Hughes Darren: Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill — First Reading 
Hughes Darren: Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:640;Page:10281] 
DARREN HUGHES (Labour—Otaki) 
 on behalf of  
Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban (Labour—Mana):  
I move  
That the Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee. It is with pleasure that I move this motion today on behalf of my good friend and colleague the Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban MP for Mana and member in charge of this local bill on behalf of the Porirua City Council. I wish to acknowledge before this House the descendants of the Stace family and the supporters of this bill who are following proceedings in Parliament today—kia ora talofa lava and in the enduring words of Winnie Laban “warm Pacific greetings”. 
This bill confirms the vesting in the Porirua City Council of the Pauatahanui Burial Ground. It also provides for the status control and management of the burial ground into the future. This bill tidies up the legal arrangements relating to one of the more historically significant burial sites in New Zealand. For the benefit of the House and those following the debate I note that the Pauatahanui Burial Ground is located between Paekakariki Hill Road and St Alban’s Anglican Church. 
The burial ground is an important part of the early European history of Pauatahanui and the wider Porirua district. It was also an important rohe for tangata whenua and I am grateful to Ngati Toa for providing some of the history of this site. The site next to the burial ground was where an old Ngati Ira pa was located. The pa was called Pauatahanui and it was the point of refuge for those living around the harbour inlet in undefended kainga. The pa was attacked on a number of occasions by various invading bands. One large battle occurred when a force of Muaupoko from the Horowhenua district and Rangitane attacked and overran the pa which at the time was occupied by Ngati Ira and Ngati Kaitangata. Survivors fled to Matiu Island within Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara. 
Pauatahanui Pa was also a strong pa of the Ngati Awa people before the arrival of Toa Rangatira. Pauatahanui was vacant in the 1820s until Te Rangihaeata built a fortified gunfighting pa called Mataitaua in 1845. One account details how Te Rangihaeata was chased back from the Hutt Valley to Matai-taua Pa by the 58th and 99th regiments of the British imperial forces in 1846. Te Rangihaeata was forced to abandon his pa on 1 August 1846 and he retreated up the Horokiwi valley where the skirmish at that place now known as Battle Hill took place on 6 August. 
As Te Rangihaeata fled north British soldiers moved into his pa. Thomas Hollis Stace and his family arrived from Tasmania in 1853 and purchased 113 acres of land at the head of the Pauahatanui inlet from the New Zealand Company. The site of the burial ground was given to him by a deed of trust dated 6 December 1856 with the first interment taking place in 1860. Plots in it were used for burials of members of many of the pioneer families from the period when Pauatahanui was a bustling township and a significant staging post for the journey north. Early settlers planted roses on the grounds from cuttings brought over from Britain and other parts of Europe. Many of these roses are still blooming thanks to the efforts of a wonderful group of Pauatahanui Burial Ground volunteers. 
The trust permitted a chapel to be built on the land and for this chapel to be used as a schoolhouse for the education of children of the neighbourhood and for the land to be used as a public burial ground. The deed of trust also reserved for Thomas Hollis Stace and his heirs the right to use part of the burial ground as a family plot. A certificate of title was issued for the burial ground under the Torrens system of land registration in 1936 subject to a caveat that protected the interests of the Stace family plot. Later the Minister of Health appointed managers of the burial ground under the Burial and Cremation Act of 1964 however legal ownership was not vested in those managers. The persons recorded on the certificate of title are now all deceased and the land has not been conveyed to new trustees. The deed of trust does not contain the power to dispose of the land in any other way. 
The Pauatahanui Burial Ground is now full apart from the plots acquired but in which no burials were made and areas where burials are thought to have occurred but for which there are no headstones or written records. The burial ground was closed at the end of 2004 and by way of section 53 of the Burial and Cremation Act its control and management has been vested with the Porirua City Council. 
So why is this legislation necessary? There are a number of reasons. Despite the vesting of the burial ground in the council in 2004 it remains subject to the trusts and the certificate of title remains subject to a caveat. The burial ground currently has no legal access. The entrance from Paekakariki Hill Road was closed several years ago. A right-of-way access arrangement is not possible without the formal vesting of ownership in the council. Legislation is the most efficient way to confirm the council’s ownership of the burial ground dissolve the trusts and extinguish the interests that are protected by the caveat. 
Finally the Pauatahanui residents descendents and living relatives of people who have been buried there would like to see the burial ground cared for and maintained in perpetuity. The bill will reserve the right of those who purchased plots before the closure in 2004. The Porirua City Council has conducted a thorough round of consultation on this bill including consultation with the Stace family and local iwi. Both have indicated that they are happy with the intent and objects of this bill. 
To Maori the appropriate and respectful burial of those in our community who have passed on is of course of immense importance. It is important that the tapu of the mourning tangi and burial process is recognised and that the mana of the person who has passed away is observed. These things are also important to me as a New Zealander of Scottish descent. That is why I am pleased that this bill will protect the burial ground and the memory of those who lie in it and rest there forever. 
I would like to thank all the people the volunteers and the groups who have assisted with getting the bill to this point. It will be appropriate to further acknowledge all parties at a later stage in the proceedings of this bill. It is with pleasure that I commend this bill to the House.