Wally's tales

A ‘Bill’ recently passed by Parliament, namely the ‘Three Strikes’ and you are out, well in this case not out, but in the ‘Slammer’. It has been one of the planks of the ACT Party, and probably the main reason why they were elected. The principal of this bill is. ‘Committing a serious crime for the third time, you will not receive the minimum penalty for your crime’ This it would seem has been the practice in the past, now you can expect the maximum. To reach this stage you are either a slow learner, or a habitual criminal. As I said, you can now expect to receive the full force of the law, as well you won’t be getting any second, third, or forth chance. As well there will be no meddling to the sentence by the Judiciary. Naturally there has been an outcry from the liberal side of our population, as well from the lawyers who make a living from our criminal’s activities, which is to be expected. But when you think about it, everyone who cares, wants these criminals off the streets. There has been an recent outcry by the populace to reinforce the thinking of the people over the sentencing by Justice Potter of a young villain. Only two years nine months what was in most minds an act akin to murder. The perpetrator knocked down a high achieving fellow Maori, then deliberately kicked him in the head resulting in the victim’s death. He had initially denied the charge of what he had done. until camera footage of the incident was shown to the court. The feral then changed his plea.

Many people today who live in the leafy suburbs, have a different attitude towards crime. There is not much criminal activity in their immediate area, the closest that some of these folk get to crime, is when read about it in their Newspaper or see a report on the TV news. Make a visit to some of Auckland’s Western suburbs, say Mangere, well there it’s different. There you will find all you want to know about criminal activity. Shop windows and doors, covered with strong roller doors and iron bars. That says it all. Everyone of our big cities have similar areas, but not on such a scale.

I know also that in Christchurch, the central zone bounded by the four Avenues, is deemed a high crime area. Some of the Insurance Companies even go so far as to impose a burglary levy on properties within this area. I know why too. Most of our thieves are a lazy bunch of petty criminals. They tend not to walk very far from the town centre where they hang out. As well they also know that there are a large number of empty flats within the stated boundary, their occupants are all away at work most week days. So there is easy money there for the picking. My daughter lived just outside this area, but she still wasn’t safe. Over a short period she was burgled four times. It’s not what they take, which is mostly small items, which are easily turned into money, cash, and cigarettes. Sometimes they do more damage by just breaking in. It would seem that’s it’s impossible to keep these vermin out, but they do respect alarms. They are a dangerous bunch too, it’s not a good scene should they become cornered. On one occasion my daughter discovered that they had opened her front door to give them another easy avenue of escape, as well, they had laid out some carving knives on the table as weapons, should they be required. Ringing the Police most times you don’t exactly get an immediately response. They are far too busy trying to catch speeding motorists. It’s hard to justify this time wasting allocation of resources. This work just as easy be done by a camera. The importance of your call depends on who has been burgled. if it’s you that’s been burgled of course it’s important, and you want a immediate response

Our Maori population is over represented in the criminal activities, their leaders and family are to blame. They are more interested in teaching their kids the Haka, which is ‘in you face aggression’. This group have a poor record in encouraging their children to take advantage of the education being offered, preferring to send them to full Maori ‘Emersion Schools’ which prepares them for failure, as there is no Maori spoken outside New Zealand, and very little within. They would be suitable to make notices for libraries and other public buildings, which infested with ‘notice’ information which nobody understands. They should take a leaf out of the Chinese book, this group ensure their children get the best start in life with every succeeding generation, ensuring that their children get a leg up, and the best chance of a good job in the future. Those Chinese who wish to speak Mandarin or Cantonese, classes are held outside school hours. Half the world speaks Chinese so it’s of very a practical use.

The Government has just announced that it is prepared to partly assist those who are effected with homes that come within the scope of what today is known as, a ‘Leaky Home’ syndrome. In New Zealand today it’s an enormous problem, it only manifests itself some years after homes have been built, and those constructed in a certain mode. In many cases the builders have moved on, or are unable to be contacted. The luckless owners suddenly finds that, they have now been saddled with a relatively new home, that’s slowly rotting from within. Unfortunately they are faced with a mammoth repair bill, which when coupled with mortgage repayments, in many times this is beyond their financial resources. As well, nobody in their right mind would want to purchase any one of these infected homes. As well these homes are not just an odd random cases, in fact, there are thousands of homes similarly effected.

