"Go it, Britannia"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 77, 13 December 1940, Page 5

"Go it, Britannia"

HAT’S in a name? A good deal sometimes. ; That famous romance " Lorna Doone" caught on, partly because not long after it appeared the Queen’s daughter married the Marquis of Lorne. Would Sherlock Holmes be quite such a household word if he were called Sherrinford Holmes, as Conan Doyle originally intended? "Sherlock" is much easier to remember than " Sherrinford." Apparently we owe Sherlock to the fact that Conan Doyle once made thirty runs against a bowler of that name. Ask any young man in love if he would change the name of his lady-even if it be .. . but I had better not particularise, If names don’t make a material difference, they have a sentimental interest. Take Wellington, the subject of our talk to-day. It is a hundred years this month since the name was applied to Wellington. Before that, for a few months, the Port Nicholson Settlement was called Britannia. I don’t think any Wellingtonian or any New Zealander regrets the change. Britannia is a curious word, The figure of Britannia appears on our coinage. The name of the lady is a feature of one of our national songs, which we so often sing incor-rectly-Britannia rules the waves, instead of Britannia rule the waves. It has therefore most honourable associations, but there is something a little stilted and theatrical about it; something that doesn’t seem to suit the wear and tear of daily use. If Port Nicholson had kept the name Britannia, we should hear the crowd at Athletic Park to-day shouting, " Go it, Britannia."--(" What’s in a Name? -Wellington," 2YA, November 24.