The Home Front Volume II

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Title Page

Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45 THE HOME FRONT

National Savings poster Black and white photograph of poster, showing the capture of the German submarine U 580 by a Lockhead "Hudson" of the British Coastal Command. The text reads: "Protect New ZealandWithBack Them Up!3% National SavingsNational Savings poster.

Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45 THE NEW ZEALAND PEOPLE AT WAR THE HOME FRONT VOLUME II NANCY M. TAYLOR HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS BRANCH DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

V. R. WARD, GOVERNMENT PRINTERWELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND—1986 © Crown Copyright Reserved 1986 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced by any means, electronic, mechanical, electrostatic photocopying or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior permission of the Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-477-01360-0 (set) ISBN 0-477-01259-0 (vol. I) ISBN 0-477-01260-4 (vol. II) Typeset in 12pt Garamond and printed on 85gsm Mataura Cream Opaque Printing. Book typeset, printed and bound at the Government Printing Office, Mulgrave Street, Wellington.

Contents

Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii ABBREVIATIONS xi METRIC CONVERSION xix Volume II 15 Manpower is Directed 663 16 The Shoe Pinches 742 17 More Shortages 797 18 Aliens 851 19 Censorship 886 20 Camp Followers 1014 21 Women at War 1053 22 Education 1116 23 The Arts Survive 1183 24 Victory at Last 1219 SOURCES 1297 INDEX 1309

List of Illustrations

PHOTOGRAPHS (all held by the Alexander Turnbull Library)

Frontispiece Volume II National Savings poster. facing p. 866 Waste metal collection. War History Collection Glass and paper conservation. War History Collection A winchdriver unloading war material, 1943. Pascoe Collection Soldiers building a haystack, Hamilton, 1944. War History Collection Ration books being issued by the Post and Telegraph Department at Auckland, April 1942. War History Collection A ration book page The Coast Watching Station at Oteranga Bay, only accessible by horse, 1943. Pascoe Collection Patriotic poster designed by the Governor-General, Lord Galway. Evening Post Collection Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt talking to Mrs Janet Fraser at Auckland Airport, 1943. Pascoe Collection Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt and J. T. Paul, Director of Publicity, at Government House, 1943. Pascoe Collection Girl Guides in Auckland making camouflage nets. War History Collection Aircraft construction at the de Havilland plant in Wellington, 1943. War History Collection Red Cross supplies being loaded at Wellington Wharf. War History Collection Gift food being loaded for despatch to Britain, January 1948. War History Collection A munitions factory, 1943. Pascoe Collection Manufacture of helmets. Gordon Burt Collection facing p. 1090 A member of the Women's Land Service holding a lamb for tailing at Porangahau. War History Collection Battledress being manufactured at Cathie & Sons Ltd. War History Collection Aircraft being constructed. War History Collection Grenade making at Christchurch. War History Collection Cabbages grown by the Department of Agriculture for use by United States forces, Levin, 1943. War History Collection A Levin vegetable farm, producing vegetables for reciprocal lend lease. Pascoe Collection Cabinetmakers at work at the Disabled Servicemen's Centre, Christchurch. War History Collection Motor tow-boats built in Auckland for the United States armed forces being launched in 1943. War History Collection Loading rounds into ammunition clips at the Colonial Ammunition Company's factory, Hamilton, 1944. War History Collection Woman tram conductor, Wellington, 1943. War History Collection A stack of stripped flax fibre ready for the manufacturing process with a flax bush in the foreground, Foxton, 1945. War History Collection New housing estate, Naenae, 1944. Evening Post Collection Celebrating VE Day, Lambton Quay, Wellington, 8 May 1945. War History Collection Canadian sailors in Wellington on VJ Day, 15 August 1945. War History Collection The return of the 28th (Maori) Battalion, Wellington, 1947. Two kuias express grief for the relatives of soldiers who died overseas. War History Collection Soldiers' cemetery, Karori, Wellington, 1944. War History Collection

documents

page Approval notice for application for pair of gumboots 774 CARTOONS (all by Minhinnick, New Zealand Herald) ‘They say she knows where there's some wool!’ 763 ‘“Come and get it!”’ 782 ‘Austerity Christmas’ 794 ‘Buttercuts and Dazes’ 819 ‘We Have no Pyjamas To-day’ 844 ‘Simple Blackout Hints, No. 163’ 910 ‘Prisoner of War?’ 943 ‘Education under Difficulties’ 1136

Abbreviations

A to J Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives ad advertisement admin administration Admlty Admiralty aet aged AEWS Army Education and Welfare Service Aff Affairs AIF Australian Imperial Force ANZUS Australia–New Zealand–United States App Appendix Assn, Assoc Association, Associated ARP Air Raid Precautions ASRS Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants Asst Assistant ATC Air Training Corps ATL Alexander Turnbull Library AUC Auckland University College (now University of Auckland) Auck Auckland Aust Australia b born BBC British Broadcasting Corporation b'casting broadcasting Bd Board BEF British Expeditionary Force BEM British Empire Medal BHS Boys High School BMA British Medical Association br Branch C & P Censorship & Publicity Cab Cabinet Canty Canterbury CAS Chief of the Air Staff CB Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath CBE Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire CBS Columbia Broadcasting System CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff CGS Chief of the General Staff CH Companion of Honour Chanc Exch Chancellor of the Exchequer Chap Chaplain Chch Christchurch chmn chairman C-in-C Commander-in-Chief cmdr commanding officer CMG Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Cmssn Commission Cmssnr Commissioner cmte committee Cncl Council CNS Chief of Naval Staff Co Company Col Colonel, colonial Conf Conference Co-op Co-operative Corp Corporation CORSO Council of Organisations for Relief Service Overseas COS Chiefs of Staff CPS Christian Pacifist Society CSI Companion of the Order of the Star of India CStJ Companion of the Order of St John of Jerusalem CUC Canterbury University College (now University of Canterbury) C'wealth Commonwealth d died DCM Distinguished Conduct Medal DBE Dame of the British Empire Def Defence Dep Deputy Dept Department DFC Distinguished Flying Cross DHS District High School Dir Director Div Division Dom Dominion DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research DSM Distinguished Service Medal DSO Distinguished Service Order Dun Dunedin Ed Editor ED Efficiency Decoration Educ Education, educated EPS Emergency Fire Service EPS Emergency Precautions Scheme Exec Executive Ext Aff External Affairs FCIS Fellow of Chartered Institute of Secretaries fdtn foundation Fedn Federation FNZIE Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Engineers FoL Federation of Labour FRAM Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music FRCS Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons FRS Fellow of the Royal Society GBE Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire GCB Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath GCIE Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire GCMG Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George GCSI Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India GCVO Knight or Dame Grand Cross of Royal Victorian Order Gen General GGNZ Governor-General of New Zealand GMT Greenwich Mean Time GOC General Officer Commanding Gov Gen Governor General Govt Government HC High Commissioner HoC House of Commons HoL House of Lords Hon Honourable, Honorary HoR House of Representatives HQ Headquarters IA Internal Affairs i/c in charge of IGS Imperial General Staff ILO International Labour Organisation Imp Imperial IMTFE International Military Tribunal for the Far East Indep Independent Inf Bde Infantry Brigade Inst Institute Int Aff Internal Affairs ISO Imperial Service Order ISS International Student Service JP Justice of the Peace KBE Knight Commander of the British Empire KC King's Counsel KCB Knight Commander of the Bath KCMG Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George KG Knight of the Order of the Garter KStJ Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem Kt Knight Bachelor Lab Labour Lib Liberal LIB Bachelor of Laws LM Legion of Merit LoN League of Nations LRC Labour Representation Committee Lt Lieutenant MA Maori Affairs MBE Member of the Order of the British Empire MC Military Cross memb member Meth Methodist mngr manager MHR Member of the House of Representatives MICE Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers mid Mentioned in Despatches Min Minister Miny Ministry MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly MLC Member of the Legislative Council MM Military Medal MP Member of Parliament MS Manuscript Nat National NBS National Broadcasting Service NCO non-commissioned officer NS National Service Department NZANS New Zealand Army Nursing Service NZBC New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation NZBS New Zealand Broadcasting Service NZCPS New Zealand Christian Pacifist Society NZEF New Zealand Expeditionary Force NZEI New Zealand Educational Institute NZFU New Zealand Farmers' Union NZLA New Zealand Library Association NZLS New Zealand Library Service NZMC New Zealand Medical Corps NZPA New Zealand Press Association NZPD New Zealand Parliamentary Debates NZRB New Zealand Rifle Brigade NZRSA New Zealand Returned Services Association NZU University of New Zealand NZWWU New Zealand Waterside Workers Union OBE Officer of the Order of the British Empire OC Officer Commanding Off Officer OM Order of Merit ONS Organisation for National Security Oppos Opposition Orch Orchestra OU Otago University (now University of Otago) Oxon Oxford University P & T Post and Telegraph Pac Pacific Parly Parliamentary PC Privy Councillor PEN Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Editors and Novelists PM Prime Minister, Prime Minister's Department PMG Postmaster-General POW prisoner-of-war PPU Peace Pledge Union Pres President Presby Presbyterian PRO Public Relations Officer Prof Professor PSA Public Service Association pt part PWD Public Works Department QC Queen's Counsel QM Quartermaster QMG Quartermaster-General RAF Royal Air Force Rehab Rehabilitation rep representative Rev Reverend RFC Royal Flying Corps RNAS Royal Naval Air Service RNR Royal Naval Reserve RNVR Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve RNZAF Royal New Zealand Air Force RSA Returned Services Association Rt Right RTA Railway Trades Association Sec Secretary SM Stipendiary Magistrate S Mil Cmd Southern Military Command Soc Society SSDA Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Superint Superintendent Ty Treasury TEAL Trans-Empire Air Line TV Television UKHC United Kingdom High Commissioner UN United Nations UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation USA United States of America USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration VAD Voluntary Aid Detachment VC Victoria Cross VD Volunteer Decoration, venereal disease Ven Venerable vol volume VUC Victoria University College (now Victoria University of Wellington) WAAC Women's Auxiliary Army Corps WAAF Women's Auxiliary Air Force WCC Waterfront Control Commission WDFU Women's Division of the Farmer's Union WEA Workers' Education Association Wgtn Wellington WHF War History File WHN War History Narrative WRNZNS Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service WVS Women's Voluntary Services WW World War WWSA Women's War Service Auxiliary Yearbook New Zealand Official Year-book YMCA Young Men's Christian Association YWCA Young Women's Christian Association

Note regarding newspaper material cited in footnotes: where no pagination is given the citation is from the editorial.