There is more than one cause of this building aberration. It was really made possible when the building code was altered some 10 years ago to allow untreated timber to be used in framing. This is the nub of the problem when coupled with a change of architect practices to allow the use of chicken wire and plaster. What we used to call ‘Rough Cast’. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much in favour of this method of construction. It’s cheap, and practical. I witnessed something when I was very young, that made on me an lasting impression. It concerned an old home that had it’s life extended by this method. It had caught fire, and the only thing left standing after the home was destroyed, was the chicken wire and cement.

Architects even after some six years training deserve some blame. In spite of hundreds of years of building homes, our forefathers were savvy enough to know, if you didn’t have a reasonable roof overhang protecting the walls of the home, they would leak. I know that in many parts of the world many were built with none, but surprise, most of these homes that were built this way were in the Sahara, or some other place where it didn’t rain very much. Unfortunately, our Architects full of book learning, and in many cases very little common sense, went on a crusade to produce ‘clean cut’ homes with no overhang. And the result was they leaked, coupled with untreated timber rotted away internally.

However all this being said, coupled with some sloppy building practices and a modern adaptation of this style of building which gave the Architects free reign to express themselves, and to produce homes that looked stylish, modern, and relatively cheap.

These homes were not built of chicken wire and cement, as we did in the past, but a modern equivalent. Slabs of cement board. Great care had to be observed with this method of construction, in that all capping, and flashing, were up to the manufacturers specifications. Herein lies the root of the problem. If water was allowed to leak onto the untreated timber interior framing through poor building practises, ‘Dry Rot’ found an easy target. Relatively new homes were now being destroyed from within. The unsuspecting owners were unaware what was happening until it was too late. Remedial action, without specialist assistance was next to impossible. This method of construction also allowed into the building trade, what are loosely called cowboys. It was surprising what a couple coats of paint could conceal. If the builders had traded under the guise of a limited liability company, they could go into receivership, or liquidate the company virtually disappear overnight avoiding any legal redress. Enter the lawyers ready to sue, and in the process garner fat fees. The Government’s move of paying 25% of the repair costs plus a further 25% from by Local Bodies, was to deal lawyers right out of the equation. These grants haven’t pleased many of the Home Owners either. But it’s a much better deal than going down the legal path where they could fail more often than not in their claims, yet still be stuck with legal costs.

Of course, ‘It’s not enough’, cry the home owners. But it’s the only deal in town. Further, the Government will extend to the owner a long term loan which is more than fair. The only looser on this sad scenario is the rate payer, who will have to pay for the councils 25% in the end.

Our Prime Minister John Key is having bad time with the Press. The left leaning reporters never miss an opportunity to discredit him, Currently they are having a field day with one of his recent utterances. They have built up their campaign up from very little, managing to turn it into a media storm. The light hearted remark sounded to me that it was meant as joke, which could be taken two ways. That’s providing you are educated enough to work it out. However, even though it concerns them, the Maori folk are treading very lightly around this controversy. Further more, they would like to have any reference to the dark side of their past, put well and truly behind them.

The Maoris have been busy rewriting their History for a long time, always trying to portray their past is squeaky clean. They wished that in early New Zealand when the Europeans initially arrived, they lived in splendid isolation, that they were known as the ‘Friendly Isles’. Further more, if we played by their rules taking into account the kind of treatment they meted out to other tribes. In particular the Moriori’s at the Chatham’s, as an example. The Maoris from the Wellington Area, on the hunt for more land, came across these owners of the Chatham’s Islands, a peaceful tribe. Why not take advantage of their demeanour, slaughter them all? These inhabitants at the time numbered some 2,000 more or less, They were all clubbed to death, if you were wondering this is not ancient history, but in the mid 1800’s. This policy of helping yourself by taking other folks land, at the same time suppressing any retribution by genocide, appears was their idea of fair play. It was also reported at the time, that some of these unfortunate people as survivors, were actually eaten, or enslaved. These aggressive Maoris are the same people who are today still seeking redress for purported actions and behaviour of our early white settlers, even after some two hundred years. This is in spite of receiving many benefits, pensions, plus large lump sums of money, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars to settle any grievance. The word ‘enough’, apparently is not in their vocabulary

