<I>

  <&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One</&>
  <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies</&>
  <&>Victoria University of Wellington</&>

  <&>side one</&>
  <&>0:12</&>
  

  <WSC#DGB047:0005:HM>
      and coming up to <drawls>the</drawls> <.>m</.> poison drop
      sometime soon

  <WSC#DGB047:0010:HM>
      how do you feel about it emily coming from a younger perspective

  <WSC#DGB047:0015:Z1>
      i think it's i think quite frankly it's really terrible eh
      because i mean what what future is there going to be for us you
      know underneath it's our <indig=Maori>maunga</indig=Maori> and
      we'd like to see other things like um the money that's used go
      to alternatives

  <WSC#DGB047:0020:Z1>
      there's alternatives

  <WSC#DGB047:0025:Z1>
      we don't have to drop poison on the mountain eh

  <WSC#DGB047:0030:Z1>
      there's um a lot of research could be done into it and i'm sure
      that there is alternatives like um <O>voc</O> it's just it
      doesn't need to be done

  <WSC#DGB047:0035:Z1>
      the poison doesn't need to be dropped <O>sniffs</O> <&>1:00</&>
      because it's gonna as it's already been proven it's gonna kill a
      lot of other things other than possums and um <O>tut</O> it's
      also gonna get into our water ways and how <.>d</.> how do we
      know that in our generation when we have children and <O>voc</O>
      and how do we know that's it's not gonna you know that there's
      not gonna be some rare form of cancer that's caused because of
      this and how do we know that it's definitely gonna break down

  <WSC#DGB047:0040:Z1>
      there's just not enough been gone into finding out that it's
      definitely gonna happen like that you know that it is gonna
      break down

  <WSC#DGB047:0045:Z1>
      we don't know that and you know for our future generations our
      children and you know us in twenty years not that we're all
      gonna be here or anything you know in taranaki but for the
      people who are here it's got to take care of it take care of the
      <indig=Maori>maunga</indig=Maori>

  <WSC#DGB047:0050:Z1>
      it's really important <,>

  <WSC#DGB047:0055:HM>
      do you think you feel really strongly about <&>2:00</&> what's
      happening to the mountain because you're under it you're near it

  <WSC#DGB047:0060:Z1>
      yeah i think i feel really strongly because it's just another
      one of the things that we're doing to the you know to the earth
      that that isn't gonna be there in many years to come if we don't
      take care of it

  <WSC#DGB047:0065:Z1>
      it's just another one of the things

  <WSC#DGB047:0070:Z1>
      i mean we <.>can't</.> we can't just stand by and let it keep
      happening and happening

  <WSC#DGB047:0075:Z1>
      i mean they they thought agent orange was okay in the sixties
      and and look what it did you know

  <WSC#DGB047:0080:Z1>
      i mean it's just i think i feel really strongly i do feel
      strongly about all environmental issues but especially this one

  <WSC#DGB047:0085:Z1>
      i mean it's a beautiful mountain and we live underneath it and
      we've got to take care of take care of it

  <WSC#DGB047:0090:Z1>
      sure the possums are <O>voc</O> killing it but it's there's
      other ways to go about you know there's other ways

  <WSC#DGB047:0095:Z1>
      the professional possum trappers say that they <&>3:00</&> can
      do it to the extent that the poison can and i think we should
      give them a go

  <WSC#DGB047:0100:HM>
      why do you think there's such a conflict of interest between
      yourselves and say the taranaki regional council who think that
      it's a a good way to go with the ten eighty poison

  <WSC#DGB047:0105:Z1>
      the regional council wants the job to be done like everybody
      does but they they want it to be done the cheapest quickest way
      and um i don't think they've got the energy or the time to put
      into researching it <O>tut</O> and also um because it's all been
      organised already before any of the public was told what was
      going on it's really hard to stop the wheels in motion like you
      know they've already they've already organised the drop and it's
      really hard to stop it now and i think they they just want to
      get the job done and we want to stop them from not <&>4:00</&>
      doing the job

