GERMAN NAMES

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 100, 25 October 1916, Page 7

GERMAN NAMES

10 THE EDITOR. Sir, —Is it not a palty matter, as suggested, to delete from the maps and charts the names of Germans that have been on them for so many years. ' In' most instances the names are those of scientific men, given to the mountains in the Southern Alps by the late Sir Julius yon Haast at the time he first explored them about fifty-six years ago. If the name's, were those of the present German Emperor and his Ministers and generate there might be some excuse for the alteration.

Will those who are proposing to expunge the names .remove that of the river on .the West Coast named after the late Sir J. yon Haast ? To carry the proposal out to the extreme, will the authorities of the Canterbury Museum remove the bust of the late Sir J. yon Haast from it? Will the same authorities remove all specimens, etc., collected and :iamed by him from the museum—a museum established by him and well knbwn as the finest in the British Dominions, south of the line at all events.

, The world is indebted to Sir J. yon Haast for the magnificent collection of moa skeletons now in that museum, and are the names of any of them and other specimens, such as the Haastias, or vegetable sheep, to be removed? Will the authorities here require Mr. Heinrich yon Haast to hare his name altered and deleted from all public institutions with which he is connected ? It is a gross insult to suggest the removal of his father's name. Another thing that apparently has not struck the suggestors is, that all German names will have to be removed' from the maps and charts, a_nd official notice of such and the substitutions made will haves to be gazetted.—l am, etc., H. H. TfIAVEKS. 20th October, 1916. [No steps have yet been taken by the Government in connection with the subject referred to by our correspondent. Any change such a? he suggests can only be made by Cabinet and duly gazetted. .All that has so far been done is this : The films of Southern Alps scenery taken by the Tourist Department and exhibited some days ago contained a. large number of German names attached to pictures of beautiful scenery. Those names have been removed, and the beauty spots have been given a designation which is British. Only in one case has an alteration been made. .What was known as the Yon Haast Memorial Hut has been renamed, as the title was not correct. It was erected in memory of an English tourist named King, who, with two guides, was overwhelmed by an avalanche some, years ago. The Minister in charge of the Tourist Department (Hon. Dr. M'Nah) states that the but will Iji ftituro bis known as the King Memorial Hut.]