Letters: St John needs new funding

Kevin Thomson (rear), Dame Betty Simpson and Jasleen Saluja try Marton's new ambulance for size. Photo / file

When ancient civilisations invented coinage as a means of exchange, they made it possible for humans to specialise.

Among today's essential specialists are our clever and caring paramedics and drivers for St John Ambulance. But too much of their energy is spent on fundraising which is a shocking waste of expertise. Shameful that such a vital service is classed as a quasi-charity.

The Minister of Health belongs to a Cabinet which has the sovereign power to credit-fund St John either directly or by the district health boards.

Seems Minister Clark can't bring himself to condemn borrowing on the debt markets lest he become associated with Social Credit, currently the only political party which endorses sovereign credit-funding for public health provisions.

Where could money be found for St John in this DHB district?

A glance at the budget for this financial year discloses a sum of around $4.5 million ear-marked for paying the iniquitous capital charge.

News that the government may now pay that charge (since the matter was raised at a Greypower meeting early this year) does not solve the problem.

Just imagine a quarter of this amount going to ambulance services with the residue given to Hospice and other charities. Or are our super-rich overseas creditors considered more worthy of our generosity?
HEATHER MARION SMITH
Gonville

Power of words
Peter Russell's letter (Chronicle, December 13) raises a good point as to how language and its use can provide ploys for people to take a certain stance in dialogue, without being explicit.

It highlights for me the power that language has, along with the succinct use of certain words at various times. That power, as I've alluded to in a previous letter, is determined by conveying certain meanings in our selection and intonation of words.

This highlights, I believe, the need for us to say with precise selection and intonation of words, what we mean in any given conversation and if honesty is part of our makeup, to mean what we say.

These things in my view are even more important than absolutely correct pronunciation, this topic discussed in previous letters by contributors.

Loose use of words that aren't conveying accurately the intended message or meaning opens up a variety of possibilities for misunderstanding, confusion, manipulation, a disconnect and at times conflict.

Politicians are very adept at exploiting all these foibles of language use for their own purposes, along with some individuals.

Tone conveys a subtler, perhaps more powerful message still, that may even convey a meaning contrary to the stated one. If sensitive and alert to that we may choose to believe in the sincerity of the speaker, or not.

Indeed, language is a very powerful tool and I think it behoves us to use it wisely.
PAUL BABER
Aramoho