  <WSC#DGB047:0110:Z1>
      we're we're into them doing the job and that but just not in the
      way that they're going about it <,> <?><O>voc</O></?>

  <WSC#DGB047:0115:Z1>
      oh <,> yeah like i say i think i think they just want to they
      haven't got the well they've started they've started you know
      the wheels in motion for dropping this poison and now it just
      takes too much effort to stop it i think

  <WSC#DGB047:0120:Z1>
      before the public knew about it they started to <O>voc</O>
      started the wheels in motion <O>inhales</O>

  <WSC#DGB047:0125:HM>
      <.>then</.> how does er your um your schoolmates how do they
      feel about it

  <WSC#DGB047:0130:Z1>
      <O>tut</O> i find generally that not many of them actually know
      what's going on because of the fact that it's being kept so
      hidden but the ones that i do speak to and you know who i do
      explain it to the general feeling is that it's no good

  <WSC#DGB047:0135:Z1>
      whatever you know whatever the possums are doing i think
      everyone realises that <&>5:00</&> there's another way to go
      about it and we all feel that everything that's going on these
      days in the world this is just another thing to add to it and it
      just doesn't you know we don't need any more any more to add to
      the problems already and yeah i think that's what they think as
      well well you know the people that i've spoken to about it

  <WSC#DGB047:0140:Z1>
      the general feeling from the young people is that you know we
      shouldn't do this to our mountain

  <WSC#DGB047:0145:HM>
      do you think do you think a lot of the awareness has to come
      from say the younger generation

  <WSC#DGB047:0150:Z1>
      yeah i think it does because um <O>tut</O> because it when you
      come down to it it's in fifty years it's gonna be us and our
      children that are here and we've seen what has happened from
      from oh right from the beginning of time to now and how it's how
      the world is you know the pollution and the poisons and how much
      damage it's <&>6:00</&> caused and i think the people need to
      listen to us because <O>voc</O> um you know we're gonna be the
      ones who are here in the future and we're trying to do something
      and make you know the world a bit of a better place for us to
      live in for you know for <.>the</.> for the future generations
      to live in and for us <,>

  <WSC#DGB047:0155:HM>
      now people can get quite <.>emo</.> emotional especially about
      the mountain

  <WSC#DGB047:0160:Z1>
      yeah

  <WSC#DGB047:0165:HM>
      do you think emotions <.>y</.> will um play er a heavy part in
      in trying to um tell people that hey something's going wrong
      with our mountain

  <WSC#DGB047:0170:HM>
      they're trying to poison it

  <WSC#DGB047:0175:Z1>
      um i i don't think emotion does have much to do with changing
      the regional council's point of view because they look at <.>it</.>
      you know their job is to get the books balanced and you know to
      get the job done and it's all legal you know <&>7:00</&> legal i
      don't know what the word is not not jargon but you know um <O>tut</O>
      like emotion doesn't have much to do with it in their point of
      view but for us to tell the people i think it does to help
      people to understand

  <WSC#DGB047:0180:Z1>
      i mean everyone gets quite emotional about things like this
      because you know of the fact that it is our mountain and we live
      right underneath it and um if we can get that point across to
      people well then that's i think you know i think using emotion
      does get that point across to people

  <WSC#DGB047:0185:HM>
      do you think that um the taranaki regional council and doc have
      taken a a <.>im</.> impersonal you know a very alienated um look
      at at the mountain and the <.>e</.> <{><[>eradication</[>
      process

  <WSC#DGB047:0190:Z1>
      <[>yeah</[></{>

  <WSC#DGB047:0195:Z1>
      yeah i think they have eh

  <WSC#DGB047:0200:Z1>
      they haven't i mean they i don't think they've realised that
      that they live underneath it as well or i i don't know if
      they've realised what they're doing but they don't seem to
      listen like we had a meeting <&>8:00</&> last week and they
      don't seem to listen to the people

