LOOKOUT POPULAR

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 148, 18 March 1940, Page 8

LOOKOUT POPULAR

Many Visitors To Mount Victoria Many people climbed Mount Victoria yesterday to visit the new Centennial Memorial lookout on the summit. The lovely weather made the view from the lookout exceptionally attractive. The vantage point is well chosen, as there is no other point on the hilltop which looks out over so wide a prospect. Some criticism was expressed, however, of the man which is a feature of the lookout. This appears to be a reproduction from Elsdon’ Best’s sketchmap of Wellington in Maori times; at any rate the features marked on it are for the most part the villages, burial grounds, and battle-sites of the ancient Maoris, and familiar places are marked with Maori names many of which are quite unfamiliar to modern Wellingtonkins. Hataitai is marked in quite a different site to that known by that name today, being on the other side of Evans Bay, which itself is not so named. It was suggested that, as many of those who will visit the lookout will be strangers to Wellington, either a modern map of the city should be supplied, or else the modern place-names of points most likely to catch the visitors’ eyes should be marked upon the present map. The comment generally expressed, however, was that the lookout formed a notable addition to the attractions of the city.