian tunnel a footbridge alternative 

AS A FELLOW architect and a person who works as an advocate of people with disability and their rights
of access, I find it disturbing that city architect Robert Tongue finds it necessary to offer the fact that Tranz
Rail has had staff killed during operational shunting accidents to mitigate Tranz Rail's possible rejection of a
community preference for a controlled pedestrian level crossing of railway lines ( ODT , 23.5.00). It is not
for Mr Tongue to advocate or advise on anything other than on conflicts of health and safety and the options
of design of the built environment that diminish or manage such risk during an activity. Hazard management
is carried out in conflicts between pedestrians and the motorcar, and the design issues are much the same
except foot traffic will always stop when there is the presence of a train.

Further, in respect of the St Andrews St by-pass rail level crossing, very little conscious design effort went
into any form of exclusive protection of pedestrians crossing the designated footpath nor to uninhibited
access to the tracks at the northern end of the station platform. And what contribution, if any, did this make
to the recent death of a young man in the station yards?

I would raise again the option of a pedestrian tunnel, with open culvert sections of better than 4-metre
trafficable width, extending from the Queens Gardens to the new $1.2 million harbour basin development,
which still lacks a good pedestrian connection to the city precincts. This would be better than crossing a
wind-blown rail corridor via a bridge and the need for extensive ramps or expensive lifts, intruding on the
skyline. Such a corridor could be used as part of a light rail or vintage tram route.

Bryan Menzies 
South Dunedin

[Abridged. Robert Tongue, city architect for the Dunedin City Council, replies: "The council is
currently investigating alternative methods of improving pedestrian access across the railway
shunting yard and Thomas Burns St near the Queens Garden and the harbour basin. The
alternatives investigated will include a new bridge, a new level crossing and a new tunnel, as well
as improved access across existing bridges." - Ed.]

Art review

COULD YOUR arts reviewer Nicola Mutch please explain, for the benefit of the more earth-bound of us,
just what she means by "abject multi-referentiality" as it applies to an art work which she reviewed ( ODT ,
23.5.00). Am I correct, as one who has tried to resist the incursion of American New Age "kitset-language"
into our lives, in assuming that good, old-fashioned "eclecticism" would have served just as well? At least it's
in our dictionaries.

Ian Smith 
Waverley

[Nicola Mutch replies: "`Abject multi-referentiality', as employed in my review, was meant to sound over the
top. It was intended as a jokey, but not disparaging, way of commenting on the post-modern overload behind
the work of art in question. Fell flat, I see.

"`Eclecticism' would not make a good substitute, however. That would suggest the bringing together of a
number of disparate elements whereas, as I pointed out in my review, this artwork's lineage actually follows
quite a coherent path.

"I wouldn't get too worried about the dictionary thing, though. `Kitset' does not appear in mine, not that I
would hold it against your reader. Interestingly, however, Mal Meninga gets his own entry. It's a Collins
Concise - I bought it on sale." - Ed.]

Central flooding

REPLYING TO Wanaka doctor Dennis Pezaro's suggestion that silting of Lake Dunstan's Kawarau Arm
could cause the Shotover River to flood Queenstown and Wanaka within 50 years, Queenstown Mayor
Warren Cooper has stated this to be impossible. If Mr Cooper understood local history he would know that
local people predicted the Cromwell Gorge hillsides slipping in to Lake Dunstan while the "experts" dismissed
this as impossible. The last figure I saw for "stabilising" the moving hillsides was $450 million.

Given the history of problems arising from dam-builder meddling with the Clutha, it is remarkable that
anyone, let alone the mayor of a town within the area at risk, should dismiss the opinion of Dr Pezaro, who
was a member of the Clutha Valley Advisory Committee which, before the Clyde dam was built,
documented its concerns about lack of flood control. Warren Cooper or Mother Nature - who knows best?

David Tranter 

Greymouth

Celtic cross an irrelevance 
CIVIS' SUGGESTION for a "millennial" monument, if monument there must be, needs to be taken seriously ( ODT , 17.6.00). Quite 
apart from his view that the proposal for a Celtic cross seems to be no more than a piece of Celtic nostalgia, the fact is that erecting 
such a monument to commemorate the Presbyterian Church's part in the foundation of Dunedin would amount to the church 
appropriating a symbol to which it had dubious claims in this respect. After all, the people who could claim some affinity with Celtic 
symbolism were the Highlanders and Hebrideans who existed as an ethnic minority on the fringes of the settlement, and not an 
altogether welcome minority at that, to judge by the views of Captain Cargill, the "father" of the settlement. 
The proposed monument would therefore almost amount to an unwitting re-writing of history as well as the silent attribution of the 
Celtic temperament to a people who, although very worthy, were, alas, rather repressed when it came to emotional expression and 
without much capacity for joy. They have left their own enduring monuments in education and social service. A slab of concrete 
seems a feeble irrelevance beside these. 
Far better then, if there has to be a monument, to have one that faces the future with youth and vibrancy as Civis suggests than one that 
attempts to walk backwards in the steps of our ancestors into a nebulous past where ne'er a genuine Celtic cross comes in sight. 
Ian MacMillan 
St Kilda

