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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 1 (April 1, 1935)

Variety In Brief

page 63

Variety In Brief

Of late years, especially since the Great War, the Scandinavian sport of skiing has become a very popular one in this country. Most people think that it is rather a new thing in New Zealand; but such is not the case. (The writer travelled on skis nearly 60 years ago).

He was at the time a young boy living on a goldfield in Otago on that part of the Rough Ridge known as the Serpentine—high country ranging from 3000 to 5000 feet above sea-level. This country was under snow for several of the winter months. A party of Norwegian miners made themselves skis so that they could travel over, instead of through the snow. In a short time all the diggers had skis, and used them regularly in the winter. I had a little pair, suited to my stature, and used to travel for miles over the frozen snow at a great rate, and enjoy scooting rapidly down the long slopes. So you see skis are not new things in New Zealand.

By the way, the Norwegians taught me to pronounce the word, sky-ee; the “y” being sounded like the “y” in yet.—A.W.

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There's been a good deal of comment in the “Railways Magazine” regarding the pronunciation of Maori words. But none of the writers has attempted to state just exactly how certain words should be pronounced, even though they have laughed at the attempts of others to evolve something reasonably correct. The main point is, how should Maori words be pronounced? In general perhaps only one per cent, of Maori place names receive true Maori pronunciation; maybe even that low estimate is an exaggeration. One authority on pronunciation states definitely that the Anglicised pronunciation of Maori words must be accepted as the correct pronunciation, and it is merely being pedantic to attempt to pronounce words differently. So, though no true Maori would pronounce Waikouaiti as Wakouwite, or Wakatipu as Wakatip, the very fact that these words are generally pronounced so by the New Zealander, makes the latter pronunciation correct. It is a matter for argument, undoubtedly, but as regards foreign names we accept the more phonetic sound as being correct, and do not attempt to pronounce the words as peoples of those lands would. In the face of this statement it certainly seems that to accept Anglicised pronunciation of Maori words as correct is the only thing to do. South Island Maori names as a rule offer little resistance and can generally be mastered satisfactorily. The same cannot be said of North Island names where there are some extremely difficult to pronounce decently. He would be doing a service who would compile a list of place names and set opposite each word the “correct” Anglicised pronunciation.—C.H.F.

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While visiting the old goldmining village of Maori Gully (Westland) recently, I chanced upon a pile of rounded boulders, each about a foot in diameter, lying in a heap at the side of the main tailrace. Some of the boulders had been split in half with a spalder, and there, imprinted on the surface, were delicate brown tracings, mostly of ferns, but others of peculiar shell-like pattern. The designs were of great beauty, and as clear and distinct as though they had been painted but a few minutes before.

The digger who owned the claim informed me that the bulk of the boulders in that particular heap contained similar designs, and in proof of this he invited me to try my hand with the hammer on some of them. After drawing several blanks (and just about braining myself into the bargain) I chanced upon an exquisite pattern, the whole surface of the stone being-covered with delicate fronds. It appealed to me so much that I forthwith packed it away, and carried the ten pound weight to the station, four miles distant, and later brought it up to Wellington, where it is now deposited in the Dominion Museum. In case others may chance upon these peculiar boulders—the first I had encountered, though I have visited many goldmines—and be puzzled as to the origin of the designs, the appended letter from Dr. W. R. B. Oliver, director of the Museum, may prove of interest:

“The specimen you left for identification is a boulder, apparently of greywacke, which shows on the fissured surface a deposit of hydrous manganese oxide in a form which geologists term a dendritic growth. Such deposits are not always of the same chemical composition. The manganese oxides are either the substances known as Psilomelane or Wad, and occasionally copper or magnetite will be deposited in a dendritic form.”

—M.S.N.