I heard another story this week where one Maori woman activist, was causing a ruckus, seeking the return of several Maori shrunken heads from the French, and other European Museums. Rather naive of this woman. Many of these heads had a Moko tattooed on them, which they sold for a better price. Once some of these scoundrels who sold these artefacts knew there was a market for these grizzly items, they were quick to take advantage of this opportunity by producing same. Is this the action of these people who today say they revere their ancestors? Of course it wasn’t. No, the heads didn’t belong to some great chief of their clan or an adjoining tribe. Just some poor slave kept for that particular purpose, and to supply shrunken head market. And you want one with a Moko? That will be extra because of it’s uniqueness, but we can supply. If you believe what this woman is saying about her ancestors, you are just as gullible as the original purchasers. If we had had the Auckland bridge at that time, they would have sold that too.

All this took place in the middle of negotiations to hand over the ownership of the Urewera National Park. The Prime Minister stopped in full stride, immediately broke off all talks. For certain he had received a message from the Nation. That this move was going a step too far. It will be interesting to see what is to happen with the Coastal and Sea Bed claims which are on the back burner. I personally believe that all public lands, as well as the sea shore, belong to all New Zealanders, and shouldn’t be part of any negotiations. If John Key was wishing for a second term, he should step very warily with this claim also. We have no need to feel guilty over our forbearers conduct. For a start we have doubled their life span from 35 years, taken them away from their miserable existence, that they endured earlier. As well today they have the benefit of roads, bridges, good housing, and a infrastructure that’s second to none. As well, should they wish to take advantage an education and a written language which they never had before.

There is a lot of interest in our coming Mayoral Election. Sir Kerry Burke is desperately looking for a home after being ousted as chairman of Environment, Canterbury. That was a sweet berth for those in charge well paid and plenty of ‘Perks’ related to the job. But his handling of that position didn’t do him any credit. In the last few months there was a lot of ‘in fighting’ with his Board, as a result he was voted off as Chairman, being replaced by councillor Neill. As you would expect, this Board attracts a lot of people who are Green oriented in their thinking, plus a strong Farmers input who are interested in getting their share of the available water. I saw their policies in action recently when Brian Harvey called to say he had purchased a Pellet heater. I inquired, ‘Had he obtained a permit’?. This is in spite of the fact that ‘Ecan.’ actually recommend Pellet Heaters. He immediately rang from here and was told by the employee who seemed to have an agenda of her own. ‘Sorry’, ‘These heaters are not allowed to be used where you live’. I too was annoyed when I purchased my unit, being stung several hundred dollars for a permit for something that they approved, plus another $160 from the Christchurch Council who were also double dipping it seemed, they got into the act as well, clipped my ticket ordering the replacement of my smoke detectors which were only one month old. ‘Ecan’ hadn’t finished with me either, another $35 to find out if I had actually installed the fire. Brian by the way had his permit in a couple of hours, once the store who sold the unit got into the picture. The situation is academic now as the Government has acted on their past bad performance, replacing the Chairman and Councillors with commissioners. I think they got the wrong target. The real villains, are the various managers, and some of the green employees. There are 500 employees all told, it’s surprising what mischief some of these folk can get up to, when they are busy empire building, and creating new departments if all the stories I’m told are true.

