ASTRONOMERSTOWN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 33, 10 February 1915, Page 4

ASTRONOMERSTOWN.

“Ariel,” a writer in a Dunedin paper thus unburdens himself: The township of Ngarnawahia seems to have been laid oil by some devotee of astronomy, for it contains streets named “Herschel,” “Tycho Brahe,” “Copernicus” and “Kepler.” At a recent meeting of the Board the clerk, following the lead of Betrograd, protested against Being saddled with these “German names.” The chairman followed up with an objection to “making people try to pronounce such unpronounceable names.” Finally these patriots referred the matter to the Surveyor-General, asking him to change the names! That the citizens of Ngarnawahia, of all places on earth, should object to the effort required to pronounce Herschel, Kepler and Copernicus is real good. How many of the Council of Ngarnawahia can make a decent attempt at the name of their own town? Very likely not one of them can get within two syllables of it. The street names objected to arc, on the other hand, all perfectly easy and plain sailing. Herschel has been English since the Georges came from Hanover. Sir William is the greatest of all observers of the heavens, his works are in English, and the honor of his great discoveries is always given to England. Present-day representatives of the name sit in the House of Lords, and everyone has heard of Lord Herschel. Tycho Brahe was a Swede, not a German, and ran his career as an astronomer in Denmark. Copernicus gave his name to the Copernican system of the universe, now generally accepted. He belonged to Thorn, which was in Poland, and belonged to Poland as long as Poland existed—that is, for three centuries after Copernicus died. So he was not a German, either. Kepler belonged to Wnrtemberg, as far as possible from Prussia. He is the only German in the lot, but belongs to an inoffensive place and

time, and is so great a man that he is denationalised. He belongs to the world—like Homer, Galileo, and Shake, speare. All the names objected to are immortal and universal, and all of them have regions assigned to them both in Mars and, in the Moon. For heaven’s sake, therefore, let them have a street each in Ngaruawahia.