First of all, as they have come to Hong Kong to work, we should treat domestic helpers as members of Hong Kong society and provide them with the pay to which they are entitled. Local workers have launched a campaign for a statutory minimum wage of HK$30 an hour.

Most of these helpers come from abroad. They cannot earn enough at home to make a decent living and so they come to Hong Kong so they can have a better life.

Yet, if they can only earn HK$3,580 per month, some of them will not feel they are much better off than if they stay in their homeland.

Many of them might feel very frustrated about their low level of pay and this might affect their performance at work.

Surely, it is time for our government to show a touch of humanity and give domestic helpers a larger pay rise.

Many of these foreign domestic helpers speak good English.

This can be very helpful to a local family because they can practise English with the children in the family.

Nowadays, English is the international language, so if young people when they are choosing a career want to succeed, they will have to speak English.

I think if the government could approve a larger pay rise, it could get more foreign domestic helpers to come to Hong Kong. As I said, this would be good for young people as they would be able to learn spoken English.

Officials must see this as an advantage for the future development of Hong Kong and they should also be capable of showing some compassion.

Thus, I urge the government to establish a new policy to increase the salaries of maids and also set the minimum wage, which is the root solution.

Wendy Wong, Tseung Kwan O

What do you think of the standard of road safety?

Just a mention aimed at the top brass of the Hong Kong Police Force: I have full confidence in the automotive engineering team of academics at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education.

I am sure they will be happy to resume courses for road patrol officers and new entrants to the police force.

Courses are available in both basic road safety and traffic accident analysis and reconstruction. The team from the institute has offered these courses since the mid-1980s and is keen to again provide this important form of training to frontline police officers.

Iain Seymour-Hart, Auckland, New Zealand

Should the disabled receive half-price travel?

The disabled should receive more care and attention from everyone on a day-to-day basis in public.

Half-price travel across the board from the government should be looked at to ascertain if it is financially feasible.

And let us not forget that there are many other needy groups within society also seeking help from the government.

Annie Fu, Repulse Bay

On other matters...

Is it just me or have others encountered problems in being able to speak to a human being when calling PCCW/Netvigator for help regarding one's computer?

Technology is a good thing, but not when you have to punch in your identity card number, then listen to a veritable buffet of options that gives you a headache trying to distinguish one from the other, then press the wrong button and you have to go through the whole foxtrot again.

What's even worse is that after going through all of this and finally being able to speak to a real 'live' person, she was unable to help and then proceeded to rattle off some 'new initiatives' at Now TV that would cost me an extra HK$100.

Who on Earth is running things at PCCW?

Hans Ebert, Central

In 2006 the Hong Kong Observatory was heavily criticised for not hoisting the No8 typhoon signal when Prapiroon passed to the west of Hong Kong.

Their excuse was that winds in Victoria Harbour were not strong enough, never mind that hundreds of flights were delayed or diverted and gale-force winds were felt at Chek Lap Kok, Cheung Chau and other western areas.

Two years on and on Saturday morning, at 3am, the red rainstorm warning was hoisted as heavy rain fell over Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

A decision was made at 6am to close schools. This was not a wrong decision but ultimately unnecessary as the rain died down immediately afterwards.

Go back two days earlier and from 5am to 9am, heavy rain occurred, also causing serious flooding and, sadly, the death of a 15-year-old girl washed away by floods, all this in the northern New Territories. But was the red rainstorm hoisted? No.

So yet again it seems that if it isn't happening downtown at the Hong Kong Observatory, it does not matter.

So let's have two systems: one warning system for Kowloon and Hong Kong Island and another warning system for 'the people who don't count'.

G. Marques, Lai Chi Kok

I have lived in Taikoo Shing for more than 20 years. I used to rely on the property management company's one-month opening of the podium as the season changed, so people could dry the quilts they had washed.

This practice was ended last year and I tried to get a quilt cleaned at a laundry, but was refused. I was told the quilt was too large and it would damage their machines. This year I wrote four letters to the property management company, asking to be allowed three to four hours to put out my quilts. My request was turned down.

A survey was undertaken on this matter and I suppose I am in the minority. However, surely in any harmonious and civilised community, minority interests also have to be taken care of.

I would like to bring this matter to the attention of the secretary of home affairs.

I would like to point out to the minister and to environmental groups that using the natural heat of the sun to dry our quilts would save on energy. I wonder if there is anyone out there, such as a district councillor, who can help me with this problem.

Flavia Fung, Taikoo Shing