Anyhow back to the mayoralty election. Christchurch District seems always to have voted Labour, right down to their local body elections. This is reflected in the Councils Social Policies. We now have the largest number of cheap rental houses of any Borough in New Zealand. I pay $60 a week for my rates, which is starting to look like a rent. I’m not happy about ‘Bank Rolling’ a Council who wish to embark on enterprises that should be the domain of Central Government. I feel Councils should stick to their knitting, not embarking on ‘Do Good’ Social Policies. Recently our new Council for this current term, which for some reason didn’t manage a Labour majority. They actually had the audacity, (My Word) to proposed a small increase in rent to assist with the maintenance of these Council Flats. No way, would the tenants wear this, they expected the ratepayers again, to dip into their pockets and come up with these funds. With the assistance of some left leaning legal help, they went to the Courts and have obtained a delay. If you were wondering? No they don’t pay anywhere near market rents

I say Labour because that’s what they call themselves, but today’s labour is nothing like what it started out as in the days of Nash, Peter Fraser, Semple, Savage, McMillan, Nordmeyer and Webb. The Party has changed so much that the aforementioned founders of the Labour party would regard today’s lot, as a bunch of rabid Tories.

Which brings me back to our Mayoralty election. Jim Anderton the politician is also eying the Mayoral robes, as well as well as a Dr Woods. She is also an aspiring Labour politician, but so far hasn’t managed to get her self elected to any office. But she will be so long as we retain the ‘List’ system. Surely these mayoral candidates will sort themselves out before election day, or the Labour hopefuls will split the vote, allowing Bob Parker to slide in. If Anderton gets in, it will be an interesting period. As someone said, he believes in democracy, so long as you agree with him in all matters.

Bob Parker the incumbent Mayor is the same TV personality they fronted for, ‘This is your Life’ and ‘The farmer of the Year.’ In my eyes he has done a good job. He has been criticised for not disclosing details up front of some of the Councils multi million dollar deals they were involved in, especially property. I would have done much the same when dealing with big money, as not everyone plays by the rules.

It has just been reported that the value of the Euro has slid drastically, this is directly related to the collapse of the Greek economy, joining the Irish in their misery. The Greeks have been told by the IMF, if they want assistance, they have to reign their spending, more to the point, even sell off some of their Islands as first steps to assist themselves in their recovery. This suggestion has stirred a National fervour and rage at the authorities, who being blamed for allowing it to happen. The Irish and Greeks have had a wonderful time, both behaving like drunken sailors with their spending. In these Countries as everywhere else, there has been a lot of money sloshing around and available. Their lending institutions began a lending policy to a degree that normal prudence should have told them that they were courting trouble.

What has gone wrong with the world? We in our little corner of the world have had thirty of forty Finance Companies all go ‘belly up’. Some of these institutions have lost up to $500 million each. I know from personal experience that there are plenty of people in this world who are prepared to finance some dubious investments, especially if it’s with your money. If their enterprise comes off, and it’s a success for them, everything is wonderful. However if it should fail, it’s never their fault. ‘You are a stupid lender, you shouldn’t have lent me the money in the first place.’ A very disturbing factor is that when you examine the principals of the failed companies, the same names of the executives keep popping up. Yes, many have failed before but what a merry time at the investors expense they have enjoyed. Luxury cars, boats, and all the other toys that they buy with the punters money. Which brings me to another point, the part that the Trustees and auditors played, or to put it another way. Didn’t play. How is it that they didn’t that detect that many of these companies had been of the brink of failure for some years? Worse still it seems that some were on the later stages actually financing their operation from new money to make it work, when in fact they were broke and insolvent. In fact many were but now were running a Ponzzi Scheme, and our watch dogs missed it.

How things have changed, our forbearers never bought anything unless they had the money to pay for it. They knew the lessons they learnt from the depression and the tyranny of debt, and unemployment that came with it. Then someone discovered how to create credit from nothing. Nor was this credit backed by any tangible assets, just a book entry. We should have learnt from the 1929 depression, but we didn’t, when the second share market failure and collapse, it caught many, especially those who had borrowed heavily to ride the gravy train. It also caught me completely unawares, and wiped out all my savings which were in the form of Life Policies. The sum of money that I had invested, was to provide for my retirement, and should have bought me a home and as well, given me a comfortable nest egg. These savings were now equal only to the value of a run down small chicken coop, certainly no nest egg. However I was now wiser and richer in the knowledge of how the Money World worked. I discovered too that in the future if you wanted an easy and comfortable retirement, you had to look after yourself, and take into account cover against inflation, as it seems that it’s always waiting in the wings.

