MOUNT EDGECUMBE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 15, 3 November 1948, Page 4

MOUNT EDGECUMBE

Sir, —In a recent issue of the Beacon reference is made to the Geographic Board’s proposal to adopt the Maori name of Putauaki as the official name for our well known mountain. This suggests that the Board is still not inclined to accede to a request from ■ local sources that Cook’s name of Mount Edgecumbe be accepted and used official!y. As noted, the name Edgecumbe m all probability has its origin in Mount Edgecumbe of Plymouth Sound, but whatever its origin, the fact that it is one of Cook’s names and has become established in general use over .a period of just on 180 years, would seem to most people to be sufficient reason for its retention. Referring to Cook’s place names, the late Admiral Wharton, one time Hydrographer to the British Admiralty, comments on Cook’s happy knack of choosing suitable names, and he ' remarks that Cook adopted the native names when he could ascertain them. Wharton further says, “Cook’s names have rarely been altered, and New Zealand and Australian places will probably for all time bear those which he has bestowed.” How have such names fared with us locally? First there is “Morotohora” (Moutohora) now called Whale Island, an inappropriate and meaningless name today. ,It may well be asked why the latter name has been allowed to supplant the euphonious Maori name that -'Cook was at paints to record. On the mainland “Highland Point : of Cook’s chart is now known as Kohi point. This headland marks the seaward termination of the upland area, where, tradition states, the earliest Polynesian settlers established themselves, and whence they finally spread to occupy their adopted country. The name Kohi, is one that pleases, and it properly has survived, together with other original names in this historic locality. Cook’s name “Highland Point” is descriptive, and as such would in early days be helpful to sailing masters making use of the chart. ' Cook’s “Lowland Bay” to the west of Kohi, has long since disappeared from maps and charts, and the supposed bay exists now' only as merest curve in the shoreline abreast of the town of Whakatane. There still remains “Mount Edgecumbe,” a well considered name, and in all respects a suitable and valued one. CoOk could have learned the Maori name of the mountain had he wished to apply it in this case. There is the same reason for retaining Cook’s name as there is f°r the retention of the cherished names left by Toi, Toroa -and their fellow navigators, of an earlier period. All have an historical background’ of their own, and these names serve to denote a sequence in the arrival of new peoples from overseas, with the resultant mingling of the people in the process of populating the country. Yours etc., B. SLADDEN,