Laws: We won't drop guard on DHB merger

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws insists the district council will continue to take a keen interest in any moves towards DHB mergers.
Mr Laws took issue with an editorial in yesterday's Wanganui Chronicle, which suggested merger talk was politically motivated and advised councillors to instead focus on the local authority's own issues.
He said the Wanganui Chronicle was serving the community poorly on health and hospital related issues "by ignoring the documentary evidence put before the council this week, and trying to get the council to pretend that there was no problem regards a potential DHB merger".
He said that it was "the dumbest and most ill-informed editorial" he had yet read in the local newspaper.
Chronicle editor Ross Pringle defended  coverage of the issue, saying the paper had presented a balanced account.
"Our reporters have given considerable coverage to this talk of a potential merger between Whanganui and MidCentral DHBs, including those who believe a merger is imminent. In yesterday's Chronicle we reported on Health Minister Tony Ryall's responses to specific questions put to him, in which he denied he was pressing for the two bodies to merge." Mr Pringle vowed the paper would continue to cover the matter as and when there were developments.