A discarded face mask in a puddle in central Auckland during alert level 3. Photo / Greg Bowker
We are continually being told how we need to take precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 through community transmission.
One of the main methods of prevention is the use of masks and we are told that they are now mandatory on all forms of public transport.
We are constantly being advised to maintain a 2m distance from other persons to help prevent the spread of this disease.
Given all of the above I was shocked to see used face masks discarded on the ground. Outside one shop, I counted 15 face masks dropped on the ground.
Although the people who drop these masks recognise that the use of face masks is important, they don't seem to recognise that they put the lives at risk of those people that have to clean up after them.
So recognising that there is a recycling issue with disposable face masks, why doesn't the Government make people buy reusable ones, even though it may not be popular?
You look at pictures from around the world and see face masks lying everywhere. It's time to tell people how to properly dispose of them.
Peter Buckley, Te Kauwhata.
Watercare is a puzzling operation.
The two-year project to construct the Pukekohe East Reservoir was completed last month – on schedule.
Yet Watercare has not trumpeted this achievement, which allows the Auckland CCO, under the pump for months because of the region's water shortage, to finally take a further already mandated 10 million litres of water from the Waikato River, thus helping to mitigate the effect of the current drought and adding further resilience to the network.
So, a shout-out to Watercare because I expect Mayor Goff, Watercare CEO Jaduram and extraordinarily busy chair Margaret Devlin might not be too happy to share the platform to spruik the job.
C Johnstone, Grey Lynn.
I am delighted, and so are many of my friends, about Matariki becoming a public holiday. Not just because of an extra rest from a work day but primarily because we are honouring two realities: one, the original people of this land and their traditions and two, an acknowledgment of our connection with our amazing physical universe.
There is another profound truth in all of this: as we respectfully greet the appearance of that distant star cluster, we are reminded that there is a deep, unbreakable unity between us and every particle of the universe.
Patricia Williams, Māngere Bridge.
Silencing critics "with an axe to grind" is a very high price to pay for winning the current battle. Freedom of speech is too precious a commodity to sacrifice for any reason.
If Sue Rawson (NZ Herald, September 9) had her way, the battle for our basic rights will have been lost.
Ashley Clarke, Beach Haven.
I had the misfortune to need to walk down Queen St today, between Wellesley St and Customs St.
What a deplorable, desolate wasteland it was. What shops weren't boarded up were totally devoid of customers. Orange cones and concrete blocks were the prime feature.
Even the beggars looked to have given up.
To quote Dante: "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
Garry Wycherley, Awakino.
I agree with L. Braithwaite's (NZ Herald, September 7) that it would be a helpful idea if our political parties informed us of their stance on "live exports" before the imminent election.
Cramming vulnerable, helpless animals in pens on a ship is a barbaric and inhumane practice.
The Forest and Bird Society has written to all the political parties to make them aware of the concern that many New Zealanders have for the wellbeing of our beautiful country. Perhaps the SPCA should do the same for the future wellbeing of cattle and sheep and therefore give them a voice which hitherto they certainly have not had.
Andrea Dorn, Meadowbank.
J. Billingsley (NZ Herald, September 8) suggests "control of Auckland Port should lie with the elected representatives chosen by the city ratepayers, not business managers". Then the writer adds, "the port exists to provide a service and a lack of dividends is immaterial".
Are council appointees skilled in port management? Is profit creation obsolete?
Try convincing the ratepayers of Tauranga, who own 50 per cent of Port of Tauranga, a listed company, together with private shareholders who have seen the market capitalisation of the company increase more than seven times during the last 15 years and an average compounding shareholder return of 19 per cent per annum, mixed ownership proving a resounding success.
Can something be learnt from a model that has created one of the most efficient container ports in the Southern Hemisphere?
P. J. Edmondson, Tauranga.
Your correspondent Martin Ball (NZ Herald, September 8) is correct. Astronomically, the seasons do start on the equinoxes and solstices.
However, for some reason, the meteorologists consider the start of the seasons to be from the first day of the calendar month. That seems bizarre to me.
Most people will agree that, generally, we get our warmest and most settled weather after
Christmas (near enough to December 21) until mid-March (close to March 21) when it starts cooling down again.
How often do you hear people
saying "we are having an Indian [late] summer"? In fact, we are actually having a normal summer.
L. F. Jones, Te Atatū Peninsula.
With all the safety improvements to modern cars, why have they never fitted HUD (heads up display) to ordinary cars?
I have a Toyota with the speedo in the centre of the dashboard. So you look at it at 45 degrees, impossible to tell the speed accurately.
I fitted a HUD unit for $100 and I have the numbers in my line of sight - much, much safer. It works on GPS and is accurate, according to the roadside speed indicators around home.
J Davison, Manurewa.
Regarding the medals to the Māori Battalion; my father served with the 21st Battalion in North Africa and after being invalided home he got on with his life.
In due course, his service medals arrived and they were put into a drawer and forgotten about.
My father rarely spoke about the war but he did often say that all the nurses should have got the Victoria Cross. For most men, the war was a terrible thing that was best forgotten. My father used to say "if you weren't there, you would never understand".
I have Dad's Africa Star as a watch fob but the medals didn't mean a thing to my father.
Lindsay Johnston, Sandringham.
Fifty odd years ago when I left school, jobs were abundant, crime low and we had a much happier society. We had youth rates of pay up until 21.
We learned to get up at 7am, put on clean clothes, and arrive at work on time.
We mixed with older people and learned from them. We learned good social and work skills and, more importantly, we learnt the work habit
Had we been given four times the money, we would have arrived at 21 with no money (as we did anyway), but drank more, eaten more junk food, probably tried drugs, had a boy racer car and be without the skills we have today.
The politicians, and the "we know best" brigade have done terrible damage to our young people, denying them the opportunity we had. They all lack, "applied common sense".
If politicians want to fix the social problems they should start here. I could give four young people a job today if they would bring back youth rates.
Young people should start a movement: "bugger you politicians, we all want jobs and skillsets".
Tom Reynolds, St Heliers.
On Matariki
David Seymour needs to do some arithmetic. There are 249 working days (Monday to Friday) in a year. One day's holiday amounts to 0.4 per cent of this total. Maybe he should be focusing on improving the country's productivity record. Clive Britton, Hobsonville.
Why not just replace Waitangi Day with Matariki? Waitangi Day has been hijacked by a few activists and no longer serves the purpose it was designed for. We certainly don't need any more holidays. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
On banks
Another naive, starry-eyed Labour dream. If we reduce bank fees then the retailers will pass on the savings to the consumer. And pigs fly. Pim Venecourt, Papamoa.
On cluster
It seems an Auckland evangelical church has members who don't value the damning science around Covid. Churches, of all places, need to ensure every contact is elucidated by members, as the majority of New Zealanders believe in science over miracles and divine cures. Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
People who are flouting Covid requirements need strong persuasion to get real before they start a pandemic. Pamela Russell, Ōrākei.
The summary, observations and suggestions from George Wilkinson of Epsom (NZ Herald, September 9) regarding the management of Covid 19 are the most succinct, sensible and pragmatic I have read in some considerable time. Trish Thomson, Dargaville.
On capitalism
How can Jacinda Ardern rationalise spending $1.5 billion on small businesses when her first statement after the last election was "Capitalism has failed New Zealanders"? Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.
On roads
The trucking industry has a nerve complaining about the state of the road network. It was their industry representatives that lobbied hard to get the then National government to raise the maximum truck weights from 38 and 44 to now 50 tonnes. Bob van Ruyssevelt, Glendene.