Genetic frontiers
 
HOW TIMELY two University of Otago genetic developments have been this week. First came the announcement of the discovery of 
the "twinning" gene by Sue Galloway and the Ag Research-university molecular biology unit. And today the university formally 
opens it genomic research unit, complete with equipment valued at more than $1.5 million. 
Both come in the week after the announcement of the completion of the rough draft of the human genetic code, a not-unrelated event. 
When Dr Galloway discovered the gene and the gene mutation which was responsible for the "twinning" effect, she had, in fact, been 
helped by the multinational Human Gerome Project. It has been "publishing" its progress on the Internet for years. Knowing that 
sheep and human genes are similar, Dr Galloway's team was able to use available human gene information to guess the approximate 
position of the fertility genes on the sheep's X chromosome. This helped her isolate the relevant gene and from there find the gene 
mutation. 
Dr Galloway will be among dozens of researchers to use the new unit's facilities. As well as the biochemists, scientists in anatomy, 
physiology, microbiology and other disciplines will use the genetic analysis facilities and their substantial computer power. What once 
took months, in some instances, can now be done in minutes. In particular, Tony Reeve and the university cancer genetics laboratory 
will benefit. It is only two years ago that researchers at the unit identified the first genetic mutations proven to contribute to stomach 
cancer, in another breakthrough of international significance. 
Much of the research is basic science contributing to the understanding of diseases and how human beings function. Some, as well, 
will have potential commercial spin-offs in agriculture. Animal breeding in general is now inextricably linked to the world of genetics. 
The commitment by the university will help its scientists win research grants. But while university staff have done well, as a whole, in 
the latest research rounds and more than 500 researchers at the university are now fully funded by research funds, medical school 
administrators remain concerned about a lack of funding for at least six research groups within the school in the latest Health Research 
Council funding round. Government funding of research science and technology, which was about 0.8% of gross domestic product in 
the early 1980s, has now slipped well below that level. The National government, at one stage, aimed to return to that level by 2010 in 
what would be a bare minimum, but funding has fallen away. While Labour makes promising noises about the knowledge economy 
and research funding and its last budget boosted science funding, much ground needs to be made up, particularly in basic, as distinct 
from applied, research. If the Government is to stem the drain of top scientists, it requires a system that is not too focused on short-
term projects or on those with only the most obvious commercial potential. It must have better funding arrangements for crucial 
equipment as well. 
Scientific, medical and agricultural progress do not come in isolation. The "twinning" development, for example, was dependent on 
observant farmers and 20 years of breeding and eight years of specialised scientific research. It could not have come about without the 
co-operation between Invermay and the university's expertise and equipment. Vital, too, was both parallel international progress in 
gene research and co-operation with teams in Lower Hutt and Finland. 
The university has recognised its tradition in genetic expertise. Through its genomic research unit, it can continue to play its part as 
New Zealand's leading centre in genetic research. And Dunedin can benefit from being at the frontiers of science and of the 
biotechnological revolution.

A meeting of burgesses was held at the Town Hall last night, when it was unanimously resolved to take a poll on the proposal of the 
City Corporation to borrow 65,000 pounds for water works extension. The poll will be taken on the 3rd of next month. 
Dredging in the vicinity of the wharves has recently been carried out in a tolerably effective manner. The shallow ground between the 
corner of the Victorian wharf and the tongue wharf has been cut away, and the dredge is now at work in the basin. It may also interest 
the public to know that the dredge has dumped 62 loads into the pit the Vulcan is pumping from, and that it has been pumped by the 
Vulcan on to the reclamation. The quantity of material thus disposed of amounts to about 80,000 tons. It will not be surprising if the 
result of the dredging operations shows a very considerable saving to the Harbour Board as compared with work formerly done. 
The important work of widening the cross wharf is now likely to proceed without delay or interruption. The contractors, Messrs 
Mathieson Bros., have all the piles ready, and the work driving then will probably commence on Monday next. A 20ft berth has been 
dredged, and as soon as the wharf is widened berthage of that depth will be available for the whole length of the structure . The 
contract time for the completion of the work expires on the 7th of September. A commencement has also been made of the large goods 
shed at the cross wharf. This work is in the hands of Mr George France. The shed is to be 200ft long by 40ft wide, and will give shed 
accommodation that is much required, and the need for which will be considerably greater when the deeper berthing has been 
provided by the work that has been already mentioned.

