1. Carole Seymour-Jones, Beatrice Webb: Woman of Conflict, London, 1993, p.240; Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Visit to New Zealand in 1898; Beatrice Webb’s Diary with Entries by Sidney Webb, Wellington, 1959, pp.8, 14, 38.
2. Michael Holroyd, Bernard Shaw (One Volume Definitive Edition), London, 1997, p.670. See also Desmond Stone (ed), Verdict on New Zealand, Wellington, 1959, pp.127-37. Shaw’s trip to New Zealand was recalled in the Press, 14 April 1990, p.26 and the Dominion Sunday Times, 17 November 1991, p.9. See also Australian Financial Review, 5 January 1994.
3. H. D. Lloyd quoted in Desmond Stone (ed), p.64. See also Peter J. Coleman, Progressivism and the World of Reform: New Zealand and the Origins of the American Welfare State, Lawrence, Kansas, 1987, p.52. Lloyd is quoted at length on New Zealand in Caro Lloyd, Henry Demarest Lloyd, New York, 1912, pp.104ff.
4. Coleman, Progressivism, p.54. See also Peter J. Coleman, ‘New Zealand Liberalism and the Origins of the American Welfare State’ in Journal of American History, Vol. 69, No.2, September 1982, p.372. Parsons wrote The Story of New Zealand, which was edited by C. F. Taylor and published in Philadelphia in 1904.
5. Coleman, Progressivism, p.62. The author wrote his Ph.D thesis at Duke University in 1963 on the Socialist Party of America, 1912–1919, and was struck by the number of references to New Zealand in American socialist publications.
6. Coleman, Progressivism, p.76.
7. James Bryce, quoted in Desmond Stone (ed), p.89.
8. Andre Siegfried in Desmond Stone (ed), p.81. See also Andre Siegfried (ed. David Hamer), Democracy in New Zealand, Wellington, 1982.
9. Siegfried, Democracy in New Zealand, pp.89-90.
10. André Métin published Le Socialisme Sans Doctrines in 1901.
11. These issues are discussed in Donald Denoon, Settler Capitalism: The Dynamics of Dependent Development in the Southern Hemisphere, Oxford, 1983.
12. J.B. Condliffe, New Zealand in the Making, 2nd ed, London, 1959, p.183.
13. Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, London, 1959, pp.173, 161.
14. J.C. Beaglehole, New Zealand: A Short History, London, 1936, pp.59-60.
15. A recent discussion of Wakefield’s ideas is to be found in Erik Olssen, ‘Mr Wakefield and New Zealand as an Experiment in Post-Enlightenment Experimental Practice’, NZJH, Vol. 31, October 1997, p.198.
16. David Hamer, The New Zealand Liberals: The Years of Power, 1891–1912, Auckland, 1988, p.45.
17. Sinclair, History, p.184. Reeves described the influences affecting his legislation in his memoirs quoted in Sinclair, William Pember Reeves: New Zealand Fabian, Oxford, 1965, p.210.
18. Erik Olssen, Building the New World: Work, Politics and Society in Caversham 1880s-1920s, Auckland, 1995, pp.222-3.
19. Ormond Wilson, An Outsider Looks Back, Wellington, 1982, p.63. The author has viewed Peter Fraser’s personal collection of books held in the Alexander Turnbull Library and noted that two volumes of Marx’s Capital were among the 1300 books. They did not appear to have been much used. The third and fourth volumes were nowhere to be seen.
20. Head Office files of the Labour Party, especially those xeroxed by P. J. O’Farrell, provide much evidence of fights against communists. See MS Papers 1501, files 2, 3 and 7, ATL.
21. Bruce Brown, The Rise of New Zealand Labour: A History of the New Zealand Labour Party, Wellington, 1962, pp.171-2.
22. Baxter offered this as a likely explanation for his nickname when the author interviewed him in May 1965.
23. The author owns a collection of the pamphlets that Holland wrote, plus Holland’s personal copy of Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backwards.
24. Grey River Argus, 30 November 1935, p.5.
25. See two pages of biographical material about Savage that was distributed to the press (date unspecified) in Nash, 1177/0319/0430, NA.
26. Barry Gustafson, From the Cradle to the Grave: A Biography of Michael Joseph Savage, Auckland, 1986, p.118.
27. Sinclair, History, p.258.
28. Fraser is quoted by James Thorn, Peter Fraser: New Zealand’s Wartime Prime Minister, London, 1952, p.143. See also Derek A. Dow, Safeguarding the Public Health: A History of the New Zealand Department of Health, Wellington, 1995, pp.141-2. In Fraser’s message to the electors of Wellington Central before he won the seat in a by-election in October 1918 he did not use the word ‘socialism’. He asserted that the Labour Party ‘stands for the peaceful and legal transformation of society from private to public ownership, and the increasing democratic control of land and industry’. See MS Papers 1900/08, ATL.
29. Keith Sinclair, Walter Nash, Auckland 1976, p.20.
30. W.B. Sutch, The Quest for Security in New Zealand, 1840 to 1966, Wellington, 1966, p.176.
31. Quoted by Brian Easton, In Stormy Seas: The Post-War New Zealand Economy, Dunedin, 1997, p.63.
32. Press, 20 March 1936, p.6.
33. See John Dunmore, Norman Kirk: A Portrait, Wellington, 1972. There is much detail about Kirk and a copy of This Man Kirk in Bert Roth’s papers, MS Papers 6164-047, ATL.
34. See Dean Jaensch, The Australian Politics Guide, Melbourne, 1996, p.19. At the NZLP conference in May 1977 Rowling described any effort to return to the policy objective of ‘socialism’ as ‘a bloody great step backwards’. There is a report of O’Flynn’s speech to the Mt Eden Branch of the Labour Party in the Central Leader (Auckland), 16 August 1977, p.46.
35. The words appear in Barry Gustafson, The First Fifty Years: A History of the New Zealand National Party, Auckland, 1986, p.182.
36. Gustafson, National Party, pp.9-10.
37. Gustafson, National Party, p.183.
38. The term was often used by Muldoon’s old friend turned foe, Sir Robert Jones. Richard Prebble, a Labour critic of Muldoon’s, wrote years later that Muldoon ‘talked like a Tory and spent like a liberal socialist (and delivered New Zealand the worst of both worlds)’ Richard Prebble, What Happens Next, [Auckland] 1997, p.24.
39. The figures are from the report of the Gibbs Committee on Taxation, AJHR, 1951, B-8, p.4. See also R.O. Douglas, ‘Statement on Government Expenditure Reform’, 19 May 1986.
40. See, for instance, Brian Easton (ed), The Making of Rogernomics, Auckland, 1989; Francis G. Castles, Rolf Gerritsen and Jack Vowles (eds), The Great Experiment: Labour Parties and Public Policy Transformation in Australia and New Zealand, Auckland, 1996; Jane Kelsey, The New Zealand Experiment, Auckland, 1995; Chris Rudd and Brian Roper, The Political Economy of New Zealand, Auckland, 1997. There is a revealing article about the nostalgic thinking of one Auckland University economist in the New Zealand Listener, 29 November 1997, pp.30-32.
41. Tom Brooking, ‘Use it or Lose it: Unravelling the Land Debate in Late Nineteenth-Century New Zealand’, NZJH, Vol. 30, October 1996, pp.141-62.
42. J.E. Le Rossignol and W.D. Stewart, State Socialism in New Zealand, New York, 1910. John A. Lee’s skimpy catalogue of state intervention entitled Socialism in New Zealand, London, 1938, also runs to 300 pages.
43. Melanie Phillips, ‘Fallacies and Illusions about the Welfare State’, Times Literary Supplement (TLS), 14 March 1997, p.13.
44. John E. Martin, Holding the Balance: A History of New Zealand’s Department of Labour 1891–1995, Christchurch, 1997, pp.226-8. In 1968, when the Arbitration Court considered the economy too weak to warrant a wage increase, the politicians stepped in and ensured that there was a 5 per cent increase. In August 1973 an 8.5 per cent increase issued under the 1948 Economic Stabilisation Act was decided politically, as were budget announcements about wage increases at the end of the decade. The quote about post-1968 trends comes from Brian Easton, Stormy Seas, p.106.
45. For most of the time until 1910, wool was New Zealand’s largest revenue earner and was worth more than meat, butter, cheese, wheat and oats combined. At the height of the Korean War, receipts from wool constituted 51 per cent of the country’s total export value, NZH, 7 January 1998, p.A-11. It has been claimed that in 1955 New Zealand was sending proportionately more exports to the countries in the European Community (most to the United Kingdom) than any of the twelve members are exporting to each other, Brian Easton, In Stormy Seas, p.8.
46. The same thing happened in the United Kingdom. See David Howell’s review of Edmund Dell, The Chancellors: A History of the Chancellors of the Exchequer, London, 1996, TLS, 29 November 1996, p.10.
47. ‘Report of the Department of Trade and Industry, AJHR, 1979, G-14, p.5.
48. See Derek Quigley, ‘Economic Reform: New Zealand in an International Perspective’, Round Table, Vol. 339, 1996, p.312. Quigley notes that over a 20-year period from the early 1960s to the early 1980s per capita income growth in New Zealand averaged 1.4 per cent pa, compared with the OECD average of 2.9 per cent pa. During these years the Government’s tax take was rising steadily and workers’ actual take-home pay was negative when the tax increases are taken into account. Donald Brash in ‘New Zealand’s Remarkable Reforms’, Institute of Economic Affairs, London, June 1996, p.3, asserts that New Zealand’s economic growth was only half the OECD average between 1950 and 1984.
49. Public opinion polling of attitudes to specific professional groups began in New Zealand in August 1975. Opinions of politicians and of the political process were worse by 1990. See Hyam Gold and Alan Webster, New Zealand Values Today, Palmerston North, 1990. See also Sunday Times, 24 October 1993, p.A4. The NBR ‘Respect List’ is to be found in the issue of 30 January 1998, p.16. Collapsing confidence in politicians and the Government clearly became a factor in the growing interest in alternative political systems that resulted in the referendum vote in favour of MMP in November 1993.
50. See Stephen Britton, ‘Recent Trends in the Internationalisation of the New Zealand Economy’, Australian Geographical Studies, Vol. 29, April 1991, pp.3-25.
51. The term which was in vogue in Europe was applied to the New Zealand economy by C. Weststrate in his Portrait of a Modern Mixed Economy: New Zealand, Wellington, 1959.
52. NZH, 17 April 1998, A-15.
53. Hugh Templeton, All Honourable Men: Inside the Muldoon Cabinet 1975–1984, Auckland, 1995, p.184.
54. Donald T. Brash, ‘New Zealand’s Remarkable Reforms’, p.5.
55. Brent Wheeler, ‘Reforming Regulatory Regimes - the New Zealand Experience’, Economic Papers: Economic Society of Australia, Vol. 14, No.3, September 1995, p.41.
56. Sutton first used the term in 1986 in a caucus debate with maverick Labour MP, Jim Anderton. The phrase was often used later by David Lange and Richard Prebble, and businessman Alan Gibbs used it in a speech to the New Zealand Society of Accountants in April 1989. See Deborah Coddington, Turning Pain into Gain; the Plain Person’s Guide to the Transformation of New Zealand 1984–1993, Auckland, 1993, p.51.
57. Lewis Evans, Arthur Grimes, Bryce Wilkinson with David Teece, ‘Economic Reform in New Zealand 1984-95: The Pursuit of Efficiency’, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 34, December 1996, p.1857.
58. Many of the state’s early activities to assist agriculture are dealt with by Alan Grey, Aotearoa and New Zealand: A Historical Geography, Christchurch, 1994, Chapt. 7.
59. Quinquennial spending on railways in 1885–1935 is outlined by Alan Grey, p.323. In March 1981, the year before the New Zealand Railways Corporation was formed, railways employed 21, 244 people. NZOYB, 1982, p.329. A decade later more freight and passengers were being carried by rail but its number of employees stood at less than 5000.
60. R.O. Douglas, memo, ‘Bahrain Coolstore’, to Labour Cabinet Ministers, 13 December 1984, in the author’s possession.
61. At a Cabinet Meeting on 15 June 1949 unease was expressed by ministers about this development, AAFD, 811/1a/1/1/1, NA.
62. A combination of high tariffs on new vehicles and the requirement to include up to 40 per cent of domestically made componentry made cars very expensive by world standards, NZH, 30 January 1969.
63. See David Thomson, ‘Friendly Societies in New Zealand’, unpublished manuscript, 1995. The author possesses a copy.
64. In response to concern about rising hospital costs, Peter Fraser’s Cabinet on 9 February 1949 agreed to establish a single Hospital Commissioner to ‘control and allocate’ hospital board funds, AAFD 811/1a/1/1/1. The position was not created before the party lost power.
65. Referring to the changes in lifestyle choices that followed the introduction of the Domestic Purposes Benefit in 1973, Dr Gareth Morgan has observed: ‘Whether desirable or not, it is unlikely that the original designers of the policy anticipated that this would be the result’, NZH, 2 December 1997, p.A-13. The same could be said of Accident Compensation. Little has been published in New Zealand on a breakdown of the recipients of welfare, but a recent study in the United Kingdom reports that 25 per cent of British households with the highest incomes receive welfare, and that another 15 per cent of sickness and disability payments go to homes on or above the median income. Weekly Telegraph, Issue 336, 31 December 1997-6 January 1998, p.12.
66. See New Zealand Planning Council, The Economy in Transition: Restructuring to 1989, Wellington, 1989, p.7. For GDP per capita rankings see the tables in Paul Kennedy, Preparing for the Twenty-First Century, Toronto, 1993, pp.351-2. If Luxembourg were added to Kennedy’s table New Zealand’s ranking would be twenty-second. The Planning Council (p.7) says that New Zealand’s income per capita stood at nineteenth among OECD nations by 1985. This OECD rating is used by Brian Easton, In Stormy Seas, p.27. Neither the OECD nor the Easton tables includes Kuwait, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, all of which had a higher standing than New Zealand in Kennedy’s tables. The 1993 OECD Economic Survey of the New Zealand economy (p.11) notes that the years 1950–85 were years of high productivity worldwide, but that in New Zealand productivity gains were ‘subdued’. The comment about the British economy comes from Dell, The Chancellors, p.369.
67. Between 1967 and 1973 New Zealand’s inflation rate averaged 6.8 per cent pa, well above the OECD average of 4.7 per cent pa. See OECD Economic Surveys, New Zealand, Paris, 1975. The problems New Zealand encountered with inflation during the 1970s are discussed in Conrad Blyth, Inflation in New Zealand, Auckland, 1977.
68. Quigley, ‘Economic Reform’, p.311.
69. Dr Roderick Deane quoted in Marcia Russell, Revolution, Auckland, 1996, p.56.
70. Robert Skidelsky, The World After Communism, London, 1995, p.141.
71. Dell, The Chancellors, p.10.
1. A.H. McLintock, Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, Wellington, 1958, p.56.
2. Ranginui Walker, Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End, Auckland, 1990, p.98.
3. Harrison M. Wright, New Zealand 1769–1840: Early Years of Western Contact, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1959, p.87.
4. Lindsay Cox, Kotahitanga: The Search for Maori Political Unity, Auckland, 1993, pp.39-43. A readable general discussion of the interaction between Maori and Pakeha before 1840 is to be found in Alan Ward, A Show of Justice: Racial ‘Amalgamation’ in Nineteenth Century New Zealand, Auckland, 1995, pp.3-40.
5. Quoted by Alan Ward, p.43. Claudia Orange in her book The Treaty of Waitangi, Wellington, 1987, pp.17-18, is inclined to dismiss the claims of anarchy in the north in the 1830s. I am indebted to the young researcher Ned Fletcher for his contrary comments entitled ‘Living Without the Law’ contained in a letter to Judith Bassett dated July 1997.
6. See J. Rutherford, The Founding of New Zealand, Dunedin, 1940, p.26. J.C. Beaglehole, New Zealand: A Short History, London, 1936, p.18. There is an attempt to analyse Kororareka in Ormond Wilson, Kororareka and Other Essays, Dunedin, 1990, pp.109-120. For comments on early Maori efforts to regulate trade see R.P. Hargreaves, From Beads to Banknotes, p.16.
7. The population estimates are contained in Judith Binney, Judith Bassett and Erik Olssen, The People and the Land, Wellington, 1990, p.33. There is an interesting graph of Maori and non-Maori population growth in New Zealand in G.R. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand: An Economic History, Cambridge, 1985, p.10.
8. The memorandum of 3 February 1840, Shortland’s report to Hobson of 20 June and details of the bank draft are in IA/1/1 and 2, 1840, CSIC, National Archives (NA).
9. J.D. Salmond, New Zealand Labour’s Pioneering Days, Auckland, 1950, p.l.
10. Wakefield’s ‘A Letter from Sydney’ (1829) and his ‘The Art of Colonisation’ (1849) are reprinted in M.F. Lloyd Prichard, The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Auckland, 1969. See especially pp.115, 169 and 763.
11. John Miller, Early Victorian New Zealand, London, 1958, p.43.
12. John Martin, ‘A “small nation on the move”: Wakefield’s theory of colonisation and the relationship between state and labour in the mid-nineteenth century’, unpublished manuscript, 1996. I am indebted to John Martin for showing me a copy of this manuscript.
13. Beaglehole, Chapt. 2. There is a good description of the relationship between early governors and the New Zealand Company in Patricia Burns, Fatal Success: A History of the New Zealand Company, Auckland, 1989. See especially Chapt. 27.
14. Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, Harmondsworth, 1959, p.72.
15. Alan Ward, pp.45-46. Keith Sorrenson in ‘Maori and Pakeha’ in Geoffrey Rice (ed), The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd ed, Auckland, 1992, pp.149-50, argues that there was some recognition of Maori law over a number of years.
16. Ranginui Walker, p.99.
17. Acting Postmaster, Kaipara, to Governor, 14 April 1841, IA/1/6, CSIC.
18. Details about what people expected of the Government, and the protest memorandum are to be found in IA/1/1, 2 and 3 1840, CSIC, NA. The provision of education tended in most settlements to be regarded as the responsibility of the New Zealand Company, or the churches. Requests for help can be found in IA/1/103, 1852, 52/643, CSIC.
19. Lady Martin, wife of New Zealand’s first Chief Justice, helped run a hospital for Maori for many years. See Raewyn Dalziel, ‘The Colonial Helpmeet: Women’s Role and the Vote in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand’, NZJH, Vol.11, October 1977, p.177. For details about the low level of charity among the wealthy see Jim McAloon, ‘Colonial Wealth: The Rich in Canterbury and Otago 1890–1914’, Ph.D thesis, University of Otago, 1993, pp.267ff.
20. See J.F. Churton to Governor, 5 July 1841 and W. Hobson in reply, 6 July 1841, IA/1/7, CSIC. W. Halse to Police Magistrate, New Plymouth, 16 January 1846, IA/1/49, CSIC. For a list of indigents in the early 1850s see IA/1/84, 1850, 50/171, 50/349; 1852, IA/1/101, 52/54; IA/1/102, 52/276; CSIC. For admission to hospital see P. Dunn to Colonial Secretary, 5 January 1850, IA/1/84, CSIC. The report to the Governor from the Colonial Surgeon, 1 January 1852, IA/1/101, 1852, 52/198 makes especially interesting reading. Details about the psychiatric hospital are given in Colonial Secretary to John Finlay, 23 January 1852, IA/4/7, and Colonial Secretary to William Hay, 11 June 1852, CSOC. The contract price for the hospital was £528. Alan Ward notes that under Grey between 1845 and 1853 Maori access to social and welfare services, such as they were, was common. See A Show of Justice, pp.86-87.
21. For details about pensions, see IA/1/84, 1850; IA/1/101, 1852, 52/98, CSIC.
22. See H.R. Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand, 1860–1930, Wellington, 1987, pp.23-24.
23. Margaret Tennant, Paupers and Providers: Charitable Aid in New Zealand, Wellington, 1989, pp.11-12, and p.l. Also Burns, Chapt. 27.
24. See Erik Olssen, A History of Otago, 1984, Chapt. 5; Tom Brooking, And Captain of their Souls; An Interpretive Essay on the Life and Times of Captain William Cargill, Dunedin, 1984, Chapts 4 and 5; also W.P. Morrell, The Provincial System in New Zealand, 2nd ed, Christchurch, 1964, Chapt. 1. See also W. Cargill to Lt. Governor, 29 April 1851, IA/1/126, 51/676, CSIC. The New Zealand Company by this time was heavily in debt and unable to help much with any of the settlements which it had initiated.
25. W.J. Gardner, ‘A Colonial Economy’ in The Oxford History of New Zealand, p.62. See also L.C. Webb in J. Hight and C.R. Straubel, A History of Canterbury, Vol. 1, Christchurch, 1957, pp.206-7.
26. H. Williams to W. Hobson, 19 June 1840, IA/1/1, CSIC.
27. G.R. Hawke, Government in the New Zealand Economy, Wellington, 1982, p.5. See also Paul Wooding in Alan Bollard & Robert Buckle (eds), Economic Liberalisation in New Zealand, Wellington, 1987, p.86.
28. The Oxford History, p.59.
29. Eight days after New Zealand received recognition as a separate colony on 16 November 1840, Hobson became known as Governor and Commander-in-Chief over the Colony of New Zealand. McLintock, p.99.
30. Marion E. McEwing, ‘The Protection of Manufacturing Industries in New Zealand: From the Nineteenth Century Protectionist Movement to the Syntec Report’, MA thesis, University of Otago, 1985, p.6. Customs dues are itemised in the NZ Government Gazette, No.2, 14 July 1841, IA/1/10, 1842, CSIC. For the month of December 1841 customs dues collected in Auckland produced a revenue to Government of £666, of which £534 came from imported spirits. Wellington produced £1441, and Russell another £493. As the economy slumped in 1842 there was a steep drop in customs revenue. In the financial year 1856-57 customs dues represented 95 per cent of central government’s revenue. See ‘Estimates’, IA/1/173, 1856, 56/2763, CSIC.
31. David Nathan and Israel Joseph applied on 7 December 1840 and William Brown early the next year. See IA/1/4, 1840, CSIC; IA/4/1, 1840-43; IA/4/7, 1852, CSOC, NA.
32. See J. Henry to Colonial Secretary, 23 and 27 April 1846, IA/1/48, NA.
33. See Colonial Secretary to J. Norman, 16 November 1852, letters 379 and 389. Also Colonial Secretary to W.R. Finlayson, 11 November 1852, all IA/4/7, CSOC. See also W. Spain to Governor 7 March 1842, IA/1/11, CSIC. There is a list of licence fees paid in 1852 in IA/1/102, CSIC. Licences for the sale of ammunition are referred to in IA/4/10, CSOC and IA/1/182, 57/802, CSIC.
34. Colonial Secretary to E. Constable, 12 January 1853, letter no. 12, IA/4/7, CSOC.
35. R.C.J. Stone, Makers of Fortune: A Colonial Business Community and its Fall, Auckland, 1973, p.6. Jim McAloon, Nelson: A Regional History, Queen Charlotte Sound, 1997, p.16, argues that most of Nelson’s early settlers were poor. Some of the hopes and realities surrounding early migration are discussed in W.D. Borrie, Immigration to New Zealand, 1854–1938, Canberra, 1991, Chapt. 1.
