Push for town’s Ma¯ori name stalls

A push to use Levin’sma¯ori name, Taitoko, has stalled and the councillor who backed the move says she’s surprised at the negative reaction to the idea.

In 2018 Horowhenua named its draft town centre strategy ‘‘Transforming Taitoko’’ and councillor Victoria Kaye-simmons said it would also be nice to acknowledge the town’s traditional name.

It has not featured since and Kaye-simmons faced backlash after speaking out. ‘‘What astonished me was the level of racism that came out of that conversation,’’ she said, two years on.

She had received abusive voice messages, her parents had fielded phone calls and she was unable to go into town for a month without being accosted in the street.

Kaye-simmons said the push to use Taitoko would need to be fronted by iwi and the community.

‘‘There is no reason why we can’t have two signs on the road and use macrons.’’

Mayor Bernie Wanden said he thought there would have been more acceptance of te reoma¯ori.

He said the council had incorporated te reo into reading material and community documents and had started to incorporate it into signage.

Wanden said he was happy for Taitoko to be used more. ‘‘We are a diverse community, and we have to recognise our heritage and ensure the partnerships grow.’’

Councillor David Allan said he fully supported the integration of Taitoko. ‘‘I would always say Te Awahou Foxton. I would say Taitoko Levin,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s important to me and I think one of the things as a councillor to be clear on [is] our opinions on this sort of thing. For me, it’s 100 per cent a no-brainer.’’

Allan said he hadn’t considered a formal name change, but he wanted to start a discussion about the issue. He was delighted Muau¯poko had gifted the name Taraika for the Gladstone Green subdivision and hoped this would be the beginning of the integration of more Ma¯ori place names.

A Horowhenua District Council spokeswoman said there was no proposal to change the name of Levin to Taitoko.

‘‘While it could be something that in the future local iwi encourage the council to formally consider, at this stage there are no plans for this.’’

Taitoko was chosen by Muau¯poko leader Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, who drew up plans for a bicultural town before the land was obtained by the Crown.

Levin’s name was adopted by the Crown from the name already given to a railway station operating on land donated by Te Rangihiwinui for the railway corridor.

It was named after William Hort Levin, a Wellington-based director of the railway firm. It is unlikely he ever visited the town.

The Muau¯poko Tribal Authority was contacted for comment.