MAORI PLACE-NAMES

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 35, 5 November 1928, Page 13

MAORI PLACE-NAMES

Sir, —Some time ago you published a letter advocating the changing of Maori place names to English. We New Zealanders born and bred are getting rather tired of the person who comes from Home and is uot satisfied until he has changed the land of his adoption into something akiu to his native village by the introduction of birds, animals, etc., which almost invariably become a pest in their new home. The latest appears from this morning s paper to the gipsies. It is quite refreshing to meet with a man like Mr. Reeve, who, coming from England, yet makes a plea for the retention of Maori names.

One reason given by uie advocates of changing to English is the general mispronunciation of the Maori names. Whilst admitting that they are generally mispronounced I ask, are the English names any better? During a long residence in Wellington I have heard Majoribanks Street called Marshbanks, Marchbanks, Major Banks, Margery Banks, and Majoribanks, with the accent on the “jor.” Could anything be more appalling! Now whilst there is no rule for the pronunciation of English names, there are simple rules for the pronunciation of Maori, and the mispronunciation might be lessened if the Teachers’ Training College added a few lessons in Maori pronunciation to its curriculum, and also if the school journals when printing a Maori word printed the pronunciation either beside or beneath it. . I have heard that the Union Steam Ship Company when appointing its officers instruct them as to the proper pronunciation of the names of their vessels. Could not the railway guards receive a little instruction on the way to pronounce some of the Maori names on their daily run? Then perhaps our ears would no longer be assailed by such atrocities as “Whack-in-eye” for “Waikanae.” . , , As regards the gipsies, I believe the few families who have tried to come in here have been sent off as undesirables. May they continue to be sent away. Surely the Maoris are eoually picturesque and much cleaner. We have enough undesirable immigrants without adding gipsies to their number. —I am.etc.. RAURIKI. October 25.