Metric Conversion

Since 1960, most countries in the world, including New Zealand, have converted from varying methods of measurement to the Système International d'Unités (SI). The traditional English system for money and measurement denominations has been retained in this book, in keeping with the sources used and with the other volumes of the Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War series.

The following information is supplied for conversion purposes:

Money

One pound (£1) (20 shillings) = 2 dollars ($2)

One shilling (12 pence) = 10 cents

One guinea (21 shillings) = $2.10

Linear

One mile (1760 yards) = 1.609 kilometres

One yard (3 feet) = 0.914 metres

One foot (12 inches) = 30.48 centimetres

One inch = 2.54 centimetres

Square measure

One square mile (640 acres) = 2.589 square kilometers

One acre (4840 square yards) = 0.404 hectares

One square yard = 0.836 square metres

One square foot = 929 square centimetres

Cubic (liquid) measure

One gallon (4 quarts) = 4.546 litres

One quart (2 pints) = 1.136 litres

One pint = 0.568 litres

Cubic (material) measure

One cubic yard = 0.764 cubic metres

One cubic foot = 0.0283 cubic metres

One cubic inch = 16.397 cubic centimetres

Weight

One ton (2240 pounds) = 1016 kilogrammes

One hundredweight (112 pounds) = 50.802 kilogrammes

One pound (16 ounces) = 453 grammes

One ounce = 28.35 grammes

Horsepower

One horsepower = 0.746 kilowatts

Temperature

32° Fahrenheit = 0° Celsius (freezing point)

212° Fahrenheit = 100° Celsius

CHAPTER 15 Manpower is Directed

TOWARDS the end of 1941, with more than 81 000 men and more than 1000 women gone from industry into the Services, it was clear that the work-force would very soon have to be directed, focussed and increased. Appeals in the public interest against military service, hitherto the only stabilising factor, had become inadequate when all other workers were free in the growing labour shortage to sell themselves to the highest bidder. Plans for control, modelled on British experience, were on the stocks well before December 1941,

A to J1943. H-11A, p. 13. In November 1941, J. S. Hunter, Director of National Service, addressing manufacturers on necessary changes, had included the closing down or tapering off of less essential industries, the wider use of women, and prevention of labour outflow from essential industries. NZ Herald, 21 Nov 41, p. 3

but were brought forward by Japan's attack, which at once sucked thousands into the Army while vastly increasing the need for industrial and defence construction workers.

Civilian manpower controls began on 10 January 1942 and were gradually extended. The Government Placement Service, once concerned with relief of unemployment and the matching of jobs with people, became overnight, in its 22 centres, the Manpower Office, a branch of the National Service Department. To begin with it was decreed that workers in industries declared essential could not leave or be dismissed without the consent of the District Manpower Officer. A worker wanting to leave, or an employer wanting to be rid of him, had to give this official at least seven days' notice, and receive his permission. For serious misconduct an employer could still dismiss a worker, but he might be reinstated, not necessarily to the same position, if the Manpower Officer thought the dismissal unjustified. In such matters, either side could appeal to Manpower (Industrial) Committees in the main centres. Despite better pay offering elsewhere, the outflow of labour from essential work was checked, though as the future soon proved, a good deal of job movement was still possible within ‘essential’ boundaries.

Traditionally, New Zealand labour was highly mobile. Conditions in many firms were spartan, often worse, but both workers and management accepted this as normal, and the desirability of a job was measured mainly by the money paid. Although most factories were relatively small and relations based on understanding might have been possible Dr A. E. C. Hare, who during the early Forties pioneered research into industrial relations, found otherwise. With a few happy exceptions, businessmen relied on the surplus of labour that enabled them to engage and dismiss at will, without needing to build up a permanent staff, so that ‘employers tend to regard labour only in terms of cost, without regard to the complicated tangle of human emotions involved in the employment relationship, and the workers regard employment solely in terms of its advantages in cash.’

Hare, Industrial Relations, pp. 156, 158

For more than a year the war had promoted restlessness by favouring the worker: increasingly, he would shift from job to job without compunction, in pursuit of a bigger pay packet; he could even afford to dislike the boss. It was necessary to restrict this movement, which besides disrupting supplies and services, pushed up wages and inflation; it was considered not expedient, probably not possible, to arrest it altogether.

‘Essential’ industry became a term of very wide application. The first lists contained such obvious essentials as munitions, defence construction, mines, timber-mills, power supply, freezing works, butter and cheese factories. These lists were rapidly extended, often through the interdependence of one industry or unit on another, to cover not only whole industries and services needed by the war and the community, but many separate businesses producing, often remotely or only in part, for military orders. When an industry or firm officially explained that it was unable to obtain enough labour, the National Service Department would investigate its situation, suggesting adjustments or alternatives that might appear helpful. A declaration of essentiality, if recommended by the Department and approved in turn by the production committee of the War Council and by War Cabinet, would be signed by the Minister of Labour and published in the New Zealand Gazette. For instance, on 25 June 1942 the boot and shoe repairing industry was declared essential; on 15 July 1942, all commercial laundries, dry cleaning and dye works, except those run by Chinese.

Cited in War History Narrative, ‘Notes on Industrial Manpower’ (hereinafter WHN, ‘Industrial Manpower’), p. 23

Firms or sections of firms were added or deleted by amendments to previous orders: in July 1942, the Wellington Slipper Company was added to the list, as were Dalgety's at Wellington, with respect only to the repair, maintenance and installation of sheep-shearing machines, and Berlei at Auckland, with respect only to battledress-making.

Ibid.

In August 1942 the fourteenth list added 73 undertaking firms to the essential score, along with the Public Service, tobacco manufacturers, pastrycooks, plumbers and gas fitters.

Press, 11 Aug 42, p. 4

Meanwhile, to provide these essential industries with more labour than they attracted to themselves, men and women in various age groups, and all men with experience in certain hard-pressed trades, were required to register at local Manpower offices and were liable to be directed to urgent work. Such registration was required in March 1942 of men aged 46–9, women of 20 and 21 years, and men aged 18–70 with experience in building, engineering and metal trades. All men of 50 registered in April; in May, men aged 18– 65 who had timber work experience; in July, women of 22 to 25 years living near Hamilton (for a local munitions factory). Women of 22 and 23 years registered in August, those of 24 to 30 in September, and men aged 51–9 in October 1942.

′These occupational registrations revealed 2959 former metal workers, 4944 building workers and 1256 timber workers doing other jobs; while 2447 men of 51–9 years were not employed. A to J 1943, H-11A, p. 54

In February 1943 scientists and technicians and women of 18–19 years filled in their forms and, the following January, women aged 31–40. Aliens who were not naturalised were included with everyone else, except alien males of military age who were left out till 8 October 1942, when they were required to register for industry.

Emergency Regulation 1942/292

Men aged 18–45 found unfit for military service were automatically listed for essential employment.

To lessen the paper work, from the outset persons already in essential occupations or unsuitable in various ways were not required to register. Thus invalids, war pensioners and those in hospital or prison were exempt from registration, along with merchant seamen, farmers, working proprietors of businesses, civilians employed in the Services, police, firemen, miners, railwaymen, gas and electricity suppliers, doctors, dentists, opticians, chemists, hospital workers, judges, magistrates, ministers of religion, members of Parliament. Fit men held on appeal from military service were also excluded.

WHN, ‘Industrial Manpower’, pp. 5, 9

To prevent luxury or frivolous undertakings enticing workers away from occupations more valuable to the community but not protected by being declared essential, labour inflow to the low priority jobs was checked by an order in May 1942 (1942/135). This made Manpower consent necessary for the engagement of any employee in listed areas where labour was scarce in scheduled non-essential occupations (such as making beer, cordials, confectionary, fancy goods in general, washing machines, lawn mowers and refrigerators, frocks, millinery, umbrellas) and work in retail shops except those selling food or drugs. The inflow check was stiffened in November 1942 by another regulation (1942/319), which required Manpower consent in labour-short areas for the engagement of any worker except for work in five categories: in any essential industry or firm; on any farm, orchard or market garden; on any ship or wharf; at midwifery and nursing; in casual work lasting not more than three days.

A to J, 1943, H-l 1A, pp. 46–7; Press, 15, 20 May 42, pp. 4, 4

From May 1942 to August 1945, employers sought permission to engage 86 791 persons for non-essential work and were refused in only 4550 cases. Women were more readily permitted to engage in non-essential work than men were and there was automatic consent for persons of less than 18 years, for widows of servicemen and for down-graded returned servicemen.

A to J1945, H-11A, p. 36, 1946, H-11A, p. 32

Women over 40 years of age and most men of 60 or more were outside Manpower range.

Through the 22 District Manpower Offices, the State reached out into the lives and occupations of thousands as it never had before. The officials themselves were not over-numerous: they totalled 195 men and 48 women in March 1942, 317 men and 189 women a year later, and increased only slightly thereafter.

