The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1925. NEW ZEALAND PLACE NAMES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 5 June 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1925. NEW ZEALAND PLACE NAMES.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock '0 Hawera, Manaia Normanby, Okainwa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton. ITurleyvillc, Eutea, Waverley, Mokoia, Wbakaniara, Ohangai, Meremere, Fraser Road, an Ararata.

The Minister of Lands has let someone' in for a heap of trouble. Enthusiasts who wish to banish from the maps; the name Tasman Sea, arid substitute Aimic Ocean, disgruntled East Ooiasiters who have .strong objections to their district being called Poverty Bay, and men of 'Strangely twisted minds who think “Ingle”, a better sounding name than Invercargill, will all be waiting on the doorstep when the projected Geographical Advisory Board opens up shop to trade in Dominion place name®. There are ' one or two good patriots, indeed, upon whom the name New' Zealand itself grates; perhaps they too will he looking ior changes. But lor all the idle complaints to which the board may be compelled to listen, it will have a valuable field of work arid the Minnster’r cte.cis.ion to constitute it is. deserving of the fullest praise. It is nob to be supposed for one moment that either Mr. McLeod or the gentlemen whom he; will appoint -to the board would favour any general change of place- names in New Zealand. There are corrections w'hich should be and doubtless will be made, but so many of our place- names are .part of our history that it would be almost sacrilege to meddle with them. If the- people of Gisborne and district were ever to secure a change in the name of their province, .they would be disowning their association with the; great navigator who first explored our coasts. Poverty Bay by any other name would be no more prosperous and no more happy than it is to-day, while it would have cut the most important link that bi.nds it to Cook’s voyages. In like manner it would be a (deliberate slur on the fame of the Dutchman who discovered- us co reek to change the name which; he gave these Islands. Far better to-, search tor the hidden significance of the names which we have inherited, in. the hope that so we may be the more able to understand the history of the pioneering days. There is a fascination and a. romance- in the study of place names, a. romance which is increased many fold in a country of dual -language. If the board were; to restrict its activities to Maori place names alone it could, do invaluable work. If- is one of -the weaknesses of our own tongue that we cannot, without clumsy compounds-, give a picture of any natural feature in the name w r e find • for it. Whnt we call plain “Smith’s Creek’’ the more poetical native explorer may have named, “Waters Laughing in the Sunshine-,” only -he’would make one, softsounding musical word, of it. And our young folk grow up with some knowledge, of the English language and perhaps a smattering of Batin and French, but wholly ignorant > of, the Maori tongue and of the beauties- of its nomenclature. Such, native names a.s .some of ns do attempt to pronounce w T c often -murder cruelly, and rarely can we pave a literal trail*!a-tivn. It may not- he too much to hope that the new board will help us to a. .better .understanding ami appreciation of the piotuvesriuely descriptive names that dot the countryside all around us. Where it- is -asked to consider the substitution of English for alien names, the board must walk warily and not, be swayed by shallow national ism,. do suggest, for instance, that, the name of the Franz Josef glacier, an eternal monument to- a, foreign-born alpinist and explorer, should be expunged from outr geographical records, would hold the country up- to ridicule from the .scientific world. All lovers of their country will welcome the establishment of the advisory board -and will look forward with pleasure to- the results of its

inquiries ami iiivcHtigatious; bub tho whole value of the work will be lost unless it be guarded against the intrusion. of local jealousies and personal prejudices.