Mayor still keen for Ma¯ori street names

The battle to give a waterfront path a Ma¯ori name is not over yet, Wellington mayor Justin Lester has promised.

Last week Lester failed to get approval from a Wellington City Council regulatory committee to overturn a recommendation to use the name Lady Elizabeth Lane, instead of Taimoana Lane, for an accessway that runs from the Railway Station to Queen’s Wharf.

The decision was deferred to next month’s meeting, and Lester said he would make a stronger case at that meeting for a Ma¯ori name for the waterfront lane, and for another street in a new subdivision in Crofton Downs.

‘‘It’s a democracy and I don’t expect to win everything. We didn’t lose. It got deferred. It is a fight for another day.

‘‘What we will do is come back with a precinct plan for the waterfront and likewise for the subdivision proposal for Crofton Downs.

‘‘There will be potentially a mix [of Ma¯ori and non-Ma¯ori names] but [there] will be a heavy weighting towards Ma¯ori names,’’ Lester said.

The naming debate is the first test of the council’s new policy, which aims to make Wellington New Zealand’s te reo Ma¯ori capital.

‘‘We lived for 160 years in this capital with English names. I just want to make sure as a principle of value that we will follow our new policy.

‘‘This is really important for me and for the city. But it’s not important for everybody.

‘‘Since we launched [this policy], we had more than 250 responses from the community and 95 per cent were positive. They want to have Ma¯ori names and I’m trying to respect that.’’

In public consultation, an iwi consultation group suggested Taimoana Lane, but harbour police suggested Lady Elizabeth Lane in memory of a police launch lost in Wellington Harbour during a storm.

The iwi group agreed not to oppose the Lady Elizabeth Lane name.

Burglars hit police car

A police car was smashed into early yesterday as a car of fleeing young people, linked to a crime spree, exited an Auckland motorway. Police said the incident started with a spate of aggravated burglaries, which spanned Auckland’s south and western suburbs from midnight on Monday. Service stations in Ormiston, Te Atatu and Auckland Airport, were burgled by offenders from two vehicles between midnight and 3am, said Detective Inspector Faa Va’aelua, Counties Manukau field crime manager. One of the vehicles involved was then spotted by officers in Western Springs, he said. The police helicopter monitored the vehicle, which was driven on the wrong side of the motorway on several occasions. It collided with a police patrol vehicle as it exited an on-ramp in Mangere. The offenders fled the vehicle but were subsequently captured by police, said Va’aelua. A 21-year-old man was to appear in the Manukau District Court yesterday, while two teenagers, a 16-year-old youth and 14-year-old girl, were to appear in the Manukau Youth Court.

Waterfall victim named

The man who disappeared underwater at Tauranga’s Omanawa Falls was a master’s student at Waikato University, Indian media has reported. Indian Newslink named the man as Kishore Kumar Aravindan, 27. Aravindan had been swimming and taking photos with friends at the waterfall on Sunday when he failed to resurface. Two other men were able to walk out from the waterfall but a woman with them needed help from emergency services. The police national dive squad retrieved Aravindan’s body on Monday.

Overdue tourist walks out

A woman has walked out of a beech forest near Arrowtown after a search and rescue effort failed to find her on Monday night. Senior Sergeant Paula Enoka said the visiting Chinese woman emerged ‘‘fine’’ after an unscheduled night on the Big Hill Trail. A friend contacted police when he did not hear from her by 8.30pm on Monday. The woman had planned to be on the track for about five hours. A police helicopter, ground crew and Land Search and Rescue volunteers searched unsuccessfully until 4am yesterday and had planned to restart the search at 9am. However, the 53-year-old walked out from the track at 8.15am.

Fatal head-on crash

One person died and three people, including a child, were gravely injured after a serious head-on crash in Auckland. Emergency services rushed to the scene where twovehicles collided on Central Park Drive, Henderson, about 11pm on Monday. One person died at the scene, and a child was rushed to Starship Children’s Hospital with lifethreatening injuries, said Inspector Duncan Hall. Another two people were rushed to Auckland Hospital with serious injuries, said a St John Ambulance spokeswoman.