Ibid., 1943, H-11A, p. 23, 1944, H-11A, p. 24

But the word ‘Manpower’ came into wide and varied use, indicating how these regulations penetrated the whole fabric of employment: ‘Manpower is holding on to him’; ‘He's been Manpowered into cement’—or carpentry or the meatworks; ‘How did he get past Manpower?’; ‘Her firm came under Manpower last week’; ‘Manpower will catch up with him sooner or later’. By 1945 it could even enter the title of a locally-produced children's book, The Three Brown Bears and the Manpower Man.

Such power had to be used discreetly, if it were not to excite resentment and defeat its purpose. From registration forms Manpower officers sorted out those already in work of national importance, leaving them as they were; from the others they strove to meet the stream of assorted vacancies that poured upon them, some straightforward, some incessant and difficult. The first directions were of persons whose transfer would make the least disturbance to themselves and their employers: those not employed, or in light-weight jobs, those who lived near vacant jobs, those whose skill, training and current pay matched positions needing them. It was not policy to shift skilled workers to unskilled jobs or to pay them less than they were receiving or to drain any particular undertaking in comparison with others. Manpower respected industries not declared essential but still important in community value, and even in less essential concerns sought to leave a nucleus sufficient for rapid recovery when peace came. In each group, registered direction was progressive; the easiest directions were made first, but after further groups were registered and sifted to the same extent, earlier groups were squeezed again, with dislocation and hardship gradually increasing as national need persisted.

Ibid., 1943, H-I1A, pp. 45–6

Apart from the willingness or unwillingness of workers to accept new jobs, the reluctance, often anguish, of employers faced with the loss of valued staff perplexed Manpower officers and appeal committees. For instance: a flatlock machinist who produced 24–5 dozen men's athletic vests daily was, declared her employer, the best girl he had ever had, 20 per cent ahead of the rest. Her work made a difference of 100–120 dozen to the weekly ouput of his small firm, which although it had obtained an Army contract could not be declared essential because it had fewer than 12 hands. She had been moved to a double sewing machine in a firm with war contracts and a staff of 85, who were asked to work 53 hours a week and were expected to produce a minimum of 10 canvas kitbags each an hour. This firm, finding her versatile and a very good worker whereas most of those sent by Manpower were of very little use, held her against the appeal of her first employer.

Dominion, 2 Dec 42, p. 4

Tact was officially prescribed. ‘Interviews should be conducted in a spirit of mutual understanding in the light of the national emergency and Manpower officers should try to obtain the willing co-operation of every man interviewed, at the same time explaining the powers vested in them under Regulation 31.’

WHN, ‘Industrial Manpower’, quoting instructions, PM 83/4/7

After a year, National Service claimed that administration had been ‘carried out with a wide exercise of discretion and the avoidance of harshness, and in the early period considerable leniency was allowed.’

A to J1943, H-11A, p. 44

More robustly, an Auckland Star article had stated earlier: ‘People are not sent into industry willy nilly … it is largely a question of “horses for courses”. Were it otherwise, industry while getting the required number of workers, would not get the required production.’

Auckland Star, 31 Oct 42, p. 6

In the first few months of 1942, up to 30 June, only 4066 directions were issued to men and 475 to women, but by the end of that year Manpower officials had grown bolder, giving out more than 4000 directions in December 1942, more than 6000 in both April and May 1943, though the monthly number thereafter eased back considerably. The rate was to quicken during 1944—5 when the Third Division returned to the labour field, with a peak of 9375 in July 1944.

A to J1943, H-11A, p. 56, 1944, H-11A, p. 41, 1945, H-11A, p. 75

With workers tied to jobs, it was established that firms would not be declared essential unless their wages and conditions were up to the general standard of the industry.

Ibid., 1944, H-11A, p. 15

Current rates of pay, even if above award levels, could not be reduced and incoming workers received the same rates.

WHN, ‘Industrial Manpower’, pp. 17–18, 30

In October 1942, as protection against loss of pay if work were intermittent, minimum weekly wage rates covering all essential industries were fixed: £5 10s> for men, £2 17s 6d for women and £1 15s for juniors.

Baker, p. 451

Transfers were limited by the difficulty of sending workers to highly essential jobs with lower pay than they were already receiving. Manpower did not wish to install aggrieved workers, and the Federation of Labour asked in October 1942 that those transferred should not suffer financial loss.

WHN, ‘Industrial Manpower’, p. 55

Some might be willing and able to accept reductions as part of their war effort, slight when ranged against soldiers' sacrifices; for others it would mean a severe and unequal reduction of living standards. Manpower authorities proposed financial assistance, pointing out, for instance, that a Christchurch girl, on £2 15s a week as a shop assistant, if transferred to the Kaiapoi woollen mills, would receive £2 4s 9d, less 7s 6d in bus fares, leaving £1 17s 3d a week, an effective reduction of 17s 9d or 32 per cent of her former earnings.

Ibid., pp. 56–8, quoting Min Industrial Manpower to PM, 30 Oct 42, NS 13/2/68, pt 1

Treasury proposed that losses in earnings of transferred workers should be made up for three months, giving them time to adjust, urging that continued subsidising would be costly and create jealousy among the other workers.

Ibid., pp. 59–60, quoting Sec Ty to PM, 2 Dec 42, NS 13/2/68, pt 1

It was finally decided by War Cabinet that workers transferred to lower paid jobs could claim compensation, up to a maximum of £2 a week for men or £1 for women, with total income, exclusive of overtime, not exceeding £8 or £5 respectively.

Ibld., p. 64; Auckland Star, 21 Apr 43, p. 4

Further, a married man directed away from his home and maintaining it while paying board could claim separation allowance of 30s a week; for workers sent away from home fares were also to be paid.

A to J1944, H-11A, p. 16, 1945, H-11A, p. 42

Up to 1944, National Service ran such assistance very thriftily. On compensation for direction to lower paid jobs, only £2,650 had been expended by March 1944 (£1,753 to men, £897 to women); in the following year subsidies to women totalled £5,210, to men £2,726 and in 1945–6 rose to £15,713 for women, £8,378 for men. This was distributed over a wide range of industries, but farming, clothing, tobacco, engineering, woollen goods, railway and social services such as hospitals claimed the largest shares.

Ibid., 1944, H-11A, p. 47, 1945, H-11A, p. 86, 1946, H-11A, p. 147

Separation and travelling allowances expanded similarly. The former totalled £8,364 up to March 1944, rising steeply to £22,391 and £27,526 in the next two years, while travelling expenses totalled £9,068, £11,778 and £16,682 for these three years.

Ibid., 1944, H-11A, p. 25, 1945, H-11A, p. 13, 1946, H-11A, p. 12

By the end of 1942, essential industries had claimed some 230 000 workers, about one-third of the working population.

Ibid.,1943, H-11A, p. 44

By March 1944 this figure had increased to 255 000, about 180 000 men and 75 000 women, 40 per cent of the 634 000-strong labour force.

Ibid., 1944, H-11A, p. 15

At the same time, another 153 000 were in farming, which despite its importance was never declared essential, though its labour demands were eased by other means: by direction, by braking on military recruitment and by seasonal or more lasting releases from the Army—apart from some 2000 Land Service women, and teachers and students working in their summer holidays.

Ibid., 1946, H-11A, p. 36; see also p. 1143

Farming was not declared essential partly because unwilling workers could not be trusted with animals and partly because the living arrangements of farmers and their workers were often so close that holding reluctant parties together would have produced intolerable situations.

A. P.O'Shea, Sec NZ Farmers' Union, Dominion, 16 Nov 43, p. 4

Within those industries classified as essential there was plenty of room for movement, provided that reasons could be given to Manpower officials. Up to March 1943 there were 62 000 applications to terminate employment, many from seasonal work and unavoidable, and only 8400, or 14 per cent, were refused. Of the rest, 22 per cent transferred to other employers in the same industry, 50 per cent to another essential industry, 5 per cent to non-essential industry and 23 per cent retired altogether. However, Manpower authorities claimed ‘a very considerable reduction in labour turnover’, stating that many thousands who would otherwise have left their employment had refrained, realising that their applications would have little chance of success.

A to J1943, H-11A, p. 44

During 1943–4, some 6000 changes a month, a turnover of 2.3 per cent, were permitted, making a high yearly labour turnover of 27.6 per cent,

Ibid.1944, H-11A, p. 15; Hare, Labour in New Zealand1944, p. 14

mostly within essential industries. By March 1946, applications to terminate employment had totalled 304 218. Of these, 93 033 were from employers, of which 2676 or 2.9 per cent were refused, and 211 185 from employees, of which 30 733, or 14.6 per cent, were refused.

A to J1946, H-11A, p. 31

The regulations required work to be performed with diligence and Manpower authorities were aware of some directed workers' attempts to make their employers glad to be rid of them.

Press, 6 Dec 43, p. 4

Figures of directions into essential industry show the volume of Manpower work, while the directions withdrawn, slightly more than one in ten up to March 1943, rather less during 1943–4, and slightly more again thereafter, suggest readiness to accept argument.

A to J1944, H-11A, p. 41, 1945, H-11A, p. 75

MANPOWER CONTROLS January 1942 to 31 March 1943 Males Females Total Total directions given 25 013 5 766 30 779 Number withdrawn 2 462 922 3 384 Number complied with 22 250 4 716 26 966 Number not complied with 301 128 429 1 April 1943 to 31 March 1944 Total directions given 46 325 13 354 59 679 Number withdrawn 4 083 1 308 5 391 Number complied with 41 295 11 692 52 987 Number not complied with 947 354 1 301 1 April 1944 to 31 March 1945 Total directions given 59 043 19 111 78 154 Number withdrawn 5 226 2 902 8 128 Number complied with 53 536 16 044 69 580 Number not complied with 281 165 446

Between April 1945 and March 1946, men complied with 21 427 directions, women with 5128, making 26 555 for the final year and 176 088 for the war's total.

