Kerre Woodham: Taniwha demands high price

Len Brown. Photo / Kellie Blizard

Another major infrastructure project and lo and behold, another taniwha appears.

The capricious mythological figure seems to pop up almost as soon as the first sod is turned.

In 2002, local iwi warned that the upgrade of State Highway 1 near Mercer would cut through the domain of the local taniwha, Karu Tahi. According to Ngati Naho, the one-eyed monster lived in the swamp six months of the year and in the Waikato River for the other six months of the year.

Work was halted while iwi were consulted and negotiations were held and it was decided that Transit would build a steeper-than-planned embankment next to the monster's swamp lair and drainage would be put in place to ensure that the monster's home stayed nice and moist. Apparently, he likes a leaky home.

The extra cost to the project was estimated to be between $15,000 and $20,000 - small change really in the scheme of things - and no direct compensation was paid to Ngati Naho.

That same year, Ngapuhi tried to halt the construction of a new prison at Ngawha because, they said, a taniwha called Takauere roamed the area. The attempt to protect Takauere's patch went to the Environment Court, then the High Court - but ultimately failed.

The prison was built and is now, sadly, doing a roaring trade. Perhaps Takauere enjoys having a bit of company because there don't seem to have been any supernatural problems since.

Now Len Brown's $2.6 billion city rail dream is being threatened by Horotiu, a taniwha whose realm once ran from Myers Park to the sea, under the Town Hall and Queen St.

Brown says that Ngati Whatua have been consulted at every stage of the project and they would continue to have input along the way.

Ah, I love this country. We may not have ghosts or banshees or werewolves in Aotearoa/New Zealand, but by crikey, our taniwha can match the lot of them.

I don't know of a ghost or a leprechaun that can bring a billion-dollar project to a standstill while project managers consult with the locals about how best to placate monsters.

We all have our deities - or, as Dr Ranginui Walker puts it, our manifestation of a coping mechanism.

Before science, people needed a reason to explain disasters or good fortune. Priests are still called in to sprinkle holy water to rid homes of bad spirits, white witches in hippy enclaves throughout the country regularly burn herbs to invoke good karma. As the kids used to say, whatever.

But I just get a wee bit concerned when you hear Glenn Wilcox, the Maori Statutory Board member who brought Horotiu to the meeting, say "there are always ways to placate taniwha".

So long as it involves a bit of holy water or a few rosemary herbs, I'm happy. If it involves cheques with lots of zeros, I'm less enchanted.

Have a dawn service, bring in a few tohunga, petition for peace and good fortune - and then let's full steam ahead to a city that acknowledges its past but has a great future.