Howick wins naming battle

Howick is to be the name of a ward of the new Auckland Council after a successful campaign against the original proposal to call it Te Irirangi.

Waving a handful of petitions from a box in Parliament yesterday, Pakuranga MP Maurice Williamson said the people of Pakuranga, Botany and Howick were pleading to have a name for the ward that people would know where to find on the map.

"I could not find anyone who knew Te Irirangi, but even people in the South Island knew where Howick was," he said.

A local newspaper's petition had drawn an overwhelming response of 90 per cent in favour of Howick rather than the name given by the Local Government Commission in the Super City plan.

Mr Williamson said it was an "elegant solution" because Howick was in the middle of the ward.

Parliament was yesterday in the committee stage of proposed changes to the Local Government ( Auckland Law Reform) Bill - the third piece of Super City legislation. The Government intends completing the third reading of the bill today.

Speaking against the Government's support for the amendment, Mangere Labour MP Su'a William Sio said the Government had laid down a process for the Super City merger, telling people they must follow the process first and then change things.

"Now a couple of ministers, who didn't like it, and a supplementary order paper will change the name to Howick."

He said many people, including Botany Community Board chairwoman Dyann Calverley, were standing up for a "silent majority" who had hoped for Te Irirangi.

The ward would be 17km long, with 128,000 residents. People were under the misapprehension that the name change applied to Howick village.

Te Irirangi was the principal chief of the area in the early 19th century and is recognised by the local Te Irirangi Drive.