Smoke screen against cannabis industry 
IT IS IRONIC that Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton justifies the prohibition of cannabis based upon his concern about a situation 
that has arisen as a result of decades of prohibition. But the bigger irony is that our Minister for Economic Development has already 
decided that the job machine, the industrial use of cannabis, should remain illicit. If cannabis use were legalised, there would be no 
stoned forestry workers because there would be no forestry industry. Instead, cannabis could be used to produce larger quantities of 
better quality papers and woods. Instead of complaining about petrol prices, Mr Anderton could be helping to free this country of the 
shackles of the oil industry by establishing the technology to make better quality fuels from cannabis. 
Cannabis use was prohibited for the competition it posed to oil, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, cotton and logging concerns with its 
use as an intoxicant being a convenient smoke screen. After years of political impotence, Mr Anderton could now make a difference, 
but instead his prejudice makes him betray the people and ideals he says he represents and support the things he says he opposes. He 
should forget about possum skins. Get serious and consider the huge potential of an industry in this country utilising cannabis, the 
people's plant. 
Jason Baker-Sherman 
Dalmore 

Correction
 
A FIGURE in Pat Forster's letter on abortion was printed incorrectly as 28% on Wednesday. It should have read: "The latest figures 
show that 98% of abortions are certified to be justified by the clause `serious danger to the mental health of the mother'." - Ed.  


Politics
 
HAVING OBSERVED the conduct of our politicians lately, one is beginning to lose confidence in them very rapidly, especially what 
has come to light during the Samuels saga. The amoral education system, to a very large degree, has contributed to this sad state of 
affairs, with the result our politicians can no longer give sound moral leadership and don't seem to know right from wrong anymore. 
The British general, the Duke of Wellington, (1769-1852) had this to say regarding education: "Educate men without religion, (no 
doubt he meant Biblical Christianity) and you make them but clever devils." This description is not only true of many of our 
politicians, but also of many others in our society as well. If those who have to give moral leadership in our society knew right from 
wrong, many of our present problems would not exist. 
J. Streekstra 
Outram

Maia cycleway
 
FURTHER TO THE reply to Nicholas Reid's letter concerning a cycleway to and from Maia to Dunedin City (28.6.00), at the 
instigation of the Chalmers Community Board a State Highway 88 pedestrian and cyclist working party was established with the sole 
function to improve safe movement along State Highway 88 from Logan Point to Port Chalmers for both pedestrians and cyclists. A 
comprehensive on-site survey was undertaken in May by representatives from Transit NZ, consultants for Transit NZ, the DCC, the 
community board and a small group of regular cyclists. From this survey, a report will be prepared for Transit NZ, the owners of the 
highway, and therefore the organisation responsible for paying most, (if not all), of the cost of any improvements that are made. 
All those who attended the on-site survey worked in a co-operative manner and I feel this time something will actually eventuate to 
radically improve the safety for pedestrians and cyclists on State Highway 88. This will certainly be a change to the many "talkfeasts" 
that have taken place in the past. 
John Neilson 
Ravensbourne 
[Abridged. - Ed.] 

Central flooding
 
THE ANNOUNCEMENT of $26 million for flood protection and buying properties affected by flooding is the old story of the 
ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. I agree with Thomas Lamb (7.6.00) that the only reasonable long-term solution is dredging; or 
shifting the heavy overburden of silt from Lake Roxburgh. In fact, I have been writing letters to your newspaper for many years on 
just this very subject. Surely the populace of Alexandra can foresee if the protection plan is carried through, years to come after this 
lot, they would be perhaps better off financially selling the franchise for selling glass-bottom boats to view "Alexandra, second 
Atlantis underwater" in the year 2060. I feel pressure must be brought to bear on the Government and Contact Energy to clear the 
bottom of the lake from obstructing debris. 
Evan Harper 
Roxburgh

Economy
 
DO WE HAVE to have the state of the economy thrust down our necks every second day of the week? The media love to make a big 
song and dance about things. I see you report confidence in the economy plummets ( ODT , 28.6.00). How unusual and contradictory, 
as somewhere else in the paper it seems that the economy is in quite good shape. The economy seems all right to me; certainly better 
than it was when National was in power, but all the economists love to make out that things are in a terrible state. What a bunch of 
pessimists they are. 
Betty Murrell 
Waikouaiti 
[Abridged. - Ed.] 

Reunion
 
Bulls Rugby Football Club: Celebrating 125 years of rugby, Easter weekend 2001. Contact: Jubilee secretary, Samantha Moke (06) 
322-1443 (telephone/fax) or e-mail: bullsrfc@actrix.gen.nz for registration form.

Politics
 
PRIME MINISTER Helen Clark's claim that "Closing the gaps" is the flagship of Labour policies would have come as a surprise to a 
lot of Labour voters. My difficulty is that the reasons for the so-called gaps are well known yet not addressed because of political 
correctness. The differences in achievement, in effort, in aptitude and application have always been with us in some people, yet more 
easily identified with those Maori who have chosen to be tribal. Money will not close the gap. Surely this has been proven over many 
years and many billions of dollars. 
The gap these foolish Labour MPs see is with the Maori manipulated by self-appointed leaders who cunningly have kept in thrall these 
people, emphasising a cargo cult mentality. The saviour of Maoridom (a concept only) would have been a middle class, those who 
have gone about their business of earning a living, being effective parents and no doubt having a quiet pride in their heritage but not 
seeing it as something the taxpayer has to pay homage to. Labour policy will again cost billions and to no avail because it does not 
insist upon accountability. 
M. N. Richards 
Ashburton 
[Abridged. - Ed.] 

