The Irish Famine and some

I have always been interested in history and now that I rate as a senior, I realise that some of my history lessons we slanted and not critical of the groups of peoples who were allied to us - which was English and British.

It does not matter who was allied to who, but the thing about history that stands (shockingly) out to me, is man's inhumanity to man.

I have done my share of travelling and employed a wide range of people and my philosophy has has always been, people are people - we all have the same basic desire and needs.

Point one: It is interesting and amazing all the international cooperation and organization required to keep the world's transport system - that is aircraft - running and to schedule. Not only the technical side of maintenance, navigation and communication, but also booking, scheduling, luggage control, food, personnel and more.

So if we have international cooperation with air transport, why do we have no cooperation to sort out problems like Syria, starvation and all manner of ills afflicting the planet?

 On a trip to Ireland, I was reminded about the Irish Famine of 1845 - 52. This was caused by a potato blight which decimated the potato crops. 

Ireland at the time was dependent on the potato as a staple diet.

John Mitchell said, The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight but the English created the famine.

It has been estimated that one million people starved to death during the famine and the population for eight million was halved because many emigrated to escape the terrible times.

Still during the famine food was exported from Ireland. Merchants and money.

Little aid was forthcoming for the Irish from the English, but the Native American Choctaws did sent money because they too had experienced starvation.

Islam also made a contribution from the Ottoman Sultan. Curiously though he intimated that he would donate

£10 000 but Queen Victoria asked him to reduce the amount to £1 000 - she herself donated £2 000. However it is said - and difficult to prove/disprove that the Sultan sent three shiploads of food aid - successfully, despite English attempts to blockade them.

This was not the Dark Ages and and European countries were sending missions to Africa and the Antipodes to bring 'civilization'. The treatment of the Irish was not very civilized.

How did all this come about?

Well old Henry VIII did not get his own way in ditching one wife for another - the Pope did not give him permission. So instead, Henry VIII ditched the Pole and Roman Catholicism and created the Church of England. In doing so he made it illegal to be a Roman Catholic.

You can guarantee this caused opportunities for those so inclined (and with the approval of the King) to rob and plunder 'in the name of the Church of England' and to take property from folk who wanted to retain their Catholic faith.

Ireland had been governed by England and the 17th and 18th century Penal laws prohibited Catholic from owning land, leasing land, voting or holding political office, obtaining education,and even to live within 5 miles of a corporate town. This did change with the 1795 and 1829 Emancipation Act but when the potato blight struck in 1845, the bulk of the Irish population were still desperately poor.

So essentially the Irish were living on small parcels of land, eking out a subsistence living and in some way paying or providing some of their crop to absentee (mainly English) landlords. In turn, the landowners were required to pay a rate (land tax), presumably to the English government.
So when the blight struck, the  landowners could not extract anything from the Irish tenant farmers to pay the rate, so they tipped the farmers off the land! To encourage the farming families to go, roofs were removed from dwellings, or houses were destroyed, so not only were they hungry, they were homeless as well.
The death toll may not have been totally because of starvation, but because of cold and disease as well.

Of course no doubt money (or other perceived riches) was to be made by tipping the farmers from the land and is often the underlying cause of conflict.
Appalling as the treatment of the Irish was, they are by no means alone. History is littered with conquerors, exploiters, exterminators, squatters, civilizors and the like. 

Point two: Religious fervor is the other main cause of conflict over the ages. Most religious doctrines preach peace, harmony, tolerance, respect  and 'all things good'. But if people could not be converted peacefully, then it was quite profitable to bring a crusade or kill/torture people until they 'saw the light' - sometimes straight out genocide was used.
Religion is a sensitive subject and it easy to offend and these days there are those who receive some gratification by offending; offending religion or just being offensive. Take South Park and the Mary episode, take the photographer who took the topless photos of England's future queen (and the magazines), take also the people who have published films and cartoons offensive to Islam.

Where though does mob violence come from? I watched with horror, the riots in Britain. Senseless stuff where people were caught up in the moment and were making use of the opportunity to destroy property, throw things at the police and loot where they could.
There were riots in  Holland overnight because 4 000 turned up to a birthday party advertised on Facebook - these people just wanted to fight with the police and wreak havoc.
I ask the same question to Islam, why destroy property and kill innocents when doing such things is against the teachings? How many young men are actually having fun wreaking havoc? And the Pakistani politician who offered a reward for the murder of the film maker - he too no doubt is personally gratified by being outrageous. As did the Australian woman who held up a placard stating that people acting against the prophet should be beheaded! I don't think prophet taught such things.

An young African girl once asked me, 'Why is it that in Africa the people go to church regularly and pray for better things, but they remain poor and have a difficult life, while in rich counties few people go to church yet they have a good life?'
I was unable to offer a logical answer.

