ARTIFICIAL NAMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21068, 30 December 1931, Page 8

ARTIFICIAL NAMES.

A discordant note lias interrupted (hp preparations for the official opening of the. Sydney Harbour Bridge. It has been discovered that- a name has not, been given to the, bridge. The fact Hint the great structure is known throughout, the world, at least among engineers, by the descriptive, designation which has lieen used in every reference, popular and official, ever since if was started, is not sufficient. People in Sydney arc suggesting that a name should be applied to it perpetual ing some feat of arms of the Australian Forces, a statesman or other eminent citizen : others propose that the name of Dr. Bradfield should be adopted ; there has even been a suggestion that, a, suitable aboriginal name should be sought or manufactured. However, as Dr. Brad field observes, there is one Sydney, one harbour and one bridge, and the association proposes the. most appropriate designation. At this distance, the controversy seems ridiculous and futile. Few New Zea landers would hesitate, if asked what the name of the bridge, "will be, in a decade or a century hence. The ex cepfions would be. found in Auckland, for they would lie embarrassed by recollecting that an attempt is

being made to fasten upon the Waterfront fioad a name that has been laboriously concocted in a Ivellintcntioned but ill-advised endeavour to find something different from what popular judgment has determined is most convenient, appropriate and intelligible. It is easy to laugh at Ihe idea of calling the Sydney bridge by "an aboriginal word that means crossing the water"; it should not be difficult, to imagine (lie perplexity and perhaps tolerant amusement of visitors to Auckland who find that its Waterfront Jload has been disguised as Tamaki Drive, which, for all the name suggests, might lie an extension of the Exhibition Drive, a street in a grandiose suburban subdivision, or some sort of Wild West show. The strongest recommendation of the City Council's proposal is thai it has entirely failed to appeal to popular appreciation, so that everyone continues to use the simple and descriptive title which conveys as much to the stranger as to the resident, which is more than most names do.