36. The difficulty in persuading younger women to emigrate is dealt with by Charlotte Macdonald, A Woman of Good Character, Wellington, 1990, pp.2-3.
37. Russell Stone, James Dilworth, Auckland 1995, p.87, notes that the Auckland Savings Bank waited for several weeks before it got its first deposit of £10. For comments about the 1860s see p.118.
38. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, p.60. Banking returns showing the assets and liabilities of the New Zealand Banking Company and the Union Bank of Australia in 1841 are to be found in IA/1/9, CSIC.
39. Olssen, A History of Otago, p.66.
40. McAloon, thesis, p.108.
41. W.K. Hancock, Australia, reprint ed, Melbourne 1961, p.52.
42. Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, London, 1989, p.193. The term ‘railway mania’ is used by E.G. Pilcher in his early history of New Zealand’s railways in NZOYB, 1894, p.377, although the term was more usually used to describe railway company amalgamations, and carried a hint of questionable business practice. I am indebted to Gary Hawke for several observations about railways in the nineteenth century.
43. See submission from the Surveyor General to Felton Mathew, 19 August 1840, IA/1/3, CSIC.
44. W. Shortland to W. Wakefield, 13 October 1842, IA/4/1, CSOC.
45. See J. Churton to Governor, 27 July 1841, IA/1/8; William Hughes to Colonial Secretary, 23 March 1846, IA/1/48. See also IA/1/101, 1852, CSIC.
46. I am indebted to Paul Goldsmith who discovered material about the Rimutaka Road when researching for the Waitangi Tribunal’s Rangahaua Whanui report on the Wairarapa.
47. See Edmund Bohan, Edward Stafford: New Zealand’s First Statesman, Christchurch, 1994, pp.37-38. In this respect Stafford was the first of a long line of Nelson politicians.
48. See E.W. Stafford to H. Sewell, 18 December 1856, IA/4/10, 56/3848, CSOC. Stafford’s letters to Sewell ( IA/4/11) over the next two years provide further details. There is a fairly full account of the moves to arrange subsidised mail services in Howard Robinson, A History of the Post Office of New Zealand, Wellington, 1964, Chapt. 10.
49. There is a description of the issues involved with shipping subsidies in Raewyn Dalziel, Julius Vogel: Business Politician, Auckland, 1986, pp.100-3. For a later debate over the San Francisco mail service see Michael Bassett, Sir Joseph Ward, Auckland, 1993, pp.25-26. See also ‘Ocean Mail Services’, AJHR, F-6, 1904. There are regular reports in the AJHR tabling correspondence on the issue.
50. Hawke, Government in the New Zealand Economy, pp.9-10. Donald Denoon, Settler Capitalism: The Dynamics of Dependent Development in the Southern Hemisphere, Oxford, 1983, pp.71ff, notes the importance of governmental borrowing to all southern settler societies in the nineteenth century. ‘Governments were generally judged by their ability to float loans, and their skill at disbursing those funds in capital work projects throughout the country’, p.73.
51. Burns, pp.271-81.
52. A clear outline of the provisions of the 1852 Constitution is to be found in W.P. Morrell, The Provincial System, p.58.
53. See Michael Bassett, The Mother of All Departments: A History of the Department of Internal Affairs, Auckland, 1997, p.31.
54. The Oxford History, pp.61-64. See also J.B. Condliffe, New Zealand in the Making: A Study of Economic and Social Development, London, 1959, pp.141-2.
55. Alexander Brady, Democracy in the Dominions: A Comparative Study in Institutions, Toronto, 1952, p.263.
56. Geoffrey Blainey, A Shorter History of Australia, Melbourne, 1995, p.53.
57. Rollo Arnold, The Farthest Promised Land: English Villagers, New Zealand Immigrants of the 1870s, Wellington, 1981, contains much material about the settlers of the 1870s. But one of the central arguments in this chapter is that expectations of the State were well set before the time of the Vogel settlers.
58. Erik Olssen, ‘Wakefield and the Scottish Enlightenment’, in Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the Colonial Dream: A Reconsideration, Friends of the Turnbull Library, Wellington, 1997, p.48. The comment about ‘ample government’ comes from Hancock, p.52.
59. W.H. Oliver, The Story of New Zealand, London, 1960, pp.57-60.
60. Miles Fairburn, The Ideal Society and its Enemies: The Foundation of Modern New Zealand Society, 1850–1900, Auckland, 1989, p.25, and pp.240-1.
61. Hancock, Australia, p.55.
62. Quoted in Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, p.157.
63. P.W. Barlow, Kaipara: Experiences of a Settler in North New Zealand, London, 1888, pp.176-81.
64. Andre Siegfried, Democracy in New Zealand, Wellington, reprint, 1982, pp.54-55. See also David Hamier’s introduction, p.ix.
65. Hawke, Government in the New Zealand Economy, p.7.
1. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, pp.10-11.
2. Erik Olssen and Marcia Stenson, A Century of Change: New Zealand 1800–1900, Auckland, 1989, p.148.
3. Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, p.97.
4. R.C.J. Stone, Young Logan Campbell, Auckland, 1982, p.204.
5. Stone, Young Logan Campbell, p.186, quotes Campbell in 1853 saying that he was exporting lumber, cheese, butter, oats, potatoes and hay to the Australian goldfields.
6. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, p.32. Colin Simkin in The Instability of a Dependent Economy, Oxford, 1951, p.25, says that wool peaked at 76 per cent of all exports in 1860. The number of sheep reached 20 million by 1900. A.H. Reed says in The Gumdiggers: The Story of Kauri Gum, Dunedin 1972, p.108, that 800 tons of gum was exported in 1853 with an export value of £1,600. According to the NZ Listener, 27 August 1965, p.3, the average annual value of flax exports 1853–60 was nearly £2500.
7. Stone, Makers of Fortune, p.8.
8. Judith Bassett, Sir Harry Atkinson, 1831–1892, Auckland, 1975, pp.10-12.
9. McAloon, Nelson, p.45; Edmund Bohan, Edward Stafford: New Zealand’s First Statesman, Christchurch, 1994, p.81.
10. Olssen, A History of Otago, pp.42-49.
11. See W.P. Morrell, The Provincial System in New Zealand, 1852-76, 2nd ed., Christchurch, 1964, p.60. For disputes, see IA/4/175, 1853, p.190, and IA/4/184, 1862, pp.137, 154, 155, 218, CSOC.
12. W. David McIntyre (ed), The Journal of Henry Sewell, 1853-7, Vol. 2, Christchurch, 1980, p.311.
13. See particularly E.W. Stafford to H. Sewell, 17 October 1857, IA/4/11, pp.15-23. For a discussion of shipping subsidies, see Howard Robinson, A History of the Post Office in New Zealand, Wellington, 1964, pp.102-113, 130-141. Also the annual reports and correspondence regarding negotiations each year in the AJHR, F-6. By 1881 a parliamentary select committee was considering the need to construct ships specially for the New Zealand-London trade. See AJHR, 1881, 1-9.
14. W. Gisborne to J.W Watt, 6 January 1857, IA/4/10, 57/105, p.5, CSOC. The Gazette notice was backed by a resolution of Parliament on 16 August 1858. In a later debate in Parliament, William Fox asserted that the sum offered was £5,000. See NZPD, 11 August 1869, p.421. There is a brief reference to early conjecture about a flax industry in Charles Hursthouse, An Account of the Settlement of New Plymouth, London, 1849, p.105.
15. W. Gisborne to Baron de Thierry, 26 September 1856, IA/4/10, p.131; 10 December 1858, IA/4/12.
16. Expressions of interest in the reward are to be found in IA/4/10, p.31 and p.33. See ‘A King Dethroned’, NZ Listener, 27 August 1965, p.3.
17. NZPD, 5 August 1869, pp.282-4; 415-25. See also IA/1/280, 69/2564; 69/2582; 69/2401, CSIC. Much detail about public efforts on behalf of the flax industry is to be found in AJHR, 1870, D-14.
18. W. Gisborne to Flax Commissioners, 21 September 1869, IA/4/25, p.376.
19. There is some information about flax subsidies in IA/4/72, p.29. NZOYB, 1913, pp.657-8. For agitation from the 1880s, see NZPD, 18 July 1883, p.642; 10 June and 11 August 1886, p.396; 17 May 1887, p.286-8; 9 and 14 July 1891 and 15 July 1891, p.55 and p.135 and p.194; 25 August 1893, p.343; 31 July 1895, p.319. There is detail about hopes for the industry during the Great Depression in IC/1/4/89, part 2, and IC/1/2/7, W709. A set of regulations under the Industrial Efficiency Act 1936 was gazetted on 20 January 1938. See IC/1/2, part 4. There are some vivid descriptions of working in flax mills around Foxton in the late nineteenth century in Miles Fairburn, Nearly Out of Heart and Hope, Auckland, 1995, pp.40ff. There is a brief summary of the flax industry’s history in The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, Vol. 1, Wellington, 1966, pp.703-5. There is a little information about flax production at the bottom of the South Island in Margaret Trotter, The Forgotten Flax Fields: Linen Flax in the South, Invercargill, n.d. For details of flax production after World War II, see annual reports of the Linen Flax Corporation, AJHR, H44 and H-44B.
20. See IA/4/10, p.5. For background to the industry see Lanna Coughlan, ‘The Growth of State Forestry in New Zealand - a Brief Review’, NZJPA, Vol. 26, 1964, pp.66-79. Also A.L. Poole, Forestry in New Zealand: The Shaping of Policy, Auckland, 1969, pp.7ff.
21. See AJHR, 1906, B-6, p.4. Also report on state nurseries, AJHR, 1912, C-1B, p.2. There is a brief historical introduction on the State Forests Department in the Forestry files at National Archives.
22. The text of Seddon’s speech is to be found in AJHR, 1896, H-24, p.7.
23. AJHR, 1904, H-33, and 1920, B-6, p.xiv.
24. AJHR, 1909, H-24. For the expansion of powers see the War Legislation and Statute Law Amendment Act, 1918, in Statutes, 1918, p.89.
25. AJHR, 1870, F-1.
26. John H. Angus, Paper making Pioneers: A History of New Zealand Paper Mills Ltd., Mataura, 1976, pp.24-26.
27. AJHR, 1870, F-1.
28. See NZG, 19 February 1874. See IA/1/321 (74/429); IA/4/40, p.112.
29. See Edwin Oakley to Colonial Secretary, 19 October 1858, (58/1807) IA/4/12, p.349; also IA/4/15, p.231, p.254, p.265.
30. AJHR, 1873, 1-4. Also IA/4/65, p.125.
31. There is some information about the silk industry in two letters IA/4/27, p.187, and p.589. The quotation comes from the report of G. A. Schoch who investigated the silk industry in 1886. AJHR, 1887, Session 2, H-1.
32. AJHR, 1871, G-36 and G-14.
33. AJHR, 1870, F-1.
34. The Year Book of New Zealand, 1885-86, p.108.
35. See correspondence to the Governor, March-April 1860, IA/1/213, CSIC. For a discussion on the origins of the war see Alan Ward, ‘The Origins of the Anglo-Maori Wars: A Reconsideration’, NZJH, Vol.1, 1967, p.148. There is a good summary of the origins of the wars and the issues involved in M.P.K. Sorrenson, ‘Maori and Pakeha’, The Oxford History, pp.141-57. See also James Belich, ‘The Governors and the Maori’, in Keith Sinclair (ed), The Oxford Illustrated History of New Zealand, Auckland, 2nd ed., 1996, pp.75-98.
36. James Belich, Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders, Auckland, 1996, p.236.
37. The Colonial Secretary’s outwards letter books, IA/4/14,15 and 16 provide much evidence about the domestic problems and the nature of claims made on the Government during the war. The Government also became involved in the settlement of soldiers after the war. Ministers selected and officials surveyed land for farms. Their size in the Tauranga area depended on rank: a field officer got 400 acres, a sergeant 80 acres and a private 50 acres. Once taking possession, settlers were struck off the Government’s payroll, although they received free rations for 12 months. See Evelyn Stokes, ‘Te Raupatu O Tauranga Moana: The Confiscation of Tauranga Lands, A Report for the Waitangi Tribunal’, Hamilton, 1990, p.46.
38. See NZG, No. 17, 26 June 1857. A copy of a licence to import/sell/repair guns is to be found in IA/4/12, p.225.
39. See Colonial Secretary to A. M. Smith, 25 November 1875, IA/4/35.
40. NZPD, 13 September 1878, p.170.
41. LT, 6 April 1861. I am indebted to John E. Martin for this reference.
42. In W. Gisborne to J. Martin, 1 April 1864, the Whitaker-Fox Ministry outlined the rules that were to underpin immigration. IA/4/15. J.B. Condliffe in his New Zealand in the Making, 2nd ed., London, 1959, p.163, dated the notion of a contract between settlers and the Government ten years later, during the Vogel era.
43. W.P. Morrell, The Gold Rushes, 2nd ed., London, 1968, pp.260ff.
44. The census returns for 1881 are to be found in AJHR, 1881, H-21A. After Otago, Canterbury was the next biggest provincial area with 112,115. Auckland had 99,216, and Wellington 61,354. Nelson had 26,297, Hawkes Bay 17,354, Taranaki 14,852, Westland 14,782 and Marlborough 9,304.
45. Olssen and Stenson, p.171. An assessment of the economic impact of gold is to be found in Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, pp.39-41.
46. W.D. Borrie, ‘The Peopling of Australasia, 1788–1988,’ in Keith Sinclair (ed), Tasman Relations, Auckland, 1988, p.205.
47. Stone, Makers of Fortune, p.8.
48. Of those miners who came in 1861, one estimate is that there was only one woman for every 100 men, and on the West Coast it was 25 women for every 100 men. Olssen and Stenson, p.170.
49. AJHR, 1866, B-8.
50. The full text of the commission’s findings is to be found in IA/92/1, NA. See also AJHR, 1866, D-7A. A full list of employees is to be found in AJHR, 1869, D-21.
51. See J.E. Le Rossignol and W.D. Stewart, State Socialism in New Zealand, New York, 1910, Chapt. 9. Gary Hawke in The Making of New Zealand, pp.110-12 discusses central government’s motivation for these measures.
52. The 1870 debates are to be found in NZPD, 18, 30 August 1870, pp.107-401; the 1872 debates begin in NZPD, 23 July 1872, pp.32ff.
53. See ‘Report of Public Trust Office’, AJHR, 1977, B-9, p.11.
54. Fox is quoted in J.A. Dowie, ‘Business Politicians in Action: The New Zealand Railway Boom of the 1870s’, Business Archives and History, Vol. 5, February 1965, p.36. Gisborne, NZPD, Vol. 9, 23 August 1870, p.184.
55. ODT, 30 June 1870, editorial.
56. NZH, 6 July 1870, editorial.
57. Ibid, p.226; EP, 12 July 1870, editorial.
58. Quoted by Dalziel, Julius Vogel, p.126.
59. Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, p.151.
60. See W. Gisborne to J. Knowles, 1 December 1869, IA/4/25, p.656; Gisborne to F.D. Bell and I. Featherston, 23 December 1869, AJHR, 1870, D-4. John Morrison to Colonial Secretary, 2 December 1869, IA/1/280,(70/288) sets out Morrison’s views on immigration.
61. Raewyn Dalziel, The Origins of New Zealand Diplomacy, Wellington, 1975, Chapt. 3. See also Rollo Arnold, The Farthest Promised Land: English Villagers, New Zealand Immigrants of the 1870s, Wellington, 1981, pp.41-47.
62. Quoted in Olssen and Stenson, p.235.
63. Arnold, op.cit. See Vogel’s correspondence with the Agent-General, AJHR, 1875, D-1.
64. Quoted from an 1885 article by J.A. Dowie, p.33.
65. See G.S. Cooper to Ross, Hotson, Peyman and Walker, 19 July 1870, 70/1748, IA/4/26, p.664, and IA/4/27, p.32. Also IA/4/26, p.574.
66. There were two major debates on railways: the first in September 1870, NZPD, 6,7,9,10,12 September, pp.534ff, the second in November 1871, NZPD, 10 November 1871, pp.992ff. J.E. Le Rossignol and W.D. Stewart, State Socialism in New Zealand, pp.56-59 discuss some of the battles surrounding early construction. Legal ructions over the contracts with Brogdens lasted many years. See William Downie Stewart, The Life and Times of the Rt Hon Sir Francis H.D. Bell, Wellington, 1937, p.55. There is also detail in ‘History of Railways 1863–1963’, NZOYB, 1963, pp.1175–93.
67. N.H.M. Dalston, NZOYB, 1894, p.386. Details about the arbitration process are to be found in AJHR, 1896, D-4; NZOYB, 1902, pp.428-9.
68. E.G. Pilcher, NZOYB, 1894, p.385. There is an historical summary of railways in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, Wellington, 1966, pp.31-43.
69. Rossignol and Stewart, Chapt. 4, has additional statistical detail about the construction of railways and other public works.
70. NZOYB, 1895, pp.167-8. The Auckland-Drury line built by Brogdens in the 1860s cost between £3, 500 and £4,000 per mile. See AJHR, 1870, D-30. See J.G. Ward, ‘Government Ownership of Railways’ in The Red Funnel, Vol.11, No.4, 1 May 1906, (Dunedin), p.291.
71. See Secretary to the Treasury to the Prime Minister, 17 May 1929, T/1/52/584.
72. NZOYB, 1894, pp.380ff; NZOYB, 1902, p.428.
73. See IA/4/27, p.117. Le Rossignol and Stewart, p.53.
74. See Howard Robinson, A History of the Post Office in New Zealand, Wellington, 1964, pp.143-7.
75. A.C. Wilson, Wire and Wireless: A History of Telecommunications in New Zealand, 1890–1987, Palmerston North, 1994, p.35.
76. See IA/1/321, (74/507); also Wilson p.50, and p.61. Also NZOYB, 1902, p.433.
77. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, pp.81-82.
78. Roger Douglas, ‘Julius Vogel: A Battler and a Gambler’, New Outlook, May/June 1986, p.57.
79. The main debate on the abolition of the provinces is to be found in NZPD, Vol.17, beginning 6 August 1875, pp.218ff. See also NZPD, Vol. 23, 9 October 1876, pp.121ff. Vogel agreed with Atkinson that an end to provincialism would save money. See J.Vogel to J Macandrew, 13 April 1876, AJHR, 1876, A-4.
1. See IA/4/36, p.492. A list of provincial staff laid off is in AJHR, 1877, Vol. 1, A-9a. Local government is dealt with in Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, pp.59-60. See also Michael Bassett, ‘The Context of Local Government Reform’ in P. McDermott, V. Forgie & R. Howell, An Agenda for Local Government, Palmerston North, 1996, pp.29-37. Also Graham Bush, Local Government in New Zealand, Auckland, 1995, p.10. Details about subsidies are to be found in AJHR, 1906, B-6. Later secretaries of Internal Affairs argued that the availability of subsidies from central government was a major factor in the multiplication of local authorities. See A.G. Harper to B.C. Ashwin, 29 April 1940, T/1/40/70. Sir Patrick O’Dea expressed similar sentiments to the author in 1995. There are other memos in this Treasury file on the subject of local authority subsidies dated 8 September 1927 and 1 June 1936.
2. Webb, Hight and Straubel, p.179, pp.217-8.
3. Terence Hodgson, Colonial Capital: Wellington, 1865–1910, Auckland, 1990, p.30.
4. Olssen, A History of Otago, p.87; W.P. Morrell, The University of Otago: A Centennial History, Dunedin, 1969, pp.5-7.
5. NZPD, Vol. 25, 3 September 1877, p.241. See also the contribution of Dr Pollen, NZPD, Vol. 26, 2 October 1877, pp.119ff. There is a detailed study of the Education Act 1877 in Roger Openshaw, Greg Lee and Howard Lee, Challenging the Myths: Rethinking New Zealand’s Educational History, Palmerston North, 1993, Chapt. 5.
6. AJHR, 1880, H-1a. Initially the per capita grant per student to primary schools was £3 15s per pupil.
7. See Keith Sinclair, A History of the University of Auckland, 1883–1983, Auckland, 1983, pp.14-31.
8. NZPD, Vol. 24, 3 August 1877, p.241.
9. Derek A. Dow, Safeguarding the Public Health: A History of the New Zealand Department of Health, Wellington, 1995, p.17; G.W.A. Bush, Decently and in Order; The Government of the City of Auckland, 1840–1971, Auckland, 1971, pp.40-41.
10. Laurie Barber and Roy Towers, Wellington Hospital, 1847–1976, Wellington, 1976, pp.3-5.
11. Olssen, A History of Otago, p.83.
12. See Dow, p.34. The payment regimes in 1878 are set out in IA/4/40, pp.541, 566.
13. The Colonial Secretary set out the basis for funding in a letter to the Chairman of the Waimate County Council, 23 July 1877, IA/4/211, pp.257-9. See also IA/4/40, pp.176, 317. See also Colonial Secretary to C. Nedwill, 3 January 1878, IA/4/40, p.154.
14. See G.S. Cooper to Mayor of Christchurch, 26 March 1878, p.440, IA/4/221. See also IA/4/50, pp.270, 317, 128.
15. See IA/4/55, p.737; also IA/4/45, p.295. Until 1885 the Colonial Secretary’s outwards correspondence is a mine of information about hospital grants and the difficulties that Government experienced with claims.
16. By 1983 there were huge discrepancies in the numbers of hospital beds per population in various parts of the country. Dunedin, with its medical school, and Wellington, with its proximity to the seat of government, had succeeded in lifting their ratio of beds to much higher levels than Auckland and other areas of population growth.
17. See Bassett, Ward, pp.119-20.
18. See debates on the Charitable Institutions Bill, NZPD, Vol. 24, 27 July 1877, pp.73ff.
19. See IA/4/36, pp.683, 685, 730; IA/4/40, p.641; IA/4/50, p.588; IA/4/55, pp.57, 716, 723; IA/4/45, pp.25, 44; IA/4/50, p.80. There is a file on charitable aid cases in IA/1/348 (77/732). See also letters about orphanages, IA/4/46(79/4783).
20. For examples of special pleading, see IA/1/338, (76/756); IA/1/322, (74/868); IA/1/338, (76/936); IA/1/509, (88/436). See also AJHR, 1876, H-23.
21. Judith Bassett, Atkinson, pp.40-42.
22. For a table of public indebtedness 1879–1906, see AJHR, 1906, B-18A, p.2. For the antics of Grey’s Government, see David Hamer, ‘The Agricultural Company and New Zealand Politics, 1877–1886’, Historical Studies, Vol. 10, no.38, 1962.
23. Judith Bassett, Atkinson, p.71. The lead-up to, and tenure of, Hall’s Ministry is dealt with by Jean Garner, By His Own Merits: Sir John Hall - Pioneer, Pastoralist and Premier, Christchurch, 1995, Chapt. 8.
