Animal cruelty is not just violence but is also negligence and indifference. Leaving a dog on the rooftop without feeding it is also a form of animal cruelty.

If he loved the dog, he would have given the best care and provide a comfortable environment for it. When we want to keep a dog or a cat, we have responsibilities to protect and tend it well. I believe that animals are our intimate friends, especially dogs. They can be good listeners and partners. When we feel lonely or depressed, they give us a warm hug and stay beside us quietly. I hope all of us can make our concern about animal abuse known and arouse public awareness of the issue. Also, people must think twice before they decide to keep a dog or cat.

Judy Yung, Lei Yue Mun

Q How can we improve services for the mentally ill?

Discrimination against those with mental problems has been a serious problem for many years. Although there are more services for the mentally ill than in the past, people are still discriminated against in our society.

Most employers are not willing to hire people who are mentally ill. Many employers think it will be a big problem when their emotions affect their work efficiency. Employers do not care about whether they are suited for the job or not. It is a kind of discrimination.

First and foremost, citizens should be educated. The government may hold some talks and introduce programmes to publicise the anti-discrimination message. When people start to change their feelings about the mentally ill, the problem will be eased.

The government should provide more funding to help patients rehabilitate in a shorter time, with more trainers to aid them to adapt to a work environment. Welfare agencies should also organise a special team of social workers to visit and give them support.

Joyce Ho, Hunghom

Q How can the typhoon signal system be improved?

Over the past decades there have been numerous instances when the No8 signal was raised and people were mystified at the lack of wind and rain. The government and business world cried foul at the loss of productivity on those days. Some time back there was a headline showing several hundred applicants all with PhDs for a menial job at the Observatory.

Perhaps it's high time they employed people with common sense rather than PhDs as well as revamping the warning system. In the old days, fishermen at the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter were a more accurate guide as to how bad the storm would be rather than the 'Guess-workery'. To this day the Observatory releases temperature data which many people do not realise is taken in the shade. The temperature in open sunlight can be between five and seven degrees higher than that.

They still do not provide the heat/humidity and wind-chill factor data showing what the actual effective ambient temperatures are, given wind and humidity influences, but merely rely on the farcical Hot Weather Warning and Cold Weather Warning jokes.

It is time for the highly paid people at the 'Guess-workery' to get the whole warning system, not just the typhoon scheme, revamped. In overseas countries like Australia, it is against the law to work in heat-factor temperatures above a certain limit.

James Middleton, Pat Heung

Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying states the No8 signal was not issued as the criteria for this were not met on the basis of objective measurements. He owes the public a more detailed explanation about the criteria in this case.

The Observatory's wind speed measurements from its weather station at Kai Tak show average wind speeds of 65 to 75km/h from 5.30 to 7.30 on the morning of August 3. Frequent periods with average wind speeds exceeding 65km/h during the rest of the day were recorded at Kai Tak, with some measurements up to 85km/h.

These are not 'gusts', they are 10-minute average wind speeds. This information is publicly available from the Observatory's website.

Either the Observatory has decided to use a different definition of 'average wind speed' or it considers Kai Tak not part of Victoria Harbour.

Regardless, a comprehensive review of the criteria for warning signals and a possible overhaul of the system appear to be necessary.

Observatory weather stations in heavily populated areas such as Stanley and Tsing Yi measured average wind speeds of up to 90km/h on August 3. As these weather stations are not Victoria Harbour, these measurements presumably would be ignored completely under the current system.

Douwe Cramer, Discovery Bay

On other matters ...

Be Considerate Please! I read in your report on 'Phantom high-rise throwers' (July 30). We live in an affluent society with the best of luxuries available to us, yet civic sense is something that is not in the locals' dictionary, as displayed by people throwing dangerous objects from high-rise buildings not sparing a thought for others.

Other examples are yawning without covering the mouth, clearing the throat in a public place and then spitting in the bins without a tissue (ugh), using umbrellas in the shade, breaking queues in supermarkets and shops, talking loudly on mobile phones in cinemas, the MTR and on buses. What example are we setting for our children?

Living in Hong Kong for more than 11 years, I have now begun to realise the diminishing value that money brings. Common people show some compassion, some consideration; after all, we make up society, not the other way round.

Neena Aswani, Tsim Sha Tsui