News
 
YOU CHOSE TO publish an article by Dene Mackenzie deploring some key provisions of the Employment Relations Bill ( ODT , 
1.7.00). Fair enough, Dene Mackenzie is entitled to form a personal opinion and share it with the world. So too are the only 
commentators quoted in the article, National MPs Katherine Rich and Max Bradford. What is not "fair enough" is that this opinion 
piece was accorded front page, lead article status, as if it was a news story. 
News reports are, we like to think, impartial, balanced accounts of the important events of the day. Dene Mackenzie's right-wing 
diatribe was a one-sided attack on a piece of Government policy. No one who approved of the Employment Relations Bill (and there 
are plenty of us around) was asked to comment on the provision which we were told would enable trade unions to "do employers 
over". We heard at length from Ms Rich and Mr Bradford. Where were the voices of the Council of Trade Unions or Labour Minister 
Margaret Wilson? Where was any attempt at balanced coverage? 
The readers of the Otago Daily Times are entitled to form their own opinions, based on balanced and informative news reporting. 
Keep the whinging for the opinion pages. Better still, report the issues of the day from an impartial perspective. That is what the news 
pages are for. 
S. Robins 
Kenmure 
[The article was not an opinion piece. It was an analysis by our political editor of a confidential Government department report. - Ed.]

Date rape 
 
LIKE ADAM DOESBURG (3.7.00), I also found the date rape analogy made by Whitney Thurlow (29.6.00) regarding the Wanaka 
lakefront revolting. If race had been used in her comparison instead of gender there would have been an uproar. We must raise our 
boys with positive feelings about being male and to be proud of their masculinity. Cruel generalisation such as hers I find very sad 
indeed. 
Gaynor Propsting 
Northeast Valley

Politics
 
DUNEDIN SOUTH MP David Benson-Pope (1.7.00) has given his assurance to Otago MP Gavan Herlihy on rural mail contractors 
retaining their independent contractor status. This is excellent news for me with my business on the market. It no longer needs to be 
put on hold until October as I have now added his unequivocal assurance to the steadily growing heap. Is a written promise legal in a 
court of law? 
Elaine Iversen 
Cave

                                  Tarnished values

IT IS LITTLE wonder this country has a crisis of morality, of values. When a clear majority, according to
polls, believe Mark Todd need not answer cocaine-snorting accusations and should ride in the Sydney
Olympics, it says much about our priorities. We, as a nation, put medals ahead of morality. We, as
individuals, want to share in reflected glory more than hold fast to self-respect.

Have those who back Mark Todd's unconditional Olympic participation, many of them highly moral, thought
through the issues? Do they truly realise what sort of message is being given to New Zealand youth? Next
time young people are caught experimenting with drugs they can claim that what seems good enough for a
New Zealand hero is good enough for them. While they will not escape punishment, they will have another
reason to feel bitter about the blatant hypocrisy of their elders.

The several serious arguments which have been mounted for Todd's inclusion, nevertheless, do deserve
responses. 

One of the weakest is that because the Olympics is already full of drug cheats and corruption the exclusion
of Todd on the basis of allegations alone would be, in its way, grossly hypocritical. But two wrongs do not
make a right. New Zealand, if it stands for anything, need not be pulled down to lower it standards in concert
with others.

Generally, we should be wary of snooping on and judging the private lives of athletes. But, while we should
not expect them to be unimpeachable role models, the alleged taking of a class A drug goes way beyond,
say, All Black Tana Umaga's drunken staggers in the Square in Christchurch. We can also accept that
supposed sexual preferences with consenting adults or philandering outside marriage is none of our business.
Dabbling in hard drugs, however, which kill so many, is another matter altogether.

It is also argued that the Sunday Mirror entrapped Todd in an unethical way. Although the Mirror's tactics
cannot be condoned, the fact remains that evidence of apparent serious drug taking has become public. It is
"out there" and needs to be dealt with. Just because the British police have not bothered to investigate or
charge Todd does not mean that we, as the nation which Todd represents, have no responsibilities.

What is more, Todd has not denied the use of a drug, which is on the Olympic prohibited list, while continuing
to receive large sums of public money through the Sports Foundation. Oh that he would deny the charge:
what a collective sigh of relief would emerge over New Zealand then.

On top of these moral issues is the pragmatic fear of the shame that if Todd wins a medal attempts will be
made to strip him and New Zealand of it. Our Olympic Committee's "investigation" was a farce. It would
serve us right if we were embarrassed because we were morally gutless in the first place. What would have
happened if Todd had not been one of New Zealand's greatest sportsmen? Would a minor athlete with no
realistic chance of a medal have been treated the same way?