24. See Ian McGibbon, ‘Alfred Saunders’, DNZB, Vol. 1, Wellington, 1990, pp.383-5.
25. AJHR, 1880, H-2. See comments by Alfred Saunders, quoted in R.J. Polaschek, Government Administration in New Zealand, Wellington, 1958, p.33.
26. The report of the commission is to be found in AJHR, 1880, H-22. Papers relating to the commission are in IA/100/1. See also AJHR, 1883, Vol. 3, H-30. Also IA/1/401, (80/2765).
27. John E. Martin, ‘Unemployment, Government and the Labour Market in New Zealand, 1860–1890’, NZJH, Vol. 29, October 1995, p.176.
28. For comments on the ‘land jobbers’, see Stone, Young Logan Campbell, p.94.
29. J. Barr, The City of Auckland 1840–1920: A History, Auckland, 1922, pp.120-4, lists many of the fires that ravaged early Auckland.
30. Heather Shepherd, ‘The Nature and Role of Friendly Societies in Later Nineteenth Century New Zealand’, BA Hons paper, Massey University, 1976, p.46, asserts that a friendly society was established in New Plymouth in the very earliest days of settlement. See also Tennant, p.14. See David Thomson, A World Without Welfare: New Zealand’s Colonial Experiment, Auckland, 1998.
31. NZPD, Vol. 20, 29 June 1876, pp.235ff.
32. Ibid, Vol. 24, 25 July and 7 August 1877, pp.59, 245.
33. See AJHR, 1878, H-14; 1879, H-12, Session 2. Of the original societies 70 were branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows or Manchester Unity; 38 were branches of the Ancient Order of Foresters; one was a branch of the Ancient Order of Shepherds; three were branches of the Independent Order of Rechabites; three were Sons and Daughters of Temperance; six were members of the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benevolent Society and there were several others. For further detail about friendly societies at this time, see David Thomson, op.cit.
34. NZPD, Vol. 42, 10 July 1882, pp.183ff; Judith Bassett, Atkinson, p.111.
35. See Downie Stewart, Bell, p.63.
36. NZPD, Vol. 42, 10 July 1882, pp.183-90.
37. Ibid, p.185.
38. Ibid, p.189.
39. Ibid, p.194. Grey’s place in Liberal folklore is discussed by David Hamer, The New Zealand Liberals, The Years of Power, 1891–1912, Auckland, 1988, pp.16-19. For the contribution to the statue, see IA/4/89, p.160.
40. Few hospitals kept accurate records of those in receipt of assistance. The NZOYB 1902 reports that of the 19 Charitable Aid Boards distributing outdoor relief in 1901, three kept records of such assistance, and from these a total of 1861 people, including 1096 children, were receiving assistance. The number receiving indoor relief stood at 1167 at the end of 1901. NZOYB, 1902, p.373.
41. AJHR, 1906, B-18A, p.2.
42. Tables relating to immigration and emigration in the period 1877–1891 are to be found in R.J. Campbell, ‘“The Black Eighties” - Unemployment in New Zealand in the 1880s’, Australian Economic History Review, Vol. 16, March 1976, pp.70-82.
43. William Downie Stewart, William Rolleston, Christchurch, 1940, pp.140-1.
44. Judith Bassett, Atkinson, pp.143-4. See also R.S. O’Connor, ‘Keeping New Zealand White, 1908–20’, NZJH, Vol. 2, April 1968, pp.41-65; Bassett, Ward, pp.151-2.
45. W. P. Reeves explained these beliefs in ‘Protective Tariffs in Australia and New Zealand’, Economic Journal: The Journal of the British Economic Association, London, Vol. 9, 1899, pp.36-44. The politics of the tariff are discussed in Keith Sinclair, ‘The Significance of the “Scarecrow Ministry”, 1887–1891’, in R. Chapman and K. Sinclair (eds), Studies of a Small Democracy, Auckland, 1963, pp.102-26.
46. For comments on the development of New Zealand’s tariff, see Paul Wooding ‘Liberalising the International Trade Regime’, in Alan Bollard and Robert Buckle (eds), Economic Liberalisation in New Zealand, Wellington, 1987, p.86. An account of the various protection leagues in the years before 1888, and an assessment of the effects of the tariff, is to be found in Marion E. McEwing, MA thesis, University of Otago, 1985, pp.10-47.
47. For Reeves’s comments, NZPD, Vol. 60, 1888, p.497. This comment was drawn to my attention by John E. Martin and is contained in his unpublished manuscript, ‘Labour in a new world: Labour origins and the state in nineteenth century New Zealand’. See also W.P. Reeves, The Long White Cloud, London, 5th impression, 1956, pp.258-9. A list of items exempted under the Customs Duties Act Amendment Act 1900 is to be found in AJHR, 1901, H-49. For comments, see Siegfried, p.158.
48. See the debates over the 1890 no-confidence motion in Atkinson’s Government, NZPD, Vol. 67, 1 July 1890, pp.191ff. These are dealt with by Timothy McIvor, The Rainmaker: A Biography of John Ballance, Auckland, 1989, pp.165-7. See also David Hamer, The New Zealand Liberals, Chapt. 1. In his pre-sessional address in June 1890 Joseph Ward laid great stress on the need to settle the land because it would bring prosperity to the towns. See ST, 10 and 14 June 1890.
49. Of the eight ministers who served in Ballance’s Cabinet, four (William Pember Reeves, Joseph Ward, Alfred J. Cadman and James Carroll) had either been born in New Zealand or grown to maturity in it. Ballance (1866), Patrick Buckley (1865) and Richard John Seddon (1866) had each come to New Zealand after the New Zealand Government had first promised to guarantee jobs to migrants. John McKenzie (1860) was the only mature immigrant in the ministry with more than 30 years’ experience of New Zealand. See also Bassett, Ward, pp38-39.
50. Bassett, Ward, p.114.
51. J.G. Ward, ‘Government Ownership of Railways’ in The Red Funnel, Vol. 11, no. 4, 1 May 1906, p.294.
52. Between the census of 1891 and 1901, Wellington’s population rose by 44.32 per cent compared with Auckland’s 31 per cent, Christchurch’s 19.22 per cent and Dunedin’s 14.22 per cent. By 1916 Wellington’s population (95,235) had surpassed that of Christchurch (92,733), but Auckland (133,712) was now way out in front as the biggest city in New Zealand. See NZOYB, 1896, p.88; 1902, p.214; 1916, p.62.
53. AJHR, 1890 and 1912–13, F-1.
54. AJHR, 1891, D-5a, and 1912 D-2.
55. See the 1881 appeal to the Colonial Secretary and his reply, IA/4/50, p.551.
56. A discussion of rising numbers during these years is to be found in Ian S. Ewing, ‘Public Service Reform in New Zealand, 1866–1912’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1979. For statistics see AJHR, 1891 and 1912, H-28. Also NZOYB, 1895, p.81 and 1913, pp.97, 865. The figures for 1904 are contained in AJHR, 1905, H-5b. This set of figures does not include teachers, who numbered more than 5000 in 1905. See also Le Rossignol and Stewart, p.197.
57. There is a speech of Ward’s where he sets out his beliefs in NZPD, Vol. 120, 4 July 1902, pp.93-98. A description of the 1908 scheme is contained in NZOYB, 1911, p.72.
58. See for instance AJHR, 1900, H-36. Railways had 1687 on its books, the Post Office 1001, and Defence 169.
59. Hamer discusses this point, The New Zealand Liberals, p.15.
60. Press, 25 July 1892. For background to McKenzie, see T.H.W. Brooking, ‘Sir John McKenzie and the Origins and Growth of the Department of Agriculture, 1891–1900’, MA thesis, Massey University, 1972. Also Brooking, ‘“Busting Up” the Greatest Estate of All: Liberal Maori Land Policy, 1891–1911’, NZJH, Vol. 26, April 1992, pp.78-98, and W.J. Gardner, A Pastoral Kingdom Divided, Cheviot 1889–94, Wellington, 1992, Chapt. 7.
61. Of note about the Land and Income Tax Act 1891 was that besides exempting the first £300 of income, which meant that few people paid any income tax, another £50 was exempted for the payment of life insurance premiums, indicating the Liberals’ strong belief in self-help. See NZOYB, 1895, p.279.
62. See the comments of William Rolleston, NZPD, Vol. 78, 13 September 1892, p.61. A good summary of McKenzie’s land reforms is made by S. Percy Smith in NZOYB, 1894, pp.201ff. See also Keith Sinclair, The Liberal Government 1891–1912, Auckland, 1967, pp.17-20.
63. Hamer, The New Zealand Liberals, p.143. See SDN, 15 August 1894; 18 August 1894. See Jim McAloon, thesis, pp.176, 234.
64. Le Rossignol and Stewart, p.26.
65. See Auckland Savings Bank Centenary, Auckland, 1947, pp.62-68; Gordon McLauchlan, The ASB: A Bank and its Community, Auckland, 1991, pp.52-55. Also Keith Sinclair and W.F. Mandle, Open Account: A History of the Bank of New South Wales in New Zealand, Wellington, 1961, pp.123ff.
66. Stone, Makers of Fortune, pp.193-5.
67. Bassett, Ward, p.51; N.M. Chappell, New Zealand Bankers Hundred: A History of the Bank of New Zealand, 1861–1961, Wellington 1961, Chapt. 10. There is an account of negotiations between the bank’s representatives and ministers in James Drummond, The Life and Work of Richard John Seddon, Christchurch, 1906, pp.207-8.
68. NZH, 2 July 1894. A full account of the debates is given in the NZH, 30 June 1894.
69. The complex story surrounding Ward’s collapse is told in Bassett, Ward, Chapts 5-7.
70. G.R. Hawke, Between Governments and Banks, Wellington, 1973, p.13.
71. Neil C. Quigley, ‘The Mortgage Market in New Zealand, and the Origins of the Government Advances to Settlers Act 1894’, NZ Economic Papers, Vol. 23, 1989, pp.51ff.
72. Bassett, Ward, pp.51-53, 56-59. Ward’s speech when introducing the Bill sets out clearly what his intentions were. See NZPD, Vol. 85, 14 September 1894, pp.684ff.
73. Peter Coleman, ‘The New Zealand Welfare State: Origins and Reflections’, Continuity, no. 2, 1983.
74. NZOYB, 1913, pp.695-9.
75. NZH, 16 October 1894, editorial. See also earlier editorial comments by the SDN, 8 August 1894.
76. Quoted in Bassett, Ward, p.97. There is a succinct account of labour relations before 1894 in James Holt, Compulsory Arbitration: in New Zealand: The First Forty Years, Auckland, 1986.
77. Press, 20 July 1892. See Keith Sinclair, William Pember Reeves: New Zealand Fabian, London, 1965.
78. Sinclair, Reeves, p.111. Reeves gives his own version of his labour legislation in The Long White Cloud, pp.314-21.
79. Quoted in Holt, p.25.
80. The term ‘social engineering’ is used by K.R. Howe in Singer in a Songless Land: A Life of Edward Tregear, 1846–1931, Auckland, 1991.
81. NZOYB, 1902, p.425; Howe, pp.76-80. R.J. Campbell, ‘Unemployment in New Zealand, 1875–1914’, M.Phil thesis, Massey University, 1976, deals with unemployment and has a number of graphs and sets of statistics. There is an article on the state farms experiment in NZOYB, 1894, p.243.
82. Howe, pp.83-84. Tregear summarises the labour legislation in NZOYB, 1894, pp.362ff. See John Martin, Holding the Balance: A History of New Zealand’s Department of Labour, 1891–1995, Christchurch, 1996, pp.39-60.
83. Sinclair, Reeves, p.17. See also Holt, p.17, and Howe, pp.85-86. Reeves’s comment is quoted in G.W. Clinkard, ‘Wages and Working Hours in New Zealand 1897–1919’, NZOYB, 1919, p.862.
84. Holt, p.34, cautions against accepting that the main purpose of the Act was the fostering of trade unions.
85. Holt outlines the evolution of rules relating to strikes, pp.72-85.
86. Holt, p.25.
87. See G.W. Clinkard, p.908.
88. AJHR, 1912, Session 2, H-18, pp.lxxxiv, cv.
89. G.T. Booth at the annual general meeting of the Canterbury Employers’ Association, 1902; see Annual Report, p.11. Gilbert Anderson, address, 6 December 1904, Canterbury Employers’ Annual Report, 1905, p.21. Also comments of J.A. Frostick, Canterbury Employers’ Association report 1911, p.17. The Secretary of the Canterbury Employers’ Association, Henry Broadhead, deals with employers’ views in State Regulation of Labour and Labour Disputes in New Zealand, Christchurch, 1908.
90. Holt, pp.57, 106.
91. Holt, p.37. Broadhead, Chapt. 7, discusses the development of minimum wages. Deakin’s ideas about ‘fair’ wages are discussed in J.A. La Nauze, Alfred Deakin: A Biography, Melbourne, 1979 ed., pp.410ff
92. Bassett, Ward, p.138. Ten years earlier when Ward was in London talking up New Zealand to investors considering advancing money to facilitate his Advances to Settlers scheme, he told the Royal Colonial Institute that New Zealand’s per capita wealth was £232 compared with the United Kingdom’s £247. See extract from Journal of the Royal Colonial Institute, Vol. 26, London, June 1895. Also SDN, 2 May 1895. In 1911 J.A. Frostick of the Canterbury Employers’ Association claimed that at £335 per head, New Zealand was ahead of Great Britain on £291 and the USA on £263. See Annual Report, 1911, p.17. For an analysis of New Zealand wealth see Margaret N. Galt, ‘Wealth and Income in New Zealand c1870-c1939’, Ph.D thesis, VUW, 1985.
1. Gilbert Anderson acknowledged in December 1904 at a meeting of the Canterbury employers that many of them were Liberals, but were ‘worried’ by aspects of government policy. Canterbury Employers’ Association, Annual Report, 1905, p.20.
2. See Peter J. Coleman, Progressivism and the World of Reform: New Zealand and the Origins of the American Welfare State, Kansas, 1987, p.16, p.41. See André Métin, Socialism Without Doctrines, Sydney, reprint of 1901 publication, 1977.
3. Visit to New Zealand in 1898; Beatrice Webb’s Diaries with entries by Sidney Webb, Wellington, 1959, p.55. Quoted also in Carole Seymour-Jones, Beatrice Webb: Woman of Conflict, London, 1992, p.240. Sidney’s comments are quoted in Francis Castles, The Working Class and Welfare: Reflections on the Political Development of the Welfare State in Australia and New Zealand, 1890–1980, Wellington, 1985, p.12.
4. Coleman, p.49.
5. Hamer (ed), Siegfried’s Democracy in New Zealand, p.xxxiv.
6. Coleman, p.25. For a discussion of Bellamy, see Joseph Schiffman (ed), Edward Bellamy: Selected Writings on Religion and Society, New York, 1955.
7. Quoted by David J. Rothman, ‘The State as Parent’, in Allen F. Davis and Harold D. Woodman (eds), Conflict and Consensus in Modern American History, Lexington, Massachusetts, 1988, p.262.
8. Miles Fairburn, Nearly out of Heart and Hope, pp.237-9.
9. Judith Bassett, ‘Sir Harry Atkinson’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1966, p.147; McIvor, The Rainmaker, Chapt. 6; Sinclair, Reeves, p.46; Howe, Tregear, p.75. J. B. Condliffe in his New Zealand in the Making, London, 1959, p.181, carries an unidentified comment by Reeves about his views on the interchange of ideas in New Zealand at the time of his reforms.
10. McIvor, p.117. David Hamer devotes Chapt. 2 of The New Zealand Liberals to a discussion of the intellectual underpinning to liberalism.
11. Race Mathews, Australia’s First Fabians: Middle Class Radicals, Labour Activists and the Early Labour Movement, Cambridge, 1993, studies the Australian Fabian movement. He concludes that it was somewhat ephemeral until after World War II. There appears to be no similar study of Fabianism in New Zealand, although Sinclair and Howe refer to the impact that the Fabian Essays in Socialism of 1889 had on Reeves and Tregear. According to Margaret Lovell-Smith, Kate Sheppard and the Lovell-Smiths in Canterbury participated in discussions about the ideas of the Fabians in the 1880s and 1890s and adopted the slogan ‘plain living and high thinking’, Plain Living High Thinking, Christchurch, 1994, p.40, pp.53-54. There are a few papers about the Auckland Fabian Club from 1928 till the 1960s in the University of Auckland MSS and Archives, A-63. The quotes of Shaw are in G.B. Shaw, The Fabian Society, London, 1892, pp.3, 25-27. There are several books about the British Fabians. See Anne Fremantle, This Little Band of Prophets: The Story of the Gentle Fabians, London, 1960. Also Norman and Jeanne MacKenzie, The Fabians, New York, 1977, and Ian Britain, Fabianism and Culture, Cambridge, 1982.
12. Keith Hancock, Australia, Brisbane reprint, 1961, pp.71-82, discusses the tariff in Australia. See also J.A. La Nauze, Alfred Deakin: A Biography, Melbourne 1979, pp.411ff. Hancock, p.76, quotes a 1929 report which estimated that Australia’s tariff had raised Australia’s prices about 10 per cent higher than they would otherwise have been under a purely revenue tariff. No similar assessment seems to have been made of the cost of New Zealand’s post-1888 tariff. Ward spent time with Deakin. See Bassett, Ward, pp.140, 151, 152-5. For a discussion of Jensen and others in Australia, see Frank Farrell, ‘Australia: A Laboratory of Social Reform’ in Farrell (ed), Traditions for Reform, p.4.
13. There are some rough minute books for Christchurch and Wellington Fabian groups, 1908–1915 in MS 314, ATL. They convey few names or useful information about the subjects under discussion.
14. David Thomson, ‘Welfare Before the Welfare State’, unpublished MS, p.146.
15. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, pp.113-6. There is a short debate about what motivated the Liberals in W.H. Oliver, ‘Social Policy in the Liberal Period’, NZJH, Vol.13, April 1979, pp.25-42. Ward’s views on the role of the State were probably best expressed at the time of the passage of the Wages Protection Bill in 1898 when he said that all classes in New Zealand were entitled to protection by the State. Bassett, Ward, p.97. Richard Newman at one point likens Ward to a judge of the Arbitration Court imposing a solution on policy disputes, and ‘steering a middle course’. See R.K. Newman, ‘Liberal Policy and the Left Wing, 1908–1911’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1965, p.389.
16. Newman’s thesis is a major study of the left-wing Liberals, many of them middle-class radicals.
17. Quoted in Sinclair, Reeves, p.210.
18. Sinclair, History, p.184. Hamer quotes Reeves as having said that colonists needed to learn how to ‘make shifts, invent devices, confront the unexpected’ and that politicians learned to be ‘handy in emergencies’. Hamer, The New Zealand Liberals, p.37. J.C. Beaglehole, New Zealand: A Short History, p.59. Simon Upton, ‘When “liberal and progressive” was OK’, New Zealand Books, Vol. 5, Number 4, October 1995, p.19.
19. I am grateful to Simon Upton for an opportunity to discuss this distinction within categories of conservatives.
20. See Downie Stewart, Rolleston, p.128; Bell, pp.74-78, and NZPD, Vol. 83, 29 June 1994, p.152. McAloon, p.183.
21. Coleman, p.40, argues that the experimental phase concluded in 1894 and both Sinclair, History, and R.T. Shannon, ‘The Fall of Reeves, 1893–1896’ in Chapman and Sinclair, Studies, pp.127-52, see Reeves’s departure in 1896 as a sorry blow to the Government’s reforming zeal.
22. NZOYB, 1895, pp.173ff, discusses these issues. Life insurance is discussed by David Thomson in ‘Welfare before the Welfare State’, unpublished manuscript 1995, pp.79ff.
23. Le Rossignol and Stewart, pp.190-1. A departmental account of the background to old age pensions is contained in The Growth and Development of Social Security in New Zealand: A Survey of Social Security in New Zealand from 1898 to 1949, Wellington, 1950. In 1896 a total of 199 people received pensions from the Government, 135 of them civil servants, who were paid under the State Service Act, 1866. The rest received small payments, mostly per diem allowances, for wounds received during the wars of the 1860s. See AJHR, 1896, H-26.
24. See Tennant, p.100. Elderly Maori could be granted ‘rations’ by the Native Department. When Maori were paid pensions prior to 1938 they were usually below the levels paid to Pakeha.
25. The backbencher quoted is Ward, NZPD, Vol. 104, 1898, pp.577-8. One Liberal who opposed the non-contributory pensions, J. W. Kelly of Invercargill, discussed his opposition in ST, 22 March 1898. He lost his seat in 1899 because Seddon endorsed another candidate, J. A. Hanan. For other pension detail, see NZOYB, 1902, pp.519-24; 1913, 704-10. Le Rossignol and Stewart, pp.184-5, explain how the income test applied, as does the departmental survey, pp.23-24. The Thomson quote comes from ‘Society and Social Welfare’, in Colin Davis and Peter Lineham (eds), The Future of the Past: Themes in New Zealand History, Palmerston North, 1991, p.100. The barrier to resident Asians receiving pensions was removed by the Pensions Amendment Act 1936. Unnaturalised aliens, however, were still barred.
26. Ward’s estimate of 3000 widows likely to qualify for the pension (AJHR, 1911, B-6, p.xxviii) was somewhat wide of the mark. By 1916 1890 were drawing the benefit and they were costing the taxpayer only £37,000 instead of the £55,000 he had estimated in 1911. See NZOYB, 1916, p.525.
27. NZOYB, 1911, p.639. The Oddfellows (Manchester Unity), Druids and Foresters were the three biggest societies, sharing more than 55,000 of these members. For Ward’s comments, see the budget of 1911, AJHR, B-6, pp.xviii-xxviii.
28. The scheme is set out in detail in NZOYB, 1913, pp.719-21. The comment about it being a ‘Government friendly society’ is quoted by Elizabeth Hanson, The Politics of Social Security: The 1938 Act and some later Developments, Auckland, 1980, p.25.
29. NZOYB, 1928, p.640.
30. The report of the Department of Health, AJHR, 1902, H-31, contains a lot of information about Auckland city health problems, sanitary needs and Maori health.
31. AJHR, 1913, H-31, pp.2-3. By 1917 six doctors and seven school nurses had examined more than 100,000 schoolchildren and given lectures to teacher trainees. See AJHR, 1917, E-11.
32. NZOYB, 1913, pp.172-5. See also Dow, pp.48-57. The quote comes from AJHR, 1913, H-31, p.3.
33. Devonport is described as ‘the healthiest portion of [the Auckland] district’ in the Health Department’s Annual Report, AJHR, 1909, H-31, p.44. The dentists’ appeal to the Government is to be found in AJHR, 1905, H-31A.
34. St Helen’s hospitals, named after Seddon’s Lancashire birthplace, opened in Wellington in June 1905, Dunedin in October 1905, Auckland in June 1906 and Christchurch in April 1907. There is some interesting information about the Auckland St Helen’s Hospital in the report of a Commission of Inquiry, AJHR, 1913, H-31B.