  <WSC#DGB047:0205:Z1>
      the people put them in there and now they've just <.>sh</.> shut
      themselves away from the people and they're not listening to us
      you know

  <WSC#DGB047:0210:Z1>
      they they have taken a really impersonal impersonal attitude
      towards it all

  <WSC#DGB047:0215:Z1>
      i mean their attitude now is that it's it's started and we as
      the people no matter how emotional we get we're not gonna stop
      it and um yeah i think that's i'd see it as impersonal yeah the
      way that they've gone about it

  <WSC#DGB047:0220:HM>
      and as a young person as a sixteen year old underneath the
      mountain how would you like them yeah what would you like them
      to do

  <WSC#DGB047:0225:Z1>
      <O>tut</O> what would i like them to do

  <WSC#DGB047:0230:HM>
      if you could talk to them now or if you could say something what
      would you say

  <WSC#DGB047:0235:Z1>
      i'd like to say you know listen to us and look around at at the
      world you know and the mistakes that other countries have made
      and take a stand at stopping the mistakes

  <WSC#DGB047:0240:Z1>
      <.>w</.> i'd <&>9:00</&> like to ask them why why they think
      it's been this poison has been banned in other countries if they
      still believe it's okay

  <WSC#DGB047:0245:Z1>
      i'd like to say that it's not okay for them to use something
      that has been banned overseas on our mountain and it's yeah i'd
      just like to tell them that it's not good enough

  <WSC#DGB047:0250:Z1>
      they've got to listen to the people

  <WSC#DGB047:0255:Z1>
      it's just you know they can't go about things doing what the
      people don't want because we put them in there we put the
      regional council into the the power that they're in and now
      they're just not listening

  <WSC#DGB047:0260:Z1>
      i'd like them to look around at at um the other countries that
      are now so far gone as far as their poisons and they can't walk
      on their mountains

  <WSC#DGB047:0265:Z1>
      they can't just you know walk up and kneel and take a drink of
      the water out of the rivers on their mountains because they're
      just <&>10:00</&> so polluted and i just don't want it to happen
      here <&>10:03</&> <&>ten seconds where recording stopped and
      started again</&> <&>10:13</&>

  <WSC#DGB047:0270:Z2>
      well i think there's a whole lot of issues that sort of people
      need to know about er and perhaps the first is that you know we
      we do have a whole lot of um introduced er animals on the
      mountain like er the possum and they do need getting rid of um
      <O>tut</O> but i think er personally i think the um the regional
      council is um stepping outside its policy by going ahead and
      actually planning this er this drop of poison on the mountain
      this uncontrolled drop of poison without actually considering
      and looking at er some of the alternative methods of eradication
      of the possum before they do that because with this poison
      dropping then um particularly uncontrolled dropping from the air
      then there's whole lots of really dangerous sort of side effects
      coming out of that um <&>11:00</&> particularly with <O>voc</O>
      er um the possibility of of the er poison getting into waterways
      <,> <O>tut</O>

  <WSC#DGB047:0275:Z2>
      now um it's interesting when you talk to regional council people
      and people advocating the use of ten eighty what they say is
      that the poison actually breaks down into um harmless byproducts
      but the interesting thing about one of those um harmless
      byproducts they talk about is that <.>i</.> it breaks down into
      a substance called fluoride and um scientific evidence from
      round the world is showing that um fluoride once it was
      considered safe but now every area that has had fluoride in its
      water supplies <.>i</.> it's having um <.>in</.> er they can
      measure the increase of er hip fractures and bone marrow cancers
      in young men and hip fractures in elderly women um and all these
      things are increasing and er i think there's a direct connection
      there between the potential of you know spraying out this um
      poison and <&>12:00</&> then poisoning the people because it's
      coming down into our water supplies and um i think we really
      need to question that

