Letters: Give Easter trading a chance

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Your correspondent Bob Boardman makes a long winded and essentially redundant point regarding Easter trading (Letters, March 29).

No analysis demonstrating the benefits can be conducted before trading has been tried.

It's fair to say, as he does, that some increase in trading is likely.

Beyond that, the law change allows employers and employees a choice - where there was none previously.

Robert Kennedy also observed that one fifth of the people are against everything all the time.

MIKE BYRNE
Rotorua

State of footpaths

The state of our city's footpaths leaves one with the feeling that maintenance is a foreign concept to Rotorua Lakes Council.

Some of our footpaths are very old and in a bad way and some are not so old and in a bad way.

I remember having to pay a fee when we built a garage. I was told the fee was to cover damages caused to footpaths. It didn't matter that our property had no footpath running by it at that time. The fee was still required.

Having established that money was and more than likely is still being collected for this purpose it would be reasonable for there to be an annual plan of where and when footpaths are to have planned R&M.

Our local population of seniors and the disabled certainly could provide assistance in planning.

Call me sceptical, but the council seem to be able to put money into feel-good projects how about putting money towards make good projects like broken footpaths.

DEREK PACKHAM
Lake Tarawera

Fines for littering

There is not much I agree with in the United States but when we were in California in January, I noticed lots of signs announcing $1000 fine for littering. There was no litter.

New Zealand needs a culture change and this kind of government-led initiative is probably the only way to engineer it.

MIRIAM ODLIN
Mourea