So is the government, as it has sensibly ensured through legislation, that the rail corridor will be available for any future ‘strategic’ transport use.

When considering a transport corridor set aside for potential future use all the sunk investment and retained value lies in the land and the civil works (cuttings and embankments etc).

The surface infrastructure (rails) have no value other than scrap.

This for the simple reason that no future transport system using the corridor could reasonably compete with road transport if required to adopt an obsolete, superannuated and seriously degraded track of the existing configuration.

The recreational ‘rail trail’ proposal would see the rails removed and the ballast converted into a sound base.

With the civil infrastructure preserved and maintained in good order this will further the goal of a future transport link by reducing the eventual cost of any required conversion.

In the meantime, a recreational trail will allow residents and tourists alike to get out and enjoy the beautiful North-East in ease and safety in their own time and at their own pace.

Mike Scott, Underwood.

REBECCA White’s decision to bolster her campaign by bringing in Daniel Andrews.

To charge people $120 a head for the pleasure of meeting him may well have been a game changer.   

But not in the way she thinks.    

It certainly gave the electors a chance to look at some of his more memorable achievements: the African gangs fiasco, the interruptions to power thanks to his obsession with “renewables”.  

And to wonder if Rebecca has any plan to bring them across the Tasman.   

Mr P.C. Wilson, Gold Coast.

I WAS released from the Royal Hobart Hospital on January 25 after having had an operation on my brain, to remove a build-up of fluid. 

I would like to thank the nurses in the recovery unit for the brilliant care I received. 

I didn't see much of the doctors as they were too busy.

I also wish to thank the nurses when I returned to the general ward. T

Two in particular, one a Ukrainian and one of Asian descent.

The nurses kept feeding me with coffee at anytime of the day or night. They really are angels. 

My nephew Stephen chauffeured me to Hobart for the operation and previously for consultations.

He is awfully busy and has to run a business but he took time off to accommodate me. It is much appreciated.

Mr Cecil Neil Guy, Youngtown.

THERE were a thousand tourists crammed into the Apex Caravan Park in Deloraine over the Australia Day long weekend.

Wouldn’t you think the Meander Valley Council would live up to the Premier Tourist Town label by improving the health of the Meander River, or spillage?

I use the term as that’s basically all it is since the Meander Dam/Huntsman Lake went in.

The caravan park is situated right on the banks of the river and campers are paying top dollar for a powered site.

Why isn’t the mini hydro scheme giving them and the town free power?

Why isn’t the river fit for drinking?

It’s a disgrace with barely a native tree or shrub to be seen.

A.R. Trounson, Needles.

Vale Danny Spooner, who passed away almost unnoticed in 2017.

Danny was a performer at every major folk festival, including Cygnet and Tamar (George Town), where his generosity of spirit helping young, aspiring singers was unequalled and unrivalled.

One of Danny’s long-lasting legacies will be his memorable renditions of old sea shanties, sung with gusto, heart and passion.

The term “national living treasure” was bestowed upon Danny by Professor of Philosophy, Max Charlesworth of Deakin University, which only seems appropriate and pertinent to a man of enormous spirit and humanity.

Kenneth Gregson, Swansea.

I FIND Rebecca White’s modern ideas and proposals refreshing and inspiring.

Like fresh air in a stagnant room.

Elsa de Ruyter, St Helens.

REGARDING the letter in The Sunday Examiner with suggested new wording for our anthem. 

If this writer is not happy with this country and the way it was settled perhaps you should leave. If the English had not taken this country it would now be under either the French, the Japanese, or the Chinese. 

Prior to English occupation of this country, Chinese maps designated what is now Australia as New China. 

Had the Japanese been successful in World War II, one priority was to eliminate the Indigenous population.

John Cole, Shearwater.

AS WITH anything, the devil is in the detail.

The new policy bubble about making us an armaments exporter misses the fact that the armaments makers in this country are foreign owned. 

Permits to export mean nothing, other countries have permits and see their vehicles and weapons being used in Yemen, our own Incat HSV-2 is there and has been hit by rockets. 

There is no safety catch for this industry.

Peter Taylor, Midway Point.