YourOpinion

Contributions to this page are welcome but letters under 250 words are preferred. We reserve the right to abridge as necessary. Unabridged versions can be read at www.localmatters.co.nz/opinion Letters should be sent to terry@localmatters.co.nz or 21 Florence Ave, Ōrewa 0931. Note: We do not publish abusive or unsigned letters.

Sign clarity needed

It is good to see that Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is consulting on the incorporation of more Te Reo Māori in our road signage. However, from what I have seen so far on their website, I do have some concerns for road safety. While the increasing usage of Te Reo Māori is to be welcomed, we need to be mindful that road signs must be capable of being assimilated very quickly by all drivers. Our roads are driven by a huge number of drivers of diverse backgrounds, including the many millions of overseas visitors. The vast majority of all road users will not be sufficiently familiar with Te Reo Māori to enable them to quickly and safely assimilate road signage where the most prominent text is not in English. Waka Kotahi/ NZTA needs to liaise closely with MBIE and Tourism New Zealand, whose inputs should form a major part of their survey. It is vital that all tourists (and residents) be able to assimilate road signage quickly and safely. From a road safety perspective alone, I believe that English should be the more prominent language on road signage, but that it should also incorporate Te Reo Māori as the less prominent language, and in a different colour. I have no interest in the political discussion on this subject; my focus is purely on safety. My background is over 40 years’ experience at senior level internationally in maritime and aeronautical safety, where the International Maritime Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation regulations dictate that, for safety reasons, English is always the language that is to be used.

Brian Mullan, Silverdale (abridged)

Signs of confusion

The government’s intention to have all road signs in both te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā has made me wonder if places well known already by their Māori names eg, Ōrewa and Whangaparāoa, will then have a name in English too, to be consistent? If this is the intent, which of the two traditions will prevail for Ōrewa ( Land of Rewarewa Bush or Area Of Chief Rewa)?

Owen Hoskin, Ōrewa

Editor’s note: Waka Kotahi responded that it is guided by the NZ Geographic

Comments a drag

Board (NZGB) on the correct wording and presentation of place names. Hibiscus Matters then asked the question of the NZGB who bounced it back to Waka Kotahi, which it said should have the details about their bilingual signage proposal. So far we have not heard further from Waka Kotahi. At this stage it seems the signs are not designed to be a translation of a place name – so if the name that everyone knows a place by is, for example, Ōrewa, that is likely to be the only name on the sign as it is the same in te reo Maori as English. It is thought that only where the names are different will two names appear on the signs. But so far that level of detail is not available.

Strathmill like others

In your latest issue of Hibiscus Matters (HM May 29) there was a very interesting story regarding the Strathmill development at the end of West Hoe Rd. Out of interest, I took a drive to see exactly where this is. It appears that it is on a block of land that looks just like all the other land that has been developed in this area over the years. The complaints being made by the residents have all been rebutted by the developer. My suspicion is that despite living in not dissimilar subdivisions, the local residents are averse to semi-intense housing. Unless we want to give up major tracts of farmland between here and Warkworth, we have to build more intensive housing.

Stephen Doyle, Ōrewa

Endless earthworks?

I see there is another article in the last paper (HM May 29) about the proposed Strathmill subdivision below West Hoe Heights. The interesting thing here is I have never seen a single word from the developers about the actual adjustments to the land. They all bang on about the efforts to mitigate stormwater and improved traffic flow and it all sounds rather jolly but fail to mention the three years of diggers, scrapers, bulldozers and dust. I think three years is a pretty good estimate drawing on how long it took to do Arran Hills and the one opposite and the new one alongside etc. Three years of dawn to dusk, seven days a week seems to be about average and I don’t see why Strathmill would be any different. I would be interested to

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actually hear from the developers how long these major earthworks will take and what impact there will be on the community.

Al Weeks, Ōrewa

Editor’s note Hibiscus Matters sought a response from Strathmill developer Shildon Ltd but no comment was received by the paper’s deadline.

No classics for library

The Ministry of Education recently admitted that a third of NZ 15-year-olds cannot read at a basic adult standard. So you’d have to wonder why an Ōrewa College librarian declined my offer of a pile of classic English and American literature, modern history books and fascinating biographies. Her reaction rather was to look at me as if I were offering her a box of nuclear waste, telling me ‘We have to be very careful these days’. Careful of what exactly? The box I proffered included Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, Mark Twain’s autobiographical Life on the Mississippi and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath – the Nobel Prize in Literature 1962 was awarded to John Steinbeck “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception”. It did not include Hitler’s Mein Kampf or Nabokov’s Lolita, although Christopher Hitchens had read both and went on to become a formidable liberal essayist. Perhaps classics are no longer considered politically correct?