We live in a world of competing values, of complex moral issues, one where compromise is often essential.
But there must be times when we hit bedrock values. We must be prepared to make a stand and the "curly".
questions must be answered. So what if we miss out on what after all is just a sporting contest? We can, far
more importantly, be proud in ourselves and for what we stand. As the traditional English proverb puts its:
Gold may be bought too dear.

The glow from the prospect of gold medals is blinding far too many. If Mark Todd does indeed win in
Sydney without answering the allegations, that gold will be pitted and tarnished. It will be a medal of disgrace
not glory.

Time for review of elderly driver testing 

CONGRATULATIONS ON your balanced editorial regarding the plight of elderly drivers in rural areas (
ODT , 26.7.00). A recent report, commissioned by the Senior Citizens Unit to mark International Year of
Older Persons, entitled "Factors affecting the ability of older people to live independently", identifies transport
as a key issue, particularly in geographically isolated communities where public transport is not available. The
inaugural United Nations Conference on Rural Ageing held recently in the United States also identified
transport as a key issue for elderly people in rural communities.

The LTSA policy review of driver licensing for older drivers relaxed driver testing provisions, effective in
May 1999. The new policy retained provisions to restrict licences for particular conditions such as the time of
day or a specific location. The Government is promoting ageing in place as a model for maintaining the
elderly in their own homes as long as possible. To be effective, this initiative needs to be supported by policy
that impacts positively on the independence of elderly. Maybe it's time to review the existing provisions for
restricted licences for the elderly and their application within the driver testing programme.

Gillian Bremner 

Chief executive,

Presbyterian Support Otago,

Dunedin

Mental health

DIANE CURTIS (29.7.00) has a short memory. Just last year I was a victim of the mediocrity - nay sadism
- of the service she "charge-nursed". The "coal-face" it is true, is a dark place to work and needs to be
worked in with care, knowledge, skill and empathy - not to fill the other's space with fetid fumes of shame
and humiliation from "all levels of staff", as I experienced it. It may be true that all staff are heard, but all
patients are not.

"Stigmatisation" seemed something her team excelled in creating, once within the clutch of your "coal face",
it seemed, never to crawl out again, clean. I have walked many, many miles in Diane Curtis' shoes, but only
a few short weeks in the hands and attitudes of her "coal face" staff was the most degrading, demoralising,
depersonalising experience of my very experienced life-time.

Victim 

Dunedin

[Abridged. Name withheld by request. - Ed.]

Scots Gaelic

COLUMNIST GWYNN DYER concluded Scots Gaelic should be left to die since the Scottish National
Party's proposal to give every child the right to learn the language and for court cases to be held in Gaelic, if
desired, will not stop the decline in the number of Gaelic speakers. I expect that, like initiatives here that have
greatly increased the number of te reo Maori speakers, Gaelic can only benefit from not being marginalised.
More importantly, whether people would use their right to learn Gaelic or not, at least they would have the
ability to make the choice.

English as a language has prostituted itself to become a global language; having the choice to learn an
additional language means you have something unique and identifying other nations do not have.

Mark Baxter 

Dunedin

Bath St

BATH STREET is a one-way street, with travelling direction from George St to Lower Stuart St. At the
George St end there are three conflicting traffic signs. One (correctly) is a blue arrow pointing down Bath
St. One is a red circle alongside the blue sign saying No Entry. On the other side of George St is a sign
saying No Right Turn. I have phoned the Dunedin City Council twice to point out this state of affairs, and
once your own Prester John with hopes of publicity, but with no result. It may be "all right" for Dunedin
residents, what about the poor visitors?

Joyce Herd 

Maori Hill

[Don Hill, transportation planning manager for the Dunedin City Council, replies: "Thank you for bringing this
to our attention. I can only apologise for the fact Mrs Herd had to do it more than once. The No Right Turn
sign and No Entry signs apply to traffic northbound on George St as access into Bath St is limited to traffic
left turning in from George St. The One Way sign alongside the No Entry sign will be removed." Ed.]

Dunedin events

WHAT DOES it take to get a straight answer? Terry Hannan (21.7.00) asks a simple question: "What
procedures does the events unit go through to ensure full community collaboration in the choice of events to
be funded by the city?" Dunedin Mayor, Sukhi Turner, ignores the question regarding process and hopes by
listing some outcomes this will satisfy the query. I think Mr Hannan was probably more concerned with the
process rather than any outcomes.

I have been following this topic with interest for some time now and I'm left with three questions. If I have a
good, well-researched event idea, what mechanisms are in place to make sure the city can consider it? Who
or what will make the decision? And finally, given the current environment, what assurances can the council
give that it will be taken seriously?

Donald A. Bates 

Wakari

[Sukhi Turner, Mayor of Dunedin, replies: "The city will consider any good, well-researched event idea,
generally through the annual plan submission process, although there must always be an opportunity to make
a special exception outside of that timing - usually by reason of topicality.

