CURRENT COMMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1931, Page 13 (Supplement)

CURRENT COMMENT.

OTHER POINTS OF VIEW

('By

M.O.S.)

*T would like to suggest that the council should adopt some other name than the Mangamahoo dam or basin for its stretch _ ol water. Probably wo could fin'd some name with a more picturesque allusion. Up to the present, while It has been a public work, Maugamahoo Dam has been . suitable enough. . —Cr. G. M. Spence, at the last meeting of the New Plymouth Boro-ugh Council. # # # it Already someone, some ghoul who will persist in rattling skeletons in the cupboard, has suggested Hornell Fiord. "■ * '*' * Perhaps one might dig into the records of the past and find the original /name of the place. But it would probably turn out to be something like .Blackberry Acres. * .. •:* ; ' * # In that case, one could turn again to the records and find the name of the first inhabitant, the pioneer of the forties, who came out to New Zealand to , ■ carve a name for himself out of the bush. Most likely, however, one .would 3 .find .that the name he carved was some-, .thing disappointing-like Hogg. .. * •*. - ’ * ■ ' * * Even if it were a suitable name such as Pleasaunce, for instance, there might be drawbacks to a very early pioneer. In the future, some studious globetrotter to the town might write: “Six months -ago to-day I stood by the Watert of Pleasaunce on the outskirts of the city of New Plymouth. A glistening sheet of water, stretched in the bas- • in of the hills,. lay wide at my feet. Giant, trees marched down in rows to the very edge of the water. Fashionable hotels, gay with the overflow of the life of the great city, were dotted about the shore. Overhead the waterbirds flew with strange cries and .the waters themselves were dark with trout. In the evening, there were the gondolas » ... ■? . : ‘; ; ■ ,# « * . • “Enquiries among the old inhabitants elicited the information that the lake is named after the original European inhabitant of the land. My search among the records of the Colonial Office and other' places in London gave only a brief note, which I quote in full. Pleasaunce, Herbert. Male. Aged 21,. fair, height 6ft. lin. Left London hurriedly 1839. Wanted in Bow Street.” -•- , ' * * -' # ' ■ So, after all, it seems some other allusion will have to be found. There is still, room for some picturesque allusion to our times—a weary, footsore times—with taxes mounting and produce falling and terrible cursing among the common men. For our times, by the plain severity, of them alone, are becoming epic. There is no glamour in them, but they are breeding a dour persistence, a grim “stick-it-ness” among the people, which is rather splendid. So the Mangamahoe basin, baptised in sorrow, could have a big brass plate fixed on the breastwork of the dam, with the simple inscription: '. J’ THE LAKE OF TEAKS. Filled 1929-1930 Season. Cheese Fell to 51s; Butter to 100 s. \ '' Almost everyone agrees with, the suggestion of Cr. Spence for the re-naming of the dam. In the intensely artistic circles of the town it is even felt that the council might go further and dub its other charges with melodious names. Then ultimately the council, might have the pleasure of listening to a rate- • payer’s letter something in this strain: Mayor and Councillors, \ Dear Sirs, I am in-receet of your favour of the 16th. inst. stating no money avalable for further repair works to streets in the borough but it would please me 1 to point out respecfully in conneeshun with Passion Flower Alley, Hine Street that was, the surface of same is in a parlus condition and in bad need of a little doing-up, my wife having sprained her ankle there last Sat. night. f Rumour, is currant in Passion Flower Alley, formerly Hine St., that having the chairman of the works committee , in same something ought to be able to be done. Some do say that the gentleman aforeaid keeps P. F. Alley in thisstate so as in. refusing to do other streets he can say . Well, you go and look at my street which is a jolly sight worse than yours, but what I says is Is that a fair go on us? Thanking you for same, • Yours faithfully, Reuben Tonks. ; # # ' • ' , ' And when the council receives a report from the engineers on the progress of Hidden Ways, for instance, it will be hard put to it to know whether it is a reference to a drainage contract or the latest musical comedy. • « * * ' In a, short three months, however, the borough council will rise from its seats, along with all the other borough councils in New Zealand, and go to the people. Whether the people will send them back to their seats is one of those little secrets of time that make life interesting. But before it goes it ishould etrew the Mangamahoe Dam with memories . . . The water itself could be called Lake Victor. The road to the dam, planted with poplars, would make a fine Amoore Avenue. The rise by the dam should undoubtedly be called Mount Hill. Speaking off-hand, one would favour Joseph’s Race, the Darby Channel and the Pentecostal Spillway. The afforestation area, when it grows a i little higher, would of course be Park Perceval. As for the by-laws governing’the area,, instead of being drawn up and signed By Order, they would be drawn up and signed by Cr. Spence. « * * * It would be a pleasant little tribute, » fitting last rite to the council. Of course the council has had the extraordinary privilege of reading pleading, bullying and boring letters from ratepayers for some ybars, it has had the fairest privilege of meeting once a fortnight to read reports on other people’s roads and it has had the delightful privilege of spending its spare, time in looking after everybody else’s interests. For its services the public has given it all the vast amenities of public life Buch as free rides on the trams and, one supposes, free dips in the municipal baths. ' • * * • And the only reason nobody sees eye to eye with it is mainly because almost everybody happens to be looking down a different street,