35. Charlotte Parkes discusses the ‘medicalisation’ of maternity services in Linda Bryder (ed), A Healthy Country, Wellington, 1991, pp.165-80. P.M. Smith, Maternity in Dispute: New Zealand 1920–1939, Wellington, 1986, p.l. A discussion of mortality figures and sanitation is to be found in Geoffrey W. Rice, ‘Public Health in Christchurch, 1875–1910: Mortality and Sanitation’, in Bryder, pp.85-108.
36. Evening Star (Dunedin), 5 August 1893.
37. There were 4743 teachers in 2214 public primary schools by 1912. They taught 162, 536 children. See NZOYB, 1913, pp.204-5.
38. NZOYB, 1913, p.239.
39. Ibid, pp.199, 217. The literacy figure in 1874 had been 68 per cent, and in 1894 77.25 per cent. See NZOYB, 1894, p.64.
40. There is information about industrial schools in AJHR, 1901, E-3 and E-3A.
41. AJHR, 1906, E-1, pp.xxvii-xxxii. By 1920 the Government was also providing £3,000 pa in subsidies for the purchase of books in rural public libraries. The money was paid to libraries in places with fewer than 1500 people. It was for books ‘of a high standard of merit’.See AJHR, 1921, E-10; NZOYB, 1913, pp.218-47.
42. Elected for Wellington East on 24 November 1908, McLaren won the seat with Liberal support as a result of Ward’s ‘second ballot’ legislation.
43. NZOYB, 1913, pp.697-9.
44. See Barbara Fill, Seddon’s State Houses: The Workers’ Dwelling Act 1905 & the Heretaunga Settlement, Wellington, 1984. A badly written booklet, it nevertheless contains some useful information. There is other material in Barbara Fill, ‘Dwellings for Workers’, Historic Places in New Zealand, No.6, September 1984, pp.15-16. A fuller, more careful study of early government housing measures is Gael Ferguson, Building the New Zealand Dream, Palmerston North, 1994. See especially Chapt. 2.
45. NZOYB, 1921–22, pp.453-4. There are regular reports to the Minister of Labour about Workers’ Dwellings. See especially AJHR, 1908, H-11B, p.2.
46. AJHR, 1901, C-4, p.26. A brief history of State Mines is given in NZOYB, 1913, pp.593-6. See Drummond, p.277.
47. See AJHR, 1901, C-6; 1912, C-3 and C-3A, p.2. See also P.R. May, Miners and Militants: Politics in Westland, Christchurch, 1975, p.102.
48. The words were used by Ward in his 1909 budget, AJHR, B-6, p.11.
49. AJHR, 1917, C-2A, p.3. There is a file on coal prices in IC/1/9/26. For comments on State Mines’ accounting practices see L.H. Eillers to Under-Secretary, Mines Department, 19 December 1919, T/1/200. Detail about industrial unrest is in AJHR, 1920, C-2A. The write-down in asset values is mentioned in the 1913 budget, AJHR, 1913, B-6.
50. Le Rossignol and Stewart, p.286. See the Treasury file on State Mines after 1918, T/1/200. NZOYB, 1939, pp.405-6.
51. For workers’ compensation see ‘Labour Legislation’ in NZOYB, 1902, pp.421-4. Also John A. Lee, Socialism in New Zealand, London, 1938, pp.199ff. The best background to the introduction of State Insurance is Arthur Manning, Cover Story: The History of the State Insurance Office, 1905–1980, Wellington, 1980, pp.13ff.
52. There is a copy of the instructions in Alan Henderson, Competition and Co-Operation: The Insurance Council and the General Insurance Industry in New Zealand, 1895–1995, Wellington, 1995, p.21. Henderson’s booklet provides a succinct analysis of State Fire and its sometimes uneasy relationship with its competitors.
53. Le Rossignol and Stewart, pp.167-78. Manning deals with reinsurance, p.18.
54. Henderson, p.23. For profits and assets of State Insurance in 1979, see AJHR, 1980, B-21, pp.2-3.
55. NZOYB, 1902, pp.557-60. The story of Hanmer is told by Ian Rockell, Taking the Waters: Early Spas in New Zealand, Wellington, 1986, Chapt. 10. There is information about the early development of the department in the introduction to the collection (TO) in National Archives.
56. Bassett, Ward, p.118, p.121. In his last term as Prime Minister (1928–30), when he was dying, Ward spent many months at Princes Gate Hotel in Rotorua. For a description of Rotorua baths in 1902, see A. Wohlmann to T. E. Donne, 3 October 1902. Other details about the building of the Aix baths are to be found in TO/1/1901/5/3. There were problems with the doctor’s subsidy. See AJHR, 1902, H-2, p.7.
57. The second volume of D. M. Stafford’s history of Rotorua entitled The New Century in Rotorua, Rotorua, 1988, Chapt. 2, tells the story of early tourism.
58. See AJHR, 1906 and 1908, H-2. Rockell provides much information about the early department and its spa bath activities.
59. For Allen’s budget of 1914, see AJHR, 1914, B-6. For reports of the department, see AJHR, 1914, H-2; 1915, H-2; 1916, H-2; 1918, H-2, p.3; 1925, H-2, p.2; 1931, H-2; 1934, H-2, p.6; 1960, H-2, p.4. In their earliest days the baths at Rotorua charged one shilling for use of a private bath and threepence to swim in the public pools. To stay at the Rotorua Sanitorium in 1902 cost ordinary patients £1 10s per week, which covered accommodation, food, medicine, medical attention and full access to the thermal pools. See AJHR, 1902, H-2A. The story of the Blue Baths is told by Philip Andrews, ‘Rotorua’s Blue Baths’, NZ Historic Places, No. 59, July 1996, pp.25-26.
60. See for instance NZPD, Vol.132, July 1905, pp.246-7. See J.C. Beaglehole, p.58.
61. Quoted by Le Rossignol and Stewart, p.17.
62. Hamer, The New Zealand Liberals, p.46.
63. Ward’s farmers’ association was not as well based as he hoped. It became the principal victim of the merger between the Colonial Bank and the Bank of New Zealand in 1895, and in July 1897 Ward went bankrupt. He revived his fortunes quickly, and by 1900 J.G. Ward and Co was making good profits again.
64. ST, 8 August 1893.
65. AJHR, 1902, H-17. There is material about the development of the department in the introductory notes to the files (IC) in National Archives.
66. There is a file on the St Louis Exposition and the Christchurch exhibition in IA/25/11. See also AJHR, 1905, H-17, p.l. Some of the Crystal Palace prizes are shown in AJHR, 1906, H-17, pp.29ff. For a discussion of the exhibition, see Jean Sharfe, ‘The New Zealand International Exhibition at Christchurch in 1906–07,’ History Now, Vol. 1, No. 2, October 1995, pp.27-31.
67. IA/4/76, pp.515, 699. For fish, see AJHR, 1901, H-37. For flax, see AJHR, 1890, H-45, and IA/4/72, p.29. Later developments with the distribution of trout ova and fry are dealt with in AJHR, 1926, H-22, p.3.
68. See Seddon to Agent General, 31 July 1899, AJHR, 1900, H-47. For poultry see AJHR, 1905, H-17, p.20.
69. See H. Pollen to W.R. Morris, 26 September 1899, IA/4/88, p.194. See request for assistance with a fish hatchery, IA/4/107, p.420.
70. NZOYB, 1913, p.547. There were eight of them by 1912. See AJHR, 1912, H-21A and H-21B. Good records for the farms seem only to have been kept from 1904 onwards.
71. AJHR, 1909, H-17, p.7.
72. As a result of resolutions passed at the Imperial Conference in 1907, New Zealand adopted the title of Dominion rather than Colony in September 1907. Henceforth Colonial conferences became Imperial conferences. The Colonial Secretariat became the Department of Internal Affairs and the Colonial Secretary became the Minister of Internal Affairs.
73. See IA/1/348 (77/1030).
74. An initial approach to Government to help with funding of fire services had been made as early as 1874. See IA/1/322. See also G.S. Cooper to W. Lightfoot, 1 March 1878, IA/4/40.
75. See Michael Bassett, Mother of all Departments, Chapt. 3. Also the New Zealand Business Roundtable publication, The Provision and Funding of Fire Services, Wellington, 1995, pp.3-8.
76. NZH, 11 May 1896, p.3. See also editorial quotes on the conference in NZH, 17 May 1996.
77. The parliamentary report is to be found in AJHR, 1871, H-5. O’Connor, pp.42-44; Manying Ip, Home Away From Home, Auckland, 1990, pp.12-13. The changing attitudes of ministers can be traced through IA/4/88, pp.55,178. IA/4/89, pp.589-98, 130. IA/4/107, pp.37-41. See also R.F. Lynch to J.W. Card, 16 January 1912, and Minister of Internal Affairs to S.A.R. Guinness, 26 January 1912, IA/4/126. Also NZOYB, 1916, p.56.
78. See Ward’s comments in Australia in 1907, quoted in Bassett, Ward, p.152.
79. M.P.K. Sorrenson, ‘Maori and Pakeha’, in G.W Rice (ed), The Oxford History of New Zealand, Auckland, 1992, pp.141-66.
80. Ibid, p.165. See also Michael King in Rice (ed), The Oxford History, pp.285-307. Also Michael Bassett, Coates of Kaipara, Auckland, 1995, p.28.
81. King, The Oxford History pp.286-8.
82. John A. Williams, Politics of the New Zealand Maori: Protest and Cooperation, 1891–1909, Auckland, 1977, pp.126-7.
83. Michael King, Te Puea: A Biography, Auckland, 1977, p.54; Michael Bassett, Coates of Kaipara, pp.132-4.
84. Gill Gatfield, Without Prejudice: Women in the Law, Wellington, 1996, pp.34-44.
85. AJHR, 1908, H-11, p.vii. Kerry Howe discusses Tregear’s confused thinking about the role of women, pp.35-36, 89-91.
86. Raewyn Dalziel, ‘The Colonial Helpmeet: Women’s Role and the Vote in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand’, NZJH, Vol. 11, October 1977, pp.112-23.
87. The figures are derived from Keith Rankin, ‘National Product Estimates for New Zealand, 1859–1939,’ Long-Run Perspectives on the New Zealand Economy, Proceedings of the Sesquicentennial Conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists, Vol. 2, Wellington, 1990, pp.352-3.
88. James Allen released the figures on 6 August 1912, AJHR, 1912, B6B. They tally with Ward’s figure of £64 million released in February 1912 (AJHR, 1912, B-6), a figure that did not include State Advances lending.
89. See Statutes, 1910, p.86.
90. AJHR, 1912, Session 2, H-18. This question about wages and prices had been raised tentatively by Henry Broadhead four years before. He noted that in some cases employers had been forced out of business because cheaper imports were available. Broadhead, p.215.
91. NZOYB, 1913, pp.796-7.
92. Coleman, ‘The New Zealand Welfare State’, p.54. Hugh H. Lusk, Social Welfare in New Zealand, London, 1913.
93. Le Rossignol and Stewart, pp.287-8.
94. Robert H. Hutchinson, The Socialism of New Zealand, New York, 1916, p.v.
95. Ibid, pp.23, 32.
1. A. J. P. Taylor, English History 1914–1945, Oxford 1965, p.1.
2. Robert Skidelsky, The World After Communism: A Polemic for our Times, London, 1995, p.27.
3. Bassett, Ward, Chapt. 14; Barry Gustafson, ‘William Ferguson Massey’, DNZB, Vol. 2, pp.316-9; Ian McGibbon, ‘James Allen’, DNZB, Vol. 3, pp.10-11; Susan Butterworth, ‘Alexander Lawrence Herdman’, DNZB, Vol. 3, pp.211-2.
4. The kauri gum industry reached its exporting peak in the 1890s. As supplies began to diminish, the Liberal Government reserved the digging of gum on Crown land to New Zealand citizens and required from 1899 that prospectors possessed a licence to dig. The outbreak of war effectively closed European markets to gum. The predicament of diggers was raised in Parliament on 7 August 1914. The Kauri Gum Industry Amendment Act passed on 26 October. See NZPD, Vol.171, pp.388-92. Reed (Bay of Islands), Coates (Kaipara) and Rhodes (Thames), all of whom had voted with Reform on 6 July 1912, eventually joined the Reform Party caucus. There is a report on the Kauri Gum Industry in AJHR, 1917, C-12.
5. W. Downie Stewart, The Life and Times of the Rt Hon Sir Francis Bell, Wellington, 1937, p.231.
6. J.H. Bradney, NZPD, Vol. 157, 29 February 1912, p.389; J.H. Escott, pp.400ff.
7. AJHR, 1912, B-6.
8. A.J. Everton, ‘Government Intervention in the New Zealand Economy, 1914–18: Its Aims and Effectiveness’, MA thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 1995, p.xxxi. This is the fullest study of interventionism but it fails to make use of the rich documentation in departmental archives which generally supports Everton’s conclusions.
9. For details about the Board of Agriculture, see AJHR, 1917, H-29A. For details of the Iron and Steel Industries Act, see Statutes, 1914, p.249. Also the budget, AJHR, 1913, B-6. See also AJHR, 1914, B-6; 1917, C-8 and C-11. For fruit-preserving subsidies, see AJHR, 1915, B-19. For details regarding the oil subsidies, see T/1/12/102/1.
10. Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, New York, 1987, p.123. See also David M. Kennedy, Over Here: The First World War and American Society, Oxford, 1980, pp.93-143.
11. The Regulation of Trade and Commerce Act is in Statutes, 1914, p.12. The War Regulations Act and its amendments are to be found in Statutes, 1914, pp.128-9; 1915, p.359; 1916, p.103. The use of regulatory powers without reference to Parliament is dealt with by Alex Frame, Salmond: Southern Jurist, Wellington, 1995, pp.166-7.
12. Paul Baker, King and Country Call: New Zealanders, Conscription and the Great War, Auckland, 1988, pp.15-18.
13. See Jock Phillips, A Man’s Country? The Image of the Pakeha Male, Auckland, 1997, p.159. Figures in the official year books are somewhat lower. See NZOYB, 1921-22, p.182. According to Phillips, about 38 per cent of those who served were volunteers. There is a file on the cost of World War I, T/1/23/144.
14. The electoral difficulties that beset the Government after the election on 10 December 1914 are dealt with in Michael Bassett, Three Party Politics in New Zealand, 1911–1931, Auckland, 1982, pp.15-20.
15. Further detail is given about Ward’s wartime loans policy in Bassett, Ward, pp.225ff. The £68.5 million figure comes from M.F. Lloyd Prichard, An Economic History of New Zealand, Auckland, 1970, p.235. See also Massey’s budget of 1920, AJHR, B-6.
16. AJHR, 1915, B-6, pp.xxviff. There is a brief summary of Treasury’s activities during the war in a five-page undated, unsigned memo in T/1/23/144. A particularly interesting summary of New Zealand’s participation in the war is Sir James Allen’s. Massey’s Minister of Defence contributed a 17-page account to J.H. Rose, A.P. Newton, E.A. Benians and J. Hight, The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Vol.7, New Zealand, Cambridge, 1933, pp.224-41.
17. On 1 September 1914 concern was expressed in Parliament about the rise of rents in Auckland. NZPD, Vol. 169, p.668.
18. Ibid, p.xxxi.
19. The Act is to be found in Statutes, 1915, p.444. The debate in the Legislative Council is to be found in NZPD, Vol. 174, 7 October 1915, pp.805ff.
20. Notes of J. Christie, IC/1/3/1/2, W.709. There is other material about the Board of Trade in IC/1/2/5. See also Everton, p.31.
21. Everton, Chapt. 5, pp.39-134, deals at length with bread prices, where the Government made its ‘first and only attempt’ at a comprehensive price-fixing regime.
22. See Ward’s comments in his 1916 Budget, AJHR, 1916, B-6, pp.xx ff. Also Ward’s comments, AJHR, 1918, B-6. There is a file on the Board of Trade, IC/1/2/2, part 1. See also IC/1/2/5. Bread price regulations are to be found in the Gazette, 19 March 1918, p.849, 14 March 1921, p.690. Problems with clothing prices are dealt with in IC/1/10/1/3, part 1.
23. G.W. Clinkard, op cit., p.908, deals with the relative movement in wages compared with prices. Many of the difficulties experienced by the Board of Trade in its attempts to control prices are outlined in its annual report, AJHR, 1918, H-44.
24. The debate on the Board of Trade Bill is in NZPD, Vol. 184, 12 September 1919, pp.489ff. For details about the emergence of the separate department, see IC/1/2/3, part 1, W709.
25. See IC/1/2/3, part 1, W709.
26. DOM, 11 September 1919, p.4; EP, 10 September 1919, p.4; NZH, 11 September 1919, p.6; Press, 11 September 1919, editorial; ODT, 11 September 1919, p.4.
27. W.F. Massey to Board of Trade, 24 November 1919, and press statement of 28 November 1919, IC/1/2/3, part 1, W709.
28. Report to Prime Minister, 25 May 1920, IC/1/2/3, part 1, W709. For the departmental comments on the work of the Board of Trade, see AJHR, 1921, H-44, especially p.2 and pp.19ff.
29. The file on coal pricing is IC/1/9/26. Everton deals with coal pricing in Chapt. 12.
30. See AJHR, 1921, H-44, pp.2-3.
31. A.M. Endres, ‘The Political Economy of W.B. Sutch: Toward a Critical Appreciation’, in New Zealand Economic Papers, Vol. 20, 1986, pp.17-40.
32. See IC/1/2/3, part 1, W709. There is also information relevant to the personnel of the Board in IC/1/2/2, part 1, W709.
33. See report of Dr C.J. Reakes, 31 January 1919, IC/1/2/3, part 1, W709.
34. J.D. Atkinson, DSIR’s First Fifty Years, Wellington, 1976, pp.14-18. There is more detail in T.W.H. Brooking, Massey Its Early Years: A History of the Development of Massey Agricultural College to 1943, Palmerston North, 1977, pp.23ff.
35. See IC/1/2/3, part 1, W709. See Statutes, 1923, p.205.
36. Everton, p.406.
37. IC/1/31/140, part 1. See also the report of the visit of L.M.S. Amery, NZH, 23 November 1927.
38. See Statutes, 1914, p.19.
39. AJHR, 1916, H-17 and H-17a. The 1919 report, AJHR, 17b, reports that £13,812 had been paid to the NPF by the Government by the end of 1918.
40. AJHR, 1917, H-1, p.2.
41. AJHR, 1919, H-1. The report anticipated that more would have to be paid in due course.
42. The categories of recipients are set out in NZOYB, 1921–22, p.457.
43. NZPD, Vol. 174, 1 October 1915, pp.446-7. An outline of the history of miners’ pensions is contained in the official publication, The Growth and Development of Social Security in New Zealand, Wellington, 1950, pp.27-28.
44. See AJHR, 1919, H-30.
45. I am indebted to Dr Ashley Gould for this information.
46. Ashley Gould, ‘Soldier Settlement in New Zealand after World War 1: A Reappraisal’, in Judith Smart and Tony Wood, An Anzac Muster: War and Society in Australia and New Zealand, 1914–18 and 1939–45, Melbourne, 1992, p.117. The unemployment allowances and training schemes are mentioned in Massey’s 1922 budget. See AJHR, 1922, B-6.
47. Ibid, pp.123-9. The reports of the Repatriation Department, AJHR, H-30 in the years 1919–21 give much detail about the work of the boards and their committees.
48. Geoffrey Rice, Black November: The 1918 Influenza Epidemic in New Zealand, Wellington, 1988, p.1, and pp.142-3. Massey’s comments are in the 1920 budget, AJHR, B-6, p.vii. According to Rice the Health Department later calculated the cost of the epidemic as £220,000. Rice, p.189.
49. NZOYB, 1921–22, pp.456-7. There were 474 miners receiving pensions in March 1921. See NZOYB, 1924, p.558. The Government informed Parliament at the tail end of the 1918 session that it intended to assist children ‘and others who have suffered as a result of the epidemic’. NZPD, Vol. 183, 1918, p.1125. See also DOM, 13 January 1919, p.4. Further details of the Epidemic Allowances are contained in the official publication, The Growth and Development of Social Security in New Zealand, Wellington, 1950, p.28.
50. NZPD, Vol. 174, 8 October 1915, pp.817-24.
51. DOM, 13 January 1919, p.4.
52. DOM, 19 March 1919, p.8. The background to Makgill’s comments and the minister’s retort to them is dealt with in Geoffrey W. Rice, ‘The Making of New Zealand’s 1920 Health Act’, NZJH, Vol. 22, April 1988, pp.3-22.
53. Derek Dow, pp.91-93.
54. C.A. Ralston to Controller and Auditor-General, 18 December 1920, T/1/52/84.
55. See T/1/52/84.
56. B.C. Ashwin to Assistant Secretary, Treasury, 12 September 1927, T/1/52/84.
57. Paul Baker, p.10.
58. Erik Olssen, ‘Truby King and the Plunket Society. An Analysis of a Prescriptive Ideology’, NZJH, Vol. 15, April 1981, pp.3-23.
59. Richard Newman, ‘New Zealand’s Vote for Prohibition in 1911’, NZJH, Vol. 9, April 1975, pp.52-71. See also A.R. Grigg, ‘Prohibition, the Church and Labour: A Programme for Social Reform, 1890–1914’, NZJH, Vol. 15, October 1981, pp.135-54. The voting figures for 1919 are to be found in AJHR, 1919, H-39. They show that Auckland and Wellington’s inner city electorates as well as mining areas populated by single men and the working class were less likely to support prohibition than the more affluent suburbs and well established farming areas such as Taranaki. For a racy general commentary on the liquor laws in New Zealand see Conrad Bollinger, Grog’s Own Country, Auckland, 1959. There is an article on liquor licensing polls by John D. Prince, ‘Look Back in Amber, The General Licensing Poll in New Zealand, 1919–87’, Political Science, Vol. 48, July 1996, p.48. On prostitution, Bronwyn Dalley has shown that middle-class advocates of propriety were behind Massey’s use of the War Regulations to close a lot of one-woman brothels in urban areas in 1915 and 1916. See Bronwyn Dalley, ‘Lolly Shops “of the red-light kind” and “soldiers of the King”: Suppressing One-woman Brothels in New Zealand, 1908–1916’, NZJH, Vol 30, April 1996, pp.3-23.
60. Jock Phillips, A Man’s Country?, p.74.
61. See Statutes, 1915, p.323; 1917, p.122. Jock Phillips, A Man’s Country?, p.72.
62. See Statutes, 1916, p.108.
63. Report of the National Efficiency Board, AJHR, 1917, H-34. Ward’s budget is to be found in B-6.
64. DOM, 30 May 1919, p.5.
65. Erik Olssen discusses the cohesion - or lack of it - that was a feature of the working class in ‘The “Working Class” in New Zealand’, NZJH, Vol. 8, April 1974, pp.44-60. There is an interesting article about the development of a labour culture in Christchurch before 1919 by Libby Plumridge, ‘The Necessary but not Sufficient Condition: Christchurch Labour and Working-Class Culture’, NZJH, Vol. 19, October 1985, pp.130-50. See also Jim McAloon, ‘A Political Struggle: Christchurch Labour Politics 1905–1913’, NZJH, Vol. 28, April 1994, pp.22-40.
