There's still a place for the local weekly rag (pn687)

There's still a place for the local weekly rag, despite its advertising overburden. Compared with the dying daily press, mine, Kapi-Mana News,  tackles relatively more serious and controversial issues in a very open manner. 

Last week's issue (9 February) had 3 pages on Our Truth, Tā Tātou Pou with revelations about:

• Porirua East's state housing. The Housing Corp had written about what to avoid in future state housing — and then built large-scale multi-unit housing contrary to their earlier design principles. "Despite growing numbers of Maori and Pasifika people moving into state homes, they weren't designed with their prospective tenants in mind. One Maori tenant ... was  horrified to find the only place she could wash her family's clothes was in the kitchen. These houses were designed by English people who are happy to wash their pants in the sink." (For Maori food is tapu and must be kept separate from other things).   

• The Crown's seizure of the Waiwhetū block in Lower Hutt in 1948 under the guise of providing more housing and the reversal of the policy that gave Māori first rights of refusal before the houses were put up for public sale. An official report in 1941 reads: "the segregation of the natives in one locality is not desirable.  Intentionally or otherwise, Te Ati Awa were cheated out of the land. They eventually paid £47,000 for the 98 acres. Properties now sell for over $700,000 —and half the land was never used for housing.

• On other articles, there's half a page of advice on student loans. The interest rate on the 692,486 student loans is too high(106,274 of them overseas and unlikely to repay.) I remember when university fees were so low that they could be paid of with a holiday job, leaving more for living expenses during the year.  Now, our universities have become user-pay, often with a drop in standards (how easy it is to now get 1st class honours), and how long does it now take for graduates to put a deposit on their first home. 

• Then, on climate change there's the Climate Change Commission's call to cut back on natural gas. Worthy targets to cut emissions but small businesses and low income households will need help. 

• There's a longer  article by Gordon Campbell calling for coastal port development to compliment road and rail, to reduce congestion and damage to our road network. In 1994 we had 34 coastal ships; now we have one!  Selling the assets now much needed.

• Working from home during Covid-19 has its. pluses and minuses. House purchases by white collar workers have skyrocketed in Wellington outer suburbs, with Levin an hour from Wellington with 2500 new houses, and more to come.  I don't see any signs of serious local and national attention being given to our urban development.

• And, perhaps not unrelated,  an elected Regional Councillor who tried to get "mates' rates" by buying land in for $180,000, valued at $600,000 and was sold by auction for $1,635,000.   So much for serving the public interest, and why we don't need real estate agents on our councils! 

• Then two shorter, telling pieces of an incident in Featherston in 1943 when our soldiers killed 48 Japanese prisoners of war, and of 1951 when fundraisers for blind children paraded Wellington streets with face painted up as the black and white minstrels

So there we have it. Eight thoughtful articles a week.  Have a good look at your local rage before you throw it away.