Point three: Money sees to have the ability to corrupt. Had the English reacted differently, the Irish may still have been hungry, but they would not have been homeless! I need not detail the quest for wealth, land and glory over the ages and the atrocities committed in the process.
Of course we generally believe that is past history and we are all civilized now.
Not so human nature is opportunistic. A child will always choose the biggest slice of cake and capitalism ranks business by wealth rather than the good they may do.
Governments (including local governments) - that is politicians, and the very rich have always managed to look after themselves and will continue to do so. 
But in the end money is no panacea.

 Here in New Zealand we have a problem: In our early history the Maori population, perhaps not on the scale of some peoples, were treated poorly and it has taken generations for the extent of the maltreatment to be recognized. Mind you there has always been inter-tribal maltreatment too.
The Waitangi Tribunal was set up to compensate for the maltreatment and this process is ongoing.
There is now criticism that Maori are making claims for water and wind (as well as other ongoing claims) without true  justification for such claims.

What did I say above about the human 'frailty' of being opportunistic? The same goes here - if there is money and resources up for grabs, let's hop on the gravy train.

So in this case, the Government has apologized and handed  over money and resources. The money and resources have been accepted, but to my knowledge the apology has not been accepted nor has forgiveness been forthcoming.
The New Zealand economy is fragile so money and resources need to be managed more effectively. We have to look at who and why further claims are being made.
What have Maori - as a nation - done with the resources and money? It is not readily apparent to me but Maori poor and Maori prison inmates dominate per head of population, so the real problems have not been addressed.
But it would be good if someone was to say, Maori settlements amounted to (whatever it is) and with it we have developed so much housing, these health initiatives, these employment initiatives and whatever training for our youth.
Instead the is a bureaucracy building.

Lets hope we can learn from history.
 

  

Justice

I read in the newspaper today of a little girl who, on her way to the shops was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing. She suffered horrific injuries and her rehabilitation will go on for years to come. Tragic for her and for her parents.

It is not known at this time if the driver was at fault, but it even if the child made a mistake or misjudgement - well surely kids are allowed to make mistakes.

On the other hand jails are full of people who have had their time as kids and yet willfully transgress, and are where they belong. But these people use up valuable resources and have what many would think, a comfortable life.

I would like to see more resources - no, maximum - going into the rehabilitation of that little girl and her family taking some of the comfort from the not so nice folk clogging up our prisons.

Economics

Here in New Zealand we are shaping up for an election and so there will be lots of talk about the current government's economic performance and how the depressed world economy has such a huge impact here.

I have no economic background, but I know how to balance my own books and understand that living on credit is not sustainable. And this global economy thing seems to me to be a flawed theory.

You don't need to be politic to see that things are just plain nuts!

The wheel on my wheelbarrow fell to bits - it simply had rusted out! Well it is over 25 years old and has been outside all the time.
So, I need a new wheel together with axle, tyre and tube. So went into Oamaru to make the purchase.
To my surprise I could not find a wheel/tyre/tube for under $99.00. I could however buy a totally new wheelbarrow for $124.00 - so the rest of the wheelbarrow equated to be worth $25.00. I don't think so!
There was even a wheelbarrow for $45.00 and I could have bought it and robbed the wheel, but thought that to be a total waste of resources, but financially to me that would have been best.
So I bought the new wheelbarrow @ $124.00.

I would think this is not an unusual thing but it is nuts!

While no my Soap Box about the economy; why is it that unproductive people are paid the most?
Among the highest paid are sports people and some of those are hugely paid! They provide entertainment, but what is their tangible contribution?
Then take market gardeners who work long hours but struggle to make ends meet. These folk supply the nutrients to keep the population healthy/well-fed.
Then take the CEO of Telecom - $7 million? Really, how much does one person need? We are told that you have to pay for 'top people' - I'm sure someone could be found to do an adequate job for less than one million.

I just want to throw that into the pot!

Network Waitaki

There has been a followup to my fight against having the power-lines across my property [Meridian]. It is actually Network Waitaki who have responsibility for the lines/poles.

Network Waitaki want to upgrade the line and therefore require access through our property. And because I had written to the Pirme Minister and his Minister of Energy they decided it best to meet with me - that is Network Waitaki.

Well three of them turned up vs me by myself - they like the odds. Now they are prepared to move the line to outside our property, against the fence 'but will have to remove all the trees'.
'Ok.' Says I, as the trees outside our fence were actually planted by the NZFS in the good old days.
'But we require a contribution from you.' they said.
'Oh yes, and how much would that be?' I asked.
'Ten thousand dollars.' said they.
I knew they were trying to frighten me off.
'That won't be happening.' I told them.
Then they need to cut my fence to gain access with their larger equipment and I implied that the cost of that might be ten thousand dollars, knowing they had legal right to gain entry - but I added that bit of humor.

