THE CITY’S NAME

Southland Times, Issue 21088, 21 May 1930, Page 4

THE CITY’S NAME

Conservatism, so frequently used as a term of political opprobrium, is so frequently misapplied that one is inclined to suspect in those who use it a desire to forget that at its basis is the wish to preserve the things which have been found useful or beautiful, and to oppose a change that is not preceded by ample justification. Last night the City Council had before it a proposal to change the name of Invercargill. The attack of the philological aptness of the name borne by the city was ably delivered, and evidently to the purist the word is as painful as Monowai, which combines Greek and Maori; but the condemnation of the city’s name on the score of euphony is not so easily established, and we think manv will agree with Councillor Brodyick that the name has a goodly sound. We do not agree with the statement that it is the ugliest name in use in the Dominion, though, out of a wish to spare the feelings of those who live in other parts of New Zealand, we will not cite any examples to support the contention, and we think that the historic associations make it undesirable to make any alterations now. Usage is not an insurmountable barrier to change, but it is a barrier nevertheless, because where a name is entrenched among associations extending through several generations, change becomes at once painful and difficult, added to which there is the terrible risk of the new devil being worse than the old. Modern nomenclature is not always happy, and certainly where a conflict of popular opinion is inevitable, the dangers attending the selection of names by plebiscite are too awful to justify the effort. One can sympathize with cities which have to bear such names as Poughskeepsie or Oshkosh, but presumably they keep them because a democracy may be able to devise something much worse. To these dangers must be added the expense of eliminating Invercargill and applying, say, a sweetsounding adaptation of sunshine. Documents would have to be changed, and possibly the legal consequences would be quite extensive, while the corporation would have to make alterations in various brands, unless the new name also began with an “I.” The discussion may do good in awakening in the citizens a new feeling for the name of the city, but at the risk of being numbered with Councillor O’Byrne as a crusted conservative, we do hope the City Council will spare us the tumult of a democracy choosing a name.