The Sun's article (July 26) on the right royal rip off and the great Maori money machine has prompted me to write. I agree with every word you have written on these subjects, particularly where we taxpayers who paying a debt, if indeed there is a debt and I personally don't believe there is, should be paid by the English Monarchy. If I was able to claim from the English for the injustices done to my ancestors from Scotland (the Clearances and Culloden to name a few) and the poor old Welsh miners who slogged their guts out hewing coal underground for a pittance, while English mine owners made millions, I would be a very wealthy lady. None of my rellies were even in New Zealand at the time of these so-called land thefts but when they did arrive they worked very hard and made good contributions to this country.
Secondly, there has been much discussion about the rights and wrongs of fluoride and while I'm sure the substance has had a beneficial bearing on the beautiful strong teeth of today's youth, I would venture to say there are other reasons for the poor quality of my generation's teeth. Much has been said about we older denture wearers but I feel sure it was not just a lack of fluoride that contributed to us losing our teeth so young.
No-one has yet mentioned the school dental nurses of that era (1940/1950) who bored hell out of our teeth and filled them with mercury. Each time a metal eating utensil touched one of my many mercury filings I would just about go through the roof with shock and pain. I consider the dental treatment we received at the school dental clinic, which we called the murder house, had much to do with us losing a full mouth of teeth as mere teenagers.

Gwyneth Howard, Tauranga.