LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1370, 22 February 1912, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

PARTY V. PATRIOTISM. Sir, —-Vs reported in your columns this morning, it seems, as stated by Mr. James A lieu, and to havo been admitted, that no provision is being mode for renewals of loans' falling duo after March 31, and that pnlv Ji59,000 remains to the credit of the Public Works Fund. Mr. Allen might lmvo further reminded tho Hoiiso that tho High Commissioners extended term expires on or about that date. Surely no one can bo responsible but the lion. Premier for the grrfvo position which by these facts appears to be deliberately devised. .11 In 1679, Sir George Grey, on his defeat, left nn exhausted Treasury with tho good name and credit of the colony imperilled by liabilities falling due and unprovided for in London. That crisis was met by cabled negotiations with tho Bank of England, but greatly as Sir Georgo was blnjned th« position in his case was probaMy explainable by his ignorance of practical finance, but to what motive or lino of manipulation is Sir Joseph Ward's creation of the present position to bo attributed?—l am, etc., AN EX-MEMBER. MAORI NAMES. Sir,— "Nga Kangi-ngangana" is nearer the murk than many writers on tho pronunciation of Maori words, except in the cases of tlic words tungi, tangatn, and rangi, wherein ho errs grievously. The sound ho assigns to the. "a" in tho first syllnblo of thew three words, and to tho other , two vowels in "tangata" is utterly foreign to the Maori tongue. Tho sound assigned to "a" in riuga is not so bad as the nbove example?, but certainly incorrect. "Pupil" refers us to Ngat.i s. "Manual of Maori Conversation and Grammar," but that work miv-t nol. be taken too seriously. Tor instance, N'gatn states that tht> letter "n" in Maori has the same Bciinul as "n" in English, which it certainly has not. Xor are his remarks on the sounds of "t" and "\vh" satisfactory. But the crowning joy of Ngntn's convissation manual may be found at page Il)!l, where he employs a word denoting a latrine as a name for "necessary tools.' —Yours in sorrow, "•UfOHI .TORE,