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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roebear who wrote (15878)	3/24/2007 12:35:47 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 220120

Roebear, that's the NZ experience too. Oddly, electrical work was liberalized several years ago so anyone could do it with an inspection subsequently. It used to have to be only by electrician with ticket. In the old days, when umpty thousands of NZers built their own houses with their own hands and their family and friends, the houses were rock solid and are showing no signs of decomposition. Since governments took over, construction has become a flimsy unreliable shambles, as one would expect. My father built a couple of houses, 55 and 35 years ago and they are as robust as the day they were built. But people go on voting for more and more and more of the same and of course, governments and bureaucrats go on and on and on extending their tentacles and their profits of control as long as they are allowed and encouraged to do so. If somebody builds a house and pays for it, they have a lot of incentive to have their money spent wisely. More so than does a government inspector interested in clipping the ticket and perhaps collecting short-cut kickbacks. I was originally a civil engineer responsible for Onehunga Borough Council contracts and you are right, close inspection of work is essential. There was one little trick called "starter rods", which were pieces of reinforcing steel contractors would put in concrete to make it look as though steel was included in kerb and channel. On a stormwater contract, a contractor came up against a lava flow. The specifications required a bed of scoria, particular grades etc. They would have had to stop work and do a bunch of blasting. I told them to forget about it, thin the scoria to next to nothing and cruise over the top of the lava flow which was not going to collapse. They were quite appreciative because a lot of inspectors/supervisors can be letter of the law types who couldn't care less about doing things sensibly and saving somebody money. When my father built his second house, specifications called for a 1 foot x 1 foot concrete foundation. After digging the trench, we found a lava flow. Lava flows are a LOT more solid than a 1 foot x 1 foot concrete beam, even if it has steel in it. The inspector made him break out a bunch of lava. Which was insane! Built on clay, or soft stuff, a 1 foot x 1 foot foundation would be reasonable and desirable, to avoid any settlement. While I'm hot, on the 1950 house, they blasted rock and built septic tanks. It was in rock and scoria, so fantastic drainage and perfect conditions for a septic tank. When the Mangere Sewage Treatment works were built, they were ordered to connect to the proper sewerage which pipe to the works, which treated the sewage and discharged effluent to the Manukau Harbour. The Manukau Harbour was totally killed by the effluent and other pollutants from many sources [dumps, abattoir, industrial waste, road runoff]. It is only now, 40 years later, that the harbour is coming back to life. I had never thought until 2 days ago that my parents were legally required to disconnect their excellent septic tanks and discharge their waste to the Manukau Harbour, thereby killing the harbour from which I used to catch many fish for our food. Not only that, but the sewage treatment works ran so badly that we suffered foul stinks and umpty trillions of midges in huge black columns into the evening air, destroying lifestyle and property values in the area. That's government for you. Mqurice

To: Roebear who wrote (15878)	3/24/2007 2:25:10 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 220120

New Zealand has 3.5 million inhabitants. S. Paulo has 3 New Zealands inside it. Rio another three. I meand those are cities. Not countries. That puts the whole thing ina the right perspective. In one of those major cities Brazilian, in a good weekend we way we get 20 corpses in the morgue. Because it is not a kidnergarten little country. It is a real place. Real places they have hookers in the streets, thieves, nuts as everywhere as little % of the population. Is impossible to get rid of those people. "suffocatocracy is by permitting and licensing" tries to have zero, hookers, zero, nut-heads, zero bandidos, zero everything. Then they sterilize the country. People accept that and the country beocmes a NZ type. That's what TJ told before: they take your freedom and dole out rights for this and rights for that.