Powerful Waters.

The site of Parliament House has its name, Waipiro. Rangi te Puni said that there was at the beach-side at the foot of Bowen Street—before, of course, Bowen Street was—a large pool of stagnant water, and this in the old days the Maoris called Waipiro, meaning strong-smelling water. The name became applied to the slopes above, and to the site of Government House and Parliament House. The old dame thought it was a not unfitting name for those parts. She had a touch of sly humour. “Strong Waters,” she said—” well, there's a good deal of that about Poneke to-day.”

Nothing poetical about that place-name. Wai-titi is better. That is the original name of the part of the beach—the line is marked by Lambton Quay—extending from about the foot of Bowen Street and the entrance to Parliament House grounds to the site of the Hotel Cecil and Pipitea Point. One meaning is “Shining Water.”