They are leaving the line where it is, and are paying for a guy to fell trees that are close to the line - then I will have to tidy up.

You see, I wrote on my other blog about 'the stroke of a pen'. In 1993 the then government passed a law that made things easy for line companies so the lines could be sold off.
If power/line companies want to access property, in these days of user pays, they should pay in some way to compensate the landholder.

Challenges in the Economy

The world economy is showing to be more fragile than once was thought and solutions will have to be found that go some way to mitigating the likely outcomes.

I haven't any better ideas than anybody else but at least here I have an opportunity to say something about it - and some, I have already said.

Every economist will have an opinion as to why we are at where we are at but I have a bob's worth to add.

We hear about this thing 'productivity' and how workers will have to up their productivity to be competitive. Well that may be so but the very highest paid on this earth produce nothing - or nothing tangible.
I'm talking about the entertainment industry (mainly). I include the lot - movie and tv stars, sports stars, music stars. These people do entertain and that has a value but much of their wreath comes from sponsorship - by wearing a label for whatever. And the product they wear is made cheaply in some third world country and sold at huge profits throughout the world. To me this is not real economy.
Unfortunately too many of these stars are big on ego and image and weak in the cranium department yet the impressionable [in hordes] try to emulate them. Generalizing is a bad thing and there are exceptions but a good example are the socialites that strut like looney chickens with miniature puppies in their handbags and wear high heels to PD!

The overprices people in CEO position is also a mystery to me - that Telecom guy on 7m? Tut. So who cares if we can't buy the best in the world? this could develop into a rant.

The world is a big place and the trend is for a global economy end I know economics overlaps diplomacy, but I question if we really need to involve NZ heavily into the global economy.
At the local Shell service station I bought two pies for lunch - well that's not healthy I know, but it was early and there were no sandwiches. Anyway these pies were made in Australia. I have nothing against that country but why was there a need to put these pies in a container and ship them here when we have an industry that makes the best pies in the world? Pies!

Why is all our nation's packaging made of plastic when paper could utilize our long suffering forest industry - even those wildling pines? Natural vs Synthetic and renewable resource vs nonrenewable. Is that too simplistic?

There are rules here in good old NZ for almost everything, but how come you can buy a cardboard box with a few packets inside of four cracker biscuits and a piece of cheese sealed into plastic and foil. The packaging is worth more than the product. You cart the box home then you have to pay to dispose of the packaging - makes no sense to me.

Getting tough on crime

New Zealand like much of the world has a growing crime rate, and I hear regularly over radio talkback that there is a need to tackle the crime rate. Added to this there seems to be a lack of sensible sentencing by the courts. Indeed just recently a jury made a not guilty verdict for three guys who had admitted vandalizing a satellite listening facility. The right or wrong of the facility is not really within the jurisdiction of that court.

Anyway, in last weeks Arusha Times a theif was convicted to 1 years imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane.

We have softened our stance on crime for perhaps politically correct reasons and so-called rights of individuals. A question where this attitude comes from and one answer is 'Christian charity' - most of our laws have been created through the Christian ethic and the reality these days is the majority of the population are not practicing Christians. This is not to say at all there is anything against Christianity but I wonder why the the law ethic spreads over all. Yes you have to have one law for all.

I think the constraint that the law of the land has is there are not enough options as far as punishment goes.
First thing is the cost of 'caring' for the lawbreakers. Second is the fact that there are not enough beds in the prisons so lighter or even no sentence is the option.

So for some crimes a good caning might just fit the bill. Say for drunken driving (together with a loss of licence of course).

Some white collar crime should not be prison sentences but working the crime off somehow using the skill the person has.

Maybe this is a cost, I don't know, but these sorts of things could be managed by say retirees and payment may be just a tax break because people (some) do like having things to do.

Just a thought.

Boquet

It is fair to recognise good service when you receive it.

We were travelling on the last day of the year to Christchurch when just south of Timaru, a passing truck dropped a rock that smashed my windscreen. The rock was as big as a fist and hit the windscreen top/center and made a huge spiderweb shatter.

There is a sign just south of Timaru about Smith & Smith Glass so we called there. The helpful receptionist asked about the damage and came out to look at it. She was sorry that they did not have a replacement windscreen, but on finding out that we were headed for Christchurch, she suggested we call at the Russley Road branch which is the main distributor fo the South Island.

The service there was immaculate and friendly. Within two hours (one to allow the glue to set) we had our car back with a new windscreen and all the correct labels attached.
So they have my recommendation.