"The Dunedin City Council has clear events and festivals funding criteria that are the measurement for
funding any event. These are available at the Events Shop or at the www.cityofdunedin.com website. When
events meet that criteria, they are considered for funding by a full sitting of the Dunedin City Council. During
the annual plan process, events funding requests are considered with every other call on rates.

"Additional to direct council funding availability, it is the role of the events unit to advise and help facilitate
events and festivals that are happening in Dunedin, and indeed 60% of their time is spent doing just that." -
Ed.]

Direct solution for highway problems
AS A REGULAR driver between Christchurch and Dunedin I have observed problems 
with our present system and volunteer some solutions. A new near-direct route should be 
surveyed throughout both North and South islands similar to highways throughout 
Australia and Europe. These routes would have at least two lanes plus lay-bys each way, 
separated by a planting strip from the other directional traffic.
 These new highways should by-pass towns thus alleviating the
tedious time delays in navigating
through these areas (e.g. Oamaru) and
avoid head-on accidents etc which
are more likely, particularly in passing heavy traffic in wet conditions.
The compulsory installation of tyre
curtains on heavy vehicles could
assist this in the interim. If we were to
proceed with these steps with urgency
it would  take, I estimate, approximately 10 years before completion, allowing for 
resource consents, compulsory land purchases and engineering problems. One wonders 
what
driving will be like unless we address
this problem instead of straightening
out these dual sheep tracks of old and
an aerial glimpse of our present sys-
tem only proves the time wasting we
endure.
Lack of finance will be the first objection to these suggestions, but 
when we tabulate the monies diverted from road
tax to the consolidated fund over the past 50 years, future funding is 
certainly possible. Present road tax is, I
understand, about $1.6 billion a year. I would advocate that roading tax 
from now should be dedicated to assisting
this project or a progression of it and upon completion a toll system 
should apply until it is paid for. 
R. E. Fay
Dunedin
[Abridged. - Ed.]
Network Waitaki
NETWORK WAITAKI should disclose why it is retaining the largest share of 
the company's profits from the 1999 and
2000 years. Last week, it announced a distribution of $2 million, but 
this falls far short of the profit the company will
make by the end of March this year. The 1999 surplus was reported at 
$1.877 million, which, combined with $500,000 from the sale of the energy division and 
an anticipated surplus of $3.55 million this year, gives a total of $5.827 million surplus. 
After deducting a provision for taxation of $1.766 million, the 
company still has about $4.5 million to
distribute, so is being miserly by only returning $2 million to the community.
Some of the other disclosures last week also raise further questions, 
such as why the company "wrote off" debtors
worth over $900,000, a staggering sum in itself. The claim the company 
actually allocated $144,000 more than it
received from the sale of the energy division is also confusing because 
the loss on the electricity hedges of $1.361 million created a tax credit of $454,000, 
leaving a net gain of about 
$310,000, not the deficit originally stated. 
WayneMurphy
Oamaru
[Abridged.- Ed.]
[The chairman of Network Waitaki, Ken Scott, replies: "It is unfortunate 
that Mr Murphy clearly does not understand
the issues raised in his letter. The figures used and the assumptions 
made are either totally incorrect or at best
wholly misleading.
"The company has never written off debtors worth over $900,000, or any 
figure like that. The suggestion that the
company should be more forthcoming with its use of shareholders' funds is 
a curious one, bearing in mind that the
company's intention statement and annual records are publicly available.
"If Mr Murphy cares to make an
appointment with our office, we will be happy to guide him through our 
annual report and statement of corporate intent (both of which are public documents), 
which he seems to have difficulty in understanding." - Ed.]
Clean air plan
ON JANUARY 1, 2000, the Otago Regional Council air plan pertaining to 
backyard burning of domestic rubbish came
into effect. This was intended to place controls on the incineration of 
rubbish in any location where the housing
density is 10 or more dwellings per hectare or within 50 metres from any 
common boundary - in other words, any
residential situation. Why then are so many rubbish fires still occurring 
in our suburbs, especially during the
weekend? More alarmingly, however, why is practically 100% of the 
population, apart from ORC employees and their
immediate families, ignorant of this new rule? The successful 
implementation of such a rule, which flies in the face of
the birthright of New Zealand citizens to place their own interests above 
those of their neighbours and the
environment, obviously needs to be associated with a strong campaign of 
information. I am not aware of any such
campaign through the media or relevant notices to householders either 
before or after January 1.
