Letters to the editor: Ashburton trip needs to pay off for Rotorua

Rotorua needs to benefit from a councillor's trip to Ashburton, says a reader. Photo / File

We read that councillor Trevor Maxwell will be attending the upcoming Sister Cities New Zealand 2020 Conference in Ashburton, costing us $1348 (News, February 28).

This seems a lot of money to me.

Seeing I am one of the ratepayers paying for it, I would love to know in what way Rotorua and its ratepayers will benefit from this trip.

If Rotorua does so to the tune of $1348, then councillor Maxwell has my blessing.

Harry Brasser
Rotorua

Resurrecting rail

Inexorably, roading expansion driven by big business, transport industries, vested corporate interests, politicians, councillors, and planners all promote bigger roads and car parks.

Even Tauranga MP Simon Bridges declared National as a "party of roads". The hype a vibrant and wealthy economy is dependent on the American roading model and consumerism sounds fine - if we had another five planets.

In New Zealand, 100 years ago, railways were built for the greater public good. This generational (taxpayer) asset privatised in 1993 and eventually sold back to government for $1.

Resurrecting passenger rail is not rocket science and urgently needs to be done.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns has been reported as saying cargo by rail annually saved 500,000 journeys by truck. Expanding this revelation, well-planned passenger rail would save millions of vehicle trips, so why the wait? People want their trains back. (Abridged)

Jos Nagels
Tauranga

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