PLACE NAMES IN NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17472, 5 June 1922, Page 9

PLACE NAMES IN NEW ZEALAND.

TO THE EDITOR Oi' "THE FBESS." Sir,—Re. Mr Joyce's enquiry as to the whereabouts of Port Victoria: Perhaps this may bo a cluo as to where to look for it, providing be does not get the information before this .reaches you:— In E. Jerningham Wakefield's "Adventure in N.Z.,'' published by John Murray in 1845 and subsequently printed by Whitcombo and Tombs in 1908, will be found on page S:—"lnstructions were at the same time transmitted to the Governor of Now South Wales, which induced him to appoint an officer of the British Government to reside at the Bay of Islands, in a capacity which it is impossible otherwise to define than by observing that its title, that of Resident, would indicate diplomatic functions." AMr Busby was appointed president. On page 252 is the following quotation:—''A i'ew numbers of the Bay of Islands Gazette had found their way hither through Sydney (to Wellington, or Britannia, as it was first called), and from these were gathered our only news of what had been going on in the north. Allotments of land in the Gov t-rnor's town of ltussell had been officially announced for sale. The Collector ot' Customs, however, appeared to bo residing in -Mr Busby's town of Victoria, and the Korareka people had christened the city of Russell, "Hobson's (Governor) Volly." I commend the "Aventure in N.Z." book to Mr Joyce and Canon Nevil!, as there is a mine of information within its covers. Tlio inference is drawn that somewhere near Russell is to be found Port Victoria, or, as Wakefield calls it, town of Victoria. As the conflicting "powers that to" were in the habit then of altering place names, seemingly out of pique, just as all rebels have done in all ages. Why did they first call Whanganui Wanganui. when the early colonists called it Petre, after Lord Petre, and why was Britannia changed to Wellington, and why was Port Coooor changed to Lyttclton. I wonder'if the Mr Cooper, at one time one of our Legislative Councillors, who came to New Zealand in the train of Governor Hobson, and referred to on page 703, was the gentleman whom Lord Lyttelton supplanted ? The quotation says: ' 'Mr Cooper, another of Captain liobson's train, and for some time one of the ex officio Legislative Councillors, had proved a defaulter to the Customs revenue, of which he was collector, to the amount of £2500. Yours, etc., J. B. MILSOM. Sawyer's Downs, Kaikoura.