Changing the Name

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 54, 6 March 1935, Page 6

Changing the Name

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Will you kindly grant me space iu your journal wherein to express my views upon a subject whiclt is responsible at present for a considerable amount of controversy, both orally and written, by a certain section of tile community, who are insistent in tiicir demands that the present name of Palmerston North should be changed iu order to prevent confusion with a town in the South Island? Now, Sir, whilst wc cannot understand the idiosyn erasies of each other in this respect, vet theso agitators who desire a change should bear iu mind, surely, that the early settlers and their wives who bore the heat and burden of the day, laid the foundations, apart from its historic traditions, for one of the most progressive inland cities in the Dominion which, by virtue of its population, lias been Gazetted as a city. Then it is due to those old pioneers (who selected the present name as being appropriate and suitable) that wc should pay a tribute to their memories and let the present name remain unchanged, and let the town in the South Island work out its own destiny. Quo cannot understand what motive actuates these agitators, unless they have in mind the old adage, "Variety is the spice of life.” Against this wo liavo an old. trite saying, that “revolutions seldom possess any constructive ability, apart from their criticism.” This may ap ply to these agitators. In any case, the present writer has had private and official documents pass through our Post Offieo during the last 40-odd years, and never once lias anything gone astray, which fact speaks volumes for the accuracy of the department. In conclusion, I sincerely trust that the retention of our present name wifi prevail, and let posterity battle with any movement to effect a change of name in (hat direction. All that is de.siren is to address plainly “North” or "South” and all correspondence will reach its Jinal destination. — I am, etc., 11. ,T. CANTON.