Ibid., 1946, H-11A, p. 140

With so many industries classed as essential the question arose, how essential was essential? Employers could and did claim that the making of prams or corsets or hair curlers or teddy bears, plus the continued existence of their own firms, was necessary for public well-being and morale.

Evening Post, 23 Oct 41, p. 11; NZ Herald, 14 Mar 41, p. 8, 30 Mar 44, p. 4; Auckland Star, 9 Nov 43, p. 4

The Press on 13 March 1943 held that application of the term had been so widened that the purpose of the regulations, to distinguish plainly between essential and non-essential industries and to provide labour for the former at the expense of the latter, had been whittled down and blunted. Certainly problems were complex and far from clear-cut. Every woollen mill employee was necessary to clothe and blanket the forces and the nation; there could be no question about the need for munition workers or railwaymen, and presumably many public servants were needed, but it was hard to see the whole Public Service in this light or to be sure that every girl typing or driving for the Army would not be more usefully employed by her old firm; it was hard to see that a man could properly leave plough or cow to make mattresses or gumboots or biscuits.

With sections of firms declared essential, there was inevitably a good deal of looseness: one week 20 girls might be sewing khaki shirts while 10 sewed women's dresses, but the proportions might vary from week to week. Manufacturers were supposed to notify Manpower when military contracts ended or were reduced, and such commitments were supposed to be under constant review, but inevitably there were blurrings and time-lags. An employer with an Army contract would be loath to lose staff and have to queue again at the Manpower office if the contract might be renewed in the next month, and meanwhile there would be keen civilian demand for anything he could produce. For instance, an Auckland engineering firm which had contracts for munitions and for service buckles and badges claimed that at times about 80 per cent of its staff of 47 were on essential work, but an investigator from National Service found the munitions contract almost complete and the buckle-makers producing trinkets of jewellery, brooches and badges which had lately ‘been on the market in some abundance’. The Manpower office promptly removed six girls and threatened to take more; they were doing work ‘just the antithesis of what we expected’.

Evening Post, 8 Sep 43, p. 4

A further employment restriction order of 23 March 1944,

A to J1944, H-11A, p. 16

requiring Manpower consent to the engagement of almost any worker, attempted to check on degrees of essentiality.

There were penalties, fines of up to £50 or three months in prison, for evasions of the regulations but Manpower was not hungry for prosecutions. Its declared policy was reasonable leniency and the benefit of the doubt; anything else would have aroused self-defeating hostility. Its 1944 report stated:

Those who would advocate … rigorous severity … show little appreciation of the realities of work under wartime conditions, where pressure of work, shortness of staff, the lack of understanding of the import of regulations, and various other factors lead to the unintentional commission of minor offences by employers and where long hours of work, unfamiliar work and personal difficulties and worries frequently bring about the commission of offences by workers which do not imply any wilful evasion of obligations. In the view of the Department penalties exist for dealing with more serious and deliberate offences, and with persistent offenders, employers and workers.

It was pleasing that although 255 000 persons were subject to control, and so far more than 90 000 directions had been issued, only 796 prosecutions had been instituted in two years; 136 of these were withdrawn, 82 were incomplete, there had been 520 convictions and 58 dismissals.

Ibid., p. 20

Manpower officers handled an immense amount of work and served long hours, often being available for interviews in evenings. They were aware of dealing with complex human and industrial problems, of their duty to treat both industry and workers fairly, within the framework of the war's needs. The report of 1944 stated that it was no easy thing to direct a worker to change his employment, to decide on an application to leave essential work or to deal with alleged absenteeism.

Workers and employers are thinking human beings with their own views, their own plans and tastes and hopes and interests and temperaments. Each is striving towards some goal, and is prepared to try various means of reaching it. Before a decision or direction is given, much investigation, interviewing and recording work must be carried out. Some workers and employers accept the direction or decision without question but in many cases a whole train of further interviews and negotiations is opened up by each action of the District Man-power Officer, leading at times to a modification of the step being taken or (in a few cases) to appeal, which means still more work.

Ibid., p. 21

Manpower's vision of itself may well have been more sympathetic than its appearance to workers or employers, but not many appealed to the Manpower Industrial Committees set up in the four main centres (each with an employers' representative, a workers' representative and a government-appointed chairman). The 1944 report recorded that a steady 3 per cent of direction to essential work had given rise to appeals, about half of them successful; 2.5 per cent of decisions on terminating essential work produced appeals, about one-third succeeding; 3.5 per cent of fines for absenteeism led to appeals, of which a quarter succeeded.

Ibid., p. 22

By 1946 a total of 494 618 decisions and directions, in these three areas, had been given, 14 450 or 2.9 per cent of them producing appeals, of which 5361 were won.

Ibid., 1946, H-11A, p. 33

From mid-1944, as shown by the figures listed,

see p. 670

directions increased steeply, reflecting the shift of emphasis in the war effort from soldiering to production. The 3rd Division returned from the Pacific, some 9500 men being directed into essential work, while home service forces were firmly reduced. Also, under the replacement scheme, the long-service men of the 2nd Divison became available for direction. In their case most directions were merely formalities, given only with the full agreement of the men, though Grade I men under 41 years with fewer than 4 children were temporarily directed to essential industry to fill gaps left by men drawn into the Army.

A to J1945, H-11A, pp. 33–4; Evening Post, 27 Apr 45, p. 8

When fighting ended in Europe, Manpower controls were reviewed and at the end of June 1945 revocations of essentiality began,

Evening Post, 27 Jun 45, p. 6

both for industries and for groups of people. By VJ Day (15 August 1945), undertakings employing in all about 10 000 workers had been freed from control by revocations, and from about this date consent was automatically given to any worker leaving a job except to men of 18 to 44 years inclusive who had not served overseas and single women of 18 to 19 years. Even within essential industries control was lessened. From the end of November 1945 it was not necessary to obtain Manpower consent for the engagement of new labour, provided that the engagement was notified within 48 hours. This requirement finished at the end of January 1946 when no employer needed official consent to engage or dismiss labour.

Baker, pp. 507, 508–9

After 30 August 1945 the Public Service was not designated essential, and revocations during the next three months freed 109 000 workers. In September, among the industries cleared were footwear repairs, shipbuilding, engineering, pastry-cooks' and butchers' shops; by mid-November biscuit factories, food canning, soapworks, road transport; by 6 December abattoirs, flax and paper mills, teaching, woolscouring and fellmongery were among those lately freed. On 31 January 1946 a large list included builders and their supplies trades, woollen, knitting and hosiery mills, plumbers, fertiliser and flour mills, furniture, gas, rubber, sack and tobacco manufactures, Public Works, tanneries, hotels and restaurants, timber yards, joinery, electricity, water supply and sanitation. Thereafter essentiality remained only on hospitals, tramways, dairy factories, freezing works, sawmills and coal mines. By 31 March 228 300 workers were cleared out of the 255 000 originally affected; only coalmining, meat freezing and sawmilling remained essential. By 29 June 1946 these last declarations and all remnants of industrial manpower regulations were withdrawn.

A to J1946, H-L1A, pp. 59–61

To complement Manpower regulations in making the best use of labour there was fairly limited development of works councils and of manpower utilisation councils and committees. Before the war there was little consultation between workers and employers over production conditions and methods. Most employers did not welcome advice on how to run their factories, many employees were too new to their work to have much advice to offer, and trade union effort was towards obtaining wages and conditions as favourable as possible from employers and the Court of Arbitration. Pre-war works councils existed mainly in the large railway workshops, in meat works and in coal mines, and though concerned mainly with welfare complaints and disputes dealt also with production and efficiency.

Under war pressure, and advocated by the Federation of Labour,

Standard, 9 Apr 42, p. 7

these works councils increased till by 1944 there were between 90 and 100; about 25 in meat works, 18 in coal mines, 8 in railway workshops, 17 in small government-run linen flax mills and about 30 in other undertakings.

Hare, Labour in New Zealand 1944, p. 45

In general they did not function vitally; those in coal mines, notably, fell into disuse as mining's industrial relations deteriorated—but in some industries and branches of the Public Service, notably the Post and Telegraph Department, various efficiency committees proved helpful.

Hare, Industrial Relations, pp. 265–9

In the war-activated building industries, James Fletcher, Commissioner of Defence Construction, advocating works councils in each firm with more than 30 men, circulated a draft constitution to employers and workers. But insistence that they should be optional and that employee's representatives should be chosen by management was unacceptable to the unions and deadlock resulted.

Hare, Works Councils in New Zealand, p. 31

As part of its Manpower activities, the National Service Department in 1942 began to organise national manpower utilisation councils and local committees in the chief industries. On these, workers and employers were represented in equal numbers, a National Service official was chairman and concerned government departments were also present. They were purely advisory bodies, to inform government on the manpower situation of the industry and on the effectiveness or otherwise of Manpower measures, and they met seldom. In some industries local committees, tributary to these councils and replicas at district level, were set up. They were more active than the councils, their advice improving the use of labour and keeping military service appeal boards aware of local pressures.

War History Narrative, ‘Some Aspects of Labour Control in the War’, pp. 142, 144–5

By 1945, there were Dominion councils for about 22 industries. A few, such as food canning and preserving, butter, cheese and biscuit making and tanneries, had no local committees. Others, including the baking trade, clothing, gas making, electrical trades, footwear, plumbing and laundries had committees in the four main centres. A few, road transport, printing and publishing, engineering and furniture making, had 12 to 20 local committees; others ranged in between. Coal distribution had no Dominion council but four local committees; shipbuilding had its one committee at Auckland.

A to J1944, H-11A, pp. 21, 39, 1945, H-11A, pp. 4, 73; Dominion, 28 Dec 42, p. 4

The search for all available labour led even to prison gates. From July 1943, beginning in Auckland, all men and women on release were interviewed by District Manpower officers to place them in suitable essential work. This hastened the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners while avoiding waste of time and labour.

