GERMAN NAMES ON THE NEW ZEALAND MAP.

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 799, 22 October 1915, Page 8

GERMAN NAMES ON THE NEW ZEALAND MAP.

Wipe Them Out. DOWN in Christchurch, so we notice, the public mind is far from being properly alive to the impropriety of employing German names for institutions which, however Teutonic their origin, are now sufficiently long; acclimatised to warrant the employment of English titles. Thus, we read in the Lyttelton "Times" of a very successful "Herren Abend' s hav-. ing been held by the local Liedertafel. Surely now that Germany has proved herself Great Britain's—and New Zeacruel, and deadly foe, it is the height of folly to preserve such titles as "Liedertafel" and "Herren Abend." "Glee" or "Song Club"

and "Men's Evening" would do just as well; indeed, it has always seemed to us, long even before the war, that the use of the German words was a silly affectation. Hun terminology has no rightful place in a British community, and should be dispensed with all over the Dominion. In this connection we are pleased to .note that another Wellington musical society, also formerly known as the Idedertafel, has fallen into line and changed its title to the "Wellington Male Voice Ohoir.''

Whilst on.the subject, might we suggest to the Government that the time ha§ arrived when the map of New Zealand should be carefully overhauled and purged of each and every German name. Let a start be made with the nomenclature of the Southern Alps. The Franz Josef Glacier, the Hochstetter Dome, the Lendenfeld Saddle, the Silberhorn, Mount Hardinger should one and all be divested of their Teuton names and re-christened. Time was when Englishmen had a certain respect for Germany and the Germans. But that time has gone for ever. To-day, the very word "German" stands in the British mind synonymous with treachery, cunning,. cruelty, lust, and villainy almost unspeakable. ' Why should German names be any longer employed to designate the rivers and mountains and glaciers of this loyal Dominion ? To the New Zealander of the future they can only recall sad and bitter memories. Far better that they should be expunged from our maps once and for all.