From Mr A. M. Bezzina

Australian aborigines adapt well to their environment. Their body can withstand sub-zero night temperatures and scorching midday temperatures in the Australian desert. This wonderful adaptation is present if their children are born and live in such an adverse environment. Aboriginal children who are born and live in modern day housing will lose the ability to tolerate such temperature changes.

I refer to alfreddo (sic) A. Camilleri’s letter entitled “It’s not all that cold) (TMIS, 19 December). Was he born and raised in the middle of the Australian desert or in that of a political party? He seems to tolerate cold well. Mr Camilleri has pooh-poohed Ms Caruana Galizia's article on of 12 December and called it insipid. I am not defending Ms Caruana Galizia's arguments, she is more than adept to do that herself. I am writing to endorse what Ms Caruana Galizia has written and, in turn, to pooh-pooh Mr Camilleri's letter, point for point.

1. Different people have a different tolerance to temperature and if Mr Camilleri is comfortable at 12 Celsius, good for him. The temperature inside a

Maltese home is below 16

Celsius between mid-November and mid-March. Relative humidity, which is always above 65 per cent most of the time, contributes further to the level of discomfort. Ms Caruana Galizia's article was about Malta and about those people who prefer to spend there hard earned cash on making their home comfortable rather than contributing to political party coffers.

2. Some heating systems cannot be switched on and off incessantly. To have a moderate level of comfort one has to leave non-portable, externally-venting systems continuously on for at least three-and-a-half months, adjusting only the setting as it gets colder. Mr Camilleri may be ignorant of the fact that portable kerosene or gas-fuelled heaters (the ones which can be switched on and off) vent their products of combustion into the home. This increases humidity, carbon dioxide and monoxide as well as non-combusted hydrocarbons. These portable heaters are dragged around to where they are needed. They heat primarily by radiant heat, but are essentially a space heater and are effective only if you close the room in which they are being used.

3. I assure Mr Camilleri that I would not like to go back to the Mintoffian days. While Mr Camilleri shows, once again, ignorance of the kerosene fuelled systems available on the market, he mocks low income households in which kerosene heaters may be the only means of heating. Not everybody can afford to install air-conditioners everywhere like Mr Camilleri seems to have done. Air-conditioners are badly named. They heat or cool/dehumidify the air, but they definitely do not condition the air. If all people who had opted to make use of kerosene fuelled heaters changed to electrical means of heating I can assure Mr Camilleri that there will be electrical overloading and blackouts hitting the country.

4. Ms Caruana Galizia specifically said that Lm100 a month is needed on the coldest days with the new kerosene price. I concur with Ms Caruana Galizia on those figures from personal experience. What may not be true is if you consider an average for Maltese families. For an “always on” system the figures are definitely spot on.

5. Mr Camilleri is happy to heat his home only for three-and-a-half weeks in winter. Good for him. Mr Mintoff is known to go swimming in the winter months. Mr Camilleri and Mr Mintoff must be two extraordinary people! Fish are cold-blooded creatures, well-adapted to live in a cold environment too. As regards the fur coat remark in Mr Camilleri's fifth point, women wear fur coats not to keep warm but to flaunt status. Modern thermal wear is more efficient and lighter.

6. Mr Camilleri said he has never come across entire families dressed more appropriately for the North Pole. I am sure he is right. He probably only met people dressed up to a degree which makes them feel comfortable in an unheated, humid Maltese home. Or he only meets cold-blooded people.

7. The option to turn off fixed, kerosene-fuelled systems does not exist. In centrally heated houses in the “civilised part of the world”, houses are better insulated (they keep the heat), automatically shut off hot water circulation at night when everybody is in bed and comes on early in the morning before people get out of bed. I can tell Mr Camilleri that in the coldest north European winters, room temperature does not drop by more than two degrees during the time it is switched off at night.

8. Mr Camilleri's eighth point seems superfluous, but to keep in pace point for point, may I suggest that he talks to the people who are seeing red after the price hike of kerosene.

9. Mr Camilleri's ninth point really exposes him for what he is. Somebody who unconditionally believes what his mind conjures up. He seems to generalise too quickly without trying to see beyond his nose. There may be a few catering empires around but I hardly think that they all started as humble village bakers. Humble village bakers are still around for every one to see, and thankfully, to relish their

produce.

10. I am sure that Ms Caruana Galizia would want to answer your direct question to her about misuse of paraffin. My answer is yes, abuse should be controlled, but the method used has simply punished those making legitimate use of kerosene. The abusers will soon be mixing light fuel oil at 16 cents a litre to pass through heavy-duty engines, which will have a greater detrimental effect on our health and the environment.

11. May I add my point. I presume that Mr Camilleri has air-conditioners installed in his home. Since he feels that heating his home is only necessary for a very short time, I also presume that he may have installed air-conditioners because he does not tolerate the heat too well. We are having a mild winter, which could be the forerunner of a hot summer. Mr Camilleri may find that his (presumed) means of cooling in summer has to be used at a higher setting, the electricity metre will whirr away and when the bills arrive at his home in Christmas 2005 plus a 17 per cent surcharge, we will all be happily digging deeper into out pockets.

Albert M. Bezzina

MOSTA