Hutchison Paul: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — First Reading 
Hutchison Paul: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — First Reading 
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Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to take a call on the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill. It is a wonderful thought that Labour members are lining up to support this Government-sponsored bill under the excellent name or certainly with the assistance of the member for Hamilton East— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know this is slightly unusual but unless something happened when I popped out of the House for 5 minutes I thought we were on local bills rather than Government bills. I just want to check that we have not somehow slipped down to another piece of legislation. 
Todd McClay 
: Point of order— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: I will deal with one point of order— 
Todd McClay 
: Point of order— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: No. I do not think I need the member’s assistance thank you. Generally there is a little bit of flexibility about subject material in first readings and it is up to the member to make any comparisons or to draw into the first reading speech the relevance of what he is saying. We will give him the opportunity to do that. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Indeed the correct thing is that the excellent member for Hamilton East is the sponsor of this bill. It is a local bill— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: The Hamilton City Council is the sponsor. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Quite right. But I was so pleased about the fact that Labour members were so keen to line up and support my colleague Mr David Bennett— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No we’re supporting the Hamilton City Council. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: —ha ha!—who is sponsoring this bill. 
Let us look at some of the history behind it. We have heard the description of Mr Parr who died at about the age of 60. In fact in the explanatory note of the bill I was interested to see that the date of his death was “on or about the 26th day of February 1929 …” and I understand that David Bennett made note of Mr Parr’s obituary in the paper of the time. What a fine man Mr Parr was and what a great legacy this is! I also note that he gifted the park to the “Mayor Councillors and Burgesses of the Borough of Hamilton …”. Maybe Trevor Mallard could assist us with the “Burgesses” but I did look up the  
Oxford Dictionary 
. A burgess is an inhabitant of a town or borough who has full rights of citizenship. How we all celebrate the fact that we do indeed in this modern democracy of New Zealand have full rights of citizenship. 
It was excellent that Sue Moroney googled Parana Park. I did too and I note there were over 10 entries. Certainly she was quite right about the picture she mentioned. It is an absolutely stunning park on the banks of the Waikato River and is an area that has been enjoyed by many people and many children for years. Hopefully that will be the case for years to come. 
The Hamilton City Council certainly supports this bill fully. The bill will update the legislation to allow the council to more effectively manage and administer the park and enable any plans for development. That is the nub of the issue today. The council is now able to do what it thinks is right and proper for the good people of Hamilton; this is what the bill does. Undoubtedly the legacy behind it is very altruistic and we certainly hope that the future of this park will be enjoyed by all for many many centuries to come. Thank you.