Evening Post, 7 Sep 43, p. 4

For men, used now to military conscription, industrial conscription was not remarkable, but for women it was new and at the start it was tackled rather nervously. Later it became firmer, but continued to be gradual, tactful and far from universal. Authority tried to disturb employers, parents, conventions, and the girls themselves, as little as possible.

As the range of work accepting and seeking women widened, the number of women willing to do tedious or unattractive tasks shrank. Many girls, especially those in shops and offices, instead of waiting for direction to some distasteful task, sought out essential work acceptable to themselves, or volunteered into the Services, causing a ripple of job-movement ahead of Manpower pressure.

Press, 21 Jul, 11 Sep 42, pp.4, 4; NZ Herald, 26 Sep 43, p. 8; Auckland Star, 1 Apr 43, p. 3 (referring to ‘Westfield Scare’); A to J 1943, H-11A, p. 45

There was general willingness to replace men directly, as on postal rounds, driving, on the trams and in work such as munitions-making that obviously contributed to the war effort.

NZ Herald, 16 May 42, p. 9; Evening Post, 21 May 41, p. 9; Evening Star, 26 Sep 42, p. 9

But there were many necessary, unglamorous jobs, such as domestic work in hospitals and hotels, waitressing, mental nursing, jam and pickle making, in woollen mills and meat canneries, which did not quicken the patriotic pulse and where employers turned anxiously to the Manpower office.

Several of the first industries declared essential, notably clothing, woollen mills and boot and shoe making, were largely staffed by women, who were thus in the Manpower bag from the outset, and other such declarations followed. There was no delicacy about holding women in jobs that they had already chosen, but there was, especially at the start, concern at giving directions to those who registered by age groups. At no stage were women caring for children under 16 years old obliged to register, though they were asked to volunteer if they could make arrangements for their children or for part-time work.

Besides the general recognition that willing workers were better than conscripts, authority did not wish to have industry studded with martyred ladies thrust into situations repellant to them. The Manpower approach could itself affect workers' attitudes, and tact was again clearly prescribed: ‘In the direction of women into essential work considerable care should be exercised in the method of approach which should be in the nature of the offer of an opportunity to give practical and valuable assistance to the war effort, and not a dictatorial direction to do so compulsorily.’

WHN, ‘Industrial Manpower’, p. 28, quoting instructions to Manpower officers, PM 83/4/7

At the start WWSA interviewers helped to sort out registered girls as available, possibly available and not available;

Press, 15 Sep, 14 Nov 42, pp. 4, 4

then Manpower officers interviewed the first two groups. Foremost for direction were those not working or in jobs of light responsibility and those, such as dressmakers, with skills that could be switched to war purposes. Girls willing to transfer were shifted first, and those who had no solid reason for objecting were coaxed, cajoled or ordered to move. At first, childless women keeping house for their husbands were not directed to work but, as pressure grew, policy changed and by the latter half of 1943 mere marriage was not enough to keep women from work of national importance.

Dominion, 23 Aug 43, p. 6

At Auckland in 1942 the first transfers of young women were from clothing establishments without service contracts to factories making uniforms etc.

NZ Herald, 17 Apr 42, p. 4

In Wellington by mid-May, 62 women had been directed to new jobs, 50 as clerical workers in the Services, while among the others a housemaid and a dressmaker became battledress machinists, a metal press operator was moved from match boxes to munitions and an upholsterer from civilian furniture to ships' upholstery.

Dominion, 27 May 42, p. 6

In Christchurch by the end of August, 120 women had been directed, mainly to the clothing trade, hospitals, woollen mills and to firms making gas masks.

Star-Sun, 10 Sep 42, p. 6

More than with men, it was ‘horses for courses’: girls from Remuera homes were not pushed out to Westfield. Manpower officers tried to match the girl and the job, and to offer choices. For instance, an Auckland office assistant in 1943 was offered laundry work, the Westfield cannery or mattress-making. The smell of meat and the thought of slaughter put Westfield beyond the pale, while mattres-smaking would fill her hair with fluff, but the laundry, though hot and exhausting, proved acceptable, with a cheerful atmosphere and plenty of pleasant company assembled from many a more elegant occupation.

Information from Mrs S. K. McPherson, Albert Street, Pukekohe

There was little embarrassment about a wide range of work that normally would have been considered unsuitable: hairdressers were happy as postgirls, shop assistants as railway porters or cooks.

Of course, not all were willing to change, for various reasons, and here Manpower officers had to decide whether or not compulsion would produce worthwhile returns. A mother objected to her daughter going to the Kaiapoi woollen mills lest, mixing with the crowd of girls there, she might learn to drink or smoke or forget her home training.

Press, 23 Mar 43, p. 6

A doctor's receptionist, with experience of filing in a government department, when asked to work in the records of Inland Revenue promised that if compelled to go there she would confuse every file that she could lay her hands on; she heard no more of the proposal.

Information from Mrs H. Cutler, Stackhouse Road, Christchurch

A nurse-attendant at Greenlane Hospital, who early in 1942 had accepted this position as the least of several evils, after some months no longer enjoyed the work and wished to leave in order to join one of the Services. Her appeal was dismissed, the chairman of the Auckland Manpower (Industrial) Committee saying, ‘Many people conscripted into positions are not happy, but today if they do not like it, they must be disciplined.’

Timaru Herald, 10 Dec 42, p. 4

A 19-year-old wardsmaid, after three court appearances, was gaoled for 48 hours for failing to take up and remain in employment at Wellington Hospital.

Dominion, 17 Oct 44, p. 4

Three probationers who had volunteered for nursing later sought release on grounds that they had been mistaken in taking up this profession. This was refused by Manpower authorities, whereon they staged a sit-down strike at Blenheim hospital. ‘Have you ever worked at a job you loathe?’ one asked the magistrate, and another said that he could not force them to stay at nursing against their will. He replied that young men in the Army were giving their lives in work they did not like, and that he had power to make the girls work for three months in a place much more uncomfortable than the hospital. They were each fined £5.

Evening Post, 24 Aug 44, p. 6

Some jobs were acutely unpopular, with mental hospitals and Westfield probably well in the lead. The enlarged canneries of the Westfield Freezing Company, working on overseas orders, needed about 450 women and were chronically plagued by staff shortage and absenteeism.

Auckland Star, 27 Jan 43, p. 4

The difficulties of transport, despite the Army truck pick-up system begun in 1943,

Ibid., 15, 21, 22 Jan, 10 Mar 43, pp. 4, 6, 4, 3

work on Saturday mornings, the closeness of the main freezing works and the heavy smell of cooked meat were powerful detractions, despite publicity about pleasant facilities, good cafeteria, locker rooms, showers, gay chatter, no raw meat, and the sense of directly serving the fighting men; wages were from 45s to 70s 6d according to age, for a 40-hour week.

Ibid., 7 Jul, 29 Aug 42, pp. 2, 4 (photo), 17 Mar 43, p. 4; NZ Herald, 8 Oct 42, p. 4

A woman factory investigator cheeringly reported that the main room where the meat was cooked resembled a huge kitchen; the smell, though strong outside, was not noticeable within and there were hot and cold showers ‘so that girls need not take the atmosphere of their work away with them, as they did at some other factories.’ It was not, she concluded, a ‘job that we would seek in normal times, we girls from shops and offices, but it is not so terribly terrible as we would believe. The outside is a long way worse than the inside.’

Auckland Star, 16 Mar 43, p. 4

Despite such assurances a young woman, told in the Manpower office that decision on her case was reserved, withdrew declaring ‘I won't go to Westfield, I won't’, her mother following with a firm ‘Manpower or no manpower, she won't go to Westfield.’ The officer in question stated that every young lady sent to Westfield had protested vigorously, but more would have to be found.

Ibid.

Appeals against work in mental hospitals were also conspicuous: for example, of 13 young Nelson women so directed 12 lodged appeals;

NZ Herald, 17 Dec 42, p. 2

in June 1943 there were 20 appeals, on the grounds of fear and hardship, against direction to Porirua;

Auckland Star, 2 Jun 43, p. 4

a month later, out of 31 girls so directed, there were 13 appeals, 6 allowed.

Dominion, 9 Jul 43, p. 6

The remoteness of some of these institutions, plus cold and cheerless staff quarters, may well have increased reluctance,

Evening Star, 26 Jul 43, p. 2

and there was scattered public protest about the unsuitability of such work for young women, for instance from a few clergymen and others,

Press, 18 Sep 42, p. 6; NZ Herald, 2 Sep 42, p. 2; Dominion, 7 Sep 44, p. 4

by H. Atmore MP

NZPD, vol 262, p. 258

and the Mt Eden Borough Council.

Star-Sun, 8 Sep 42, p. 2

At first girls were persuaded to volunteer, but the shortage continued, intensifying the work of existing staff; direction was toughened, and there was strong reluctance to release anyone who wanted to leave.

Evening Star, 28 Nov 42, p. 8; Dominion, 2 Oct 43, p. 4

By March 1943 there were 110 503 women listed for work of national importance: 21 436 were aged 18–19 and 41 322 were 20–3; in the 24–30 years group, 20 898 were single, 13 746 were married but childless, and there were 13 101 others, either married with children but contriving to work, or women of more than 30 years who had volunteered.

A to J1943, H-11A, p. 55

When the age range was extended to 40 years, the total rose to 146 862 by the end of March 1944; a further 10 646 registered during the next year, 8212 being the inflow of 18-year-olds, the rest of assorted ages, bringing the grand total to 157 508 by 31 March 1945.

Ibid., 1945, H-11A, p. 74

Not nearly all these were available for Manpower manipulation. Apart from family responsibilities, many were already in essential work or work of sufficient value for them to be left undisturbed. Thus by September 1942, in the Auckland area where 4233 women of 20–1 years had registered, only 1000 were liable for direction; the second group, of 22 to 23-year-olds, had yielded 2500 registrations of which 600 to 700 could be directed. It was expected that of the 24–30 years group in the Auckland area about one-fifth would be available. Continuous review went on, however, with the threshold of availability being lowered as demand increased.

