The public have stumped up millions for a boat shed – but the boat is already housed in Lower Hutt

Now let's find a boat to store here.

Things are looking up for the country’s tax and rate payers, who coughed up a few million bucks for an opulent canoe kennel in the capital.

The new structure has a good chance of actually housing the canoe as its planners intended. Hooray.

There had been some doubt about this, because one bunch of Maori reckon the canoe’s rightful place is in its posh new shed on the Wellington waterfront, but another bunch has been keeping it safe and sound in a museum out in Lower Hutt, and looked likely to ensure it stayed there.

It doesn’t much matter which bunch of Maori happen to be right with their claims and counter claims.

The fact is that when it came to the grand opening, the canoe that was supposed to be there wasn’t there.