The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2030, 15 March 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1907.

Joseph Roux in his “Meditations of a Parish Priest” says that “certain names always awake certain jirejudiccs,” and if that is so, what colossal prejudices must be awakened in tho minds of every non-resident of this district at the mention of Poverty Bay. The fact that it is a historical name, and conferred by the discoverer of the colony himself does not tend in tho least degree to soften the prej udicc, or convey anything like a correct conception of tho district. Rather tho contrary, and nine-tenths of those who have never soon its verdant hills and smiling valleys unsurpassed for tlieir fertility arc under the impression that the name fitly represents its leading characteristics. When strangers come here they are astonished, for they .anticipate landing upon something like a barren shore, comfortless and uninviting, and the sudden awakening to the realities of the position invariably call forth exclamations of surprise and delight. When tho Parliamentary party were here for tho unveiling of the Cook Memorial they came hither (some of them, at least) expecting to find prosperity struggling under difficulties for which the character of tho district were responsible; but when they were undeceived by personal observation, they became enthusiastic in its laudation. When they were told that tho distant hills whose altitudes formed the horizon carried two sheep to tho acre they were not incredulous because of what they had seen nearer hand, and the natural enquiry was why has this place ever been called Poverty Bay? For an swer they wore,of course, refer.-ed to Captain Cook; but as that valiant seaman cannot now be catechised, tho answer must remain the historical legend that it has always been. That the name is today a misnomer need not be reiterated within the district or to those who have seen it; but to those who have not seen it the name cannot fail to awake tho prejudices which it implies, and therefore in justice to its present population it ought to be changed at once. “Give a dog a bad name,” says the old adage, “and you may as well hang him,” and a worse or more inappropriate nnme than Poverty Bay could not well be thought of, and the only excuse for hanging on to it at all is the respect we owe to its discoverer, and the historical associations which surround it; but in none of these considerations do we find a for libelling ourselves every time that we are called upon to write or mention the name. Because the natives treated Cook inhospitably nearly a century and a half ago and gave him tho impression that there was not a much as a drop of clean, fresh water to be had, is tho only reason why tiie district is now dubbed with a name that does not fit its description or characteristics in any sense and that reason is not a sufficient one. With a view, therefore, to getting the name changed eventually, we propose to ask for suggestions from the public as to what the new name should be, and those suggested names we will afterwards submit to a voto of the whole inhabitants of the district, and the person | who first suggests the name that se-

euros tlio largest numbor of votes will rocoivo a prizo of tlirco guineas, aml tlio suggestor of the namo tliat rocoivos the second largest number one guinea. Tlio suggested names must be written on a coupon that will appear in tho Tjmes of April Ist and thoroaftor until withdrawn, and tho voting thoroon will be conducted as will he hereafter described. This method will test tho fooling of tho public ns to whether they arc alivo to tlio interests of tho district in every detail, or whether they are content to rub along under tlio implied stigma of a* namo that tends to advertise tho district unfavorably. It will have the advantage too of ascertaining tho public desire as to what name should bo adopted, and so make it tho more easy to carry tho re-christening into offeet. The incentive, of course, is not tho amount of tho prizes, but the honor of having won them, and it is practically the only means by which public opinion on tho matter can ho adequately ascertained. We therefore look with something more than, confidence to the public to take an interest in the matter, .for in assisting us to carry out the plan they are but assisting the district to get rid of an incubus which it never deserved to hoar.