Letters: Who pays for subsidies?

I'm rather amused with E Hampton's letter (Chronicle, January 28). Her rant describing M Hosking's writings as a "rant" was a bit rich, I thought.

A bit of pot and kettle, methinks.

More importantly, her criticism of the Chronicle for publishing Hosking's column. Good enough for you, E Hampton, good enough for M Hosking.

As far as electric cars are concerned, it's mostly bull***t from the Greens and the occasional National support when it suits. Similar to the concessions that the motoring public have to give to cyclists.

This Government is now talking subsidies for electric vehicles, along with no cost to cyclists to use public roads. Who pays? The petrol-buying motorist pays.

Of course, the greenies seem to think that electric cars grow on trees and ignore the fact that they are a manufactured item, requiring electricity generated mostly by coal-fired power stations.

But, of course, that's okay. That's offshore. Just as stupid as banning further gas and oil exploration. What happens when our current gas supply runs out in less than 10 years? Oh, that's right, "we import it".

Simon Bridges was all about electric cars before the election. Having lost the election, he is back to more oil and gas exploration. Come election time the Wombles of Wellington will wonder why we don't have a better voter turnout.

With idiots like the present lot on all sides of the House, is it any wonder?

A BARRON
Aramoho

E. coli in our waterways

There appears to be an increase in the discovery of E. coli in our waters — streams, rivers, lakes and tank water.

E. coli are bacteria that live in the digestive systems of animals and humans. They do not usually cause problems. But there are different types and some are very toxic, causing serious illness.

There is no evidence that antibiotics help. E. coli bacteria cannot be stopped with antibiotics, as they may complicate the situation by destroying the good bacteria. E. coli have to be left to run their course. Disease usually happens in the digestive system, but in my case progressed to undermine kidney function, caused a urinary tract infection, and then went to the bone marrow to reduce red blood cells and platelets.

I am lucky to be alive.

The E. coli found in animal faeces are finding their way into our waterways and those that are airborne finding their way into tank water. Clean water is fast becoming precious. Unsafe water is having a profound effect on our recreation.

Clean, green NZ is fast disappearing. It is time to be very vigilant about what goes into our waterways and aware that safe, clean water is essential to the health of all New Zealanders.

JILLIAN HARDCASTLE
Durie Hill

Site mystery

That photo of Teakau McDonald standing in a large grassy depression poses a great mystery.

There are many such sites within the province of Taranaki. They are not natural, they are man-made.

The site in the photo has been partially filled in, but it still demonstrates that a great amount of sand has been removed.

Why? To grow kūmara, of course. All of the arable lands within the coastal plains of Taranaki have large areas of modified soils. And rotational cropping was the method, as after a few years of kūmara cropping, the land needs a rest and refertilising.

So the great mystery is that if Māori were so busy wiping themselves out, who the hell were those very smart and industrious people who made thousands of acres into soil suitable for growing a subtropical crop in Aotearoa?

It would be a very interesting project to get lidar images of Taranaki and try to calculate the amount of sand extracted from the many borrow pits, how long it was going on for and many other questions.

By this method we could perhaps identify many unrecorded graves and calculate how many Māori died from diseases introduced by colonisation.

That's what decimated the native population of this land. And certainly not divine intervention through inferiority to white Christians.

POTONGA NEILSON
Castlecliff

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