Whanganui letters: Protect our wetlands

Much of the Kokohuia wetland was previously the city rubbish dump. Photo / NZME

From Aramoho to the sea, the northern edge of our river's delta is fringed with springs as the underground water-table is exposed.

Springvale, until drained, was an unusable bog, while westward was a vast wetland.

Named after the delicate aerial courtship of some birds that once lived there, Kokohuia stretched from Bignell St to north of Mill Rd, but in an age when the function and value of wetlands wasn't appreciated, the majority of Kokohuia served for decades as the town rubbish dump until completely filled in about 20 years ago.

As the delta tapers out to meet the cliffs of the Taranaki cape the springs get closer to the sea to form a unique coastal wetland.

A treasured seaside mahingakai, named after the orange residue of reactions with coastal ironsand, Waiwherowhero is home to a variety of native birds, fish and eels.

Alongside the sandy access track from the north of Seafront Rd stands a recently erected sign asking people to respect this unique area. Quite right, but then it says the wetland did not exist prior to the construction of the river mouth moles and subsequent development of the sand dunes. Quite wrong - photographs from the early part of last century clearly show a healthy and well-established wetland here before the dunes developed.

Walk around the corner and you find a wide deep drain has been dug along the edge of the raupo and sections of the wetland completely filled in. We are supposed to have learned from the mistakes of the last 150 years of "progress" yet aerial photos show most of the destruction has happened in the last three years. I respectfully urge whoever is destroying this ancient spring-fed gem to reconsider their actions, and walk the talk of the new sign.

BJ WILLIAMSON
Castlecliff

Face reality of printed money

Liam Dann in his article (Opinion, June 8) is saying the economy is running hot. An economy can run hot for a while but can't keep running hot if it is doing it on unearned income/printed money.

Sure, we can print money and disguise the true situation for a period of time but eventually you have to buy back the printed money; if you didn't there would be no need to earn, what a mess if we all stopped earning, printed money everywhere but nothing to buy.

While we are papering over a hole with printed money the hole is still there, so printed money is dreamland, so you have to face reality some time, sooner the better, it creates a bit of hardship but gets you out the other end.

GARTH SCOWN
Whanganui

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Who should decide?

What's happened to democracy in this country? A notice appeared in the Wanganui Midweek recently, advising that the Geographic Board proposes to change the name of Maxwell to Pakaraka, and inviting anyone supporting or objecting to that action to make a submission.

That means that anyone in New Zealand is to have a say in the naming of the district currently called Maxwell, whether they live there or not - assuming of course that all votes will carry equal weight.

That hardly seems democratic to me. I should have thought that its name should be determined by the people with a vested interest in the place, ie anyone who owns property or lives there, ie the ratepayers of Maxwell.

I don't live there, so why should I have any say at all in what the locals want to call their village?

GA McGRATH
Whanganui

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