TONGARIRO RIVER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 122, 19 November 1931, Page 12

TONGARIRO RIVER

THE QUESTION OF THE

NAME

(By James Cowan.)

In the fixing of a place-name the deciding points are long-existing local usage and geographical accuracy and appropriateness. Judged by these standards, the case for "Tongariro River" against "Upper Waikato" must prevail. Mr. J. C. Andersen, in his long letter on the subject—he does not explain whether he has the permission of the Geographic Board to speak on its account —quotes several authorities, one or two of which are of doubtful value, in support of "Upper Waikato." There is no real doubt, however, that that term is properly applied to the Waikato River below Lake Taupo, and thence to the head of navigation. If authorities are wanted, one of the earliest is in Sir George Grey's "Overland Journey" (1849-50), published in 1851. The term "Horotiu" or "Upper Waikato" is there used twice in reference to a route to that part of the river near Atiamuri. Over and above such references, general and local use confirms the name. "Upper Waikato" instead of "Tongariro River" would lead to endless confusion. I can only marvel at the courage— some people might give it another name —of Mr. Andersen in laying down the nomenclature law and explaining the geography of a district which it is evident he has never seen. The vie#/s of a surveyor or other explorer are entitled to respect, but such questions cannot be decided in the academic twilight of the Turnbull Library. Local knowledge, of place and people, is essential. When Mr. Andersen sets out to explain the relative volumes of water in the streams on which he has never set eyes the result is, to say the least, remarkable. Maps have been quoted, but scarcely any two maps of the South Tanpo country agree. A really good, complete map of the Tongariro-Ruapehu country has yet to come. The best I have seen bo far is the map prepared by the Survey Department for the Tongariro National Park Board's book on the district, but it lacks many place-names, and "Tongariro River" is only in parentheses after "Waikato." An excellent authority on all this south country is the veteran surveyor, Mr. George F. Allen, whose book on the Rotorua-Taupo-Wanganui region was issued in 1902. Here Mr. Allen notes that the Maoris always called the river in question the Tongariro. He makes this reference in the course of his descriptions of the route of the river through the plains opposite the volcanoes, and he explains the reason for the name. The Tongariro drains the whole of the eastern and northern part of the Tongariro-Ngauruhoe range, and moreover it was the Maori custom in speaking of the mountains to include Buapehu in the Tongariro group. This good authority certainly strengthens the case for Tongariro. Mr. Allen, like everyone else who knows the district, noted the small size of the Ruapehu head stream Waikato, and the strong volume of the Waihohonu, which draws its waters from the lava tableland and the base of Ngauruhoe. All others who have taken the trouble to- ascertain the local usage have discovered that Tongariro is the customary name. It is, moreover, so identified with the Tongariro National Park that the two should run together. I have heard, from official sources, that the agitation for the use of "Upper Waikato" instead of "Tongariro River," was set going by one or two Auckland anglers. They, of course, are quite at liberty to call the river what they like, but Tongariro is a great and well-fitting name, and it is likely to remain.