Apartments are on the rise and so are dogs. According to a 2019 City of Newcastle publication, in the Newcastle Council area alone, there are more than 40 000 dogs. And that only accounts for the registered ones.

If all owners did the daily clean-up after their dogs, that would be 40,000 plastic waste bags each day, with some ending up on beaches; in storm water drains; parkland; dumped in other people's bins; or indeed, in trees and gardens. The inventiveness of the lazy owner astounds.

Just when environmentalists are counting the cost to the world of the manure from billions of livestock, it seems that of the dog is disregarded.

Moreover, reasonable people do not object to service dogs accompanying their owners into cafes and businesses. Unfortunately there are dog owners who see this as the right of their pooch as well. It is well and truly time for people to think seriously about their responsibilities to the dog, the community, the environment.

NSW Open Surf Club state titles were held last weekend on Saturday and Sunday at Blacksmiths beach ('Young guns fire for host club', Newcastle Herald 9/3).. I witnessed a fantastically efficient, amazingly well run and thrilling carnival. Hearty congratulations are very well deserved by the home club and hosts, Swansea Belmont Surf Life Saving Club.

The beach races, surf boat races, all the board, paddle and swimming events were contested by fit young men and women who showed, over the two action packed days, what skills, talents and athleticism we have in these young athletes, who also give their time each weekend as volunteer surf life savers on patrol to protect us and our families, and to keep us safe on our local beaches in NSW.

This carnival attracted competitors and their families and supporters from every part of NSW.

There was not a spare bed to be had in Belmont or Swansea in hotels, in surrounding motels and camping areas. Our local economy had a lift and an economic boost not seen for ages. What a great event for our area. What a great showcase for our wonderful surf life saving heroes.

Surfest at Merewether beach must have been great too. Our local newspaper reported fully on that event, for days ('Fantasy final', Herald 9/3). It was a shame there was less reporting on the surf titles, a stellar event at Blacksmiths beach.

MATTHEW Kelly ('Dust yet to settle on parking debate' Herald, 21/2) quotes council as saying that "it will also add another 30 spaces to the Wharf Road car park opposite Scratchleys if a proposal to rezone an adjacent block is approved".

This rezoning is currently exhibited for feedback on the council's website under the heading "Amendment to Newcastle LEP and DCP". It proposes to reclassify the current car park from community land to operational, amalgamate it with the adjacent former rail corridor land and rezone the block as Special Purpose - Tourist with a 14-metre building height limit. Oddly, the small section of railway corridor is still zoned as Infrastructure - railway as it was left out when the rest of the corridor underwent rezoning in 2017.

Future plans for the site are unclear, with one of the few references in the exhibited documents saying "the future ownership has been resolved and use of the land for a multi-purpose community space is now being investigated". This is a significant site as it is the only stretch of the former rail corridor where Hunter Street is open to the harbour. Given the potential loss of 40 more car spaces, could the council please reveal exactly what is has planned?

BRAD Hill, it's not all COVID-19 "hoo haa", (Short Takes, 3/7). As a pandemic, my understanding is that its one per cent death rate could claim about 70 million lives. But the huge number quarantined and sick will really hammer all economies' production.

The 2009 global financial crisis hammered demand. There are many who are highly infectious potentially going undetected with no symptoms. In a world of great mobility, many who are isolated are usually producing vital economic wealth. This could collapse, and the virus may continue to spread fast.

As a survivor of 1968 Hong Kong flu, the most dangerous form of malaria and dengue fever, I don't wish COVID-19's sweat-drenched beds on anyone. For the record, this household has not panicked. In-house toilet paper jokes keep the mood light.

IF it is true that this crazy collection of toilet paper was started by someone on social media saying all toilet paper came from China, then my suggestion is that they be exiled to the North Pole without a computer. They can occupy themselves with fighting off polar bears.

I agree with a letter in the paper a few days ago by John Davies (Letters, 7/3) which referred to the selfishness behind the determination to have a trolley full of huge packets of toilet paper. I was appalled to see a fight pictured on television between three women, one of whom just wanted one packet while the woman with a trolley full of huge packets seemingly refused to give one to her. What has happened to supposed human qualities of sharing, of kindness and consideration for others?

If it is true that people who have bought a large number of packets of toilet paper are then selling them on, then greed becomes another factor. I have yet to see any statement that one of the symptoms of the coronavirus is diarrhoea.

TONIGHT on 60 Minutes I have witnessed the disgusting, depraved reality of 'wet markets" in Asia. These torture chambers house delicate animals and reptiles from all over the world; animals that are locked in tiny cages, terrified and traumatised, before being brutally slaughtered for human consumption. The markets are a bloodbath of intestines and bodily fluids from the massacred animals. They are also thought to be the source of the coronavirus, which appears to have been transmitted from animals to humans.

So, is Mother Nature finally taking a stand against yet another plague of animal cruelty and exploitation, or is it merely the stricken animals' final retribution?

SUSIE Johnson (Short Takes, 9/3), in all honesty does anyone really even care whether there were sports grants or not, or a document was changed by whoever? Are these things important or affecting your daily life? Sad if they are. I'm sure there are far more important things to worry about. I would think those affected by ridiculous Green ideology, the climate change loonies and where you are going to find your next roll of dunny paper are far bigger issues.

HAS Mr Morrison promised his kids another overseas holiday? With the potential for a recession and Covid-19 gaining strength, we could benefit from a leader actually in Australia. If we slide into recession, overseas holidays will be the least of Mr Morrison's problems. After talking of headwinds 12 months ago and doing nothing effective about it, the government is risking a fail. Conservative governments that fail to manage the economy effectively are usually shown the back door.

GOOD to see the Aussie humour coming to the front in regards to the toilet paper shortage. Let's hope the humour continues when in a few months down the track we cannot buy any toilet paper, people start using alternatives and we finish up with a nation full of blocked sewers. We may have to bring back backyard dunnies.

AFTER ending my butchering career in the bay I've been keeping my hand in doing a bit in Newcastle for a family business. I've worked for myself, managed butcheries and been well rewarded for my efforts, but I've reached the pinnacle of my career. The boss presented me with a 6 pack of toilet paper as well as my bag of meat as a little bonus. This is monumental in a long career this gesture justifies all of those 4am alarms. It's going straight to the pool room with my signed John Farnham album.

AS a 90-year-old I can see a great side effect of the fact that we can't get toilet rolls at the supermarket: the population will go back to buying the newspapers and putting the squares on a spike on the back of the dunny door. I think this was how I got addicted to printer ink. The luxury of the day was to get a phone book. As I say, it was a long time ago but I am sure it will bring memories to many older peoples on how they could catch up with the news in peace.

SEAN Farnham (Letters, 7/3) poses a hypothetical at Sarah Taylor (Letters 4/3) about reducing emissions. to answer in the same hypothetical vein: if Australia were to reduce its emissions to zero in a short time, that would mean that the rest of the world would already be there and we would only be following them and using the methods they used. As you well know, we aren't good at leading and have to be led.

I NEED a larger fridge; my Peter Lewis cartoons are displacing family photos. Saturday (Opinion, 7/3) was hilarious.