NAMES ABOVE THE SNOW-LINE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 369, 19 July 1946, Page 6

NAMES ABOVE THE SNOW-LINE

THERE is a Bill before the House to give statutory authority to a National Geographic Board, whose members will have power to revise existing place names in New Zealand. This article considers the effect of such legislation on the Southern Alps.

(Written and Illustrated for "The Listener" by

JOHN

PASCOE

HE story of the naming of alpine features in the South Island of New Zealand is one that began before the time of our ancestors, and that even now is a continuing one. It reveals some Maori travels, the hardships of exploration, the exploitation of personal vanities, the objective play of imagination, the memory of brave men, local history and incident, and underlihes contrasts as violent as the country they concern. From one valley rises Moonraker, from others Mounts Percy Smith, Jukes, Chudleigh or B’Limit. An Answer Became a Query The Honorary Geographic Board was an advisory one. Its ideals were sound. It was to control new names and straighten out gast mistakes. But it was not the answer. It combined a singular passion for the deletion of apostrophes, with the maintenance of controversy about the correct spelling of some Maori place names such as Lake Kanieri. Its meetings were infrequent, and its decisions not always consistent with its own rulings. Mountaineers came to regard it with a cynical tolerance as though to say "we wonder what the old boys will be up to next." Yet the future of the new Board is bright. With the weight of authority, and new blood, it may become a body that will blend taste and scholarship with diligence. Consider the past legacies. In the Bad Old Days it was the fashion for explorers, or their echoes, to call new

features after themselves, their friends, celebrities of their homeland, their wives, maiden aunts on the paternal side, or the fathers who begat them. Occasionally good descriptive or classical names were given. And though climbers in later years have been sensible, the original legacies remain. Any revision must take into account names of local origin. Musterers in the back-country rarely use map names, and "Gentle Annies" and "Jack’s Creeks" abound. The Upper Hokitika, for example, became "Siberia," and not without reason. : For the new Board to have its authority taken seriously it should refuse to accept new names that are the personai ones of those making the first ascent of a virgin unnamed peak. This could make it possible to remedy some of the horrors of the past. And the quality of its research should be such that its members can recognise a reduplication of names when. they see one. And ‘hers comes a Crisis. Repetition is Confusion Casual glances over survey maps will disclose that some quite famous mountains have names that are scattered on other mountains. These never confuse postmen in the way that several streets of the same name do. Nor does any central authority have the ticklish job of seating peaks of the Southern Alps in. order of precedence at a State func-’ tion. Though mountains are inanimate, climbers like to cherish their little illusion that peaks and ranges have some human characteristics. And imagine the feelings of the father of the Mounts

Misery saying to five other mountains similarly named, "Sir! you are no relation of mine." It is reasonable not to grudge the North Island some of its prototypes in the South, or vice versa. And the Mount Holdsworth of the Wairarapa should not throw snowflakes at Mount Holdsworth behind Lake Hawea. In the Southern Alps even the same districts sometimes have peaks of the same name, and some names are repeated more than twice. My own dilemma once bore this out. On December 28, 1930, I was one of the first men on the top of Mount Kensington on the Mathias Divide-a beautiful peak marred by a prosaic name. On December 28, 1935, I was again first on Mount Kensington, also a "hitherto virgin," a still more beautiful peak, in Westland above the Poerus river. Take a Census Discussing these names, I ask readers to assume that the list is by no means exhaustive. Séme of you know Mount Alexander, above the Taramakau valley, below Otira. Do you realise there are Mount Alexanders mapped near Caswell Sound, above the valleys of rivers as widely separated as the Awatere, Hurunui, Buller, and Clarence? Mount Alfred is in Southland, in Westland (the Arawata), and in Otago (Lake Wakatipu). If you have climbed Mount Campbell in the Waimakariri, what about climbing (the other Mounts Campbell near Motueka, Mararoa, and Haast. You could get variety on the grass of Mount Evans on Banks Peninsula, the forest of Mount Evans near Takaka, or the ice and rock of Mount Evans beyond the Rakaia headwaters. Mount Forbes could lead you to Resolution Island, Doubtful Sound, or up the Rangitata river. Mitre Peak could give you a view of the Clarence valley, the Kaikoura ranges or Milford Sound, according to which of the three you chose for a holiday. Mueller Peak could take you up the Wanganui river in Westland, or further south, up the Callery, or further north, up the Maruia. Mount Murray is a vantage point of the Rakaia valley, Doubtful Sound, or Lake Sumner-according to whim or travel facilities. Pinnacle soars in five alpine regions, and Mount Ramsay in three. Mount Ross has five valleys from which to pick, Mount Stewart four, and Sebastopol and Mount Walter three. Alpine Twins And the pairs of alpine summits bearing the same name reads like pages of Who’s Who: Barron, Ben More, Carrington, Edison, Ferguson, Fox, Franklin, French, Haast, Harper, Marion, Moffatt, Newton, Owen, Rosa, Stokes, Temple, Thomas, Travers, Tyndall, Ward, Whitcombe, and Williams to name a few. A policy of reconstruction of this mess Should rest on careful research. The compilation of a list of all names, checked for repetition and confusion, could confirm those names well established and change those having no claims to originality. Accurate descriptive names or suitable Maori ones would be preferable. If the Board achieves this, all power to it; its prestige would be comparable to some of the majestic peaks whose names it decides,