"AUSTRALASIA."

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20636, 27 August 1932, Page 16

"AUSTRALASIA."

MEANING OF THE TERM, SOME REASONS FOR RETAINING IT. ■ '■■ ■ A'little over a month ago : the secretary of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, Mr J. Boy Smith, received a ■ letter from the secretary, Mr G. M. Lindergren of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for Australasia and South Sea Islands, Sydney, •New South Wales, and took the opportunity, when replying, to remark on the objection New Zealand business men and others take to the term asia"; and to suggest that the chamber should change its name.bo as to include, by name, New Zealand. Mr Smith has just received the following interesting reply from Mr Lindergren: "I wish to thank you for y!our letter of July Ist, and have noted with interest your concluding remarks. This matter'was again, as on many previous occasions, brought before the council at its last meeting, and 1 was directed to inform you that any change in the name of the chamber, which was established in 1911, was not favoured by those at the meeting. The chamber received its present name from its founder, the late Consul-General von Goes, and both for sentimental and practical reasons it seems members prefer to adhere to the old name given to the chamber by its founder, which is incorporated in its seal, given by another member. These gentlemen have been the most prominent members of the chamber. ..-..,•• An Old Geographic Term.

"The word 'Australasia' is a very old geographic term, denoting the fifth part of the world, and was widely.current before and at the time this, chamber was established, when there was no objection to using the term. , .'• . "The Bank of Australasia, .the, Australasian Corporation. of ; Public Accountants, Australasian Steamship Owners' Federation, Australasian United Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., Australasian and General Mutual Life Society, Ltd., are names wellknown long before 1911, and, I believe, are still well known in New Zealand. When using the term •' Swedish-Austral-asian' trade the term would «over not only the direct trade between New Zealand and Sweden,.and Swedish trade, with ether islands, but. alsothe indirect trade between New Zealand and Sweden via Australia. The term ' Swcdish-Aus-tralianrNow Zealand trade,' apart from being unwcildy, would not cover the same as the t'erm ' Swedish-Australasian trade' In the first place, all other islands would be excluded, and secondly, theTe might bo a doubt as to whether tho trade between New Zealand and Australia was also included in tho term, or whether the trade was limited to that portion from Sweden that first went to Australia and then on to New Zealand. Not a Synonym for Australia and New Zealand. '' However, in ail our correspondence when dealing with .matters common to Australia and New Zealand wo always mention the two names separately. It would certainly never : occur" to us, or j any Swedes, to use the term 'Australasia' as a synonym for Australia and j New Zealand .drily. • "At present we are particularly anx-' ious to make .propaganda for New; Zealand in our journal and are publishing a special series of articles on JSew/Zealand,'and, inuthia anaCother wayrwe are doing our utmost as you state in your letter/. ihat the Dominion of New Zealand is. .a» ; >a#arate a country f«Bn #e of ..jsastr|Jja a#sny of the otjttr pominions? > Ajfefar as Swedish firms 'arV ;anjrate, I am quite sure that-there is no : misconception in this regard, as already, in schools the children in Sweden are taught a great dfiai about the four selfgoverning Dominions in •the'-British Empire. The term 'Australasia' conveys to them only "a designation for the whotp; Of the fifth part of the world; the same, as the word 'Africa' denotes another part of the world, including a variety, of separate countries, such as' Egypt, Madagascar, Transvaal, etc. ""While 1 can, therefore, quite well understand your ppint of view as expressed in your letter, which would nave prevailed had the chamber been founded recently, I regret that the council, at present at any rate, cannot see its way clear to alter the name of tho chamber."

Likely to Become Obsolete. In thanking the writer for the trouble he had gone to in explaining his chamber's adherence to the term, Mr Smith assured him that the reason for such adherence was fully understood. "New Zealand business men do, however, hope that it is only a matter of timo before the word 'Australasia' will become obsolete and its place taken by a definite reference to-this Dominion. I feel sure that when this time comes your chamber will not be averse to the change." , .« -,. v. It is noteworthy that on the Swedish chamber's letter paper is given the name of the patron of the chamber •who is the Swedish Consul-General to the Commonwealth of Australia, to the Dominion 61 "Mew. Zealand, and to the Crown Colony of. Fiji." v "