Opinion

Kata - June 18, 2011

Saturday 18 June 2011 | Published in Kata

Cheese cheaper here

Saturday 18 June 2011 | Published in Smoke Signals

Id like to know how New Zealand cheese is about half the price in Rarotonga as it is in New Zealand? asks Andy in the comments section of a stuff.co.nz article about a dairy industry report that claims Kiwis could be paying $195 million too much for milk each year from Fonterra. Andy writes: I […]

Homeland unwell but there is hope

Friday 17 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, How is the general well being of our homeland? Cook Islands health report overall: not well. Families: fighting as hard as they can for the best they can. The land: poor condition and usage. The seas: gradual decline in health, resources and ever relentless The list is long but we have hope in […]

Kata - June 17, 2011

Friday 17 June 2011 | Published in Kata

Time to take a stand on our language

Friday 17 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I have two Mangaian teenage feeding daughters at Tereora. When I see how they struggle with their studies I realise how lucky I was to have all my education (with the exception of a few guest lecturers at university) in my native language. My students struggle with words like purchase in accounting, compare […]

Kata - June 16, 2011

Thursday 16 June 2011 | Published in Kata

Tyre eating pothole

Thursday 16 June 2011 | Published in Smoke Signals

A disgruntled smokie driver writes: It was about the sixth time that the left front wheel of my car crunched its tyre in the growing pothole outside Kiikii Motel, that I realized action men Teariki Heather and George Maggie are like the rest of the politicians who rise to glory in this country. They were […]

Patrons Award to Te Tika

Thursday 16 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Cook Islands Business & Professional Womens Association patron Helen Henry (right) awarded Te Tika Mataiapo Dorice Reid the Patrons Award at the Woman of the Year function last weekend. I would now like to announce a special annual Cook Islands BPW award The Patrons Award. This will be awarded to the BPW member whose actions […]

Lost on roads

Thursday 16 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I just want to comment on an article last week about road maintenance being neglected. Let me simplify this issue once again, as it is not that simple if you arent sure how to sort this problem out. This ball of fire has been shoved from one government to another, and no one […]

Ombudsman not a public defender

Thursday 16 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I refer to the letter by Norman George headed Police Commissioners response welcomed in terms of the comments made against my office. I would be more than happy to meet with Mr George to discuss any of his concerns but I have to clarify that since I took up the role of Ombudsman, […]

Police Commissioners response welcomed

Wednesday 15 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I am grateful to the Police Commissioner for his warm reaction to the setting up of an Independent Police Complaints Authority, in a letter published June 11. It has been effectively in place in New Zealand for nearly 30 years. This covers all kinds of complaints against the police which includes in the […]

Student in search of a legend

Wednesday 15 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, My name is Ngatokotoru Tomokino and I am a current second year student at a performing arts school in Auckland , New Zealand. Im in the process of making a piece of theatre based on the legend Katikati. But I seem to have hit a road block. There is limited information about her […]

Trip cost not out of taxpayers pocket

Wednesday 15 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I write in reply to the Smoke Signal article on the Tahiti agriculture trip surprises, published on June 11. The writer showed a clear misunderstanding of the facts. The initiative to travel to Tahiti came from the keen growers on Rarotonga who are more than happy to purchase their own air tickets not […]

Mineral millions still just a dream

Wednesday 15 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor At this point in time the dream about the billions of dollars we will earn from mining our manganese nodules is just that, a dream! And yet we are willing to spend big money on experts and a proposed bureaucracy that will get us no closer to realising that dream. The biggest obstacle […]

ANZ working for solution

Wednesday 15 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

We would like to respond to the letter that appeared on Tuesday June 14 titled: Give the borrowers a fair go. This is an extremely unfortunate situation for all parties involved. A company that was intended to provide a kit-set home to our customer was put into liquidation through no fault of the customer or […]

Kata - June 15, 2011

Wednesday 15 June 2011 | Published in Kata

Country back in begging mode

Tuesday 14 June 2011 | Published in Smoke Signals

A smoke signaller looks at recent news headlines from another angle: Prime Minister Puna gets funding and assistance for infrastructure etc direct from the Auckland City Council: wow, fantastic now the council rates will go up even more in Auckland, directly hitting all Cook Islanders who live there and are already struggling with a tightening […]

No case against the Atiu Warrior

Tuesday 14 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I have been reading with interest the articles relating to the so called contempt of Parliament proceedings by the Privileges Committee against the Atiu warrior, Norman George. My first concern is that as far as I can see from the Electoral Amendment Act 2007 s105A under the heading of Party Integrity; any MP […]

Give the borrowers a fair go

Tuesday 14 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor The TVNZ One News broadcast during the weekend relating to the ill-treatment of a Cook Islands couple who had borrowed funds from ANZ bank to build their so-called dream home on Rarotonga, is both very disturbing and extremely concerning. From the TVNZ news segment relating to this specific story, it is clearly evident […]

Is conservation a priority for NES?

Tuesday 14 June 2011 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I have been helping my child with an assignment called Wetlands for Healthy Islands (the theme of this years Lagoon Day), and we were referred to the National Environment Services (NES) website for answers to the questions. After reading about wetlands on their website and a bit on the Environment Act 2003, I […]