66. Introduced in 1908 by Ward’s Government, with the object of minimising the chances of the Liberals’ losing seats to Massey because of a split between Liberal and Labour on the first ballot, the Second Ballot Act, which required the winning candidate to secure 50 per cent of the total vote, lasted only through the 1908 and 1911 elections before being abolished by Massey’s Government in 1913. See David Hamer, ‘The Second Ballot: A New Zealand Electoral Experiment’, NZJH, Vol. 21, April 1987, p.97. See also Bassett, Ward, p.165.
67. For the rise of the Labour Party, see Barry Gustafson, Labour’s Path to Political Independence, Auckland, 1980. Also P.J. O’Farrell, Harry Holland: Militant Socialist, Canberra, 1964.
68. There is a discussion of the various attitudes of the early Labour leaders in Jack Vowles, ‘Ideology and the Formation of the New Zealand Labour Party: Some New Evidence’, NZJH, Vol. 16, April 1982, pp.39-55.
69. Webb held the seat of Grey 1913–18 until it was declared vacant because he was unable to attend Parliament owing to his imprisonment. He had refused to be conscripted for war service.
70. The ‘Red Feds’ are dealt with by Erik Olssen, The Red Feds: Revolutionary Industrial Unionism and the New Zealand Federation of Labour, 1908–1914, Auckland, 1988.
71. NZPD, Vol. 157, 22 February 1912, p.167.
72. Ibid, Vol. 183, 2 December 1918, p.612.
73. Ibid, 30 October 1918, p.92.
74. NZPD, 7 July 1920, p.213.
75. See Robert Chapman, The Political Scene, 1919–1931, Auckland, 1969, pp.5-6.
76. The manifesto is discussed in detail in Bassett, Ward, p.245.
77. Coates’s early days as Minister of Public Works are discussed in Michael Bassett, Coates of Kaipara, Auckland, 1995, Chapt. 4.
78. Massey’s 1920 budget is in AJHR, 1920, B-6.
79. See T. Mark to Permanent Heads, 15 April 1921, T/1/12/358, W.266. Lists of public service salaries for each department 1913–19 are to be found in T/1/12/64/1.
80. According to Alan Henderson, p.397 there were 5312 public servants in 1914, and by 1919 numbers had risen to 6448 permanents with another 2089 temporary staff. The file on minimum salaries is T/1/9/33. The minimum salary for a married man in the public service was initially set in 1914 at £140. By 1921 this stood at £234 15s. With the reduction in public service salaries it fell to £209 15s, and at the end of the depression after further reductions stood in July 1936 at £202 10s.
81. See Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, Auckland, 1997, Chapt. 4.
82. There is detail about departmental responses to the Commission in T/1/12/158. See also the reports of the Public Service Commission, AJHR, 1923 and 1924, H-14. Massey’s budget has useful details, AJHR, 1923 B-6, pp.iii-ix.
83. Notes of a deputation to Massey on 12 January 1921 are in T/1/12/360.
84. Bassett, Coates, pp.73-74.
85. Statutes, 1921-2, pp.648ff.
86. NZPD, Vol. 194, 8 February 1922, pp.314, 332.
87. See A.J. Beck, ‘The Origins of Dairy Produce Marketing-Control in New Zealand’, NZJPA, Vol. 24, March 1962, pp.64-83. See also R.W. Dalton, ‘Report on the Trade of the Dominion of New Zealand’, Imperial Accounts and Papers, Vol. 33, London, July 1920, p.6.
88. The story of efforts to influence market prices in 1921 and early 1922 is contained in AG/40/1922/5c.
89. E. Maynell to W.F. Massey, 11 May 1922, AG/40/1922/5c.
90. There is a file of material relating to the pre-election scene, AG/40/1922/6a. The final Act as passed is in Statutes, 1923, p.168.
91. The results are to be found in AG/40/1928/9B. See also Beck, p.82.
1. See, for instance, John H. Angus, Donald Reid Otago Farmers Limited, Dunedin, 1978, p.68; G.J. McLean, Spinning Yarns: A Centennial History of Alliance Textiles Limited and its Predecessors, Dunedin, 1981, p.42. For a comment on the general economic conditions, see Sinclair and Mandle, Open Account, Chapt. x. See also Margaret N. Galt, ‘Wealth and Income in New Zealand c1870 to c1939’, pp.11-12.
2. ‘Report of Royal Commission to Inquire into the Land and Income Tax Act’, AJHR, 1924, B-5. In what seems largely to have been a government public relations exercise the commission argued that tax levels in New Zealand were not excessive. However, it did suggest some changes. In particular the commission argued for shifting the tax burden from land taxes towards income taxes.
3. The best source of information on the politics of railways is D.B. Waterson, ‘Railways and Politics, 1908–1928’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1959. There is information about the building of the North Auckland Main Trunk line in John Prince, ‘Northland Politics, 1899–1929’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1966.
4. Statutes, 1914, p.77; NZOYB, 1921–22, p.282.
5. Coates’s comments about private contractors testing the efficiency of PWD construction gangs are in NZPD, Vol. 201, 30 July 1923, p.396.
6. AS, 2 June 1927, p.10.
7. Bassett, Coates, pp.63-68. See also Public Works statements, AJHR, 1921 and 1922, D-1.
8. NZPD, Vol. 204, 25 September 1924, pp.1168-9.
9. For numbers of employees, see Railways Reports throughout the 1920s, AJHR, D-2. The figure 70 per cent and the average construction costs per mile come from the Memo, H. Valentine and B.C. Ashwin to Minister of Railways, 11 March 1930, T/1/52/584.
10. Coates’s statement appears in NZPD, Vol. 204, 25 September 1924, p.1168. See also AJHR, 1923, D-2, p.1. According to the Secretary to the Treasury, who wrote to Coates on 17 May 1929, the decision not to treat railways as a profit-making concern was originally taken in 1896, T/1/52/584. A precise criticism of Railways’ lack of management skills occurred in NZ National Review, 15 March 1928, p.13.
11. AJHR, 1927, D-2.
12. Bassett, Coates, p.136.
13. Memo F.W. Furkert to J.G. Coates, 29 May 1928, T/1/52/584.
14. DOM, 13 July 1928, editorial.
15. See Memo H. Valentine and B.C. Ashwin to Minister of Railways, 11 March 1930, T/1/52/584.
16. ODT, 18 November 1931.
17. The Report of the Royal Commission into Railways is to be found in AJHR, 1930, D-4. See especially pp.60-61. The Transport Licensing Act is in Statutes, 1931, p.414. See Easton, In Stormy Seas, pp.182-3, for further details. A later speech of relevance by the then Minister of Transport, George Gair, appears in NZPD, Vol. 453, 30 September 1983, pp.2772-6.
18. See Railways Inquiry Report, 17 September 1930, AJHR, 1930, D-4. See the figures contained in Memo H. Valentine and B.C. Ashwin to Minister of Railways, 11 March 1930, T/1/52/584. In the financial year 1979–80, every part of Railways’ operations was losing money, the total loss for the year amounting to almost $90 million. See AJHR, 1980, F-7, p.20. There is detail about the road service purchases in ‘History of Railways 1863–1963’ in NZOYB, 1963, pp.1175-93.
19. NZOYB, 1939, p.234.
20. Memo Secretary to the Treasury to Acting Minister of Railways, 11 November 1930, T/1/52/584.
21. EP, 13 November 1930.
22. R.M. Burdon, The New Dominion: A Social and Political History of New Zealand Between the Wars, Wellington, 1965, Chapt. 8. See also Rosslyn J. Noonan, By Design: A Brief History of the Public Works Department Ministry of Works, 1870–1970, Wellington, 1975, Chapt. 5. Bassett, Coates, pp.67-69.
23. Statutes, 1903, p.54. There is information about the background to this Act in NZPD, Vol. 153, 28 October 1910, pp.134ff.
24. Statutes, 1910, p.70. There is detail about the Government’s plans in the 1910 budget and the Public Works Statement, NZPD, Vol. 153, 15 November 1910, p.677. See also Cynthia Hasman, ‘Hydro Development on the Waikato’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1965.
25. See NZPD, Vol. 153, 28 October 1910, pp.134ff. Luke’s statement is on pp.196-7 and Rigg’s on p.196.
26. See the details surrounding the gazetting on 13 May 1920 of a licence to use water in part of Cook County, Gisborne, ED/1/2/0/38.
27. Bassett, Coates, p.66.
28. AS, 30 July 1921, p.6.
29. See ED/1/2/0/22/3. The thinking of the Hydro-electric Branch about thermal electricity is discussed in a long article, DOM, 28 April 1934.
30. In 1945 a separate State Hydro-electric Department was established, and this eventually changed its name to the New Zealand Electricity Department, and then in the 1980s to the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (Electricorp).
31. See ED/1/2/0/38.
32. NZOYB, 1986–87, p.563.
33. The decisions by electricity supply authorities to charge lower rates for domestic consumers than for industrial users, in the mistaken belief that the policy assisted lower income users, is dealt with by Gary Hawke, ‘Economic Decisions and Political Ossification’, in Peter Munz (ed), The Feel of Truth, Wellington, 1969, pp.221-33.
34. Memo L.H. Eillers to Under-Secretary, Mines Department, 19 December 1919, T/1/200.
35. See AJHR, 1934 and 1935, C-2 and C-2A. The State Forest Service’s reports are in AJHR, 1934 and 1935, C-3.
36. See summary of regulations, IC/1/3/5/2, part 2.
37. See New Zealand Times (NZT), 26 July 1924.
38. Budget 1923, AJHR, 1923, B-6, p.15.
39. There is material on house rents in NZOYB, 1924, pp.634-6. The efficacy of rent controls during World War I is dealt with by Everton, Chapt. 11.
40. Statutes, 1924, p.7. There is some discussion of the housing market in DOM, 26 July 1924. Magistrates’ Courts decisions for the period contain numerous cases dealing with rent controls and their application.
41. NZPD, VoL 211, 31 August 1926, p.35.
42. A variety of educational statistics is contained in the NZOYB. See 1928, pp.219-35.
43. Statutes, 1924, p.371, and 1925, p.16. In 1925 nurses and midwives were also required to register.
44. Statutes, 1925, pp.109ff.
45. The rules are outlined in the official publication, The Growth and Development of Social Security in New Zealand, p.29.
46. Statutes, 1924, p.108.
47. Statutes, 1924, p.53.
48. Statutes, 1926, p.447.
49. See the comments of J.T. Hogan MP, EP, 2 November 1931; SDN, 10 November 1931, editorial. See also IC/1/3/25, part 1.
50. Bassett, Coates, p.68. The comment was made by John A. Lee.
51. Family Allowances are outlined in the official publication, The Growth and Development of Social Security, p.29. The initial payment was of two shillings per week for each child in excess of two and was payable until the child turned 15.
52. Bassett, Coates, p.105.
53. In May 1914 some architects supported by the Municipal Electors’ Association persuaded Massey’s Ministry to contribute £350 towards a national tour of public lantern lectures on town planning. DOM, 23 May 1914, p.3.
54. See Bassett, Coates, p.107; Statutes, 1926, p.562. A collection of plans lodged with the Department of Internal Affairs is located in W/39 and 40.
55. The issue is discussed in Bassett, Coates, pp.108-9.
56. Ibid, pp.117-21; J.H. Gaudin, ‘The Coates Government: 1925–1928’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1971, pp.41-87.
57. See Memo, Secretary of the Treasury to Acting Minister of Finance, 26 February 1919, T/1/12/16/1.
58. See AJHR, 1926, B-5.
59. NZOYB, 1930, p.661.
60. Ibid, 1930, pp.662-3. The list of subsidies is itemised in Memo of F. Campbell (President of the NZ Manufacturers’ Federation) to J.G. Cobbe, 25 June 1929, IC/1/2/7, W709. See also EP and DOM, 26 June 1929.
61. W.P. Reeves, State Experiments, p.333.
62. Gary Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, p.116.
63. There are interesting papers relating to the 1928 Industrial Conference in T/57/4/8, W. 1926.
64. The story of the 1928 election is told in Bassett, Coates, pp.137-45. See also Michael Pugh, ‘The New Zealand Legion and Conservative Protest in the Great Depression’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1969, and J.H. Gaudin, op.cit. Michael Pugh deals with the ideology of right-wing protest in ‘Doctrinaires on the Right: The Democrats and Anti-Socialism, 1933–36’, NZJH, Vol 17, October 1983, p.103.
65. Bassett, Ward, p.277. There is detail about the various departmental efforts to mop up unemployment in IC/1/4/89, part 1. See also R.T. Robertson, ‘Government Responses to Unemployment in New Zealand, 1929–35’, NZJH, Vol. 16, April 1982, pp.21-23.
66. D.E. Moggridge, Maynard Keynes: An Economist’s Biography, London, 1992, p.483.
67. Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan, pp.159, 193.
68. Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, p.247.
69. See Memo, Secretary of IC to T.S. Weston, 5 October 1928, IC/1/4//89, part 1.
70. ‘Unemployment in New Zealand’, AJHR, 1929, H11B.
71. See Poverty Bay Herald, 2 November 1929, editorial; ODT, 24 January 1930, editorial; AS, 23 January 1930, editorial.
72. See, for instance, F. Norris to J.G. Ward, 22 February 1930. Answering on behalf of the ailing Prime Minister, J.B. Donald told Norris that ministers took his ideas ‘seriously’, IC/1/4/89, part 1. See also Moggridge, Keynes, Chapt. 19.
73. NZ National Review, 15 January 1929, pp.29, 30.
74. See the file of letters to the Department of Industries and Commerce, IC/1/4/89, part 1. Also the submission by F. Campbell (President of the NZ Manufacturers’ Federation) to J.G. Cobbe, Minister of Industries and Commerce, 25 June 1929, IC/1/2/7, W709.
75. Sun, 28 February 1929, editorial.
76. See Evening Star, 7 June 1929, editorial. Also Wanganui Chronicle, 10 July 1929, editorial.
77. NZOYB, 1930, p.543.
78. ODT, 16 February 1932, editorial.
79. Minister of Industries and Commerce to Cabinet, 28 August 1929, IC/1/2/7, W 709.
80. See Memo G.W. Clinkard to Minister of Industries and Commerce, 21 December 1931, IC/1/2/7, W709. Some historians may notice similarities with the monopolies and patents of seventeenth-century England.
81. AS, 8 November 1932, p.9.
82. Memo G.W. Clinkard to Industries and Commerce Committee of Parliament, 23 November 1932, IC/1/2/7, W709.
83. AJHR, 1934, H-28A, p.8.
84. See the debates on the 1927 tariff, NZPD, 13 September and 13-14 October 1927, especially p.36 and p.43.
85. A file with much material about the complexities of the tariff in the period after 1927 is IC/1/4/128/3.
86. Report of the Tariff Customs Commission, AJHR, 1934, H-28. See also typescript, ‘Industry After the War’, IC/1/31/140, part 2. The pages of the New Zealand National Review, especially 15 January 1933, pp.35-36; 2 February 1933, p.12; 15 May 1934, p.39; and 15 June 1934, pp.19-21, contain strident arguments for a higher tariff.
87. A.G. Kenwood, Australian Economic Institutions since Federation, Melbourne, 1995, pp.68-73, deals with Australia’s higher tariff policy after Federation in 1901.
88. G.R. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, pp.127-8. See also G.R. Hawke, ‘Depression and Recovery in New Zealand’, in R.G. Gregory and N.G. Butlin (eds), Recovery from the Depression, Cambridge, 1988, pp.113ff.
89. AJHR, 1934, D-9, p.l. Hawke, ‘Recovery’, p.126.
90. Ibid, p.149.
91. There were a number of subcategories of schemes where the rules were slightly different so as to cater for some special need. See NZOYB, 1936, pp.648ff. There is information about subsidies for, and regulations affecting, various kinds of work in IC/1/3/5/2, part 2. A full outline of the schemes is to be found in R.T. Robertson, ‘Government Responses to Unemployment, 1929–35’, loc.cit. See also R.T. Robertson, ‘Isolation, Ideology and Impotence: Organisations for the Unemployed During the Great Depression, 1930–1935’, NZJH, Vol. 13, October 1979, p.149.
92. Memo Unemployment Board to G.W. Forbes, 19 March 1931, IC/1/4/89, part 2.
93. See Auckland Sun, 6 September 1930; NZH, 20 November 1930.
94. Sun, 8 May 1931, editorial. See also NZH, 26 May 1931, editorial. See also DOM, 16 May 1931. I am indebted to Jill Holt for drawing this reference to my attention.
95. Details about the campaign are to be found in IC/1/4/169/3, part 1. See especially G.W. Clinkard to Minister of Industries and Commerce, 2 December 1931.
96. A. Brittain to G.W. Forbes, 12 May 1931, IC/1/4/89, part 2.
97. Details about the work of the Economy Committee are to be found in T/1/52/663.
98. All figures relating to Railways employees are from AJHRs, D-2.
99. John E. Martin, ‘The Removal of Compulsory Arbitration and the Depression of the 1930s’, NZJH, Vol. 28, October 1994, p.133.
100. Details of these efforts are provided in Bassett, Coates, Chapts 10-11. Devaluation is discussed by Grant Fleming, ‘Keynes, Purchasing Power, Parity and Exchange Rate Policy in New Zealand During the 1930s Depression’, NZ Economic Papers, Vol. 31, 1997, pp.1-14. The members of the Brains Trust were Dr R.M. (Dick) Campbell, Professor Horace Belshaw and Dr W.B. Sutch. The Auckland Star on 26 October 1934, p.6 noted that the ‘authoritarian’ powers given to the Dairy Commission were part of a general world-wide trend. The Press on 26 October 1934, p.16, worried because such organisations ‘tend to err on the side of over-zealousness’.
101. See Bassett, Coates, pp.226-7.
102. G.R. Hawke, Between Government and Banks: A History of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Wellington, 1973, p.13.
103. The circumstances surrounding introduction of the Bill are in Bassett, Coates, pp.203-4.
104. J.G. Coates, The Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Gold Question, Wellington, 1933, p.3.
105. Statutes, 1989, p.2547.
106. Shaw arrived in New Zealand on 15 March 1934 and spent several weeks touring the country. His visit is recalled by Christopher Moore, Press, 14 April 1990, p.26. The description of Shaw is Moore’s. See also Dominion Sunday Times, 17 November 1991, p.9. Also (Australian) Financial Review, 5 January 1994. James Thorn in Peter Fraser: New Zealand’s Wartime Prime Minister, London, 1952, says on p.159 that Shaw met many Labour people while in New Zealand, and that on the party’s election in 1935 he sent a long message of congratulations.
107. See Barrie Macdonald and David Thomson, ‘Mortgage Relief, Farm Finance, and Rural Depression in New Zealand in the 1930s’, NZJH, Vol. 21, October 1987, pp.228-50. The story of the Democrat Party is told in Michael Bassett, ‘The 1935 Election and the ‘Kelly Gang’: An American Observation’, NZJH, Vol. 28, April 1994, pp.80-85. See also Michael Pugh, ‘The New Zealand Legion and Conservative Protest in the Great Depression’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1969, Chapt. 6, and Bassett, Coates, pp.210-11, 222, 228. The ‘national State socialism’ criticism came from T.C.A. Hislop, Press, 5 November 1935, p.12.
108. Bassett, Coates, p.202. New Zealand newspapers had been quoting Keynes’s views from time to time. See ODT, 20 January and 30 January 1931; NZH, 7 June 1933, p.10.
1. The story about the editor was given to the author many years ago by a Press reporter. Other information, including Williams’s comments, is to be found in the Press, 28 November 1935. The description of Williams is in Ormond Wilson, An Outsider Looks Back, Wellington, 1982, p.70; Bassett, Coates, p.229; Press, 9 December 1935, p.12. Savage’s plea is in the Standard, 26 February 1936, p.6. Economist, 28 December 1935, quoted in Tomorrow, 26 February 1936, p.6.
2. Miles Fairburn, ‘Why Did the New Zealand Labour Party Fail to Win Office until 1935?’, Political Science, Vol. 37, December 1985, pp.101-24. See also Robin Clifton, ‘Douglas Credit and Labour’, Comment, No. 12, July 1962, pp.23-29.
3. Holland asked Nash to buy him books on these subjects while Nash was abroad in 1933. See H.E. Holland to W. Nash, 15 January 1933, Nash Papers, N2416, National Archives. There is material about Fraser, Nash and the WEA in Michael King’s interview of Dr C.E. Beeby, 4 July 1978, Fraser/King Papers. Cole’s The Simple Case for Socialism was reviewed in the Standard, 4 November 1936, p.6. The quote from Cole comes from Skidelsky, p.65.
4. Andrew J. Cutler, ‘Intellectual Sprouts: Tomorrow Magazine 1934–1940: A Cultural, Intellectual and Political History’, MA thesis, University of Canterbury, 1989, pp.28-35. See also Rachel Barrowman, A Popular Vision: The Arts and the Left in New Zealand, 1930–1950, Wellington, 1991. I am indebted to my friend and former colleague, Rt Hon Frank O’Flynn for a discussion about the books that were in vogue among the left-wingers that he knew in the 1930s. Savage’s comment about ‘national planning’ appears in the Press, 1 May 1936, p.14. See Ormond Wilson, p.63. For articles about Russia see the Standard, 23 September 1936, p.16; 4 November 1936, p.3, and 26 November 1936, p.6. The Stakhanovite movement began in 1935. The coalminer who was patronised by Stalin allegedly increased his daily output sevenfold by organising a more efficient division of labour.
5. Scholefield’s comments are to be found in the Press, 14 February 1936, p.7. The same paper had reported on 24 December 1935, p.14 that the Canterbury Public Library had been doing record business. Morgan Williams MP admitted to being influenced by Edward Bellamy. See Ormond Wilson, p.70. The 45-page report by civil servants, ‘The Problems of Industrial Planning’, April 1937, is located in qMS 1477, ATL. There is information about Stephens in Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, Chapt. 7.
6. Skidelsky, p.55.
7. Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, p.258.
8. Savage’s statement is in the Poverty Bay Herald, 31 July 1935, p.4. See R.T. Robertson, ‘Government Responses to Unemployment’, NZJH, Vol. 16, April 1982, p.38.
9. NZOYB, 1936, p.638. See Erik Olssen, ‘100 Years of the Union Movement’ in J. Phillips (ed), Towards 1990, Wellington, 1989, p.71.
10. NZYOB, 1943, p.585. The comments are those of J. A. McCullough, NZPD, Vol. 245, 1936, pp.195-6.
11. There is much detail about union activity within the Labour Party in Barry Gustafson, From the Cradle to the Grave: A Biography of Michael Joseph Savage, Auckland, 1986. See especially pp.160-2. The views of Jim Roberts were given prominence in the Standard, 25 March 1936, p.7. He looked forward to the greater influence that unions would have in decision-making.