NZ Herald, 26 Sep 42, p. 8

In the first six months of the regulations 7000 workers, including 1000 women, were drafted to new jobs.

Press, 13 Oct 42, p. 4

By March 1946, women had complied with 37 580 directions, men with 138 508.

The yearly figures are shown on p. 670

It must be remembered that one person could comply with several successive directions.

The Labour Department reported in 1943 that while thousands of women had entered essential occupations of their own accord, ‘various analyses’ had shown that a ‘fair number’ were not in any employment before direction.

A to J1943, H–11A, p. 46

Statistics were not kept until October 1943 but, between then and March 1945, women sent into industry who at the time of direction were not gainfully employed numbered 8205. Of these, farming (which included vegetable-growing etc) claimed 1517, engineering 441, food and drink 705, textiles and footwear 1547, other secondary industries 451, shops and warehouses 82, offices 676, hospitals 1147, hotels 1285, miscellaneous 354.

Ibid., 1945, H–11A, p. 36

Apart from those not previously employed, there was a general swing away from shops, offices and less essential factory work to the growing list of industries labelled essential. Sometimes this meant going to quite different work, sometimes movement within one's trade. Among the first to be moved were clothing machinists, from non-essential to priority work. This pressure towards military orders and utility clothing had to be sustained, for neither the girls nor their employers favoured such work, and Service orders fluctuated. By 1943 a pro rata system was established: firms not on war work with a staff of 4 to 10 were expected to yield one employee for essential work when demanded, a staff of 10 to 20 would lose two, and so on.

Auckland Star, 13 Apr 43, p. 4

Without such a quota system, small businesses depending on a handful of skilled women could have collapsed, worsening existing shortages and leaving the post-war industrial stage very empty. Women, to a greater extent than men, were permitted to engage in work not covered by declarations of essentiality,

A to J1945, H–11A, p. 36

though these declarations covered a wide field.

In the clothing trade, for instance, it was not only firms with military orders that bore the stamp of essential industry: those making shirts, pyjamas and other utility lines, and children's clothing, shared the label. An advertisement in January 1943 instances the coaxing tone adopted in the competition for workers, with ‘essential industry’ being an advantage, implying not serfdom but security, with youth no barrier:

Children's Clothing and Underclothing. Apprentices, 13 to 17, are required in this always essential industry. Parents, have your daughter taught a trade that will always be useful in her private life. Light, dainty, interesting work in light, airy, pleasant surroundings, 40-hour 5-day week. Very high standard of pay with easily earned bonuses. Paid holidays, cafeteria under qualified matron. This is a declared essential industry and all our employees' positions are guaranteed permanent.

NZ Herald, 5 Jan 43, p. 1

When those in essential or permitted occupations, plus those with domestic responsibilities, were sorted out, relatively few were available for direction within range of their homes. In country towns girls remained lightly employed.

Auckland Star, 10 May 43, p. 4

Many on their own initiative moved to the cities, finding board for themselves or through friends, and they were urged to do so by the National Service Department.

Evening Star, 26 Jan 43, p. 4

At Wellington, the YWCA helped both girls and the Department through its transients' hostel, and by systematically searching out good landladies.

Dominion, 19 May 42, p. 2; Evening Post, 6, 27 Aug 43, pp. 4, 8

Some manufacturers, especially of clothing, met their labour problems by establishing factories in smaller towns. This began in 1942, notably at Masterton which by 1945 had five clothing factories, and at Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Hawera, Wanganui, Napier, Levin, Thames and Timaru.

A to J1945, H–11A, pp. 48–9

In 1939 there were 515 clothing factories in the four main centres, 70 in secondary towns; in 1945 there were 524 in the main centres, 91 elsewhere.

Ibid., 1946, H–11A, p. 47

Other small towns retained numbers of potential factory workers, eyed hungrily by Manpower officers, especially at Wellington and Auckland, but untouchable unless suitable boarding arrangements could be made within reach of their pay. Beginners' wages, especially for girls, were based on the assumption that they would live with their parents. In July 1942, several directions sending country girls to mills at Ashburton had to be withdrawn because those under 21 would receive, after taxation, less than 17s a week.

Press, 17 Jul 42, p. 4

The obvious answer that the girls should live in hostels was tried in Wellington, with limited success. There was sturdy opposition to girls being drafted to.Wellington, and as the hostels were mainly reserved for such draftees, they did not relieve the housing needs of others, however hard pressed.

Apart from concern for girls' welfare in a troop-ridden city, there was reluctance in country areas to lose those who could help on farms or help farmers' wives. Government respected this view to the extent of suggesting to all rural volunteers for the three Services that they might work in the Women's Land Service instead.

Ibid., 21 Nov 42, p. 4

Even with hostels provided, the directing of groups of girls from, say, Gisborne or Westport to Wellington industry was vigorously opposed by mayors and local chambers of commerce; in particular, South Islanders were emphatic that industry should be moved south rather than girls be drawn north.

Ibid., 22, 25, 30 Sep 43, pp.2, 4, 4; Dominion, 2, 21, 28 Oct 43, pp.4, 4, 6, 12 Feb 44, p. 5

Maori tribal committees steadily opposed their young women being drawn to the ‘vile’ cities.

NZPD, vol 263, p. 149

Labour and lodging problems were greatest in the Hutt Valley where, besides other industries, Ford Motors employed hundreds of girls on munitions, and Wills, handling much of New Zealand's tobacco, had hundreds more. By February 1943 the government had built at Woburn for £67,993 a hostel consisting of nine 4-unit, 2- storeyed wooden blocks, which could be converted into ordinary flats after the war. Kitchen, dining room, lounges, etc, were in one block, while the eight others could together house about 350 girls, two in a room, paying 27s weekly. It was run by the YWCA, as the agent of the government, and the staff included seven superintendents and matrons, who sought to organise recreational facilities and to supervise, more or less tactfully, the leisure of women compulsorily directed far from home and living near an American camp.

War History Narrative, ‘Women War Workers’ Hostels', pp. 8–9

At Richmond Road, about half a mile away, a similar, seven-block, hostel was completed late in 1943. It was then diverted to Army use as a convalescent home, but the Army did not actually occupy it. When the Woburn hostel's kitchen and cafeteria were damaged by fire in February 1944, the Richmond Road facilities were used as substitutes for two or three months, and in April 1944 were fully restored to the girls of industry and the YWCA.

Meanwhile the government had taken over the Orient Hotel at Oriental Bay, Wellington, intending it for about 90 girls, mainly working at Wellington Hospital and at Godfrey Phillips' tobacco factory. It was opened in December 1943, again under YWCA management, though long delays thereafter in completing renovations, fire escapes and heating reduced its capacity.

Ibid., pp. 24–5

Woburn was occupied fairly consistently, but Richmond Road and the Orient hostel during its first year were by no means fully used. They were reserved for Manpowered girls from outside Wellington, but the girls proved hard to muster and pressure for them fluctuated: some industrial programmes were changed, so that anticipated drafts of girls, to whom rooms were allotted, were cancelled; interlocking uncertainties and inertia kept rooms empty. Richmond Road, which could have housed 276 girls and staff, was in use for barely 18 months before it was returned to the Housing Department in September 1945, and for only a few months in mid-1945 was it fully occupied. Throughout, one block holding 46 girls was used by the WAAC, and for most of its time only three of its blocks were in use.

Ibid., pp. 20–2, 25, and appended report by Superintendent M. Sutherland, p. 5

Much the same situation prevailed at the Orient hostel till the YWCA, uneasy about empty rooms while other girls were desperate for accommodation, in September 1944 obtained permission to admit local girls provided they worked in essential industries.

Ibid., pp. 25–6

These difficulties in Wellington hostels caused National Service to turn down proposals, in July 1944, for hostels at Auckland,

Ibid., p. 33

though there was talk about the need for them.

Auckland Star, 12, 13 Oct 43, pp. 2,2

But even if Wellington's hostels were not an unqualified success, they eased an acute employment-accommodation problem for, at most, about 550 girls who were working long hours, and they may well have been more pleasant for not being fully packed. The tobacco employers reported that their directed, hostel-living girls worked well and cheerfully, with less ordinary absenteeism than there was among local girls though many, on account of travelling difficulties, were late in returning from holidays.

Baker, p. 175

After the war, many chose to remain in Wellington instead of returning to their home towns, those in munitions transferring to other labour-hungry places such as woollen mills, clothing and biscuit factories.

A to J1946, H–11A, p. 65; Press, 20 Aug 45, p. 4

By 1941 the growing labour shortage had put workers in a position of strength, able to take a day off here and there without fear of dismissal, and employers noticed an unpatriotic readiness to exploit the situation. The term ‘absenteeism’, properly defined as persistent lateness or absence without leave or reasonable excuse, was bandied about by some employers and newspapers, alarmed at labour's recalcitrance and the government's weakness in meeting it. There was little attempt, at the start, to distinguish between absences that were delinquent and those reasonable in the context of industrial conditions and wartime stresses.

Some newspapers gave a good deal of publicity to absenteeism, particularly to belated returns from holidays at Christmas and Easter. Thus, on 9 January 1941, the Evening Post had a double-column article on the war effort being hampered by workers who, despite pre-Christmas appeals by Cabinet ministers and employers, had failed to resume on Monday 6 January. Some factories with war contracts reported high absence rates, one of nearly 90 per cent, and ‘inquiries made today revealed that this practice was general throughout the industrial strata of the city.’ Workers were trickling back, bronzed but unrepentant, their attitudes keenly resented by proprietors: ‘The humiliating part is that I cannot tell them what I think of them,’ stated one. The tendency to take days off without leave or notice had been going on for some time. The cause was high wages. Many young girls, with more to spend on themselves than had the average married man, were working four-day weeks. The manager of a large staff, who had promised a £2 bonus to those who worked full-time between 1 October and Christmas, had paid out only £20.