Andrew Westaway, Ōrewa (abridged)

Ōrewa College responds: Ōrewa College

Principal Greg Pierce says the school’s Head of English has since gratefully accepted these classics “where they will be most effectively used”. “There is no argument that less and less students are getting out books from the college library for leisure reading,” Pierce says.

Cat control please

Having lived in Australia, with a cat, where four out of the six states have strict cat control, I would like NZ to have the same control to save our decreasing native bird species. My neighbour has two cats and in the last five years, we no longer see finches, white eyes and other small birds. Cats have killed them all. They even kill our lovely turtle doves and ring neck doves. Cats in those Australian states have to be kept inside and it has caused no problems at all for the owners. Cats should be registered, the same as pet dogs and if cats are not chipped, desexed or kept under control inside, owners, after a warning, should have to pay a fine. The fine needs to be at least $500 for the first breach, to be effective, and double thereafter. The funds could be used to catch and control feral cats. New Zealand has one of the highest cat population and once fed up with them, cats are often abandoned. This must stop. Dogs kill sheep and cattle and get shot if caught. NZ controls them with registration and strict control laws. Cats kill bats and our beautiful birds. Once extinct, we cannot revive those species. It will be a terrible loss to our country as birds also control pests that could destroy our agricultural economy.

This is Pride Week (June 12-16) but there was nothing to be proud of as a Hibiscus Coast resident in light of a number of abusive comments aimed at an Auckland drag queen performer and comedian who is about to host an event here.

As his alter-ego Anita Wigl’it, Nick Kennedy-Hall will host a Drag Queen Bingo night at Paraoa next week.

While to many, this sounds like a bit of fun, others saw it as an opportunity to have a go from their keyboards at those who wear drag, trans people, gays or anyone who appears different from what they consider ‘the norm’.

Although these comments were in the minority, they became increasingly vitriolic and even violent. Seeing this led to Paraoa considering putting on extra security on the night.

One comment, by local board member Jake Law, drew a parallel with bullying in our schools which is also about targeting difference.

Hibiscus Matters was asked whether by helping to promote the event with a story, it was part “of the agenda”. If that’s the agenda of being open and nonjudgmental about the wide spectrum of people who colour our world, then guilty as charged.

For those who still struggle with that acceptance I suggest you take a chance in Pride Week to ask yourselves what you have to fear if you simply live and let live.

Margaretha Western, Ōrewa

Continued From P6

Over the top sum

Does anyone else agree that $185,380 was a totally over the top sum for ratepayers to fork out for the report into Council’s Civil Defence response (HM May 29)? I am a humble nurse, and it would take me more than two years to earn that sum, not four weeks! Yes, the report was needed but I think even half that money would have been questionable. I thought this Mayor was all about financial restraint but this goes to show how skewed the system is when it hands out that kind of cash while underpaying so many in our health and teaching workforces.

Mary Lloyd, Gulf Harbour

Police special delivery

A quick-thinking Police officer helped a couple get to hospital for the arrival of their first child, despite gridlock traffic nearly forcing a motorway birth. The modest Constable Shaw (who does not want his first name published) was returning to Ōrewa Station via the Northern Motorway on Thursday, May 25 when he saw a car pulled over in the emergency stopping lane. Constable Shaw says he had just finished his shift when he noticed the car with its hazards on.“I went and spoke to the driver to make sure everything was ok,” he says. “There was a woman in the backseat, clearly in labour.”Traffic was extremely heavy and Gaurav Patil and his wife, Shraddha had missed the turn off to the North Shore Birthing Unit; both were understandably distressed.Constable Shaw offered to escort them to the hospital but after a couple of kilometres he pulled over and told them to hop into his patrol car so he could transport them to the birthing unit under lights and siren.“Traffic was ridiculous,” Constable Shaw says. “I walked them up to the birthing suite and left. It was quite cool – hopefully it made a difference to them and meant she could deliver safely –not on the side of the motorway.” Patil says his wife had gone into labour at 4am on Thursday and by the time they decided to drive to the hospital, around 2pm, she was in a lot of pain. “It was very tense moment,” he says. “I missed the exit for some reason and unfortunately the motorway was jampacked. I started sweating and called 111. The next minute, Constable Shaw stopped for us.” The couple welcomed their baby boy, Aarav, at 7.30am on Friday, May 26, weighing a healthy 3.38kg. “I didn’t get much time to thank him,” Patil says. “I cannot express how relieved we were to see him. “The way Constable Shaw helped us was amazing.”

Gaurav Patil, his wife, Shraddha and baby Aarav. The couple are grateful that an off duty police officer came to their aid.

Congratulations to Glenda Wallis of Manly who won a double pass to the Drag Queen Bingo night at Paraoa on June 21. Thanks to all who entered.