Real estate seem to be one of the prime factors in the down fall of New Zealand Finance Companies. And of course many were involved in reckless lending and many of their loans were set up to fail. The principals of good lending are not hard to follow. A sound tract record from the borrower is a good start, a reasonable input of the borrowers cash as a deposit, so that they are involved, and not able to walk away. A no deposit, interest only loan, is for clowns only, and a sure fire way to lose money, something they should have learnt at their grandmother’s knee. Any downturn and the borrower is free to walk away.

Another thing that really annoys me is the use of Sports people or other notable New Zealanders as front people who are assisting the taking in money and giving the Finance Company a gloss of respectability. Should you put yourself in this position, be prepared to accept the down side, and some of the investors may sue for recovery of their money.

Finally there is some sort of inverse law that is at work here. The more you steal, misappropriate, or lose through sheer incompetence, the lighter the penalty. The law should be changed to allow the recovery of monies that has disappeared into family trusts, or to close family members, no matter how well hidden.

This only leaves one further section involved and who should be shouldering some of the blame, and that’s the Investment Advisers. What a miserable bunch. All they seemed to be interested in was the commission they received. They seemed to be more interested in what they personally could make out of the investment, rather than if the placement was safe. Sadly in too many cases it wasn’t

Today like it or like it not, we have degenerated into a very violent society, I’m sorry to say much of the offending is carried out by juveniles, as well, what is called young adults, and it’s getting worse. These brats respect no one, challenge and resist any attempt to curb their bad behaviour. In my mind it’s all directly attributable to the lenient attitude of our societies’ educators, and as well the people in charge of making our laws and policies. All of which have been in force since their birth. The ‘No Corporal Punishment’ and certainly the ‘No Smacking’ brigade, have a lot to answer for. I’m sorry to say, that their chickens are now coming home to roost. Our schools seem to be teaching a culture of questioning, many of the principals that we live by, and goes to make up what we call civilisation. We have also bred an army of lawyers, who pontificate and do their best to mitigate any infringement, which normally should be enforced by law, no matter how bad the deed. Further more, the educated people who know everything, and at this moment firmly believe that talking and negotiation, will solve all things. My initiation to this doctrine came in 1939 when the British Prime Minister returned from a meeting with the German leader, Hitler, clutching a piece of paper, saying to all other adherents to this nonsense, ‘Peace in our Time’. ‘Look!’ ,’This is What I have achieved by persuasion, and negotiation’. Well, peace anyway for the next couple of months. As they say if you don’t learn from History, you are going to be forced to repeat it. As far as I was concerned, at 18 years of age I was suddenly inducted into the New Zealand Army, somewhere I particularly didn’t wish to be.

Today nobody gives a damn about anything, no respect is given to those doing their best to enforce the law. The police are treated with contempt, more often than not, some of these ‘out of control people’ are young drunken louts, prepared to give it a go, some will actually take on and fight with the police. No one is going to tell them how to behave. They also know without fail, someone will come rushing to their defence, telling anyone prepared to listen, their ‘Rights’. We have on the sideline too, Politicians saying and legislating, that they know how we should be bringing up our children. You have to wonder about this as some of these folk don’t actually have children of their own. Further more, we must not think of arming the people who are in the front line, and at times that’s all that’s between us and straight out anarchy. What a lot of educated clap trap. Would these same people be prepared to front up, and assist the guy in the ‘Hot Seat’ out on the street unarmed? Further after a crime has been committed, it’s always the perpetrator that help comes rushing up to. The victim always seems to be sidelined. Who is he anyway, probably dead or in a Hospital?

