KEY POINTS:
A man has been charged with murder after a 23-year-old was stabbed to death at a New Year party in a derelict Waikato house.
Gareth Pehina Te Huia, of Te Awamutu, died after a fight between himself and another man outside the party in Kawhia, southwest of Hamilton.
A 41-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder and is to appear in Hamilton District Court tomorrow.
Mr Te Huia died after sustaining multiple stab wounds.
A local resident earlier said large groups of young people stay at the Kawhia site at New Year.
Owner of the Kawhia Camp Ground Ock Bennet said the derelict house in Kaora Street filled up with "undesirables" in past few days.
He said the party seemed to get out of control around four this morning with a lot of screaming and shouting.
A policeman who was called out to the stabbing at around 5am was attacked when he went to the police station to collect some equipment.
And when an ambulance arrived it was met by a hostile crowd and had to withdraw.
Two Te Awamutu men, 20 and 22, have been arrested and charged with assaulting the constable and damaging his vehicle.
"The local constable initially went to the Kawhia police station to gather equipment where he and his vehicle were attacked," said Waikato police spokesman Tony Sasso this morning.
"He had to retreat to another location and wait for backup. He suffered minor cuts to the head."
Mr Sasso confirmed a weapon had been recovered. The body was expected to be moved from the house today for a post mortem in Hamilton.
It is understood there is a history of disorder on New Year's Eve at the site.
A Kawhia resident, who did not want to be named, said he heard a commotion and went to see what was happening.
"We heard it all and I wandered down to the front to see what was going on. I could hear them saying 'He's dead, he's dead' so that is when we rang the police."
The dead man was believed to have come from the area although he did not live there.
The resident said New Year's Eve celebrations mostly ended about 1am except for the party at the house.
He said after the stabbing there was a "mass exodus of cars". He said more than alcohol was involved.
"Some of the guys were wandering around over there this morning with eyes on the end of stalks."
The house was cordoned off by police but the resident said police may know the offender because there had been reports of a witness.
Mt Maunganui
In other incidents around the country, traditional party hot spot Mt Maunganui was the worst affected. Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair, who headed the police operation in the town, said there were about 100 arrests - mainly for liquor ban breaches - and it was a busy night for police.
"Staff generally have found that the level of intoxication was higher this year, and also the level of aggression of the crowd was higher than we've seen in the previous two or three years," he told National Radio.
In other parts of the North Island police were kept busy dealing with disorder, but there were no major problems.
In the main centres New Year's Eve went off without major incident. Dunedin had only about 14 arrests.
Bad weather in Wellington put a dampener on celebrations, with several scheduled events cancelled due to bad weather, including the traditional party in Civic Square.
Despite this police were kept busy dealing with general disorder and domestics, a spokesman from the police central communications centre said.
It was also a busy night for Christchurch police, despite the weather. In Auckland police reported a relatively trouble-free night with few arrests for serious disorder.
Napier police said it was no worse than an average Saturday night, with 14 people arrested from midnight onwards, mostly for minor disorder and wilful damage, he said.
Wanaka police made 44 arrests for street offences and breaches of the liquor ban. This was less than the 52 arrests in 2005. In nearby Queenstown it was a case of "Groundhog Day" with 33 arrests - similar to other New Year's Eves, Sergeant Cameron Sigley said.
- CLAIRE TREVETT, NZPA and NEWSTALK ZB