Evening Post, 9 Jan 41, p. 8

The secretary of the Manufacturers' Association said that there had been an increasing tendency in recent years for workers to absent themselves for trivial reasons, although they now worked 50 fewer half-days in a year than they used to and had other holiday privileges. Yet at many factories large and small throughout the country, especially in Wellington and Christchurch, post-Christmas production had been seriously affected.

Ibid.

In Christchurch, Millers, a large clothing factory, reported 37 per cent absenteeism on 6 January. There was no trouble at Dunedin, where one large firm had no absences at all and another only 4 or 5 among 830 hands,

Ibid.; a comprehensive inquiry by the Otago Daily Times found two factories on war production where employees returned late. In one 112 (17%) were absent on Tuesday, 7 January and 80 (12½%) were still away on Friday. At a smaller firm, a boot factory, 10% were missing when work resumed but production was not seriously affected. Otago Daily Times, 11 Jan 41, p. 6

nor were excessive absences reported at Auckland.

An Evening Post editorial on 10 January reproved the absentees' carefree abuse of their sheltered conditions in the war and called for firm action by the government. Next day Sullivan, Minister of Supply, stated that his inquiries showed that absenteeism was not a disease affecting every factory; some workers had been irresponsible, the majority had loyally returned on time. Ten large Wellington factories showed absentee rates on 6 January varying from 40 to 3 per cent, and at Christchurch the range was from 42 per cent to almost nil. He pointed to the absence of trouble at Auckland and said that relations between employers and staff in individual factories largely affected absences. Besides this, the Post published a further column of local employers' views, claiming that while other parts of the country might not have suffered serious disorganisation, Wellington industrial concerns had been severely affected.

Evening Post, 11 Jan 41, p. 11

Staffs in clothing factories were prominent offenders. A machinist whose son had enlisted and who had herself gone back to work but found it too hard, wrote of the industry's background:

This year apparently most workrooms closed for ten to fourteen days. It is not so long since we used to get three to four weeks off at Christmas and the employers did not worry how we managed to live in the meantime. The wages were then 38s per week and very little overtime for thoroughly experienced hands. The girls in these workrooms are not deliberately disloyal, believe me, but modern methods and the bonus system work the girls to the limit of endurance. The awards specify 70 hours' overtime in one year unless a special permit is obtained, but most workrooms work far in excess of these, and when Christmas comes the majority of girls are tired mentally and physically. The award rate for clothing employees is now £2 17s 6d, so the girl must work hard to make £3 14s in four days, as one of the employers maintains. Now that the worker is calling the tune and having a fair time for recreation, the employers are kicking and crying disloyalty. I say no, only getting a little of their own back.

Ibid., 10 Jan 41, p. 6, also 17 Jan 41, p. 11

These details show the type of complaints and defences that were repeated during the next two or three years. In another instance an Otago Daily Times editorial on 10 April 1942 attacked Otago freezing workers for late returns after Easter. This drew vigorous and detailed rebuttal in several letters, including one from the union secretary who suggested that the author of the editorial would be ‘more profitably employed on the slaughtering board, guthouse or other appropriate department.’

Otago Daily Times, 15, 20 Apr 42, pp. 4,6

Women were the most frequent offenders. Complaints about girls, uppish with overtime and bonus payments, or with plentiful boy-friends, forsaking their machines, their trays or their mops, were heard repeatedly, newspapers giving ample and indignant coverage, especially to clothing and footwear workers. Such absences did not occur in shops or offices, though they were very common among waitresses. In the context of the war, this withholding of effort was obviously deplorable; in the context of work-force feeling it was more comprehensible. Until the demand for skilled labour grew acute early in 1940, girls who stayed away without very good reason would promptly have been dismissed; they might also have been dismissed to balance fluctuations in factory orders. The knowledge that they could take time off without being sacked would be as agreeable to girls as it was disturbing to management. The lamentations from some Wellington clothing factories in November 1941 bear witness. Said one, ‘Girls are the most irresponsible creatures imaginable, yet in these days we are entirely at their mercy.’ Another said that it was now impossible for a man to be boss in his own factory, as he would find himself without employees: ‘Sack a girl because she is useless and with her go all her friends too. They do not care two hoots, knowing perfectly well that when they want to earn some more money they will have no difficulty in getting another job.’

NZ Herald, 6 Nov 41, p. 9

Tales of 16-year-old girls getting £3 10s a week, even £5 for factory work,

Ibid., 4 Nov 41, p. 6

were exaggerated, said other managers: the starting wage was 20s to 25s, with periodical increases for experience, and though some girls of 16 might have two years behind them, generally girls earning high pay were highly skilled. One manager claimed that his absentee rate was almost negligible and his girls were keen, especially on essential production, with overtime willingly worked and just as willingly paid.

Ibid., 5, 7 Nov 41, pp.6, 8

The award wage for an adult female clothing worker was £2 15s (plus 5 per cent cost of living increase), but many firms were paying above award rates to get and keep staff.

It was not hard, given reports of a few outstanding payments, to believe that these were general. It was not widely realised that with production boosted by piecework and overtime, girls on monotonous and exacting tasks became genuinely very tired, and such things as a sunny day (or a very wet one), a headache, a period, or the husband or boy-friend being on leave, seemed plenty of reason for a day off. The regulations, beginning in January 1942, which checked movement from job to job, created worker restiveness while removing still further the threat of dismissal.

Other regulations, passed on 20 May 1942, required employers to report any absence exceeding four hours to Manpower officers, who would investigate. At this stage further and better excuses were usually produced and often it was decided that real absenteeism was not fully proved. Otherwise a warning would be issued in the first instance, and for repeated offences the Manpower officer could direct the employer to deduct up to two days' pay, which would go into the War Expenses Account. Appeal against such fines could be made to the Industrial Manpower Committee, but two fines of pay, or attending unauthorised ‘stop work’ meetings, could bring offenders before the courts, facing fines of up to £50. By VJ Day, Manpower officials had received 48 237 complaints; 11 252 were not proved, there were 29 085 warnings, and 7900 fines were taken from pay packets.

A to J1946, H–11A, p. 33

In the DSIR, an Industrial Psychology Division was established. Its first report, for private circulation only, covered research between November 1942 and August 1943 into 34 engineering firms employing nearly 6000 workers, mainly men, and 11 other firms employing 961 women. It found average absentee rates of 6.5 per cent for men and 12.1 per cent for women, very close to current Australian figures of 5 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

Industrial Absenteeism, Report No 1, Industrial Psychology Division, DSIR, pp. 9–10

It also found that conditions in many factories were unhelpful: heating and ventilation were often not good, and refreshment facilities were scanty. Thus, in the 34 engineering factories there were only three canteens, one good, one too small and one poor; ten had reasonably pleasant mess rooms, providing tea or hot water; in three these were unsatisfactory; 18 had neither canteens nor mess rooms, and some firms disapproved of tea breaks. Among such workers, sustained mainly on sandwiches, pies and fish-and-chips, their days lengthened by persistent if not excessive overtime, both ill-health and absenteeism seemed probable. The waiting and weariness of travel on crowded buses, trams and trains which did not mesh with overtime hours would also contribute to fatigue.

Good relations between workers and management, however, emerged as the most important single factor in keeping absence rates low.

Ibid., p.21

The report held: ‘Up to a point absenteeism is an unavoidable outlet for the strains and tensions of wartime industry (fatigue, monotony, irritation and social dislocation).’ Absence rates of 5 per cent for men and 10 per cent for women would be reasonable, and the rates of many firms were well below this. There was no single, simple remedy but the most important contribution would be a ‘substantial advance in methods of personnel management’. This would involve the training of managers in modern practices and outlook; better keeping and use of labour records; less criticism of shortcomings, remembering that good workmen were not born but made, and awareness that absenteeism was to a considerable extent a problem of youth. Fines, it seemed, lessened individual absences, but had no marked deterrent effect on the rest of the firm. Rewards for good attendance had not proved a lasting answer, and more severe penalties, unless applied with great discrimination, would certainly be unjust to many genuinely maladjusted to the industrial situation. There was a case for stepping up penalties immediately after holiday periods, but stringency of the Russian sort was unthinkable. Ventilation and heating facilities for meals, and first-aid and accident prevention, should be improved. Overtime should be limited and monotony lessened, while informative publicity, arousing feelings of urgency, loyalty, interest and usefulness, should be developed along with workers' committees.

Ibid., pp. 40–3

The investigators agreed with the clothing machinist quoted above

see p. 685

in believing that Depression experiences should be kept in mind when assessing the root causes of absenteeism.

Industrial Absenteeism, p. 30

The Psychology Division found wide variations in absence rates from firm to firm, suggesting the importance of specific internal factors.

Ibid., p. 20

Among men the usual reason given was sickness. Women, absent more often, also pleaded business (which included personal affairs, shopping and hairdressing), family (illness of children or husband, husband or boy-friend on leave, household duties, death in the family) and miscellaneous reasons, such as the dentist or a parade in town; or they offered no excuse at all.

Ibid., pp. 9–10

Women's absences had been noticed quite early. In June 1940 Sullivan had said that though young girls in factories were doing splendid work while actually on the job, they sometimes stayed away for days at a time, producing serious dislocation.

