The law was very unpopular, and the Government ignored referenda, petitions and appeals - so much for democracy.
The Russian government passed a vaguely similar law last year. Russians love children - a racial stereotype, perhaps, but true.
Russians were appalled at the idea that a mother could not spank her child. So were the police, but eventually they prosecuted a mother who spanked her 13-year-old son for watching pornography.
Petitions and appeals to politicians persuaded the Government to repeal the law before much harm was done.
Is New Zealand more democratic than Russia?
ALAN DAVIDSON, Gonville
Water everywhere
Another case of the king's got new clothes ...
Only Maori can understand their world view, non-Maori who question it are either called stupid or racist.
Rainwater runs downhill, it always has. Rivers, lakes, mountains were here long before anyone turned up and will be here long after they are gone, no matter what fairy stories are made up.
The same can be said of air as of rainwater (it's around us, it's in us, things live in it).
It's part of us and we can't live without it.
R. PEARSON, Feilding
Curb spending
I am sure the elderly ratepayers will be pleased to know that their money has been spent wisely and has been funding the boaties their new toilets and new ramps.
Any charges will have to cover the cost of clearing away the debris under the water.
Oh council, you are a sad lot - ratepayers are getting a bit fed up with funding all these schemes. And to think that we voted this lot in feeling that few new faces will make a difference - big mistake.
User-pays has been put in place by nearly all councils in NZ but sad little Whanganui is lagging behind.
MARGARET HADDON, Castlecliff
Happy note
The day dawned wet, very overcast and generally dismal - and we were only one day away from what the media advised was to be inclement weather for the Easter break.
However, all was not lost as toward the end of the day I read Dan from the Scrapheap's amusing and enlightening opinion piece on the St Barnabas Church organ.
A case of what began down the street as an inconvenience to his Sunday morning slumber is now Morgan the Organ in said person's lounge due to a large dose of insistence from Dan's "missus".
Thanks Dan for your uplifting story and good luck with the organ lessons - hoping for an update on progress.
PENNY JOLL, Whanganui
Include disabled
Since you published my letters about the French banning a film for showing people with Down syndrome smiling, as that could upset people who have aborted children because they might have had Down syndrome, I have tried to find out something of the situation in New Zealand.
Apparently, in Western nations about 90 per cent of those told their child might have Down syndrome end the lives of those children while still in the womb.
In New Zealand both the incidence of Down syndrome and the aborting of babies is thought to have been increasing.
The 2015 figures (for the 2014 year) show 13,137 induced abortions in New Zealand. Reasons given show 192 were because of some handicap of the child. Of course, 12,780 gave the reason as "danger to mental health" of the mother, which could mean anything.
Thus the figures do not tell us what percentage of children with Down syndrome, or any other handicap, are being "weeded out" by pre-natal testing and abortion.
What we should be afraid of is the way, in our modern and supposedly inclusive society, people with some form of "handicap" are devalued.
New forms of pre-natal testing and attempts to change our laws to allow more and easier aborting of children who may have so-called disabilities, show our society is not accepting and supportive of those who are different. At this rate, the eugenic goals of the birth control movement will be achieved, and the only place we will see the beautiful smiles of those with Down syndrome will be in a film - which will probably be banned.
K.A. BENFELL, Gonville
Maori varies
What really is disgusting, D. Partner, is your ignorance or not of the fact that the Maori pronunciation by those not from the Aotea district for our fine locale Whanganui actually does sound like Funganui, definitely not Fonganui.
Just because we do not sound our "Wh as an "F", we dare not presume to tell them they cannot.
As for TV1, I feel quite proud of the fact that every morning young Jack Tame delights in greeting all in Maori and with correct pronunciation.
I don't know, perhaps it's a Ngai Tahu thing, whereby they ensure their journalists are culturally and linguistically diverse.
Good on you, Jack - keep it up.
ALBERT THOMPSON, Whanganui
Let it be
Potonga, stop picking the scab off, or the wound will never heal.
MICHAEL WILTON, Taihape