  <WSC#DGB047:0280:HM>
      do you think a lot of people especially a lot of taranaki people
      are are aware exactly what's happening with the er <.>eradi</.>
      the poison drop

  <WSC#DGB047:0285:Z2>
      <O>inhales</O> well as time goes by i think they are gonna er
      they'll be made more and more aware um

  <WSC#DGB047:0290:Z2>
      i believe there's a a march being organised up up the um through
      new plymouth tomorrow and um we've had um there was a protest
      meeting called last week which was quite well attended um

  <WSC#DGB047:0295:Z2>
      yeah i think the issue's just starting to become you know the
      public are just starting to become aware of what's really going
      to happen

  <WSC#DGB047:0300:HM>
      and do they know what what kind of <.>e</.> effects it will have
      on the mountain and on the water <.>s</.> water supply

  <WSC#DGB047:0305:Z2>
      no i don't think so

  <WSC#DGB047:0310:Z2>
      i think the wool's been pulled over their eyes a little bit and
      um a lot of the harmful effects have being sort of <&>13:00</&>
      glossed over like um all the scientific reports i've read
      indicate that um <O>inhales</O> in areas <O>exhales</O> er well
      what the poison will have is an effect on the er <O>tut</O> <,>
      the insect life and thus birds eating the insects will be um
      affected er

  <WSC#DGB047:0315:Z2>
      any rodents will come out during the day and the moreporks will
      be able to er um so they'll be prey to bird life sort of er
      during the day er

  <WSC#DGB047:0320:Z2>
      that's particularly happens with the wetas too

  <WSC#DGB047:0325:Z2>
      they er they get affected they really like eating this bait and
      of course it wipes them all out um and <,> the effect on the
      possums themselves

  <WSC#DGB047:0330:Z2>
      when they die they'll sort of burrow up <.>un</.> under trees
      and that or with the um you know taranaki is er a mountain of
      water and um any of those possums they get washed down washed to
      sea er you know

  <WSC#DGB047:0335:Z2>
      it's <&>14:00</&> quite likely we'll end up with er dead
      poisoned possums on the beach

  <WSC#DGB047:0340:Z2>
      you know it's bad enough here already

  <WSC#DGB047:0345:Z2>
      we've got enough you know pollution in um <O>tut</O> out in the
      sea with the er you know all our seafoods then er let alone this
      as well

  <WSC#DGB047:0350:Z2>
      it's it's totally crazy

  <WSC#DGB047:0355:HM>
      so basically it will kill off the possums but it's um likely to
      harm other animals and also the land as well

  <WSC#DGB047:0360:Z2>
      okay the estimates of er possum kills vary from between um our
      er measurements that have been done in other areas around the
      country indicate that the um effectiveness of this particular
      poison can go from zero percent up to ninety percent

  <WSC#DGB047:0365:Z2>
      there's no doubt about it it can kill possums but um what the
      department of conservation in the coromandel and in northland
      have er discovered is that um in the longterm land based
      professional hunters is <.>a</.> are far <&>15:00</&> better
      than um using the poison far more effective socially
      environmentally and economically so um you know the taranaki er
      department of conservation and and regional council i think have
      been a bit um well they've been stepping outside their sort of
      policy really by steaming ahead and going you know going for
      this poison drop without really giving the people a chance to
      come up with proposals and er you know look at a land based um
      eradication methods through through hunting before they sort of
      consider all this dropping poison on the mountain

  <WSC#DGB047:0370:HM>
      then what's the taranaki environmental education trust's stance
      on on the whole matter

