Letters to the Editor

---

Race-ist relations
New Zealand is an apartheid and racist country established by the Labour government and continued by the National government. The reason for this was to suck up to the Maori to keep them in power.

These people are not the original people of this country, which can be proven beyond a shadow of doubt, and do not have any more right than the other 150-plus races of people here.

To all the commonsense voters in New Zealand, I appeal to you. Remember, when you vote for Labour, National or Greens you are endorsing and supporting apartheid in this country.

The name given by the French to these people, Maori, were brought here from all around the Pacific Basin as they did not have a common origin. This brought about the inter-tribal wars in this country where many records show that there were more Maori killed by themselves than any other race that came to this country.

The sooner we have a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the true early history of New Zealand the better. The party that includes this in their election manifest will be the clear winners as the majority of people in this country have had a guts-full of the billions of dollars fraudulently handed out to these people, instead of going to health, welfare and education.

Noel Hilliam
Kaipara

 

Fire station funds
A letter from Friends of the Brigade to the local community and visitors to Mangawhai:

We need your help to raise funds that will go towards a new fire station in Mangawhai.

With any fundraising initiative it is important to understand how any funds raised will be utilised, especially where multiple parties are involved, and who is actually contributing what.

With regard to a new Mangawhai fire station, those involved are the New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS), Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade (MVFB) and the Kaipara District Council (KDC).

The NZFS will build and pay for a “basic” building and amenities on land provided (under agreement) by the KDC. The finished station will hopefully be something along the lines of the artist’s impression that Friends of the Brigade have been using for promotional purposes.

Whatever building is provided it will not however be big enough to house all brigade vehicles as only NZFS vehicles will be catered for. The present MVFB ‘support’ van in particular is owned by the Mangawhai Brigade and must therefore be housed at the local brigade’s cost.

It is envisaged that a 4m (or more) extension will need to be added on to the basic building as proposed by the NZFS. This extension and increase in floor size will be at a significant cost to the brigade and require more than is in brigade accounts (as per Charities Services return for 2016).

Consideration must also be given to the Fire & Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) organization that the new building will ultimately become a part of, and ensure that the new station is future-proofed as much as possible for this eventuality.

In addition to this there is a need to ensure landscaping, building finish and general amenities provided in the finished station are consistent with the goal of having a community facility that we can all be proud of.

A Givealittle initiative has now been set up by Friends of the Brigade, a local community group focused on supporting and raising funds for the Mangawhai Brigade towards building a new fire station. Check out givealittle.co.nz/cause/mvfbstation.

Friends of the Brigade
Mangawhai

Quiet council
With our last rate invoice, January 2017, (elected) Mayor Gent informed us that the Councillors are undertaking a training program “to have a good base understanding of the workings of Council by year end.”

It would be reasonable to expect each Councillor to have an understanding of local government before standing as a candidate. Each candidate ought to have a plan as to what they want to achieve for their community if elected!

We don’t know who is training our councillors and what they are being trained to do, but a one year training program sounds like brainwashing in the interests of a particular group, or a particular agenda.

So, what has the new Council achieved for Mangawhai in its first 100 days? Do you know what they have done to stop the anarchic growth, to minimise the summer traffic jams in and around Mangawhai? What have they done to make the Saturday market safer for pedestrians and children? Nothing.

Have they been too busy training? Their term is for three years. Do they really need to spend the whole first year training for the other two?

They could have acted immediately to reinstate the highly successful and well-patronised summer bus shuttle service we have had two years ago.

They could have collected all the information about approved and proposed subdivisions and published a document that shows it all, so that residents and not just property developers get a picture of what is really going on.

Not one new subdivision should be approved without a proper public consultation; because each subdivision needs to be seen in combination with all the subdivision consents already granted.

The really big lesson we could learn from the disastrous sewage scheme is that we need to tell potentially affected people what the implications are going to be for them BEFORE it happens.

The culture of hidden decision-making makes future disasters certain!

The results of the estuary water testing MUST be published. We have many competent people in this community who would understand the information coming from this testing and we the people could work out for ourselves what needs to be done.

Now we should open a new chapter and work confidently together. What are the people of Mangawhai supposed to think when the Council hides the testing results and releases only whitewashed selective interpretations of the harbour water quality?

And in the first 100 days, why has council not investigated who funded the sealing of Black Swamp Road. Has the Council made a gift to John Key’s former boss at Merrill Lynch, the Te Arai Golf Course billionaire?

The Council should not make exceptions for rich people who can buy the rule book, especially when this particular rich foreigner is trying to block public access to what he now describes as “his beach”.

Go to mangawhailongterm.org.nz and get involved yourself. It is our community and it is our future at stake.

(Abridged)

Christian Simon
Mangawhai