Miro Street

Miro Street connects Kauri Street and Karaka Street in Merrilands and like those streets is named after a native tree. However, this was not the first choice for its name. Miro was a compromise after the Taranaki County Council’s original suggestion stirred up a storm of controversy.

In May 1956, County Councillor Richard Belcher suggested that the short street be named “Riro Street”.  First to write to the editor of the Taranaki Daily News was farmer Harold Kaye who complained that suggestions from local residents had been “completely ignored” and that in Māori “riro” means “gone”, hardly an appropriate name for a street in what should be one of “New Plymouth’s best suburbs”. County Clerk Arthur Carley fought back, asserting that in fact the name was merely a contraction of the Māori word for the grey warbler, “Riroriro”, and pointing out that “[we often] hear ‘Paritutu’ referred to as ‘Paritoot’ ”.

Chastened by the fiery debate, Belcher wrote to the newspaper indicating that he had no wish to “inflict (upon the city) a name which is apparently unacceptable” and that at the next meeting he would withdraw his suggestion.

Finally, in June 1956 the Taranaki County Council decided to name the new thoroughfare Miro Street, in keeping with the local theme of native trees.

Miro (Prumnopitys ferruginea) are found throughout New Zealand and can grow up to 25m high. A slow-growing tree, its timber has a reputation for distortion and is considered an inferior timber product. However, its oil and gum are said to have medicinal properties, and Māori also ate the fruit, “despite it smelling and tasting like turpentine”.

According to Cory Smith’s book Notable trees of New Plymouth (2002), the largest open-grown tree of this species recorded in New Zealand is located at “Ratanui” on Carrington Road, possibly planted by John Nairn in the 1850s. 

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related items:

Street With Half a Name (Taranaki Daily News 9 May 1956)

Taranaki DP8146 Sheet 1 (1957), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)