Sometimes some of these criminals are straight out idiots, so stupid that at times that you just have to laugh at their antics. Today, as reported in the ‘Press’. A looser borrowed his brother in Law’s, ‘Hi Lux’. Went out into the City and stole a $18,000 boat and trailer. While leaving the scene of his crime, dropped his cigarette, while retrieving same, lost control, and crashed into a tree, rolling the truck. When the Police arrived, they discovered adding to his troubles that he was a disqualified driver. Further more, just to give him a really bad day, found he was over the limit for alcohol. It will be interesting to see how the justice Department will treat this man. Justice is remarkably tolerant at times, another law breaker this week, was in the dock for his twenty fifth conviction over the past twenty five years. Drunk in charge of a vehicle, and driving while his licence was suspended. What is wrong with the way we dispense justice?

How bad do you have to be, to get these people off our roads and endangering other road users? I’m actually having problems with Justice it’s self and some of the verdicts recently handed down. One that won’t go away was the conviction of Peter Ellis. I have read the two books written on his trial, I agree with both of the Author’s findings. His trial was likened to enactment of a fairy tale, some of the evidence just plain fantasy. Another was when David Bain charged with the Murder of his family. He managed for the weeks of the trial to say only two words, ‘Not Guilty’. His Lawyers from then on did all the talking. This is very strange Justice. How do you get a fair trial when the accused sits in silence and is never questioned. Finally the ‘peace nicks’ a trio who slashed the radio domes at Waihopai Blenheim causing one million dollars of damage. Guilty in my mind and possibly every other New Zealander apart from the Jury. This Jury found them ‘Not Guilty’. It would be interesting how and why they arrived at this decision.

I travel across town every day, naturally I come across many events that are strictly ‘City’. Not a week goes past that I don’t get in the way of a Fire Engine, Ambulance, or Police Car. These are not normal driving cruising events, but a full displays with hooters and lights. You hear the noise first, but you have no idea if you are involved, or where it’s coming from. As soon as I actually spot the Lights, I pull over and give way to whatever has the various authorities so excited. Never be in too much of a hurry to resume your journey should it be a Fire Engine, as they have a tendency travel in conveys. I’m often in the firing line when on my daily promenade, as I tend to travel only on the main arterial routes, always looking for the ‘Green Wave’.

By passing through the Central Business district you come by default an authority of the health of the various business you pass by. For instant, I can tell you that the motor industry is still undergoing a shake out. Because in the last month I have observed that two car lots, that appeared to the casual glance to be successful, but have been cleaned out of vehicles, and vanished from the surface of this earth leaving only their signage. I don’t count Asian takeaways, or mini restaurants, as they continually seem to change. Probably they are all running on a shoestring right from the start. This is also the main fault of most business that fail. They all seem to be undercapitalised, which is fine if the economy is expanding, but a death sentence when things slow down.

There is alway things of interest that you come across as you drive through the CBD. Yesterday a water main blew out and sent a three to four story column of water into the air outside the Plaza Hotel. Two police cars were quickly on the scene and did their best to flag away the congested traffic and pedestrians. No one wanted to move on until they had a good look at the spectacle, me included. Result, a really good ‘snarl up’.

The one thing travelling cross town that worries me, and that’s ‘tail gating’ by other motorists. The worst street for this seems to be Papanui road. The Road is now very narrow as they have included a cycle lane on each side of the road. Sprinkled the road liberally with Pedestrian Islands, and if that wasn’t enough, included two Bus lanes. I try to keep about twenty metres from the car I’m following, but I can’t do much about the idiot that’s following me. However the space I’m keeping from the vehicle in from is a constant attraction to all and sundry, a slot that must be filled. As they scrape in, as they do, I just drop back yet again. And why do I do this? Over the last few weeks I have observed several multi, nose to tail accidents, all caused by following too close. At least I halve my chances of being involved.

Nobody these days allow their children walk to school. They are all driven, or if you are brave enough, ride a bike. The congestion this driving your kids to school probably doubles the traffic around 9-00am and 3-00pm. I try to get my doctors and dentists visits outside these times, as both have their offices in close proximity to schools, where mothers double, treble, park to pick up their little darlings.

