Maori names sought for North and South Islands

20 Oct 2010 02:37p.m.

johnny wrote:

I believe they should return to including the maori
names, Te ika a maui and Te waipounamu as the common
names for the nroth and south islands.
Maori people have already lost a number of things,
loosing our Maori place names is reslly the final straw.

08 Aug 2009 02:44p.m.

Chris wrote:

They have been in use for a long time Up north bro. Down south ow.

18 May 2009 06:51p.m.

Iris wrote:

About blimin time..I know Te Ika a Maui(Nth Isl) and Te Waka a Maui(sth isl) this literally means the canoe of Maui..yes and there is the alternative Te Waiponamu..and all Maori place names should be included on the maps of Aotearoa, and a dedicated map with just Maori place names on it should be available!Who can tell me the Maori name which english, Ashburton!!

25 Apr 2009 02:47p.m.

Ron wrote:

Thanks Guy for persisting.
It would be really good if before posting here people took the time to: 1 actually read or listen to the story being discussed. 2 Make an effort to become a little more informed than relying on a 20 second beat up on the telly.
So to reiterate - the geographic board is not a Government department. They do a lt more than approve names for places. They are NOT "renaming" the Islands. There are many places in New Zealand with two commonly used names - one Maori and one English. Contrary to Mr Laws' ignorant comments there are many places in the world including in such countries as Wales, several Pacific Islands, China, The USA and Canada that have two or more names - some "official" some not - for places depending on historical and cultural backgrounds. I think the truth is this: TV3 news knows that the vein of bigotry in this country runs deep and will always surface to give their stories more legs if thy present the story in the "right way". The screams of "PC Madness" (as so clearly illustrated in this thread) are basically ignorance and bigotry tying to disguise themselves as "common sense". Let's face it, an uniformed opinion is basically worthless and better not expressed.

23 Apr 2009 09:17a.m.

Jeff wrote:

John;

As our written language originated from the Greek/Latin alphabet and was first used in this land only when the first Europeans turned up a couple of hundred years ago; how can you argue whether the spelling of a Maori place name or word, is either correct or incorrect? Creating a written language for the Maori was the job of missionary’s in the early 1800’s. My guess would be that it was largely phonic based; so maybe some early Maori did indeed pronounce Wanganui as it is currently written. This spelling has been officially used for the town since 1854; why change 155 years of history to appease a small few.

23 Apr 2009 08:48a.m.

Jeff wrote:

$370,000 a year of taxpayers money to run the Geographic Board, come on John Key, not hard to see where cuts should be made to bureaucratic time wasters.

The members of the NZGB are:
Surveyor-General/Chairperson
Dr Don Grant
Members
Ms Sylvia Allan
Dr Sir Tipene O'Regan
Dr Wharehuia Milroy
Mr David Barnes
Dr Kay Booth
Dr Apirana Mahuika
Professor Michael Roche
Mr David Mole (LINZ official)

Each member would likely earn between $30 and $40k a year, of our hard worked taxpayer dollars, just to sit around deciding if Wanganui should have an ‘h’, or this latest time wasting suggestion. Take a look at the names of the members and I think its pretty certain they will push this latest rubbish through, without any concern for the mood of the general public.

22 Apr 2009 05:00p.m.

dan wrote:

Politicians use this very basis to create havoc in our lives. Race relations !!! We live peacefully and dont need them to tell us what to do . I think its high time all such decisions were based on a referendum and not on politicians .

22 Apr 2009 03:34p.m.

Jim wrote:

Agree Nick, Riki G and dan, I thought National and Rodney were going to weed out these interferring bureaucrats.
Guy, I also agree with your comments, but... please settle.
Signed an idiot!!!

22 Apr 2009 02:57p.m.

Kay wrote:

I agree with Nicola!There are more cultures living in this country instead of just Maori.I don't really think people come to this country because of the Maori names we have as Paul Yeo implies that is ridiculous they come to see the country not sign posts.If the names have to change (don't know why) we should all have a say not just the Maori people Hello we all live here.

22 Apr 2009 12:23p.m.

Nick wrote:

For once I agree with Guy, the article only says that the geographic board are going to make both the Nth and Sth island official names and while they are at it probaly making a set of Maori names official as well. The geographic board isn't reanaming anything this time

However, I don't believe that the Nth and Sth Island need to have two names each because the majority of people use Nth and Sth Island. I also believe that the Geographic Board should be disbanded or replaced or something because there is no reason nesicary for them to change or add place names as they feel like it(or make the names official. If the geographic board didn't raise this issue I'm sure no one would really care if the names were official or not. There is no reason why we should be paying tax-payers money for these fools.