WORLD CLASS WETNESS

A Dominion-Post correspondent, John Argue of Greytown, recently had a letter published urging the removal of trout from our waters.

Why? Because they compete for food with native eels, Argue asserted, adding that because the eels were here first, only they should have access to the food in our waters.

On that ludicrous rationale Argue himself should bugger off back to his ancestral home as presumably in his eyes so we all should, albeit not before digging up the many thousands of square miles covered with roads, towns and cities etc, occupying land once but no longer the domain of native worms, birds, trees and so on. And we most certainly should begin a programme of removing all non-native trees.

If Argue’s married, apart from huge sympathy for his wife if she’s subject to such nonsensical outbursts, it’s odds on she wears a life-belt when in his company to avoid drowning.

As I’ve frequently written there are no more unimaginative people than conservatives, that is conservative in the literal sense of fearful of all change.

When some of our ape ancestors first ventured out of the trees and eventually stood up you can be assured there would have been Argue type apes remaining, fearful of change, and jabbering away about the unknown perils awaiting those ambitious and curious pioneers.