EUROPEAN PLACE NAMES.

vramr* voc "tite press. ; [By Canon Neyill.] Strawim ('Note 2V—Mrs T. M. Ford, of Eiceartou, has very kindly supplied mc vrith the note about the origin of St rowan which I wanted. She says: ■'lnteresting information respecting the 'iiitory of 'Strowan' has been supplied io tiie Board of Governors of St. Andrew's College by Mr Thomas Duncan, Aitutaki, Cook Islands, and was referred to at a function in connexion with th-i '"■oJlege. Mr Duncan 's father, the i'r Thomaa Smith Duncan, at one time tiiu head of the legal firm of Duncan, Cotteriil, and Martin, Cliristc!i;:reh. purchased the property in ]SOS or .LSGQ, from the late Bir Thoui:::: Trwcrod. Mr Duncan named the place St rowan after an estate in Crieft. Perthshire, Scotland, owned by :,is brother-in-law, Mr T. J. Grahum-

Stirling. Oil Mr Duncan ; s death, Strove was purchased by the late Mr Geo. G. Stead, and the Board of Governors of St. Andrew's College acquired it from the executors of the late Mr .Stead. As to the origin of tho name, Mr .Thomas Duncan quotes a writer in the 'Perthshire Constitutional' of January. ls^ } who, in referring to the trees growing on the 'Strowan' estate at Criert, says: 'One of the first trees to attract attention is a very beautiful Jiine, a little to the south-west of the' mansion, which owes its interest to the fact of it shading the cross which marked the ancient market placo of Strowan before it was transferred to Crioft. The market is a memorial of St. Rowan, a saint in the Scottish Roman calendar, to whom Strowan owes its name. St. Rowan lived about the middle of the seventh century, and is described as a learned and brave ecclesiastic. ' n

Lyttelton Street Names. Mr J. B. Milsom, of Sawyers Downs, Kaikoura, lias very kindly furnished me with further data hero. Soamea road, after the well-known Mr Soames, bo Brittain road and Dudley road. Jackson Koad.——Mr Milsom saya ho has heard as a legend that this road was named after Bishop Jackson, who camo to Canterbury prior to Bishop Harper, and who returned to England without any order in his going, so horrified was ho with a new colony. Donald Eoad was named after the late Dr. Wm. Donald.

Cornwall Hoctd.—So named because of the numbers of Cornish miners who bought sections on tho road. These miners constrneted the Lyttelton tunnel in the sixties. It was known first as "Coosin Jack Hill." The Cornish people are popularly known as "Cousin •Tacks," because in their native Cornwall tho villages arc all so separate that they scarcely ever marry outside their own village, and tho result is that all the eldcrg aro "Aunt" and "Uncle," and most of tho juniors "cousins." I remember, as a clergyman in Cornwall many years ago, that anyone who came to a village was always a "foreigner," even if ho only lived a ?ow miles off.

Kcunor'o Lane.—Was named after a Mr Kenner whose residence adjoined. It was first known as "Goat Alley/' because of its steepness, but, like Cornwall road, it was refined into Kennor'a Lane.

Sampler's Bay.—Was named after a Mr Dampier, a shareholder in the Canterbury Association, who built tho first house there. It is (Tho Bay) given incorrectly in tho map (only recently published, Mr Milsom believes) as being situated outsido the breakwater. It yyas a little sandy bay, tucked away in the western corner of the larger bay, now. enclosed by the breakwaters. This larger bay was called in old maps Erskine Bay, but Mr Milsom doerf not know who Erskine was.

Cooper's Paddock.—lt lies • under Cooper' 3 Knob, Mr Milsom snya. A Mr Dean, who knew the first Mr Khodes of Purau, says that Cooper's Knob was certainly called after Cooper the settler, and not Coopor of Cooper and Levy fame.

Rhodes Bay.—Was the old name of Purau, after the Rhodes brothers, in Mr Milsom'a young days. Apparently Purau was given as a post office name about 40 yeara ago. During tho Liberal regime a good many of the well-known and popular names were changed, especially if "of tho wrong colour." Hawkhurst Road. —Tlio part of the town it served was better and more widely known as Salt's Gully, after a pioneer named Salt, who built tho first house thero in 1851.

Lake Sumner.—Tho "Lyttelton Times" (September 26th, 1857) says: "A Maori path has from tho first been known to exist from the East to tho West Coast of tho gorge of tho Hurunui, at what is called Mount Noble, near Mr Mason's station, Waitui. On all tho streams there are lakes, six in number in all, which have been already named by tho discoverers, Mr Dobson, provincial engineer, Mr Mason, Mr Taylor of tho Wairau, Mr Dampier, and a shepherd of Mr Mason's. One of them, called Lake Sumner, on tho north side, is of considerable dimeneions."

White River.—Tho "Otago Witness" (Ap. 22, 1865) says: "The two parties proceeded up the river to tho point where the Waimakariri takes the name of the White Eiver, a namo no doubt given to it from tho colour, which is probably caused from the still unmelted particles of ice with which it is charged when coming from tho great glacier."

The Great Southern Plain.—The "New Zealand Spectator" (Stokes Report, Ap. 24, 1S50): "Of all the selections for settlements made in these islands, that for 'The Great Canterbury' has the best anchorages and the easiest of recognition from its hill features and submarine slopes of any I have visited in these islands. Surpriso at seeing such an extent of prairie land in this rugged country, generally exhibiting the reverse features, left me in doubt for a moment as to the name I should give to the whole: the nest moment suggested that of the 'Great Southern Plain' of New Zealand."