I mentioned cyclists, these road users are a special protected breed, they must all be colour blind as they ignore ‘Red” lights. They also have trouble of realising that they are no longer pedestrians, that they are now expected to obey vehicle road rules. You are not expected to ‘jump off’ your bike and start walking when you are confronted by a pedestrian crossing, claiming the right of way. Riding two or three abreast is not going to endear you to other road users either.

There is no doubt that New Zealand is in Financial trouble. You would think that our elected politicians who are not now occupying the treasurer benches would be offering their help, even to the stopping their political games. Perhaps, even suggesting the formation of a coalition Government, and to get behind a concerted recovery. Not so, no matter what is suggested, it is ridiculed. Whenever other parties can score a political point, they go for the jugular. The media is no help either, they seem to think that the situation is all one big joke, and only a worthy news source. They too are entering into the game being played by the opposition with the result that they are a constant pain in the Butt. Benefit fraud is rampant, some of our unemployed even position themselves in holiday resorts where there is no work. This means that their life style that they have adopted won’t be interrupted. I observed these useless twits when living in Queenstown. Many of the unemployed have positioned themselves handy to the ski fields, grouped together for economic reasons, rented palatial homes, and pursued their disgraceful chosen lifestyle.

We are told the Government is borrowing some Two Hundred and fifty million every week just to keep the Nation afloat. This is clearly unsustainable, and a sure path to an even more desperate situation. In fact we are living in an fools paradise, so everyone can carry on living beyond our means. As one method of aiding a recovery, it has been mooted that any minerals located in the Parks be investigated, if mining can be carried out without being too invasive, it should be looked at. The screams of rage from the Greens can be heard from all over the country. We have a problem here too. Many of the Greens have never really held down a proper job. Should a Financial crunch come, they will be the first to get sent down the road. Have they considered that, if this situation actually comes to pass? Then they can console themselves by sitting in their pristine forests admiring the view.

It would be in all their interests to take a look at what is happening in Ireland. Their situation is a little more advanced than ours. Their Banking system too has experienced a meltdown with the housing market in free fall. They as a result are looking at some very desperate measures. I heard a news item recently that they are considering a 10% to 20% cut in the wages to all public servants. In my opinion it’s possible that the UK could have done more to assist, but I feel there is still some lingering bad feeling after the ‘Troubles’, and from the Bombing of London, as well, for remaining Neutral during the War. In some cases it was reported at this time that help was even being offered to the Axis.

We as a Nation have always been busy leading the way with knife edge social policies. Accident Corporation is one, initially it’s concept was clearly defined. Various Governments have added on a multitude of other services that have nothing to do with accidents, various illnesses, even suicide. Of course this loading has made a situation where the Corporation is no longer viable. This doesn’t exactly please the public who are stuck with extra premiums. Speaking of these people who free load, we also have another group, the adventurous, or the just plain reckless, who engage in dangerous sports and activities. They know should they get hurt, the State will be there to pick up the cheque. They pay little or nothing to the scheme, and they are overloading the system.

Another area that requires attention and that’s the constant Maori need for funds and hand outs, they are becoming a persistent drain on our resources. I think what initially should be looked at, and that’s the question of ‘What is a Maori’. With the money that sloshing around in that area, there are too many claiming to be Maoris that really have a very tenuous claim. By saying this I will make myself very unpopular, but after a half cast you, would no longer have any existing rights. You would then become just a plain New Zealander. We have no need to guilty about what happened over two hundred years ago. The Maoris as a group have done very nicely indeed. They have had access to generous pensions, medical care, and education too if they wished to take advantage of it. I have only lived in the South and any Maoris that I have come into contact with, have been hard working, and all round good citizens. Most of the problems seems to be in the North. All are clutching the Treaty of Waitangi which is a very shonky document indeed. No matter how you look at it, it would never stand any legal challenge, unless the Maoris and politicians rewrite it. While they are on the job, perhaps they can look at the Land Clearances back in Scotland when our forbearers were driven off their farms.

Somebody has just brought to light, and exposed, the Air New Zealand’s Trolley Dolly’s Manual. I understand that it’s currently it’s still in use. We know it’s a few years old, but most of it’s instructions and suggestions, are still relevant today. This is in spite of the job description which it covers has largely changed. Today’s air Craft are larger, travel greater distances, and the cabin staff’s duties are more onerous. Once I seem to remember, that Cabin Crew were mainly recruited from the Nursing Profession, but today that’s no longer the case.

The manual is comprehensive, gives tips on basic personal grooming, as well behaviour that’s expected from Air New Zealand employees. The media of course is having a wonderful time with it’s expose’. They are busy poking fun over some of the suggested conduct, even with today’s changed attitudes. Naturally, some suggestions will cause an uproar, but not where you would expect. What seems to have caused the most offence was a warning to the cabin crew that they should be careful of any Tongans passengers’ drinking. And as a result become an unmanageable problem. For sure some Islanders are big drinkers, and they don’t require any encouragement to binge when free alcohol is concerned. Any drunken behaviour in the confined space of an Air Craft’s crowded cabin is most undesirable, as far as the other passengers are concerned. There is no avoiding it, and no escape. Possibly the fact that everyone is in a holiday mood, then being plied with drinks they naturally don’t need any motivation to endeavour to drink the Bar dry. I would have thought the manual should have included another group who on occasions can and do cause similar problems, that’s the male ‘Sports Teams’, who today with professionalism are frequent travellers. From my observation, I would suggest they as a group, have the potential to cause trouble when liquored up. This of course makes them as well the most undesirable travelling companions.

However most of the balance of the Manual seems to cover very basic grooming. I wouldn’t have thought something like this today was even unnecessary for someone whose work is conducted in such confined work space. This work area puts cabin crew in close contact with the public in a crowded Aircraft Cabin. Common sense should tell anyone who choses the job of Cabin Attendant, to be aware that the job calls for great attention to personal grooming. Mention is made in the manual that is more explicit, it suggests the need to take a daily shower. The use of a deodorant, to clip nasal hair, Pluck monobrows. I can remember back to my youth, a couple of young, healthy maidens whom I liked, but unfortunately they seemed to have a very casual attitude towards the use of soap and regular bathing. As far as I was concerned, this was the one reason that I kept them at arms length, no relationship was going to progress very far. There were many jokes about this time, of the giving of a subtle hint to the one offending. A cake of Palmolive soap as a gift, or leaving it under their pillow. I never tried it, considering it would be a ‘sure fire’ way of getting a black eye. To be fair at this time not many New Zealand homes had bathrooms fitted as a norm. Even Hotels at this time only went as far as a wash basin in your room, with a shared bathroom at the end of the corridor. Many people at this time depending how they had been brought up, didn’t see any need for a daily shower. In my personal opinion the War changed a lot of peoples’ attitude towards bathing. Troops were not as sensitive as civilians about telling a mate or someone that you are in close daily contact with, that they needed to take a shower more frequently. After the War It seemed attitudes had changed, the houses that were now being built had bathrooms fitted as a matter of course. Toilets were also going under a change, they were now being shifted from the bottom of the garden to inside the house.

In a way it’s very easy to offend and not be aware of it. I remember years ago when we led an isolated existence and use of Garlic was yet to be accepted. We thought our selves quiet sophisticated if we cut a clove of garlic and rubbed it around a salad bowl. About this time I had to travel across to New Caledonia and carry out some business. When this was concluded, I stayed on for a couple of weeks holidaying at a small village, living and eating with the locals. Imagine my surprise when I observed the girl preparing our dinner. She was busy pounding, in a mortar at least three large bulbs of garlic, this she casually tossed into the Pote’e Champenoise (Stew with vegetables) for our evening meal. After a couple of weeks of this diet I didn’t considered that I was any different. However on returning home, taking a hot shower one morning, my daughter entered the steamy bathroom. She immediately exclaimed, ‘It’s you who smells, You reek of Garlic’. I was completely unaware that I was offending the folks back home, and that the garlic I had eaten overseas had systemically entered my system.

Today with our new International attitude and acceptance towards exotic foods, I suppose the eating of garlic has become more acceptable but now I’m careful of my intake.