The high country

Press, 13 March 1986, Page 20

The high country

Sir,—Appropriately outfitted in battle fatigues, the Prime Minister recently addressed high country runholders at the Tekapo Military Camp and declared his allegiance in the high country battle. Myxomatosis is 0.K., as is corporatisation of the high country; conservation spending is not a priority and soft-handed city-dwelling conservationists are out. The self-reli-ant high country people who walk up mountains and work are to be admired. City-dwelling Labour politicians might well wonder what constituency Mr Lange is aiming at. When working Christchurch taxpayers, who heavily subsidise the administration of the high country, have to pay access fees to their favourite high country camping and fishing spots, when conservation programmes collapse through lack of funding, while the Skyhawks fly on, when disease-ridden rabbits stagger into suburban gardens, and when the decimation of our tussock landscapes proceeds unchecked, the Labour Party might well ask why its leader punted so heavily on the privileged runholders. — Yours, etc.,

BARBARA DEVERY. Harihari, March 10, 1986.