NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Politics

Letters: Free school lunches will feed parents' bad habits

Whanganui Chronicle
8 Sep, 2019 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Will providing hungry school children with free lunches encourage parental delinquency?

Will providing hungry school children with free lunches encourage parental delinquency?

Yes, I feel for the children who don't get sent to school with lunch.

However, I believe the Government should check with the principals why they don't have a packed lunch.

You should see the pubs (pokies) and the number of parents who smoke/drink etc. Providing a lunch for the children will give the parents more money to spend on the above.

AILSA DICKSON
Marton

Dating quartz

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mandy [Donne-Lee], Tas Walker incorrectly describes the thermoluminescence process. The Australian quartz was not "found"; it was uncovered, an apparently pedantic point but a critical component of the dating analysis.

Australian archaeologists meticulously scraped the surface of sites in a multitude of locations across Australia and, in this slow method, dug down into the earth in shafts.

The materials, including quartz, revealed to them were uncovered at various levels below the ground's surface, the last being around 2m below. All samples were sent to laboratories for experts to analyse.

The results showed the quartz buried under 2m of earth had lain for around 60,000 years, during which it was bombarded by radioactivity from the surrounding sediment. Electrons from this radioactivity were trapped inside the quartz, steadily building up a charge at a constant rate, which was released when the quartz was heated. The intensity of the luminescence tells scientists when the quartz was last exposed to sunlight.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The results from all tests across all locations tell of Australia's first people arriving 60,000 to 65,000 years ago. Bishop Ussher's time of creation as midday, October 23, 4004 BC is a bit too precise.

Their scientific triangulation methodology utilised radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating as well as cultural artefacts. The results from all tests across all locations tell of Australia's first people arriving 60,000 to 65,000 years ago.

Bishop Ussher's time of creation as midday, October 23, 4004 BC is a bit too precise. The scientific community is a challenging environment in which to work. Peers constantly review findings to seek flaws, before and after publication. Scientists, therefore, must assume nothing and go from there.

Discover more

New Zealand|education

'Thanks, but no thanks' - Schools weigh up Govt's free lunch trial

14 Oct 10:20 PM

Tas Walker presumes the Earth is 6000 years old. I refer you to Gary Hurd's A Response to Dubious Diluvium, and if you can clearly enunciate where Gary Hurd is incorrect, please tell me. I'd be more than interested. If you cannot, I would politely suggest you do not know enough on the subject to claim the science supporting geologists and archaeologists is wrong. You might believe it is wrong, but that is not factually based.

MAX WARBURTON
Whanganui

Population burden

John Archer's letter on population fails to recognise that in the world we have two different population problems.

In the developing world, the problem is a population growing too rapidly. Nigeria, for example, is about four times the size of New Zealand with a population of 191 million, growing at 3.2 per cent per annum. This means, unless there is a change, the population will double in 23 years.

It is not helpful to throw such figures around, as I don't see any volunteers to reduce the world's population coming forward.

The developed world, on the other hand, has the problem of declining and ageing population. Japan has a slightly declining population with at present 33 per cent of the population over 60. Fertility rates are 1.44 children per woman, so the population is not being replaced and the percentage over 60 will rise to 40 per cent by 2060.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

John also makes the statement that the world has a sustainable population limit of 2 billion only. At least that is better than James Lovelock's estimate of 500 million in his book, Revenge of Gaia.

It is not helpful to throw such figures around, as I don't see any volunteers to reduce the world's population coming forward.

I am not sure if John, in his letter, is proposing euthanasia on a massive scale and abortion, as the answer to his perception of the problem — a solution I would strongly disagree with. John proposes that Christians should stop commenting on abortion and euthanasia and become green advocates.

While Christians recognise the need to care for the creation, it sounds like he wants us to replace the worship of the creator with worship of the creation itself.

STEPHEN ROSTRON
Springvale

•Send your letters to: Letters, Whanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Whanganui 4500 or email letters@wanganuichronicle.co.nz

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Environment

Environment

Waikato eco-sanctuary first site to receive kōkako from Hunua

30 Jun 04:07 AM
New Zealand

Feral goats' days numbered in 'unique' conservation park

25 Jun 07:40 PM
Premium
Opinion

Simon Wilson: Chlöe Swarbrick and the lost lessons of Monopoly

17 Jun 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Environment

Waikato eco-sanctuary first site to receive kōkako from Hunua

Waikato eco-sanctuary first site to receive kōkako from Hunua

30 Jun 04:07 AM

Once on the brink of local extinction, the Hunua Ranges kōkako have slowly bounced back.

Feral goats' days numbered in 'unique' conservation park

Feral goats' days numbered in 'unique' conservation park

25 Jun 07:40 PM
Premium
Simon Wilson: Chlöe Swarbrick and the lost lessons of Monopoly

Simon Wilson: Chlöe Swarbrick and the lost lessons of Monopoly

17 Jun 05:00 PM
Auckland's first electric ferry is on the water

Auckland's first electric ferry is on the water

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP