Tiger worm benefitsI saw Judith Collins on television explaining the research and fact-finding and information-gathering required, presumably before new rules and regulations were applied. Then she appeared to defend the conclusions, due to research of the dangers of butterfly farming, lavender growers and worm farming, drawing particular attention to the heavy machinery required for moving soil in worm farms. Er - these are not earthworms, they don't live in soil, if the liquid produced from the waste being processed leaches into the ground then profit is lost. Tiger worms reduce rubbish and the process produces a worthwhile and advantageous product and result. (Lessons can be learned.)
Of course, it's very unlikely these worms have intellectual capacity, so are exempt from research grants or government positions. Without intellect these worms, dangerous butterflies and lethal lavender seem to be outpacing and outwitting a lot of highly intellectual experts with years of experience of the subject matter to draw on.
Alan Ryder
Motor accident
Your story in last week's Stratford Press regarding the motor accident on Beaconsfield Rd is yet another example of a driver blaming the road instead of his own ability and decision making.
A road is an inanimate object, it just sits there, it is incapable of causing an accident. Likewise a parked motor vehicle is also an inanimate object. The only thing that brings both of these to "life' is when someone is driving a motor vehicle along a road. Logic therefore says it is not the road or the vehicle but the driver that is the problem.
The problem with most drivers is (a), they don't drive to the conditions, (b) they think a speed limit is a target to be achieved, and (c) they don't concentrate on the job at hand.
The cause of this accident, like most motor vehicle accidents, is not the quality of the road but the quality of the driver.
R Trott
Call me a sceptic, call me what you will, but the accident on Beaconsfield Rd appeared to me to be substantially unreported.
Let me cut to the chase, all the roads in New Zealand from top to bottom are in reasonable condition but of course require regular maintenance.
It is people's lack of respect for the roads that in the main cause accidents. Eg: tiredness, drugs, alcohol, cutting corners, speet etc etc.
As for the young man on Beaconsfield Rd, my advice is not to go any further east on the region's hostile roads as I'm sure a job as a fencer of butcher awaits.
R Loft.
Just because you are allowed to drive at 100km/h, it doesn't mean this is suitable on all roads. Allowances have to be made especially on our country roads.
We are very quick to blame the roads when there is a problem, but really it's not the road but the driver at fault. If there is an unexpected pot hole or land slip the driver may have a case.
I would also like to make the comment that for the number of roads, difficult terrain and number of people in New Zealand compared to the rest of the world, we have pretty good roads.
Perhaps advanced driver training should be compulsory before a licence is given.
N Cleland.
Our roads are not poorly maintained, nor are they to blame for the majority of the accidents that occur on them. However, some of our rural roads certainly have twists and turns in them that can send many a city-based driver headed (wrongly) for the hills.
One wonders how fast the driver in question was going to have succeeded in killing four cows - these are not small animals after all.
It was good to read that he returned the next day to repair the fence (and one presumes to compensate the farmer the cost of the animals destroyed). For this he should be commended.
C Richies.
If our roads are considered poorly maintained now - just think what awaits us should our local government be expected to wear the costs of maintaining them without help from the central government.
Even worse, if we were to be forced to join with our neighbours in the region in some form of super council, then our roads would soon be forgotten as all the available money went to maintaining roads leading to the city not the farms.
T Arnolds