Letters: 'In the dark' over spending

KYM Fell, chief executive of Whanganui District Council, has pointed out there are no mushroom farms within the council.

Let's turn on some lights so we can see the mushrooms in their true light.

The council had the opportunity to explain the $1.2 million spend on the council building at 101 Guyton St when they made the press release about the customer services refurbishment. They did not; we are still in the dark.

In his reply, Kym stated: "Additional funding in other areas of the building is for normal, budgeted maintenance." Why then is it shown in the long-term plan under Capital Expenditure as "Buildings and improvements replacement".

Kym stated: "The building is not considered earthquake-prone according to current legislation."

However, in the reply to my OIA request the following was received: "Work is planned to progress through all floors of the building to reach minimum safe compliance with current building code particularly in relation to the removal of asbestos, earthquake restraint for services, HVAC and most particularly fire compliance."

It seems that, in an earthquake, the building will not fall down, just the ceiling and all the pipework.

JIM WHITE
Castlecliff

Read the Old Testament

The following suggestion is for everybody — however, it is journalists uppermost that come to mind.

Here are men and women who have an enjoyment of words, an idea to develop perception and, at the back of their mind, hopefully the question: "What is the purpose of life?"

So many seem to be educated only in the last 100 years. This makes most of them left-wing.

Anna Sinclair recently was a sharp contrast.

My suggestion? Read the Old Testament — it is full of good language, epithets, metaphors, wisdom, poetry, a wealth a writer probably would not exhaust in a lifetime.

Here we are in 2019 making the same errors as in the past millennia. How has that come about?

Powers, like governments, education, have discarded the Bible as irrelevant. Judging from the present political climate something valuable has been tossed aside. Go and have a read, then write your articles.

At the centre of these literary revelations is a philosophy with 10 rules — for the most, a lot of commonsense. Have a read and then write your articles. You may not end up believing in a God, but you certainly shall be left with some masterful literary devices.

F R HALPIN
Gonville

What do readers think?

H. Norton's letter claiming that I am "wrong" ( Chronicle, January 19) is such a falsehood. I point out that my letter addressed two claims being ." ... the land was never put up for sale "and "the Government of the time had literally stolen Mangapapa".

I provided evidence and links supporting the facts that Mangapapa had been voluntarily offered and subsequently sold to the Crown for an agreed price.

H. Norton proffered no reasons to refute my evidence, instead commenting in general terms upon the laws of the day affecting the sale of Maori land "like Mangapapa" ... but note, not specifically Mangapapa. He admits these sales were legal and claims they would not be so today.

We all know the law, society's views and land valuations change over the years, but that is not an adequate cause to revisit a voluntary sale and agreed payment made over 100 years ago and to demand the return of the land along with compensation. Were it so, then I and thousands of other New Zealanders would be entitled to revisit the sale of land sold by our forebears and demand the return of that land along with compensation.

I conclude by repeating that the owners of the land were not forced to sell Mangapapa, nor had it "stolen" from them, instead they asked the Crown to buy it and had negotiated an agreed sale price.

H. Norton says I am wrong, but I believe that the editorial epithet, "land stolen legally" is a suitable oxymoron for his letter, but what, dear readers do you believe?

V W BALLANCE
Westmere

Send your letters to: The Editor, Whanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Whanganui 4500; or email editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz