The Star: August 01, 2019

Thursday August 1 2019 The Star
Readers respond to the
appointment of city
council chief executive
Dawn Baxendale
and the issue of
ratepayers subsidising
city councillors and
community board
members’ childcare costs
V J Jones – As a ratepayer
in Christchurch, I am writing
to express dissatisfaction at the
appointment of the new chief
executive and the exorbitant
salary she is going to be paid.
The whole scenario reminds
me of the classic story of the
Emperor with no clothes. Who is
fooling who?
If someone starts their own
business and works hard to make
it successful, then they can pay
themselves what they see fit.
But payment for a council
employee from ratepayers’
money?
I fail to see how one person
can do more work, have more
responsibility, have more
challenges than five teachers
in a high school, as the salary
equated to just that. What about
the long-term effect?
Why have we not appointed a
New Zealander at a lesser salary?
And why do chief executives
need to be paid so much?
(Abridged)
Jake McLellan
(Linwood-Central-
Heathcote Community
Board member) – I really
appreciated your editorial on the
proposed additional childcare
allowance for elected members. I
fully support the removal of
news online at www.star.kiwi
Help restore McLean’s Mansion
Lee Trusttum,
of the
McLean’s
Mansion
Charitable
Trust, writes
about why
Cantabrians
should get behind a
fundraising campaign to
help restore the historic
building
IF I WERE to ask you, ‘what
– and where – is McLean’s
Mansion?’ I wonder whether
you could tell me?
I have found many people
who cannot, even those living
nearby in central Christchurch.
Perhaps that is not really so
surprising because, although it
is a huge wooden building, it has
been hedged in by surrounding
buildings and untamed scrub
so that now, only the two great
cupolas on top are visible – and
then only from specific angles.
Short stretches of the
beautiful brick fences remain.
In Manchester St, the wrought
iron gates are still intact but
mostly closed, as the area is a
restoration building site and
not yet safe to wander around
without a guide.
If I were to answer my own
question, my story would go like
this. A poor man called Allan
McLean migrated from the
little Isle of Coll, off the West
coast of Scotland, arriving in
New Zealand in 1852. Clearly
he prospered here, eventually
owning a vast amount of
land in South Canterbury,
which he farmed until the NZ
government decided to divide
such extensive property holdings
into smaller parcels.
The forced sale provided
McLean with ready money,
which funded the building of
a suitably grand mansion in
Christchurch. It was designed by
RW England with no expense
spared. It is a fusion of Jacobean
architecture and Victorian
HERITAGE:
People
are being
asked
to get
behind a
fundraising
campaign
to restore
McLean’s
Mansion.
features, built of kauri between
April 1899 and September 1900,
two-storied, with a floor area of
2137 sq m.
Lavish furnishings and
furniture were imported from
Europe. McLean, no longer
young but still unmarried,
decided that on his death the
house should be used as a home
for ‘indigent gentlewomen’.
So from 1913, these were the
beneficiaries living in the house
he had called Holly Lea.
McLean’s Mansion has
53 rooms and is the largest
surviving wooden residence
in New Zealand. The mansion
now has highly significant
heritage status. It must be
retained, respected and restored
Send us your views. If
you have an opinion on
a Christchurch issue,
email barry@starmedia.
kiwi and put ‘Opinion’ in
the subject line. Emails
should be kept to about
150 words
barriers for parents and young
people to get involved in service,
particularly for those running
for part-time community boards
who are juggling service with
other work and family time.
However, for full-time elected
members it’s a bit rich don’t you
think to facilitate them over
and above the struggles of every
other family or parent.
Don’t get me wrong, when
affordable childcare is available
if possible – but, here’s the rub,
who will pay for it?
Millions of dollars must be
raised to achieve that goal. If I
were to ask you to help, chances
are you’d say, ‘but millions are
way beyond me.’
However, if I were to suggest
you set up an automatic
payment of, say, $30 per month
for two years (or $5, $10, $50, or
$100) I hope you’d say, ‘That’s
not so hard. I can set it and
forget it.’ Now, if 500 people
like you did the same, then the
collective contribution could
gently, painlessly raise half a
million or even $1 million. If
1000 Cantabrians chipped in –
well, you get the picture. Mona
Vale was saved by similar citizen
contributions, likewise Mt
Vernon Park on the Port Hills.
McLean’s Mansion is a
unique regional and national
asset. Restored it will be an
enduring attraction for local
and international visitors
– a monument of which
Christchurch citizens can be
proud, especially if they helped
retain it.
Check out www.frankfilm.
co.nz to watch a great 3.5min
video by scrolling down to
Christchurch’s quake-damaged
McLean’s Mansion.
to everyone, I’m all for it being
extended to councillors – just
don’t think that’s where we start.
After all councillors are already
very well paid.
As an elected member in
my late 20s, the prospect of
future childcare is of course
a consideration. As a council
candidate if elected I would
refuse to accept this benefit.
Winnie Lay – I do not
think city councillors and
community board members
should be reimbursed for their
childcare costs from ratepayers’
money.
They are paid a decent wage
from ratepayers’ money, if it is
not enough, get another job, as
ratepayers have to pay for their
children’s childcare costs so they
can’t whine about costs.
OPINION 17
The coming week
in our history
August 1, 1987 – The
Maori Language Act came
into force, making Te Reo
Māori an official language of
New Zealand.
August 2, 1992 –
Windsurfer Barbara Kendall
was New Zealand’s only gold
medallist at the Barcelona
Olympics. She was just the
second New Zealand woman
to win an Olympic title.
August 3, 1872 –
Anthony Trollope (1815-
1882), one of the Victorian
era’s most famous novelists,
landed at Bluff to begin a twomonth
tour of New Zealand.
August 4, 1923 – The
opening of the 8.5km Ōtira
tunnel completed the longplanned
TranzAlpine railway
between Christchurch and
Greymouth. At the time, it
was the longest tunnel in the
southern hemisphere and the
sixth-longest in the world.
August 5, 1914 – The
New Zealand Government
was informed of the outbreak
of World War 1 just before
1pm. At 3pm the governor,
Lord Liverpool, announced
the news from the steps of
Parliament to a large and
enthusiastic crowd. Most
New Zealanders regarded
themselves as British, so
there were few doubts about
fulfilling their obligations to
the Empire in its moment of
crisis.
August 6, 1936 – Jack
Lovelock won New Zealand’s
first Olympic athletics gold
medal at the 1936 Berlin
Olympics in a race witnessed
by 120,000 spectators –
including Adolf Hitler.
August 7, 1991 –
Comedian and entertainer
Billy T James, 43, died of
heart failure. Born William
Taitoko, the multi-talented
musician toured the world
with the Maori Volcanics
Showband in the 1970s. He
adopted the stage name Billy
T James because Australians
could not pronounce his
surname correctly.
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