12. Fraser received reports from Walsh about union attitudes to the Government. See Walsh to Fraser, 21 January 1936. On 16 March 1940 Walsh sent him a summary of a speech that had been delivered in Dunedin by Dr D.G. McMillan, MP for Dunedin West. See MS Papers, 0274/336, ATL. There is a brief summary of the life of F.P. Walsh (1896–1963) by George McDonald in MS Papers 0274/710, ATL. See also obituaries, EP, 16 May 1963; DOM, 17 May 1963.
13. Olssen, ‘100 Years of the Union Movement’, p.78. Some sense of the extent to which Walsh dominated in Wellington union and party circles in pre-war years can be gained from his papers MS Papers, 0274/337.
14. See notes of deputation to the Minister of Marine, 30 January 1937, MS Papers, 0274/336. While Fraser promised to study these requests, there is no evidence that he acceded to either of them.
15. The story of the Stewart Island Ferry is to be found in T/1/52/409. With improvements to manning levels and salary increases the service was making losses of approximately £5,000 pa by the mid 1950s which the Government paid for. The story of subsidies to the Chatham Islands, where a considerable portion went to shipping, is told in Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, pp.190-4. There are many other examples of increasingly costly subsidised services. In his unpublished memoirs, Morgan Williams MP claims that the unreasonable attitudes of unionists ‘wore out’ H.T. Armstrong, who was Minister of Labour 1935–38, and implies that the unions prospered when the ‘playboy’ Paddy Webb took over as minister between 1938 and 1946. See ‘Views on Labour Leaders’, MS Papers 998, ATL.
16. Bert Roth, Remedy for Past Evils: A History of the New Zealand Public Service Association from 1890, Wellington, 1987, Chapt. 7.
17. Frank O’Flynn reminded me of these nicknames. O’Flynn recalls several leading unionists in Wellington buying large new cars in the late 1930s. For Lewin’s conduct, see Bert Roth, Remedy, p.119.
18. NZH, 29 November 1935, p.13.
19. Neil Robinson, James Fletcher: Builder, London, 1970, pp.88-91.
20. AS, 2 November 1934, p.5. See also Press, 29 November 1935, p.12.
21. AS, 6 November 1935, p.6. See also A.M. Endres, ‘J.B. Condliffe and the Early Canterbury Tradition in Economies’, NZ Economic Papers, Vol. 25, 1991, pp.171-97.
22. Paul Johnson, Intellectuals, New York, 1988, p.285.
23. NZ Listener, 15 March 1963, p.18. The term was used by the historian, R.M. Burdon.
24. ‘Platform of the New Zealand Labour Party’ as amended by the 1918 Conference.
25. ‘Labour Has a Plan’, republished, Christchurch, 1980.
26. Quoted by Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, pp.255-7.
27. Horace Belshaw (ed), New Zealand, Berkeley, 1947, p.123.
28. Standard, 4 December 1935.
29. Gustafson, From the Cradle to the Grave, p.184. The Christmas bonus of £1 for single and £2 for married relief workers was paid each year against the advice of Treasury officials through Christmas 1939. See T/1/40/544/6.
30. Press, 24 December 1935, p.14; 14 January 1936, p.10.
31. Press, 12 November 1935, p.12.
32. Bassett, Coates, p.229; Press, 9 December 1935, p.10. Sullivan told a deputation of businessmen on 10 March 1936 that their request for less government interference in business was not the consensus view amongst those he had spoken with, and that he had received many requests for ‘interference’. Press, 11 March 1936, p.10.
33. See J.W. Heenan to Permanent Heads, 27 October 1936, IC/1/3/1/2, W709. This file has much material about the use of regulations from 1915 onwards.
34. Robinson, Chapt. 9. Interview of Sir James C. Fletcher, Auckland, 27 November 1996. There is a full-page spread of the design of some of the early houses in Standard, 18 November 1936, p.7. There is much material about the first state houses in HD/1/5/1, W1353.
35. NZOYB, 1943, pp.336-7. Roly Metge, ‘The House that Jack Built’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1972, has much material about state housing. There is much publicity material about the first state houses in HD 1/5/1, W.1353. See also Gael Ferguson, Chapt. 3.
36. For material about state housing at the time of the change of government in 1949, see HD/1/29/0. See also NZOYB, 1951–52, pp.534-5. Ormond Wilson, pp.66-67.
37. Gael Ferguson, p.158. She argues, p.157, that state house rentals were subsidised only in the years 1945–62, but J.V.T. Baker, the Government Statistician, points out that rentals were uneconomic from the beginning, and only became more so with the passage of time. See The New Zealand People at War: War Economy, Wellington, 1965, p.9. Keith Sinclair discusses political influence in housing allocations in Walter Nash, p.157.
38. Carr’s views are in the Standard, 25 March 1936, p.10; Hawke, Between Governments and Banks, pp.65-66. For Savage’s comments, see Press, 6 April 1936, p.10. In 1945 after considerable pressure from ‘credit-men’ in the Labour caucus, the Government also bought out the private shareholders in New Zealand’s largest trading bank, the Bank of New Zealand. While they thought their compensation was too little and petitioned for more, their anger faded. The Bank of New Zealand continued to function as a trading bank with a state-appointed board of directors, and followed orthodox policies until privatised in 1993. The 1945 nationalisation - disapproved of by many ministers who saw it as unnecessarily alarming to the business community - was the second and last of Labour’s bank nationalisations, although a great many controls and regulations were introduced over the years that affected the ready availability of credit. See N.M. Chappell, New Zealand Banker’s Hundred: A History of the Bank of New Zealand, 1861–1961, Wellington, 1961, pp.363-4. Also Keith Sinclair, Walter Nash, p.243. There is a brief summary of amendments to the original Act by Paul Dalziel in Brian Roper and Chris Rudd (eds), State and Economy in New Zealand, Auckland, 1993, pp.74ff.
39. According to the Reserve Bank publication, Overseas Trade and Finance with Particular Reference to New Zealand, 2nd ed, 1966, p.203, a total of £12.2 million worth of credit (£5.6 million of it for housing) was issued by the Reserve Bank for government programmes between 1936 and March 1939.
40. See particularly the scholarly thesis by R.J.M. Hill, ‘The Quest for Control: The New Zealand Dairy Industry and the Guaranteed Price, 1921–36’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1974, especially Chapt. 4.
41. NZPD, Vol. 244, 1936, p.145-6.
42. Statutes, 1936, p.60.
43. Hill, p.366.
44. Hill, p.323. Some government supporters firmly believed that the new system of marketing would eliminate speculators. See Harold Innes in the Standard, 30 September 1936, p.2; 7 October 1936, p.2; 14 October 1936, p.2.
45. I am indebted to Professor Gary Hawke for providing examples of this practice.
46. Hill shows, pp.393-4, that a surplus in the account of £437,800 in 1937–38 turned into a deficit of £1.9 million at the end of the 1938–39 season. Eventually guaranteed prices were integrated into the Labour Government’s general stabilisation policy that operated during and after World War II. Hill gives details about subsequent changes to price-fixing arrangements, pp.396ff.
47. See NZOYB, 1947–49, p.877 and NZOYB, 1951–52, p.385. The fertiliser subsidies were angled particularly for the benefit of farmers farthest from a lime works. John A. Lee, Socialism in New Zealand, London, 1938, p.8, comments about farmers’ attitudes towards state activity.
48. There is an excellent 21-page history of the way in which meat and dairy products were handled in 1938–48 in T/40/648/5.
49. There is much detail about marketing in B.L. Evans, A History of Production and Marketing in New Zealand, Palmerston North, 1969. See especially p.132. See also C. Weststrate, Portrait of a Modern Mixed Economy, 2nd ed, Wellington, 1966, Chapt. 4. The figure about New Zealand’s exports is to be found in NZOYB, 1979, p.498.
50. D. Woodward to Secretary of Industries and Commerce, 6 January 1936, IC/1/31/171, part 1.
51. Labour’s 1934 views on the tariff are to be found in NZPD, Vol. 239, 22 August 1934, pp.338-54. For views in office see Press, 3 June 1936, p.12.
52. DOM, 18 June and 15 July 1938.
53. Statutes, 1936, p.74, clause 5. There is a major file dealing with introduction of the 40-hour week, IC/1/31/171, part 1.
54. Standard, 28 October 1936, pp.7-8; 4 November 1936, p.8, editorial.
55. J. Heenan to Dr R.M. Campbell, 12 September 1936, MS 1132/30, ATL.
56. Statutes, 1936, p.211.
57. Press, 10 February 1936, p.12.
58. Standard, 19 February 1936, editorial, p.6. There are comments about petrol prices in the Department of Industries and Commerce annual report, AJHR, 1937, p.30. See also Manual for Junior Officers in Industries and Commerce, IC/1/2, part 4, p.6. In 1936 fertiliser prices were also fixed with different margins of profit allowed in the South Island from the North Island.
59. Some of the difficulties are discussed in R.M. Barker, ‘Price Fixation’, NZ Financial Review, December 1936.
60. See W. Johnson to M.J. Savage, 11 January 1937, IC/1/28/9/1. There is material relating to the flour mill workers in IC/1/28/9/7.
61. ODT, 29 September 1938. See also NZH, 12 October 1938.
62. There is a file on butter subsidies in T/1/27/6/1. See also NZOYB, 1956, p.491. Over the years, bakers increasingly got round price control by producing different varieties of bread that were never subject to control.
63. This story about bread price control was gleaned from IC/1/28/9/1. There is a careful analysis of subsidies in D. Barker to C. Weststrate. 6 December 1954, T/53/67.
64. See Secretary of Treasury to Minister of Finance, 14 March 1957, T/1/27/6/1.
65. Semple used the term ‘running shoes’ in January 1936. See Press, 10 January 1936, p.10. His reference to wheelbarrows is in the Press, 4 January 1936, p.12.
66. Most figures are from the NZOYBs, 1936, 1939 and 1943. See also Baker, War Economy, pp.6-7.
67. Quoted in ‘History of Railways 1863–1963’, NZOYB, 1963, pp.1188–92. Details about the increasing cost of rolling stock are to be found in E. Alington to Secretary to the Treasury, 26 July 1951, T/1/62/40/1. There is much material of interest about Railways in the late 1940s in this file.
68. Press, 21 February 1936, p.12.
69. Notes of a deputation of manufacturers, 7 May 1936, p.21, IC/1/31/171, part 1. Comments in support of protection had recently been made by an up-and-coming National MP, S.G. Holland. See Press, 22 April 1936, p.12.
70. Notes of deputation, 7 May 1936, IC/1/31/171, part 1, p.ll.
71. The Dunedin District Officer of the Department of Industries and Commerce reported on 18 August that Mosgiel Woollen Co. was no longer able to compete with English competitors. See IC/1/31/171, part 1. There is criticism of government delays in the New Zealand National Review, 15 January 1937, p.9 and p.43; 15 July 1937, p.9; 15 August 1937, p.43; 15 December 1937, pp.35-39.
72. Sullivan’s distrust of Clinkard seems to have stemmed from the fact that he was the son of the Coalition MP, C. H. Clinkard. Bad relations between the two men caused Clinkard to resign as Secretary of Industries and Commerce in 1935. He took the position of Trade Commissioner in Brussels. I am indebted to Professor G. J. Schmitt, whose father succeeded Clinkard as Secretary, for this observation in an interview, 20 March 1997. For details about registering companies see IC/1/3/5/2, part 2. There had been discussions about registration as far back as 1917. See IC/57/1/9, W1926.
73. Statutes, 1936, p.406. See also NZOYB, 1939, pp.806-8. The Bureau of Industry’s Minute Books beginning with the first meeting in the minister’s office on 18 May 1936 are to be found in IC/44/1, W2268. There is considerable material about the workings of the Bureau in the Industries and Commerce annual reports, AJHR, H-44, from 1937 onwards.
74. There is much information about Whakatane Paper Mills in T/1/52/539.
75. Initial members of the Bureau were L. J. Schmitt (Secretary of Industries and Commerce, who was chairman), A. H. Cockayne (Agriculture), G. H. Mackley (Railways), Aickin (Railways), E. T. L. Spidy (Railways), J. S. Hunter (Labour), E. D. Good (Customs), J. H. Forrester (Customs), G. C. Rodda (Treasury), T. H. Sherwood (Mines), Dr E. Marsden (DSIR), A. D. McGavock (Forestry), A. R. Entrican (Forestry), G. A. Pascoe (I&C), D. W. Woodward (I&C), R. V. Jackson (I&C). Arthur Tyndall of the Mines Department served on the Bureau for a time. A secretariat, consisting of Industries and Commerce personnel, made many decisions on the advice of standing committees of the Bureau, and these were confirmed at regular meetings of the full board. The Cabinet ruling on monetary assistance is to be found in minutes of the Bureau’s meeting of 13 July 1936. See Minute Books, IC/44/1, W2268, pp.23-24. The author wishes to thank Professor G. J. Schmitt for much information given about his father.
76. Files covering the licensing of the pharmacy industry are IC/1/49/1, 2 &3. L.J. Schmitt to D.G. Sullivan, 24 May 1938 gives a four-page history of pharmacy licensing, IC/1/49, part 4. One Labour backbencher, Dr D.G. McMillan, wanted the Government to establish its own drug importing business. See McMillan to M.J. Savage, 13 December 1936. There is press comment about the new scheme in the Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1937 and the DOM, 13 October 1937.
77. Reports of the Standards Institute are to be found in AJHR, H-44a, from 1938 onwards.
78. Press, 14 January 1936, p.10.
79. The Bureau’s Minute Book from page 71 onwards deals regularly with petrol selling and pharmaceutical licensing. See IC/44/1, W2268.
80. See 13-page typescript, ‘Industry After the War’, in IC/1/31/140.
81. The file with the story of the Leicester trade is IC/1/9/5/1, part 1.
82. There are many complaints to be found in the file IC/1/9/5/1. Material about the debate on the Merchandise Marks Bill 1954 and Mabel Howard is to be found in IC/1/10/1/3, part 1.
83. Arnold Nordmeyer described it in this manner, Interview with Keith Sinclair, 26 May 1970, p.8, transcript in the author’s possession.
84. Secretary of Treasury to W. Nash, 28 March 1938, T/1/52/479. On 27 May 1938 Bernard Ashwin, the Assistant Secretary, strongly urged Nash to reconsider the financial aspects of the proposed bill before it was passed, and when Nash refused, Ashwin argued for setting the Social Security tax at 7.5 per cent to ‘relieve’ the Consolidated Fund. This was the tax level that Fraser’s Government had to adopt in 1946 as costs escalated. In its first eight years of operation, Social Security required top-ups from the Consolidated Fund totalling £61.8 million. NZOYB, 1947–49, p.416.
85. The best summary of Social Security benefits as enacted in 1938 is to be found in the official pamphlet, Social Security, Wellington, 1938. See also the official publication, The Growth and Development of Social Security in New Zealand, Wellington, 1950.
86. See The Growth and Development of Social Security, pp.21-48; Elizabeth Hanson, The Politics of Social Security: The 1938 Act and some later Developments, Auckland, 1980; J.B. Lovell Smith, The New Zealand Doctor and the Welfare State, Auckland, 1966; D.G. Bolitho, ‘The Introduction of Social Security, NZJH, Vol. 18, April, 1984, pp.34-49; Dean E. McHenry, ‘The New Zealand System of Social Security’, Social Science Review, Vol. 25, March 1951, pp.48-59. There is an interesting file on government discussions about health and pension schemes in T/1/52/479.
87. NZPD, Vol. 51, 1938, p.649. Labour backbencher Dr D.G. McMillan had expressed the common Labour viewpoint when he said that health insurance was necessary because of the widespread hardship that could result from sudden illness, and the inability of people to insure adequately against emergency costs. See Standard, 26 August 1936, p.15.
88. These quotes are from Francis G. Castles, The Working Class and Welfare: Reflections on the Political Development of the Welfare State in Australia and New Zealand, 1890–1980, Wellington, 1985, pp.27-28. Baker, War Economy, has some useful statistics on pp.6-7.
89. The author deals with these issues in ‘Health Care History: Costly Health Care: A Lesson from New Zealand’, Health Care Analysis, Vol. 1, November 1993, pp.189-96.
90. NZOYB, 1943, pp.106-7; pp.115-7. McCombs, who was Minister of Education 1947–49, made these comments in an interview with Michael King, 17 February 1980, transcript p.21, King/Fraser Papers. There is a summary of developments within Education, 1935–45, in Nancy M. Taylor, The Home Front, Vol. 2, pp.1116-82.
91. C.E. Beeby, The Biography of an Idea: Beeby on Education, Wellington, 1992, pp. xvi-xvii. There is an account of Beeby’s appointment in the transcript of Michael King’s interview of him, 4 July 1978, King/Fraser Papers.
92. Ibid, Chapt. 7. The author has clear memories of the school health service at Owairaka School between 1943-48. Beeby’s quote about standards is from his book, p.167. His 1978 concession is contained in his interview with Michael King.
93. See, for instance, attachments to E.D. Good to W. Nash, 14 November 1938, Nash Papers (NASH), 2308/0404. There is further information in NASH 2313. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, pp.164-6, discusses the Government’s options.
94. Nash’s announcement and the Gazette notice are printed in the DOM, 7 December 1938. See also Statutory Regulations, 1938/160 and 161. There is a history of import licensing during its first twenty years of operation in an official publication by the Reserve Bank, Overseas Trade and Finance, 2nd ed, 1966, part 5. See also A. A. Smith & J. Burney, ‘Import Licensing’ in R.S. Deane et al. (eds), External Economic Structure and Policy, Wellington, 1981, pp.427-55.
95. New Zealand National Review, 15 December 1938, p.9. Manufacturers had been pushing throughout 1938 for a permanent tariff review. Sullivan warmed to their advocacy, especially since the review process might stop manufacturers ‘voicing their complaints through the newspapers’. See memo, D.G. Sullivan to fellow ministers, 6 September 1938, IC/1/31/171/2.
96. La Gazette (Brussels), 1 August 1938, to be found in file IC/1/31/171, part 1.
97. NZPD, Vol. 254, 26 and 27 July 1939, p.793. See also Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, p.164.
98. EP, 7 December 1938 and DOM, 8 December 1938. Other reports of the speeches are in NASH 2308/0209/0404.
99. Quoted in New Zealand National Review, 15 January 1939, pp.9-10. Nash’s Private Secretary, W.B. Sutch, outlined this argument in a pamphlet ‘The Policy of Import Selection’, Wellington, 1939, copy in NASH 2313.
100. NZOYB, 1943, p.145.
101. Bassett, Coates, pp.246-7. See also Statutes, 1939, p.407. W.B. Sutch told Nash in a memo dated 25 January 1939 that he believed that among importers only 30 were adamantly opposed to import controls, NASH 2308/0209/0404.
102. New Zealand National Review, 15 January 1939, pp.9-10. See also N.F. Crimp (Secretary, Auckland Manufacturers’ Association) to W. Nash, 23 January 1939, NASH 2313. For information about American businessmen and the New Deal, see Higgs, p.214.
103. S. Leathem, ‘Policies and Trends in New Zealand’, Economic Record, June 1939, p.40.
104. NZH, 1 May 1936, p.10; Press, 5 May 1936, p.10. See also editorial in the waterside workers’ newspaper, the New Zealand Transport Worker, 2 February 1940.
105. See NZPD, Vol 249, 1937, p.1125. Also New Zealand Transport Worker, 14 April 1938.
106. There is a file on minimum salaries for public servants, T/1/9/33. They were first introduced in 1914. Not until the level was set at £243 pa in 1942 did the minimum salary for civil servants pass the level of 1921.
107. NZPD, Vol. 254, 1939, p.473. There is critical comment on the legislation in Tomorrow, Vol. 5, 2 August 1939.
108. Higgs, p.211. For statistics see NZOYB, 1943, p.145.
109. Clark is quoted in Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, Auckland, 4th revised ed, p.278; Margaret Galt, Chapt. 1; NZOYB, 1943, p.145.
110. A ‘Report on the State of Industry’, 24 November 1936, gives interesting statistics on the first year of Labour’s rule. See IC/1/2, part 4. See also NZH, 1 May 1936. See also Baker, War Economy, pp.12-14.
111. NZOYB, 1939, p.704.
112. Press, 14 April 1936, p.8
113. The file on unemployed Maori is T/1/40/544/9. Scheme 13 involved the unemployed in full-time subsidised work with local authorities, school committees and sports bodies. For a discussion of Labour’s policies toward Maori, see Claudia Orange, ‘A Kind of Equality: Labour and the Maori People, 1935–1949’, MA thesis, University of Auckland, 1977, Chapt. 3.
114. See NZOYB, 1959, pp.460. Evidence about the heavy-handed restrictions imposed on Maori farmers is to be found in Maurice Alemann’s submission to the Waitangi Tribunal, WAI 674/229, 10 November 1997.
115. See Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, Chapt. 5, for details about the Government’s involvement in the centenary celebrations.
116. Skidelsky, p.73.
1. Baker, War Economy, p.16.
2. F. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, Chicago, 1944, pp.207-8. The socialist economist Gunnar Myrdal seems to have shared this view. See quote in R.S. Parker (ed), Economic Stability in New Zealand, Wellington, 1953, p.116.
3. Baker, War Economy, p.22. See also AJHR, 1938, H-44, p.20.
4. Press, 11 May 1936, p.12.
5. There is a general description of the working of the Fair Rents Act in ‘Proceedings of the Stabilisation Committee’, 1940, T/70/1, pp.188ff. There is some information on competition with state house rentals in Gael Ferguson, pp.153-4. The original Bill is outlined in the Press, 3 June 1936, p.10.
6. There is a brief summary of pre-war price control in H.L. Wisc, War-time Price Control in New Zealand, Christchurch, no date [1942], Chapt. 4.
7. Some files covering the work of the ONS are in IC/1/3/21, parts 1 & 2. Details about discussions regarding price control, especially the meeting of the Price Control Committee on 16 September 1938, are in IC/1/54/2. Sir George Laking in an interview with Michael King on 14 August 1986 recalled many aspects of the work of the ONS.
8. In September 1944 Hunter was reflecting on the history of price control in an address to Auckland manufacturers. The text of his comments is in IC/4/59/11.
9. Statutory Regulations, 1939/122. There are details about Cabinet’s actions in IC/1/54/2.
10. Maoriland Worker, 13 February 1918. For other quotes see WAII, 21, 64B (CN116), NA.
11. DOM, 3 June 1938.
12. EP, 21 September 1938.
13. See Statutory Regulations, 1939/143, 145, 146, 147, 148. The measures are listed in IC/1/3/21, part 2. To these were added the Sugar Emergency Regulations, which established a Sugar Controller who was to ensure the continuity of supply of sugar, its storage and distribution. See Secretary of Supply to W.B. Sutch, 28 February 1940, IC/1/3/21, part 2. For a discussion of the Emergency Regulations Bill, see WA II, 21, 64B (CN116), part 2, p.3. The justification was given by Fraser, NZPD, Vol. 256, 13 September 1939, p.102.
14. NZPD, Vol. 256, September 1939, p.232 and p.384.
15. NZPD, Vol. 256, September 1939, p.225.
16. Memo L.J. Schmitt to D.G. Sullivan, 26 September 1939, IC/1/54/2. There is a discussion of early difficulties with price control in AJHR, 1940, H-44, pp.4-8.