The Dunedin City Council on the other hand is most proactive in the 
dissemination of information on its bylaws. Just
look at the publicity being directed at dog owners via the popular media. I 
am not a person with legal training, but it is
evident even to me that if one desires someone to change their ways, one 
must first inform them that they should do so. This has not apparently been done. Why 
not, and will it ever be done?
 Tony Bush Macandrew Bay
[Tony Avery, director resource management, Otago Regional Council, replies: 
"Yes, the Otago Regional Council in its
Proposed Regional Plan: Air, has suggested a ban on backyard burning in 
Otago's main urban areas. Public
submissions were received both for and against a backyard burning ban. 
However the plan has not yet been finalised
and all the submissions are currently being considered by the council's air 
plan hearings committee.
"Your correspondent can be assured that should the hearings committee 
decide to retain the backyard burning
component of the Proposed Regional Plan: Air, there will be a vigorous 
publicity campaign mounted by the regional
council to ensure the community is made fully aware of it." - Ed.] 
Treaty of Waitangi
IT WAS WITH incredulity that I read some of the "facts" provided by several 
of your correspondents concerning the
Maori language. M. N. Richards (3.3.00) is wrong to suggest that the Maori 
language was "no more than 600 words"
before settler contact. He should perhaps look at the Williams Dictionary, 
a taonga which contains 500 packed pages
of pre-contact Maori words. Maori, like any natural human language, was and 
is, a fully functioning language.
Peter Bodkin (3.3.00) mistakenly compares the multiplicity of languages in 
Melanesia to the linguistic situation of the
Polynesian Maori. While Maori is made up of dialects (like English of 150 
years ago), there is mutual understanding.
In fact, such is the relationship between the Polynesian languages that 
Captain Cook successfully brought Tupaea, a
Tahitian, with him as an interpreter to New Zealand.
Some newspaper letter writers might not like the fact that there is an 
internationally recognised Maori language
version of the Treaty of Waitangi. Those propounding falsehoods to support 
their case might hoodwink some readers,
but also tend to expose themselves to ridicule.
Lachy Paterson  Dunedin
Pohuenui
THE TANTALISING headline "Island for sale" (ODT, 7.3.00) reports Pohuenui 
Island for sale. Many years ago I worked
on Pohuenui and then it was a peninsula. And I think it still is. 
Bill McEwan
Northeast Valley
[While officially referred to as an island, Pohuenui is connected to the mainland by a 
narrow strip of land. Ed.]
Reunion
Ross Family: Descendants of David and Mary Ross and their children, Donald, 
Robert, Mary, Jessie, Georgina,
Barbara and Kenneth, all born in Tain, Scotland, are celebrating a family 
reunion June 30-July 2, 2000, at Wanganui.
Most of the above settled in or near Dunedin. Surnames that could be 
related are Ballach, Campbell, McArthur, Cromie, McKay, Ross, Willocks, Fergusson, 
McInnes, Paterson, Staley, Robinson and Woodman. Contact: Jean Ross, 6/7 St Leonard 
St, Wanganui. Telephone (06) 345-0277.
General Pinochet
THE LABELLING OF General Pinochet as being a fortunate man to escape the 
attentions of the Spanish authorities
reeks of double standards and selected incrimination. The general is no 
saint but he should be allowed to live out the
rest of his life in his beloved Chile in peace. The United States-backed 
CIA installed him in office in 1973 to protect lucrative mining interests which Salvador 
Allende intended to 
nationalise. President Richard Nixon and his countrymen who owned the mines in the 
Atacama Desert knew that a lot of 
killing would be required to protect their
dollars.
Spain itself can hardly claim an angelic history. It plundered the native 
South American Indians, particularly in the
15th and 16th centuries, for their treasures using, in most
cases, inhumane methods. I rest my case. Leave the man alone.
Ross Black  Owaka
National anthem
OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM was written by a European in the South Island, a 
person who seemed to have some
feeling for his adopted country. It is being suggested that it now be 
sung in two languages. But New Zealand is a
multi-cultural society with many languages. So, instead of the 
acrimonious question of whether it be sung in one or
other of the two, how would it be if it were always in English (as 
written) and on varying occasions, sung by a different
ethnic person, be they European, Polynesian, Asian or whatever? That 
seems fairer to everyone domiciled in this land.
M. McLean  Palmerston
Timber plant
THE DAY TAIERI residents voted to become part of Dunedin was a bad day 
indeed. We have handed our lovely farm
land over to the DCC on a plate to urbanise it by putting industrial 
plants all over it, because you may be sure if the
wood processing factory goes ahead it sets a precedent for more re-zoning 
and more industrialisation.
I would like to point out to the DCC and like-minded people that farming 
is still one of the most important industries
for New Zealand, so let the Taieri Plain be Dunedin's lovely prime farm 
land and use those sites which are not feasible
for farming for your urban industry.
Kathleen Kirk  Mosgiel

