MOUNT WAKEFIELD

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8679, 12 March 1914, Page 6

MOUNT WAKEFIELD

To tho Editor “N.Z. Times."

Sir, —For some time past the Government have been considering the question of naming the highest part of the Tinakori Hills “Mount Wakefield,” in memory of the founder of this city, to whom, in conjunction with the Earl of Durham, England is chiefly indebted for the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. Kindly publish the enclosed copy of a letter on the subject that I received from the Hon. A.-L. Herdman, M.P., the other day- E. G.;Wakefield, his brothers, and a niece are buried side by side in the little old cemetery at the. foot of the mount now called by his name; a younger brother, Captain Arthur Wakefield, R.N., was killed in the Wairau massacre, and is buried on the spot among the fern where he was struck down with an axe by the natives! It was at the foot of this mount that perhaps the great majority of the early .settlers who. came out from Home under the Wakefields landed and first set their feet on New Zealand soil. . Mount Wakefield is higher by some hundreds of feet than the tallest “skyscraper” in ' New York or the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and will. I have no doubt, in time be mad© far more beautiful, attractive and interesting. Our artists and photographers will then make it a greater feature of their work than they do now.;. The summit of the mount is worthy of a much better crown than the little stone barn that now disfigures its crest. When the first settlers arrived the mount was covered from head to foot with thick bush, supplejacks and great tree-ferns. Wild pigeons and other native birds were plentiful- Some of the stumps of the great tree-ferns near the summit can be seen to this dav.—l am,.etc., J. H. COLLIER. Northland, March Bth. , [Copy.] • “Postmaster-General’s Office, Wellington, Feb. 27th, 1914. J “Memorandum for the Hon. A. L. Herdman.

“In reference to your memorandum of June 21st last forwarding copy of a letter from Mr J. H. Collier, of Northland, regarding the name of the hill on which the Wellington wireless station is situated, I beg to inform you that it has been decided that the name'is to be ‘Alount Wakefield,’ The name of the wireless station is ‘RadioWellington,’ and this cannot be altered. “R. HEATON RHODES, “Postmaster-General.”