17. H.L. Wise to R.M. Barker, 30 October 1939, IC/1/54/2. There is a tentative outline of departmental thinking on price stabilisation in this file, dated 8 September 1939. See Wise, p.19. There are letters to Nash commenting on, or complaining about price controls in NASH 2313.
18. There are comparative figures with other countries in AJHR, 1940, H-44, p.17.
19. Wise, pp.20-22. Minute Books of the Price Tribunal are to be found in IC/44/5399, W2268.
20. The Whakatane Paper Mills Water Supply Empowering Bill.
21. The story of the Government’s dealings with the mill is to be found in T/1/52/539. See also IC/1/21/1/1, part 1. The press statement is in DOM, 10 January 1940.
22. There is a full account of the finding in DOM, 2 April 1940.
23. There is a Treasury memo dated 25 March 1941 about the possibility of a state pulp and paper mill costing an estimated £1.6 million. Treasury was not opposed, even if the mill initially ran at a loss. See T/1/52/539. Early discussions about a pulp and paper mill are referred to in Neil Robinson, James Fletcher: Builder, p.135, and Selwyn Parker, Made in New Zealand: The Story of Jim Fletcher, Auckland, 1994, Chapt. 3. There are comments about the Whakatane case in AJHR, 1940, H-44, pp.7-8. Early developments in what became the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company are dealt with by Morris William Guest, ‘The Murupara Project: The Tasman Pulp and Paper Company Ltd and Industrial Development in New Zealand 1945–1963’, MA thesis, VUW, 1997, pp.36ff.
24. See H. Landon Smith to P. Fraser, 11 November 1942, T/1/52/539. This file has a lot of material about the Government’s relationships with the various forest interests. See also Brian Healy, A Hundred Million Trees: The Story of N.Z. Forest Products, Auckland, 1982, pp.108-9, and John H. Angus, Papermaking Pioneers: A History of New Zealand Paper Mills Limited and its Predecessors, Mataura, 1976, p.132.
25. See P. Fraser memo to all ministers, 8 February 1940, IC/1/3/21, part 2. There is useful material about Fraser’s wartime methods in Alister McIntosh, ‘Working with Peter Fraser in Wartime: Personal Reminscences’, NZJH, Vol.10, April 1976, pp.3-20. The series of interviews of friends of Fraser conducted by Michael King in 1977–82 is very enlightening.
26. B. Ashwin to W. Nash, 19 December 1940, T/53/88.
27. J. Heenan memo to all Permanent Heads, 26 June 1942, T/53/88.
28. There are assessments of Fraser by several of his closest wartime officials. See John Henderson interview of Sir Bernard Ashwin, March 1970. I am indebted to Barry Ashwin for his assistance in seeing the text of this interview. See also Keith Sinclair interview of Sir Carl Berendsen, 8 January 1971, Fraser-King Papers, and McIntosh, ‘Working with Peter Fraser’, pp.3-20. There are other interviews of McIntosh by Michael King in the Fraser-King Papers. The correspondence between J.W Heenan and Dr R.M. Campbell from 1936–45 contains snippets about Fraser’s working habits. MS Papers 1132, Folder 30, ATL. See also Ormond Wilson, An Outsider Looks Back, Chapt. 10.
29. AJHR, 1940, H-44, p.8.
30. See H.L. Wise and Judge Hunter to D.G. Sullivan, 16 July 1940, IC/4/59/11.
31. ‘Report of the Proceedings of the Economic Stabilisation Conference, 1940’, bound volume, T/52/835.
32. Schmitt’s comments are in the volume of the ‘Proceedings’, pp.150ff, T/70/1.
33. ‘Proceedings’, pp.96ff, T/52/835.
34. Budget of 1940, AJHR, 1940, B-6. The taxation figure comes from NZOYB, 1943, p.368.
35. See M. Moohan to D.G. Sullivan, 20 April 1942, IC/4/59/11. See also files of correspondence, MS Papers 4100/18/18/1, ATL. The Economic Stabilisation Committee tried to persuade the Government to introduce an interim order fixing all internal prices, wholesale and retail, from 11 December 1941. See ‘Economic Stabilisation Committee’, no date, T/72/1.
36. NZOYB, 1943, p.561. There are details about the touring by Price Control officers in IC/4/59/11.
37. See Secretary ESC to D.G. Sullivan, 7 December 1942, T/72/1.
38. The full text of Fraser’s statement is in the DOM, 16 December 1942, p.6. There is comment in Thorn, p.213.
39. Wise outlines precisely how this system worked in Wartime Price Control, pp.36-37.
40. The subsidy figures come from Baker, War Economy, pp.306-7. Baker discusses the workings of the Wartime Price Index, pp.309-14. Treasury’s attempt to distinguish between categories of subsidy is outlined in B. Ashwin to A. Hamilton, 27 May 1942, T/53/167. There is an itemised list of all subsidies paid by the Government from the Consolidated Fund as of 31 March 1942, and another listing those charged to the War Expenses Account and dated 28 July 1942, in T/53/167.
41. Henderson interview with Sir Bernard Ashwin, March 1970. In fact there was to be no across-the-board wage increase until 17 March 1945 when standard rates of pay were raised by 3.5 pence an hour. A Minimum Wage Act passed in December 1945 and came into effect on 1 April 1946. See Baker, War Economy, pp.322-3.
42. For the figures about the pool accounts, see AJHR, 1951, B-5, p.69. Sir Frank Holmes in an interview with the author on 12 March 1997 accorded the retention of surpluses in the pool accounts as a key factor in the success of wartime stabilisation.
43. For detail about the changes to the regulations see L.C. Webb in R.S. Parker (ed), Economic Stability in New Zealand, Wellington, 1953. John Martin, Holding the Balance, pp.224-8, has detail about changes to wage fixing. Hawke’s comment is in The Making of New Zealand, p.172.
44. There is a lot of detail about these clothing experiments in IC/1/10/1/3, part 1.
45. See the file of submissions on the subject, IC/1/10/1/3, part 1. There are more details about these experiments in T/1/72/2/1. See also ‘Notes for Mr Pascoe re Deputation to Wait Upon the Minister’, undated, IC/1/10/1/3, part 1.
46. Memo D.G. Sullivan to all controllers, 21 December 1942, IC/1/2/22, W709.
47. Baker, War Economy, pp.465-74.
48. Baker, War Economy, pp.100-101. There is a file about ‘essential industries’ in IC/1/55/11/2, part 1. John Martin, Holding the Balance, pp.218-25, deals with manpower directions.
49. Baker, War Economy, pp.225-6.
50. Baker comments on Fletcher’s powers and his exercise of them in War Economy, pp.227-9. There is a detailed account of Fletcher’s conduct, much of it from Fletcher’s own memory, in Neil Robinson, James Fletcher: Builder, Chapt. 10.
51. Henderson interview of Ashwin.
52. NZOYB, 1947-8, p.361. See also ‘Industry After the War’, 13-page typescript, IC/1/31/140, part 2.
53. Samuel Leathem, ‘Industry and Industrial Policy’, in Horace Belshaw (ed), New Zealand, Berkeley, 1947, p.169. See also AJHR, 1942, H-44, p.2.
54. Baker, War Economy, Chapt. 13.
55. Quoted in C.H. Blaikie, ‘Cost-Plus Contracts’, WAII, 21, 57c, NA.
56. There is a neat background account to the establishment of Watties Canneries in M.B. Boyd, City of the Plains: A History of Hastings, Wellington 1984, pp.240-1. The story in this chapter is drawn from Treasury files, T/1/47/390.
57. Hawkes Bay Herald-Tribune, 22 September 1944.
58. See DOM, 7 January 1949.
59. NZPD, Vol. 256, 6 October 1939, p.772.
60. See IC/1/31/140, part 2.
61. See Secretary of the Manufacturers’ Federation to D.G. Sullivan, 8 October 1943, IC/1/31/140, part 2.
62. J.W. Heenan to Dr R.M. Campbell, 21 October 1943, MS Papers 1132, Folder 30, ATL.
63. Leslie Hobbs, The Thirty Year Wonders, Christchurch, 1976, pp.96-97.
64. See typescript ‘Industry after the War’ as well as the minister’s speech, IC/1/31/140, part 2.
65. Baker, War Economy, p.530. The OND, however, met several times a week in the evening and war-weary officials soon tired of the effort involved. Comments of Professor G. J. Schmitt, 20 March 1997. Schmitt was personal clerk to Ashwin at the time.
66. AJHR, 1946, H-44, pp.5-18.
67. AJHR, 1947, H-44, p.4. The total number of permanent and temporary employees of the Public Service Commission stood at 10,800 in 1936; it rose to 17, 246 in 1939, and by April 1946 reached 28, 484. See AJHR, 1937-8, H-14; 1939, H-14; 1947, H-14, p.10
68. There is some information about these appointments in IC/1/2, part 4. The story about the Marshall-Clinkard appointments comes from Professor G. J. Schmitt, interview, 20 March 1997.
69. The planned reorganisation is set out in D.W. Woodward to Section heads, 15 March 1948, IC/1/2, part 4. The draft bill is to be found in IC/1/3/5/2, W709. Among the functions of the department were the following clauses: ‘To investigate the financial structure and costs of existing or proposed new industries so as to determine whether the arrangements or operations are to the benefit of the economy of New Zealand’; ‘To encourage, in relation to any industry, the adoption of uniform methods of accounting, costing and the preparation of statistics’; ‘In respect to industries which are receiving protection, by way of import restriction, tariff, subsidy, registration or in any other form, to maintain a close scrutiny of the financial accounts and records, products and methods of the industries to ensure that the benefits of any such protection are accruing to the public in terms of quality and price’.
70. See the initial directive and the ‘Survey of War-time Controls’, 1 December 1944, IC/1/3/21, part 3.
71. See Factory Controller to W. Nash and A.H. Nordmeyer, 23 February 1945, IC/1/2/7, part 2, W709. Also Secretary NZ Manufacturers’ Federation to P. Fraser, 21 December 1945, IC/1/31/140, part 2. Press, 17 November 1944.
72. G.W. Pascoe to A.H. Nordmeyer, 15 July 1947, IC/1/2/7, W709. Pascoe’s influence was removed from the department in the middle of 1948, when he retired. There is general information relevant to the Industries Committee in IC/1/2/7, part 2, W709.
73. DOM, 20 April 1945.
74. D.G. Sullivan to G.A. Pascoe, 4 May 1945, IC/1/3/21, part 3.
75. A full list of those Emergency Regulations lifted in 1945 and of the 362 retained is to be found in AJHR, 1945, H-46. Holland’s reaction is in NZPD, Vol. 279, 1947, p.979.
76. Statutes, 1948, Vol. 1, p.347.
77. Ormond Wilson, An Outsider Looks Back, p.96.
78. Much has been written about John A. Lee, his expulsion and its effects on the Labour Party. See particularly Erik Olssen, John A. Lee, Dunedin, 1977, and Olssen, ‘The Impact of John A. Lee’s Expulsion upon the Labour Party’, NZJH, Vol. 12, April 1978, pp.34-49. Also Keith Sinclair, ‘The Lee-Sutch Syndrome’, NZJH, Vol. 8, October 1974, pp.95-117, and Bruce Taylor, ‘The Expulsion of J.A. Lee and the Effects on the Development of the New Zealand Labour Party’, MA thesis, University of Canterbury, 1970.
79. There is much useful detail about the background to broadcasting in Ian Carter, Gadfly: The Life and Times of James Shelley, Auckland 1993, Chapt. 8. There is specific detail about the nature of the contract with Goodfellow and Harris, and later developments, in T/1/52/682.
80. Carter, p.202.
81. This event is mentioned in greater detail in Bassett, Coates of Kaipara, p.227. See also Carter, p.203, who calls the incident a ‘Ruritanian fiasco’; Standard, 15 January 1936, p.1; and NZH, 18 July 1992.
82. Statutes, 1936, p.167.
83. Press, 9 June 1936, p.10. There are comments about the practical difficulties surrounding the broadcasting of Parliament in Carter, p.232.
84. Press, 10 June 1936, p.12.
85. Quoted by Carter, p.204.
86. Carter notes that in 1937 Shelley forbade a public debate on IYA on the topic of socialism and later also prevented Ormond Burton talking about pacifism. Carter, pp.237-8.
87. Standard, 4 November 1936.
88. Details of the negotiations with ‘Scrim’ are in T/1/52/682/1.
89. Bassett interview with Samuel Leathem, 20 March 1977, in the author’s possession. Leathern was a member of a deputation to Savage on the subject.
90. For a general, and not always reliable, discussion of Scrim, see Les Edwards, Scrim: Radio Rebel in Retrospect, Auckland, 1971.
91. Bassett, Mother of All Departments, Chapt. 5.
92. There is a succinct summary of the issues surrounding the closure of Tomorrow in Andrew J. Cutler, ‘Intellectual Sprouts’. The quote is from F.L.W. Wood, The New Zealand People at War, Wellington, 1958, p.124. A more general discussion of censorship is to be found in Nancy M. Taylor, The Home Front, Chapt. 19.
93. Much information for this section comes from T/1/40/704/1. See also Report of the Royal Commission into the sale of liquor, AJHR, 1974, H-5, part 12.
94. J.F. McArthur, Licensing Trust Development in New Zealand: A History of Licensing Trusts, Wellington, 1967, p.13.
95. E.L. Greensmith to W. Nash, 15 June 1944, T/1/40/704/1.
96. [B.L. Dallard?] to B. Ashwin, 15 April 1947, T/1/40/704/1.
97. Recent changes to the licensing legislation have, among other things, permitted liquor sales from supermarkets. This has proved popular, and public enthusiasm for trusts decreased rapidly when it became clear that this convenience would not be available if residents in an area supported trust control. Only a true believer in the trust concept could conclude that the experiment has stood the test of time.
98. Baker has a graph of demobilisation numbers, War Economy, p.503. There are quarterly figures given on p.631.
99. Baker, War Economy, pp.518-9. See also W.H. Oliver, ‘The Origins and Growth of the Welfare State’, in A.D. Trlin (ed), Social Welfare and New Zealand Society, Wellington, 1977, p.24.
100. Figures are drawn from New Zealand Official Year Books. There were electricity blackouts in the winters of 1946 and 1947, with problems in the latter year exacerbated by a very dry summer 1946-47, which reduced the water flow on the Waikato River to a record low level. The Treasury warning to Nash came in August 1949. See Morris Guest, ‘The Murupara Project’, p.40.
101. NZOYB, 1947–49, p.523.
102. Statutes, 1947, p.445.
103. B.C. Ashwin to W. Nash, 12 February 1947, T/53/167.The anticipated subsidies for 1946–47 were £14.54 million, and for 1947–48 were £18.405 million. In the white paper ‘The New Zealand Economy 1939–51’, AJHR, 1951, B-5, p.37, it is estimated that without the 1947 changes, subsidies would have reached the sum of £20 million at a time when the Government was budgeting for total expenditure of £105 million.
104. Acting Director of Stabilisation to W. Nash, 5 August 1947, T/53/167.
105. See A.H. Nordmeyer to Canterbury Cricket Association, 8 May 1947, T/53/167.
106. N.J. Lewis to Secretary, Tobacco Board, 14 November 1947, T/1/47/277. Set up in 1936 under the Tobacco Growing Industry Act 1935 which was pushed through Parliament at the urging of the young Keith Holyoake, MP for Motueka at the time, the Board aimed to prevent over-production of leaf which would result in uneconomic prices for growers. See Memo for Junior Officers, 1948, p.7, IC/1/2, part 4.
107. AJHR, 1950, B-6, pp.13-14.
108. Author’s interview of Sir Arnold Nordmeyer, 9 December 1977, p.21. Text in the author’s possession.
109. Skidelsky, p.68. Ormond Wilson recalls that he based his arguments for state intervention in economic and social affairs when he returned to Parliament in 1946 ‘on the trend of the world at the time’, An Outsider Looks Back, p.145.
110. For a discussion of Australia’s postwar economic policies, see L.F. Crisp, Ben Chifley: A Biography, Melbourne, 1961, Chapt. 19.
111. Ramsay Cook, ‘The Triumph and Trials of Materialism’ in Craig Brown (ed), The Illustrated History of Canada, Toronto, 1987, pp.463-4.
112. The Growth and Development of Social Security, p.115. See also AJHR, 1946, B-6.
113. The story of cultural developments in 1946 is told in Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, Chapt. 6.
114. There is a file on stabilisation among F.P. Walsh’s papers, MS Papers 0274/171, ATL. For press reaction to Walsh’s views, see AS, 13 June 1946, editorial.
115. See R.S. Parker, ‘New Industrial Tribunals in New Zealand’, Economic Record, Vol. 26, December 1950, p.254. Parker identifies the Waterfront Industry Commission and the Waterfront Industry Authority, the Government Railways Industrial Tribunal, the Post and Telegraph Staff Tribunal, and the Government Service Tribunal. The comments about the FOL’s practice before the Arbitration Court and the rapidity with which every wage rise spread are made by Leicester Webb, in R.S. Parker (ed), Economic Stability, pp.18-19.
116. Cox to US Secretary of State, 28 January 1942, RG84/800/10, US Archives, Washington, DC.
117. There were stoppages at West Coast mines within weeks of Labour coming to power. See Press, 27 February 1936, p.12.
118. C.H. Blaikie, ‘Wartime History of Mining’, pp.9-33, MD/1/15/300, Vol. 1.
119. NZOYB, 1943, pp.304.
120. Greymouth Evening Star, 19 March 1943; Westport News, 22 March 1943; Press, 20 March 1943.
121. See file on absenteeism in the mines, MDIC/4/4/29, Vol. 1. C.H. Benney of the Mines Department told the Secretary of the Stabilisation Committee on 20 March 1943 that miners were well paid, providing comparative figures to illustrate his case. MS Papers 0274/171, ATL.
122. Blaikie, pp.58-76. He provides details about sale negotiations. There was a miners’ strike at Easter 1947 that affected train timetables and interrupted holiday travel.
123. AJHR, 1947, B-6, p.21.
124. Blaikie, pp.40-46.
125. ODT, 20, 21 February, and 6 March 1947.
126. ODT, 2 May 1947.
127. ODT, 9 June 1947.
128. For a wider discussion of deteriorating industrial relations in the late 1940s, see Michael Bassett, Confrontation’51: The 1951 Waterfront Dispute, Wellington, 1972, Chapt. 1.
129. Bassett, Confrontation, p.32.
130. See especially B. Ashwin to W. Nash, 13 April 1949, T/1/52/835/5.
131. J. Heenan to Sir E. Davis, 20 May and 16 June 1949, MS 1132/51, ATL.
132. ODT, 17 November 1949. The election has been analysed by Sylvia E. Fraser, ‘The 1949 General Election’, MA thesis, University of Otago, 1967.
1. B.C. Ashwin to S.G. Holland, 22 March 1950, p.8, T/53/167.
2. Leicester Webb in R.S. Parker, Economic Stability, p.21.
3. NZOYB, 1951–52, p.499.
4. The number of vacant jobs appeared in Holland’s second budget presented on 18 October 1951, AJHR, 1951, B-6, p.4. The figures for the gap between award and actual wages are to be found in the National Party’s 1954 election material, PM/21/18/1. The quotation from the citizenship booklet comes from Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, p.151. The quote from the Monetary and Economic Council comes from Report No. 2, May 1962, p.87. C.A. Blyth notes New Zealand’s low rate of growth during the 1950s in ‘Economic Growth 1950–60’, Research Paper, Wellington, 1961. The comments in the report of the waterfront Royal Commission are to be found in AJHR, 1952, H-50, pp.21-27. During university holidays the author worked for five years as a driver in the soft drink industry, where there was a great deal of pilfering but only a few successful prosecutions. The freezing industry suffered badly from the stealing of meat by employees and police raids on men’s locker rooms were common. The problem lasted into the 1970s and was frequently discussed at meetings of Federated Farmers. See Northern Farming World, July 1976, p.4.
5. The tax figure is to be found in NZOYB, 1951–52, p.579. The report by T. N. Gibbs’s committee is to be found in draft form in T/1/40/106/2/1. The final version is in AJHR, 1951, B-8. The quote is on p.50. Ashwin’s similar advice to Nash is in Ashwin to Nash, 13 April 1949, T/1/52/835/5. In his first budget in August 1950 Holland also made some of these points strongly. AJHR, 1950, B-6, p.23. The comment about New Zealand’s growth is to be found in Monetary and Economic Council, Economic Growth in New Zealand, No.2, Wellington, May 1962, p.5. Growth figures for later years are provided by Roger Douglas, Unfinished Business, Auckland, 1993, p.24. See also Paul Dalziel and Ralph Lattimore, A Briefing on the New Zealand Macroeconomy 1960–1990, Auckland, 1991, p.2.
6. One example of controversy about the flexibility of shop trading hours came in 1960 with an application by the East Coast Bays Association for longer hours. See NZH, 2 April 1960, p.20. There is a newspaper story about the first serious challenge to the broadcasting monopoly in Sunday Star-Times, 1 December 1996, p.All. For discussion about film censorship, see Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, Chapt. 8. Also Redmer Yska, All Shook Up: The Flash Bodgie and the Rise of the New Zealand Teenager in the Fifties, Wellington, Chapt. 5. The referendum on TAB betting was on the same day in 1949 as the liquor referendum. Results are given in J.O. Wilson, New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984, Wellington, 1985, p.301.
7. W.K. Jackson, The New Zealand Legislative Council: A Study of the Establishment, Failure and Abolition of an Upper House, Dunedin, 1972, pp.166ff. See also Geoffrey Palmer, Unbridled Power, Auckland, 1979.
8. There is an entry on S. G. Holland (1893–1961) in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, Wellington, 1966, Vol. 2, pp.107-8. See also John Marshall, Memoirs, Vol. 1, Auckland, 1983, pp.140, 254. The description of Holland’s face came from the author’s mother.
9. R.S. Parker, Economic Stability, p.25. The comment came from Ian Lythgoe, who was Private Secretary to the Minister of Finance in 1949. Interview 11 December 1995.
10. In the newspapers during the month of October 1956 the author noted two pieces of praise from New Zealanders recently in Russia. See the comments of P.G. Stevens, NZH, 26 October 1956, p.12, and Sir David Smith, EP, 31 October 1956, p.12.
11. Marshall, Memoirs, Vol. 1, pp.304-9.
12. Barry Gustafson, The First Fifty Years: A History of the New Zealand National Party, Auckland, 1986, p.56, describes Clifton Webb as an ‘intellectual’, although the biography written by his daughter, Sheila M. Belshaw, Man of Integrity: A Biography of Sir Clifton Webb, Palmerston North, 1979, provides no evidence of wide reading. The author was told by Sir Keith Holyoake in 1974 that he endeavoured to keep abreast of books about New Zealand.