As the latest superman emerged to tackle the monster, the streets rang with public 
yawning.

Clarification on oyster cadmium levels

I READ WITH interest the article describing the cadmium levels in Bluff 
oysters (ODT, 3.4.00). Although most of the
report was largely comprehensible and scientifically acceptable, surely the 
comment attributed to Bluff Oyster
Management Company chairman David Skeggs must have been misreported. Nobody 
in the 21st century believes
that lead can be transmuted into gold. But can lead really be changed into 
"a heavy based cadmium"? This could be
the scientific breakthrough we've all been hoping for. The cadmium levels 
reported will not stop me "binging on
oysters", only the price.
Ross Grimmett  Roslyn
[David Skeggs replies: "Your correspondent is correct, I have been 
misquoted, and unfortunately the reporter from the
Southland Times was a little confused. I was referring to ionic cadmium, 
nothing to do with lead. Not that I profess to know a lot about this area, but my 
understanding is that there are 
different forms of cadmium. There is ionic
cadmium, which is the form of cadmium arising from industrial processes and which has 
been associated with cadmium 
poisonings, and there is free cadmium which
is the cadmium in bluff oysters. The latest research conducted by masters 
student, Anthony Butcher, shows that in
Bluff oysters the free cadmium is bound to a protein called 
metallothionein. That is what was indicated in a 1992
World Health Organisation report on oysters, which gave no cause for 
concern to those who eat oysters. The role of
metallothionein within the oyster is unclear, but it is most likely there 
to lock away the cadmium in a form that is non-toxic to the oyster. Research is 
continuing. There have been a number of 
studies carried out on people eating oysters
over the last 20 years, and none has shown any cause for concern." - Ed.]
Penguin trust
THE YELLOW-EYED Penguin Trust is delighted with the number of conservation 
and wildlife articles you publish, including the article "Little birds a big attraction" 
(ODT, 1.4.00). 
However, we were disappointed there was no
mention in the article of the work by the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust, based 
in Dunedin but working to protect penguin
habitats from Banks Peninsula to Stewart Island and acknowledged by the 
Minister of Conservation as one of the
premier conservation organisations in New Zealand.
The trust applauds the work Howard McGrouther carries out to increase both 
penguin breeding numbers and public awareness created by his tourism operation. Mr 
McGrouther's 
conservation work is confined to his Otago
Peninsula property, unlike the work of the trust. There are a number of 
other tourism operators on the Otago
Peninsula, including Southlight Wildlife, a supporter of the trust, which 
have also contributed to an increase in
penguin awareness.
The trust wishes to clarify with your readers its position. It is a 
charitable trust, which receives no government funding
despite working closely with the Department of Conservation. Our work is 
funded by our major sponsor, Mainland
Products Limited (also Dunedin-based), and our 2000-plus members and 
supporters.
 Sue Murray  Executive officer, Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust,  Dunedin
[Abridged. - Ed.]
Ice-cream stall
BUYING AN ICE-CREAM from the stall in the Octagon and talking to the person 
in charge, I was shocked to hear
that the rental for the site is $8500 a year. I understand that the same 
applies to the potato stall. Stalls of this nature
add character to the town. It seems as if the council is hell-bent on 
killing the enthusiasm of enterprising persons who
might be considering applying for a licence to operate something similar in 
the city.
If the council had to install electricity points and the stall took up 
metered space, then a reasonable charge would
have to be made. Where this stall is situated, I would think that a pepper 
corn rental would be in order. Like all things today the dollar sign seems to be all that 
matters.
A. J. Aitken
Belleknowes
[Mark Lyne, environmental health co-ordinator for the Dunedin City Council, 
replies: "A charging regime is in place,
which reflects the good location of the Octagon for foodstalls and is 
considered to be consistent with rental structures
in place for commercial premises in the vicinity. When the fees were first 
developed, they were based on the stalls'
annual
turnover and are still considered to be appropriate. However, there are 
provisions for negotiation of rental fees during
any times of hardship and new stalls are given a 25% rent reduction during 
their first few months of trading to assist
with the success of their business." - Ed.]
Family law
DAVID MORE'S concerns regarding law changes which may result in an increase in 
fatherless families (ODT, 5.4.00) are valid and apt. Furthermore, there is published 
information which 
suggests that his experience in the courts with children from one-parent families may 
presage the development of a major 
social problem. Years ago, when interested in a debate concerning maternal and paternal 
deprivation, I located in the Medical School library a Home Office survey of the prison 
population in Britain.
It showed that a disproportionate number of prison inmates came from 
families in which the male parent was absent during the children's formative years. Peaks 
of such prisoner numbers 
occurred relative to World War 1, the Great Depression and World War 2. While it would 
be of interest to know if the English situation is repeated in the New Zealand prison 
populations, the English statistics should be a cause for 
concern in New Zealand, given the current prevalence of fatherless families in the 
community.
 Les Simpson Otago Peninsula
Pregnancy help
CONGRATULATIONS to Bishop Patrick Dunn of Auckland for his "offer to provide 
financial and other assistance to help women choose life for their babies rather than 
termination" (ODT, 
1.4.00). It would be truly wonderful to see other spiritual leaders and secular groups get 
behind this programme, to help single mothers in all stages of parenting.
Susan Frykberg  Maori Hill

In the 50 years we've lived here there' been no need for a cellphone tower, so why do we 
need one now?

It might be a safe anchorage and splendid view to you, mate, but it's kai moana and radio 
spectrum to us!

