WHY CHANGE THE NAME OF OUR TOWN?

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4340, 9 November 1921, Page 2

WHY CHANGE THE NAME OF OUR TOWN?

Sir, —Through the columns of your paper, I see the “Gazette” and others are advocating changing the name of our town to that of “Hauraki,’’ pn the supposition that by doing so the town will advance more quickly than it has done in the Your paper puts forth the argument that since they hgve changed the name of the paper from “Ohinemuri” to “Hauraki Plains” it has been the means of increasing their cutput. The real reason of ft his is, I think, not the change in name, bulb the fact, of there being quite a budget of news in connection with the townships situated on the Plains, where previously there was practically none, so that now the paper is of interest to the people residing there they have become subscribers.

Whatever the name of the paper, its popularity depends on the amount of interesting news it contains. Whether we. call our town “Paeroa” or “Hauraki,” it will not make the slightest difference, either, to help it to advance or holld it back, as it is the inhabitants that count, not the name, and until! the residents of this town make up their minds to boost their town, upholding its good points instead of parading alll its faults (even though they exist), it. will never be any better. It is a welli-known fact that people who have lived here for years getting their livelihood are not as proud of their town as they should be. and until they get the spirit of those living in the surrounding towns of Waihi, Thames, and Te Aroh.a that their town is the best, or can. be made the best, things .will never progress. Hamilton is often held up as an ex-, amplle of progress. It has not always been such a progressive place, as not so many years distant it was not as big as Paeroa is to-day. People who have an eye- for more than the material side consider Paeroa rather a pretty place, with the hill's surrounding it, and as it. is the natural centre for the district it cannot help but progress if the people will bu.t co operate and do all in their power (to assist things, instead of the majority grouch-, ing’and leaving the work for the IJe vv to battle with as best they can, without the co-operation of their fellow citizens. The Maori meaning of Paeroa is not perhaps suitable, or really means anything, but it has been kno.wn as Paeroa for the past years, and ifi it was good enough for the old residents, surely it is for the new ? Then, as it is on the map. as Paeroa, it would only lead to unnecessary iconfusion to change. There is no reason why Paeroa, if not weW) knpwn now, shoujld not be in the near future as welbknown as what Hamilton and other places are. Trusting we wjlli still retain the old name .and become one of the m'osl important centres of the -Auckland district.

INTERESTED. (Wfe quite agree with our correspondent 'that the future of the. town mainly depends pn the spirit displayed by the present inhabitants, but. we also hold, to our point that the name “Hauraki” would connect the town inseparably with the Plains in the eyes of outsiders, and thus attract people this way. “Hauraki” means a famous and fast-developing district of unbounded fertility. “Paeroa” denotes to most outsiders a played-out mining area. Sorry, but we cannot hold with our correspondent that what was good enough for the old residents is also good enough for the new: we mus.t go one better than our grandfathers .and grandmothers did- —Ed. Gazette.}