13. See Bassett, Mother of All Departments, Chapt. 7. J. O. Wilson, who later became Parliamentary Librarian, told the author on 6 September 1995 that Holland very rarely used the library. It is clear from the letters between Alister McIntosh and Carl Berendsen in the early 1950s that McIntosh had little respect for the abilities of some ministers. See Ian McGibbon (ed), Undiplomatic Dialogue, Auckland, 1993, pp.186ff. Heenan, who had just retired, but retained an office in the Government Buildings, expressed reservations about the new order in his correspondence with Dr J. C. Beaglehole and Sir Ernest Davis. See J. C. Beaglehole to J. W. Heenan, 12 May 1950, MS Papers 1132/16; Heenan to Sir E. Davis, 25 October 1950, MS Papers 1132/52, ATL. Dr W. B. Sutch, whom the new Minister of External Affairs, F. W. Doidge, worked hard to dislodge from his position at the United Nations on political grounds, only to have him return to Wellington to a senior position in Industries and Commerce, wrote some years later about Holland’s lack of experience and small contribution to the War Administration in 1942. See W.B. Sutch, The Quest for Security in New Zealand, 1840–1966, Wellington, 1966, p.310. Sutch expressed his criticism of Holland’s Cabinet to the author on several occasions in the 1960s and early 1970s.
14. Details of the changes to exchange controls were published in the Gazette on 9 March 1950. They are also set out in T/53/88.
15. B.C. Ashwin to W. Nash, 24 August 1949, quoted by Guest, ‘The Murupara Project’, p.40. Ashwin expressed his disquiet at Labour’s spending promises during the 1949 campaign. See Ashwin to W. Nash, 12 October 1949, T/53/167. See also Ashwin to Nash, 13 April 1949, T/1/52/835/5.
16. See Memo ‘Works Programme and Inflation’, 21 December 1949, T/1/25/23. Also B.C. Ashwin to S.G. Holland, 22 March 1950, T/53/167. This substantial memo contained a lot of disquieting news about the state of the economy.
17. B.C. Ashwin to S.G. Holland, 27 April 1950. There is another memo from Ashwin to Holland on the likely effect of subsidy removals dated 24 April 1950, T/53/167.
18. DOM, and EP, 6 May 1950.
19. C.M. Bowden to members of the ESC, 22 May 1950, T/72/1.
20. Statements about the future of NAC were in the 1950 budget statement and in the New Zealand Government Bulletin, 2 November 1950. B.C. Ashwin to S.G. Holland, 19 December 1950, T/1/62/40/1, contains useful information. Headed by Sir John Allum, the railways royal commission reported in 1952. It recommended charging economic fares on lines, suggested many economies, and called for turning the department into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. See ‘Report of Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon the New Zealand Government Railways’, AJHR, 1952, D-3 and NZOYB, 1959, p.377.
21. AJHR, 1950, B-6, pp.10-13.
22. AJHR, 1951, B-6, p.18. Harry Dudfield, a one-term MP from Gisborne, expressed the same philosophy succinctly: ‘This Government is a private enterprise government. … We on this side of the House want to see everybody in the country a small capitalist, owning his own home, his car, and all the amenities that go to make a modern home. If a man is a farmer or farm worker we want to see him owning his own farm, because we want to encourage a nation of small capitalists. We believe … that the people can spend their money far better than the State can.… ‘NZPD, Vol. 303, 29 July 1954, p.800. There is much detail about National’s housing policy in HD/1/29/0, and some further details in PM/21/18/1. See also Gael Ferguson, pp.179-95, and Marshall, Memoirs, Vol. 1, pp.144-53.
23. Fraser’s statement of 21 February 1950 is to be found in MS Papers 0274/172, ATL. See also EP, 13 May 1950, p.10; EP, 6 May 1950, p.8 and editorial; Southern Cross, 8 June 1950.
24. The story is told in full in Bassett, Confrontation’51, Chapt. 2. There is a 52-page pamphlet written by a research officer of the National Party, John Gordon, Crisis on the Waterfront: The Story of the 1951 Strike, Wellington [1952], that contains useful material.
25. ‘The New Zealand Economy 1939–51’, AJHR, 1951, B-5, pp.69-70.
26. Ibid, p.69.
27. Ibid, p.34.
28. NZH, 17 February 1951. See Bassett, Confrontation ‘51, Chapt. 3.
29. AS, 22 February 1951, editorial.
30. NZH, 14 May 1951.
31. The four extra seats won by National were Gisborne, Napier, Lyttelton and St Kilda.
32. See Memo B.C. Ashwin to S.G. Holland, 9 October 1950, and CM(50)70, 11 October 1950, T/53/67. See also ‘The New Zealand Economy 1939–51’, p.37. There is a file dealing with the administration of subsidies in the early 1950s, T/1/52/835/1.
33. Minutes of the deputation to the Prime Minister, 31 May 1951, in T/53/67.
34. See file note, ‘Soaps and Synthetic Detergents’, T/53/67.
35. See file note, ‘Stabilisation Subsidies’, dated 23 May 1952, T/53/67.
36. The budget comments are in AJHR, 1953, B-6, p.21. The two-page file note on subsidies in 1954 is to be found in T/53/67.
37. Press, 24 February 1951.
38. AJHR, 1951, H-44, p.32; Wise’s regular memos on price control are in IC/1/9, W2268.
39. Watts’s declaration is to be found in IC/1/10, W2268.
40. The Treasury memo of 1 April 1954 is to be found in IC/1/10, W2268. The decision of the Price Tribunal on 21 June 1954 is to be found in T/1/52/835/5. National’s margin at the 1954 election was 45:35 seats over Labour. This was the first election at which Social Credit stood a full slate of candidates; they won 11 per cent of the total vote, but no seats. There was a major redistribution of seats before the 1954 election and it is difficult to make clear comparisons with 1951. However, Labour won back Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North and Rotorua from National.
41. Freedom, 12 January 1955.
42. NZH, 23 October 1956, p.14. There is press comment on the Control of Prices Amendment Bill in NZH, 25 October 1956, p.12.
43. J.C. Adams, to J.T. Watts, 19 August 1955, IC/1/10, W2268. The Chambers of Commerce, like the retailers and manufacturers, sounded off against controls. See T/1/52/655.
44. ‘Ministerial Statement’, AJHR, 1950, J-4, pp.1-3.
45. Sir David Smith produced a summary of the work of the Board of Trade on 25 March 1954, IC/1/2/2, part 1.
46. B.C. Ashwin to Sir D. Smith, 17 July 1950, T/1/61/2/2, part 1. See also Ashwin to S.G. Holland, 6 March 1951, and submission to Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy, 23 June 1954, T/1/52/835/5. Ashwin’s personal file is to be found in T/1/90 PF, W2220.
47. Background paper, ‘Board of Trade Future Policy’, 1952, IC/1/2/2, part 1.
48. ‘The World Bank Report on the New Zealand Economy, 1968’, AJHR, B-4, p.32. See also AJHR, 1953, H-44, p.13. Also Smith’s report on the work of the Board of Trade, 25 March 1954, IC/1/2/2, part 1.
49. Smith’s report, 25 March 1954, IC/1/2/2, part 1.
50. EP, 28 April 1955.
51. See CP (55) 912, 7 October 1955, in IC/1/2/2, part 1.
52. See advice of Import Advisory Committee to Minister of Customs, 14 July 1950, T/1/61/2/2. Ashwin’s advice to the Prime Minister on 6 March 1951 is in T/1/52/835/5.
53. I am obliged to Professor G. J. Schmitt for pointing out this nicety to me.
54. Details are from NZOYB, 1956, p.293. See also Cabinet reminder to the Board of Trade, CM(53) 205, where the Board was told that there ‘may be circumstances’ where import licensing was ‘the only satisfactory means of protecting some local industries’. There is much information about the operation of exchange allocation (the Reserve Bank usually called it ‘exchange control’) in T/1/61/2/2.
55. Import licensing and tariffs in this period are discussed by G.R. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand, pp.260-1.
56. ‘Economic Survey 1956’, AJHR, 1956, B-5, pp.4-5; ‘Economic Survey 1958’, AJHR, 1958, B-5, pp.21-23.
57. R.S. Parker, Economic Stability, pp.10-32.
58. Ibid, p.109.
59. DOM, 13 May 1953; EP, 13 May 1953, p.13.
60. NZH, 14 May 1953, editorial. The comments in the editorial resulted in a letter from several academics present at the conference, pointing out that the paper had misrepresented what Schmitt had said. NZH, 16 May 1953, p.16.
61. AS, 14 May 1953, editorial. The financial editor of the Star published a more thoughtful piece on 23 May 1953, p.4.
62. Hawkes Bay Herald Tribune, 18 May 1953, editorial.
63. Parker, Economic Stability, p.73.
64. See IC/1/2/7, part 2, W709. See also AJHR, 1957, H-44.
65. Soon after he was appointed, Sutch’s research activities within the department caused conflicts with staff and it seems that the Secretary, P. B. Marshall, suspected that Sutch’s abrasive personality was the problem. See Minutes of Staff Meeting, 9 June 1952, IC/1/2/7, W709, part 2. There is a good outline of Sutch’s mid-1950s views on manufacturing in Here and Now, No 57, February 1957, pp.13-14.
66. See T/1/52/761. Also IC/1/10/1/3, part 1. There is a memo from P.B. Marshall on the working of the Land Settlement Promotion Act 1952, dated 1 February 1957, in IC/1/3/41, W709.
67. The comment about Watts comes from Professor G. J. Schmitt.
68. See IC/1/21/1/1, part 1, which contains, among other things, a paper outlining the workings of industrial licensing within the pulp and paper industry. Also NZOYB, 1956, p.588. The Industries and Commerce Act is in Statutes, 1956, Vol. 1, p.369.
69. AJHR, 1950, B-6, pp.25-27. The number of farm tractors increased by 116 per cent in 1950–59, and there was a huge increase in other implements. See ‘Economic Survey 1960’, p.23. The author worked regularly on a farm in the Waikato between 1950 and 1957. When he began there was no tractor, only draught horses. By 1955 the farm had a tractor, a truck, a large hay-baling machine, a mower and a hay-rake, all of them imported. Others in the district were equipping in similar fashion, taking full advantage of Holland’s generous depreciation allowances.
70. Many farmers in the district where the author worked thought nothing of using their cheap motor spirits in their cars, thus avoiding paying road taxes.
71. J.T. Watts to Secretary to the Treasury, 31 August 1955, T/40/648/8.
72. The rest of the information is drawn from this file and from T/82/4/17, Box 664, W4446. Talboys’s quote comes from NZPD, Vol. 382, 22 February 1973, p.140.1 am indebted to Paul Goldsmith for assistance with these files.
73. Guest, ‘The Murupara Project’. There is much detail about the role of the Fletchers in Selwyn Parker, Made in New Zealand, Chapt. 3.
74. Guest, p.35. There is some information about the background to Tasman Pulp and Paper in George Fraser, Both Eyes Open: A Memoir, Dunedin, 1990, pp.108ff.
75. There is information about dealings between Entrican, forest interests and ministers in the 1940s in T/1/52/539. I am indebted to Professor G. J. Schmitt for information about the 1940s licences in a letter to me dated 10 June 1997. NZFP was awarded a licence to produce kraft paper about 1950.
76. The comment was from Walter Nash, NZPD, Vol. 293, 3 November 1950, p.3985. Skinner gave a good outline of Labour’s attitudes to the whole project in a wide-ranging debate on ‘the Murupara Project’ in NZPD, Vol. 303, 21 July 1954, pp.602-5.
77. Quoted by Guest, pp.40-45.
78. Holyoake’s comments were debated in Parliament, NZPD, Vol. 293, 3 November 1950, pp.3982-4. Until 31 December 1949 the minister was known as the Commissioner of Forests.
79. E.B. Corbett, Kaingaroa State Forest: Proposals for the Sale of Logs from Kaingaroa State Forest, New Zealand, Wellington, 1951.
80. Holland outlined the development of the National Government’s involvement in NZPD, Vol. 303, 21 July 1954, pp.596-616.
81. The Tasman Pulp and Paper Company Ltd’s share prospectus issued on 18 August 1954, which was kindly lent to me by Professor G. J. Schmitt, contains much information about the background to the company.
82. NZPD, Vol. 303, 21 July 1954, pp.602-5. Also the comments of E. P. Aderman MP, p.197.
83. As of 13 September 1955, the Government had extended £4.5 million to Tasman. See E.L. Greensmith to J.T. Watts, 13 September 1956, T/1/4/1, pp.2-4. By 1967 the Government owned about 20 per cent of Tasman. Bowaters (UK), Reeds (UK) Australian Newsprint Mills, Fletcher Holdings and the general public (who held about $2 million of the $21.4 million equity) were the other shareholders. By this time 85 per cent of Tasman’s exports were of newsprint and 10 per cent chemical pulp. See ‘The World Bank Report on the New Zealand Economy 1968’, AJHR, B-4, p.43.
84. There is information about Tasman’s problems in 1977 in Hugh Templeton, All Honourable Men: Inside the Muldoon Cabinet, 1975–1984, Auckland, 1995, pp.78-80.
85. George Fraser in Both Eyes Open, p.114, refers to lunches with Dr W.B. Sutch. Jack Marshall in his Memoirs, Vol. 2, p.42, refers to ‘shared family holidays’ with industrialist Sir Woolf Fisher. Ian Lythgoe, Chairman of the State Services Commission 1971–75, when interviewed on 11 December 1995, noted the happy arrangements that developed in the cost-plus environment between businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians. The author remembers that for approximately 20 years, Todd Motors in Wellington sold Rootes Group cars (Chryslers and Hillmans as well as Chrysler outboards) to politicians of both parties at a discount and at interest rates below normal market rates. Politicians and bureaucrats were regularly entertained by private sector interests and on occasions non-monetary favours were extended. Small presents of liquor at Christmas were common.
86. The author was told by a manufacturer of carbon brushes in Auckland of one example of low-level corruption. A Customs Department official in Wellington was said to leave the room after hearing a plea for extra import licences. Applicants usually found that a £10 note left in the open top drawer of the desk brought a satisfactory result.
87. See E.L. Greensmith to J.T. Watts, 13 September 1956, 14 March 1957, and 26 November 1957, T/1/4/1. A report by Treasury on TEAL’s accounts in 1951 is to be found in T/1/47/349.
88. Details about relationships between the Government and several private airways from 1936–47 are to be found in T/1/52/312, W2591. See especially A.R.F. Mackay to W.B. Sutch, 26 June 1940. There is a lot of material dealing with efforts to sell NAC in CA/1/98/9/19. Agitation for regional services is reported in NZH, 10 December 1958.
89. The file on the Dominion Salt Co. is T/39/11, part 1, W2446. See also Press, 28 February 1966, editorial.
90. See E.L. Greensmith to J.T. Watts, 13 September 1956, T/1/4/1.
91. The Treasury file relating to the committee is T/1/50/293. In the file is a 1952 Cabinet summary entitled ‘Retirement of State Employees’. It has an historical appendix tracing the State’s changing retirement policies in relation to railways since 1902. By 1 April 1956 public service numbers reached 55,102. See Henderson, p.398. The numbers of Railways, Post Office and Public Works employees were fairly static between 1950 and 1956. There are some details about National’s campaign for efficiency in the public service in PM/21/18/1. Administration of the Town and Country Planning Act was transferred from Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Works in 1953.
92. The story of National’s changes to local government legislation is told in Bassett, The Mother of All Departments, Chapt. 7.
93. The words were used by the Minister of Railways, W. S. Goosman, in AJHR, 1953, D-2, p.1.
94. Debates on the situation in Nelson are to be found in NZPD, Vol. 309, 23 August 1956, p.1330. The spat over buses and trains in the Hutt Valley is in NZPD, Vol. 310, 19 October 1956, pp.2627-8. See also EP, 19 October 1956, p.12, and NZH, 20 October 1956, p.14.
95. The trading profits and losses of Railways are to be found in the annual reports, AJHR, D-2.
96. Henry Lang, former Secretary of the Treasury, assessed Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP at 3.8 per cent in 1935, 4.5 per cent in 1948–49, 4.7 per cent in 1960–61, 5.6 per cent in 1973–74 and 6.6 per cent by 1981–82. See H.G. Lang, ‘Health Policy Formulation in New Zealand’, International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Vol. 2, April 1987, p.144. The Gibbs taskforce in its 1988 report ‘Unshackling the Hospitals’, Wellington, 1988, p.46, estimated total health funding as a proportion of GDP as of 31 March 1987 at 6.94 per cent. The 1987 OECD report on the New Zealand economy noted that health spending between 1963 and 1984 rose at a faster rate overall than economic growth.
97. See briefing note, 9 July 1965, T/1/73/1, W2907. Also J.T. Watts, ‘New Zealand Economic Survey 1956’, AJHR, 1956, B-5, pp.34ff. In ‘The Helping Hand’ in the file entitled ‘A National Record’ there is a full list of the upgrades to health and welfare, 1949–54. See PM/21/18, part 1.
98. See File T/1/62/15.
99. AJHR, 1950, H-31, pp.37-41. R.L. Macalister of the Wellington City Council complained about ‘astronomical’ rises in hospital costs in EP, 11 May 1950, p.8.
100. J.E. Engel to B.C. Ashwin, 25 February 1952; B.C. Ashwin to S.G. Holland, 28 February 1952, T/1/62/15.
101. J.R. Marshall to S.G. Holland, 21 March 1952, T/1/62/15.
102. ‘A Health Service for New Zealand’, better known as the white paper, AJHR, 1974, H-23, pp.60-61. See also Marshall, Memoirs, Vol. 1, pp.181ff.
103. AJHR, 1974, H-23, p.65.
104. Marshall in his Memoirs, Vol. 1, pp.182 and 185, acknowledges that political considerations caused the Government to resile from election policy promises to amalgamate smaller boards.
105. Department of Health publication, ‘A Review of Hospital and Related Services in New Zealand’, Wellington, 1969, p.20. Cabinet documents about assistance to private hospitals 1959–60 are to be found in T/26/25.
106. Michael Bassett, ‘Costly Health Care: A Lesson from New Zealand’, Health Care Analysis, Vol. 1, November 1993, pp.189-96. A very perceptive analysis of developments after passage of the Social Security Act is G.M. Fougere, ‘From Market to Welfare State? State Interventions and Medical Care Delivery in New Zealand’, in C. Wilkes and I. Shirley, In the Public Interest: Health, Work and Housing in New Zealand, Auckland, 1984, pp.76-89.
107. There is a file about hospital finances 1958–60 in T/26/25. The impact of equal pay is dealt with in T/1/40/738.
108. There is a file about pay negotiations for various hospital groups of employees, T/1/79/75. The same file gives full details about requests for more staff in 1969, Treasury’s responses and Cabinet’s final agreements.
109. Details of negotiations in 1971 and 1974 were handled by Ian Lythgoe, Chairman of the State Services Commission at the time. In an interview on 11 December 1995 he reminded the author that Roy McKenzie, who conducted most of the face-to-face negotiations with the dental nurses in 1974, went home in a state of shock on the day of Kirk’s intervention and died that night. There was to be further ministerial intervention over nurses’ and junior doctors’ pay in 1986, involving the author as Minister of Health. As a general rule, whenever politicians became involved, health workers succeeded in getting better pay than they could negotiate with their statutory salary-fixing authorities.
110. See R.J. Tizard to Cabinet, no date [early 1973], T/1/40/56, part 10, W2591.
111. ‘A Health Service for New Zealand’, better known as the White Paper, AJHR, 1974, H-23, p.67. There is a Treasury file on the background to this legislation, T/1/40/56, W2591. The author was a member of the Statutes Revision Committee of Parliament that heard submissions on the legislation.
112. R. Dickie to T.M. McGuigan, 23 July 1975, T/1/40/56, W2591.
113. Jonathan Hunt MP, who was chairman of Parliament’s Public Expenditure Committee for part of the 1972-5 Labour Government’s term, told the author he had received a similar comment about the high cost of meals on wheels when interviewing the Auckland Hospital Board. Interview, 20 December 1996. For Wellington’s comments about spending restraints see EP, 12 and 13 August 1975.
114. Besides the comments of the Evening Post, see ODT, 16 September 1975. There are other examples in T/1/40/56, W2591.
115. See PP(75)M37, part vi, 3 September 1975, T/1/40/56, W2591.
116. AJHR, 1952, E-1, p.3. See also ‘Economic Survey 1956’. In 1971 the Education Department published a 31-page summary of educational developments entitled ‘Education Costs and Performance, 1945–1970’. It pointed to the fact that educational spending was growing as a proportion of the budget and expected the trend to continue.
117. AJHR, 1956, B-5, p.109. See also NZOYB, 1956, pp.162-3.
118. The comments of C.B. Lewis are in EP, 27 October 1956, p.14. A previous official of the NZEI had argued similarly in 1950. EP, 8 May 1950, p.6.
119. There is Cabinet material relating to teachers’ salary claims in 1958 in T/26/4, and a history of the stages of ministerial involvement in the primary teachers’ pay claim of 1970 in T/79/74, W2733, part 1. There are comments about ‘discrepancies’ between educational groups’ remuneration in NZH, 2 April 1960, p.20.
120. A Treasury brief outlining these points to the Minister of Finance on 9 July 1965 was couched in terms that were similar to those expressed in the Gibbs Committee’s report of 1951. See T/1/73/1, W2907.
121. The issue of state aid to private schools was debated in October 1956. See NZPD, Vol. 310, 24 October 1956, pp.2724ff. See also NZH, 25 October 1956, p.14; EP, 17 October 1956, p.15.
122. There is information about the issue of assistance to private schools during the 1957 campaign in T/26/4.
123. There is a file on capital expenditure on school projects 1950–57, T/1/62/9. The author as MP for the area intervened on behalf of Rutherford High School in Te Atatu in 1974 and won approval for a second gymnasium.
124. ‘Economic Survey 1958’, AJHR, 1958, B-5, pp.21-23.
125. J.T. Watts, Memo to Cabinet, 23 November 1955, T/1/61/1/9.
126. C.G.F. Simkin, ‘Economic Survey’, 17 May 1955, T/1/61/1/9. There were critical comments about the credit squeeze from the past president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce in EP, 26 October 1956, p.13. Keith Sinclair in Walter Nash, p.305, has details about the warnings reaching the Government by the later part of 1957.
127. Gustafson, The First Fifty Years, pp.71-72. Marshall tells of Holland’s last year in office in his Memoirs, Vol. 1, pp.252-6.
128. Alex McKenzie, president of the National Party, plus several of Holland’s Cabinet colleagues visited him and finally persuaded him to resign. Information supplied to the author by a member of the family of E. H. Halstead, Minister of Industries and Commerce 1956–57. The story is partly confirmed by Colin James, whose information came from Holyoake. See NBR, 16 May 1997, p.19.
129. The comments are to be found in EP, 27 October 1956, p.14 and NZH, 29 October 1956, p.8.
130. J.C. Beaglehole, ‘New Zealand Since the War’, Landfall, No. 58, June 1961, p.143.
131. Labour won five city seats, Roskill and Tamaki in Auckland, Lyttelton and St Albans in Christchurch, and St Kilda in Dunedin. The sixth seat was the provincial city of Nelson.