  <WSC#DGB047:0375:Z2>
      well the trust itself is sort of er geared up to um <O>tut</O>
      er look at all possible ways that um we can develop a
      sustainable future and <&>16:00</&> <O>tut</O> um yeah we're
      really keen that the possums that we form some effective
      eradication method um to get rid of them cos you know if we just
      let them go unchecked um the levels of the bush will go down and
      down and we'll just end up with a desert so with a mountain
      sitting in a desert and that'll be a real tragedy so what what
      we're pursuing at the moment or would like to be able to pursue
      further is to run some education programmes alongside um the
      conservation corps programme that we're already running and to
      investigate the downstream effect of of by being able to say um
      catch some possums and like we're exploring the idea of being
      able to get um this new electronic trap so we can and then to be
      able to um <O>tut</O> skin them and to tan them and to make
      clothes and i'm sure if when we do that then that'll open
      <&>17:00</&> up a whole whole wide range of possibilities for
      our young people to er you know to increase their skills to er
      to be able to utilise something that's that's there and also to
      help get rid of it and then protect the forest at the same time
      and for the <?>youth organised down at the</?> conservation
      corps and we're also building um biological toilets you know
      composting one that don't need water so we don't have to flush
      everything down the river and um we could equally set up or be
      involved in the setting up of er so we'd have to sort of develop
      contracts with the hunters and then at the same time develop
      contracts with um <,> doc to facilitate their payment and then
      er we'd have to look at then utilising the skins and er <.>y</.>
      you know not only sending them off to <.>m</.> market to get
      priced but to start that sort of development of people doing
      stuff with the products <,>

  <WSC#DGB047:0380:HM>
      but even that is a far better initiative than <&>18:00</&>
      anything else that the regional council or doc have come up with
      isn't it

  <WSC#DGB047:0385:Z2>
      yeah well it's a tragedy see they're if they're allowed to go
      ahead they're just going to spray the stuff around and then er
      all the possums will be left up there dead and so it's like er
      you know each each possum represents so much native bush and
      it's just like going up there with a chain saw and laying waste
      um large areas of the bush and it's in a national park <O>tut</O>

  <WSC#DGB047:0390:Z2>
      now the fact that these possums are up there eating the bush
      anyway it's far better that we um <O>clears throat</O> do
      whatever we can to pull them out and then use them <,,>

  <WSC#DGB047:0395:HM>
      <{><[>seems</[>

  <WSC#DGB047:0400:Z2>
      <[>just</[></{> just to leave them up <laughs>there as</laughs>
      er poison lumps of meat is <O>inhales</O> it's disaster

  <WSC#DGB047:0405:HM>
      seems pretty obvious that that the environmental way to go is is
      so much easier and more effective

  <WSC#DGB047:0410:HM>
      why <O>voc</O> have hasn't it been taken on board

  <WSC#DGB047:0415:Z2>
      well <O>clears throat</O> in other areas like um i just <.>had</.>
      i just had a big talk last night to a <&>19:00</&> chap in the
      coromandel and he was saying that he's <.>qui</.> he was very
      much surprised that um doc and taranaki have taken this attitude
      of er of using poison before they've explored the alternatives
      of land based hunting because in the coromandel and the <?>maurihau</?>
      they're actually doing that

  <WSC#DGB047:0420:Z2>
      <.>th</.> the hunters are seen as a better alternative than
      using than using poisons and also in northland the same thing's
      occurring

  <WSC#DGB047:0425:Z2>
      hunters are being used before the er the poisons

  <WSC#DGB047:0430:Z2>
      they've learned that er you know it's better to use people

  <WSC#DGB047:0435:HM>
      so it looks like taranaki has to make a mistake before they
      actually learn

  <WSC#DGB047:0440:Z2>
      well hopefully not you know hopefully we'll get them to see the
      common sense and er you know i think it's a case of people just
      standing up and being counted and saying hey this is not the way
      to go you know

  <WSC#DGB047:0445:Z2>
      we don't poison the mountain

  <WSC#DGB047:0450:Z2>
      we don't poison our water supplies um

  <WSC#DGB047:0455:Z2>
      we have to start looking after the place and we can do that best
      by just getting out there and physically sorting out the possum
      problem <&>20:00</&> <&>end of sample</&>
</I>
