CHANGE OPPOSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 607, 8 March 1929, Page 16

CHANGE OPPOSED

‘Whitianga’ or ‘Mercury Bay’ LINK WITH KUPE'S VOYAGE Should the name of Whitianga Post Office be changed to Mercury Bay? The question is attracting the attention of Te Akarana Maori Association, which has sent a protest to the Government against the suggested alteration. The association maintains that the name “Mercury Bay” covers a large district in which there are several post offices, and that Whitianga is so well defined that no fault can be found with the name. The association ridicules the suggestion that the name should be changed because Mercury Bay is well known for deep-sea fishing. Another point is that Whitianga is connected with the first Maori voyager to New Zealand, centuries before the actual migration of the Maori fleet. Kupe, the voyager, crossed a stream at the locality, so that it earned its real name of Whitianga-a-Kupe—the crossing point of Kupe. The name is similar to the meaning given to Hokianga’s real name, Hoki-anga-a-Kupe. It was from Hokianga that Kupe left New Zealand on his return to the South Sea Islands, so the name means the “departing place of Kupe.” The Association firmly believes that such names as Whitianga, linking modern New Zealand with the obscure happenings in early history, should be preserved.