War History Narrative, ‘Women's War Service Auxiliary’, p. 4, quoting report of deputation to PM and others, 11 Jun 40, NS 13/3/9, pt 1; see p. 686

Only during a few bad times did many New Zealanders doubt that somehow the war would be won. Assurances, often repeated, that workers' full efforts were needed for victory became unreal when reviewed beside the delays and checks which almost inevitably litter factory production, and were even more remote from such tasks as housework in hotels or non-military hospitals or waitressing in restaurants. Probably most women felt less involved in the war than did men, basically because life-and-death military service was not expected of them. Many could not imagine that what they did or did not do could affect the war's progress or outcome. Therefore they sought to live with the war, getting what they could from things as they were. Young girls, with their normal courting and marriage routines disrupted, accepted or sought what fun was going. Mostly such fun was with servicemen, often with Americans, affluent and fascinating. Employers allowed for such factors in assessing staff needs. When girls with husbands on leave stayed away from work, it was rated ‘only natural’, but there was less tolerance for other attachments.

Auckland Star, 3 Nov 42, p. 4, 13 May 43, p. 6

A Dominion article early in 1943 complained, among much else, that free-spending male escorts contributed to the slackness of girls, who were ‘reported to keep very late nights, to be absent from work frequently, and often to be indifferent to the job when they are there.’

Dominion, 9 Jan 43, p. 4

For different reasons, absence rates were high among married women. If they had homes and husbands, let alone children, they were doing two jobs. They were not wholly dependent on their earnings and they felt that they did enough for the war effort without putting in every day at the factory.

Press, 24 Sep 42, p. 4

No one could reproach a mother who stayed home with a sick child, while even housework and shopping could get out of hand and husbands grow fidgety. By no means all absences were reported to Manpower: up to 31 March 1943 only 7564 persons had been reported, fewer than the workers who would have been absent on a single day.

Industrial Absenteeism, p. 39

Some employers, who attributed all absence to irresponsibility and excessively high wages, were exasperated by the kid-glove method of Manpower inquiries and believed that distinguishing between irresponsible and excusable absences might well have been left to the courts.

Dominion, 29 Apr 43, p. 4

They complained that it was no use complaining.

Evening Star, 30 Apr 43, p. 6; Auckland Star, 29 Jun 43, p. 4; NZ National Review, 15 May 43, p. 50

Others, who accepted a high rate of absence, some mentioning 10 per cent, some 20 per cent, as one of the trials of the times, allowed for it in their arrangements and saved themselves the trouble of making charges.

Press, 24 Sep 42, p. 4; Auckland Star, 3 Nov 42, p. 4

Up to March 1943 the National Service Department had dealt with 6960 of the 7564 complaints, giving warnings in 5109 cases and fining in 424 others, or six per cent; 1427 charges were not sustained.

A to J1944, H–11A, p. 44

Fraser told the House in June that on 8 March Manpower officers were instructed to take a more severe line in future.

NZPD, vol 263, p. 22

Later in the year, the National Service Department told employers that it was taking stricter measures and asked them to report absences for which they had not received genuine reasons. The Department recognised that many employers had ceased notifying in view of many experiences of inactivity by Manpower officers.

Press, 2 Nov 43, p. 4

In the year ending March 1944, of 18 814 cases dealt with, 10 983 were warned, 3272 or 17 per cent were fined, and 4559 were not sustained. In the following year, from 16 298 investigations there were 9451 warnings, 2991 (18 per cent) fines, and 3856 not sustained. Against the total 6687 fines imposed, there were 268 appeals; in 42 cases fines were reduced and in 88 wholly remitted.

A to J1944, H–11A, p. 44, 1945, H–11A, pp. 42, 82; Hare, Labour in New Zealand 1944, p. 13

In its 1944 annual report, the New Zealand Employers Federation said that on account of National Service ineffectiveness few employers bothered to report absences with the result that the Department claimed that absenteeism was no longer a serious problem; strong enforcement of the regulations would have benefited the nation.

Dominion, 16 Oct 44, p. 6

In the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, discussing a firm's complaint of major absences after Christmas 1944, it was said that both employers and employees were to blame. Early in the war employers were reluctant to report absenteeism, some ‘got into bad odour’ for reporting cases, it was easier to ignore the law and some workers took advantage of the position. Continued strain was also mentioned, and flighty girls with too much money in their pockets.

NZ Herald, 13 Feb 45, p. 4

As part of the drive against both absenteeism and failure to register for direction, Manpower officers, along with the police, had authority to question people on private premises and in public places such as hotels, cinemas and billiard rooms concerning their work obligations. In 1944 the National Service Department claimed that raids, carried out ‘tactfully and in a manner to cause the least inconvenience to the public’, had located several hundreds of defaulters and absentees.

A to J1944, H–11A, p. 20

This tact may have been slight exaggeration for the official record. After June 1942, hotel lounges were watched for truant women, and there were sporadic raids resulting, by March 1944, in more than 1000 women being interviewed and about 10 per cent of them being made available for work.

NZ Herald, 24 Mar 44, p. 2

Thus, during two days in May 1943 Wellington police and Manpower authorities found 40 ‘known or suspected defaulters’ in hotels;

Dominion, 29 May 43, p. 4

in August, raiding two Hamilton hotels to investigate possible immorality, excessive drinking and Manpower defaulting, officials questioned more than 100 people, finding some who had left employment without leave and others temporarily absent.

Ibid., 7 Aug 43, p. 6

In January 1944, the New Zealand Herald noted that while more than 200 jobs for women were advertised in its columns, its reporters counted ‘hundreds’ of women drinking in hotel lounges on a Friday afternoon. The practice had been somewhat curtailed during the Manpower raids in the middle of the previous year, remarked the Herald, ‘but the numbers frequenting the lounges have again increased and suggest that further raids could well be considered.’

NZ Herald, 15, 17 Jan 44, pp. 5, 5

In March and April 1944 these raids were intensified, and people were questioned not only in hotels but in cinemas, tea rooms, billiard rooms and golf courses in many centres. It was widely reported on 13 April that in 163 raids in various parts of New Zealand 110 persons, all women, had been located for direction to work; also 63 definite cases of absenteeism had been found and others were still being investigated. Further, said H. L. Bockett,

Bockett, Herbert Leslie, CMG('61), CStJ('68) (1905–80): Asst Dir Nat Service Dept 1940; Controller Manpower 1942; Dir Nat Service 1944; Sec Labour 1947–64; chmn Conscientious Objection Cmte 1965; member Primary Teachers Appointment Appeal Board, Assessment Appeal Board 1969, etc; chmn Workers' Compensation Board

Controller of Manpower, the raids had caused many people who should have registered earlier to do so.

Dominion, 13 Apr 44, p. 4

In the bars of six Auckland hotels the first raids, on the afternoon of 12 April 1944, were generally treated as a ‘not uninteresting novelty’. There were relatively few civilians present, most of them legitimately; they included carpenters and other out-door men who could not work on account of rain, seamen, night shift men and a ‘surprising’ number with medical certificates. About 70 names were to be checked, but were not expected to yield more than eight or nine absentees. In hotel lounges at the same time, few women were absent from work without good reason.

NZ Herald, 13 Apr 44, p. 4

At Wellington the Dominion reported in mid-April that of 538 persons interrogated in hotels, cinemas and billiard rooms during the past month only six were absent from essential industry without excuse, while 31 not gainfully employed had been ordered to report to Manpower, nine of them being directed to essential work. A large number of young people proved to be on shift work, had a rostered day off or were actually on holiday, disproving the impression apparently held by the public that numbers of young people at places of public amusement were malingering. The raids, it was held, had deterred absenteeism; some places of amusement were less patronised and one had closed in the afternoons.

Dominion, 17 Apr 44, p. 6

These reports do not suggest a very large haul. The District Manpower Officer at Christchurch, questioned at this time, would not give figures but said that the greatest value of the raids was ‘not in the absentees detected, but in the absenteeism they prevent’.

NZ Herald, 12 Apr 44, p. 4

The raids clearly were in response to complaints against absenteeism, but no conspicuous improvement was claimed; there were other places to be in besides pubs and pictures.

It was tempting to believe that longer hours would increase production in proportion; consequently, regulations facilitated longer hours by lowering rates for overtime and by permitting extra work by women and boys. Reports from Britain of dramatic hours worked after Dunkirk were countered, after a few months, by statements that such effort could not be sustained and that production actually fell; but, as Dr Hare remarked, ‘The idea that output can be automatically increased by increasing hours of work is deeply ingrained and dies very hard’.

Hare, Labour in New Zealand 1942, p. 36

After Japan's entry, long hours were worked on defence construction, while in munitions and engineering 10–30 hours of overtime weekly were normal during the first half of 1942.

Munitions Controller, Standard, 18 Jun 42, p. 8; Auckland Star, 15 Jan 42, p. 5

Engineering efforts, such as the making from scratch and in a rush of Bren gun and universal carriers,

Press, 16 Jul 42, p. 4

involved a tremendous amount of work, spread out in many factories. Pressure extended over many fields: in a firm making and repairing agricultural machinery, men worked 55 hours a week and by July 1942 this was ‘getting them down.’

Ibid., 25 Jul 42, p. 4; Auckland Star, 13 Aug, 26 Nov 42, pp. 4, 2

A pamphlet, Hours of Work in Wartime by Leslie Hearnshaw,

Hearnshaw, Leslie Spencer (1907–): b UK; lecturer psychology VUC 1939–47; Dir Industrial Psychology DSIR

a Wellington University College lecturer, published in August 1942, concluded that long hours diminished human efficiency so much that production fell, workers' health suffered and overtime pay was handed out for nothing at all. Hare's pamphlet, Labour in New Zealand 1942, also warned against excessive overtime, and his views were supported by some newspapers.

Press, 2 Jan 43; Evening Post, 24 Feb 42, p. 3

Already some Wellington firms, from their own records, had found that overtime was being cancelled out by absenteeism and were reducing it as much as possible.

Dominion, 31 Oct, 14 Nov 42, pp. 6, 6

Overtime paid better than normal hours. In Britain ‘Dog-tired men would take the day off in the middle of the week, losing an ordinary day's pay—then turn up on Sunday to earn double pay. A vested interest in Sunday work and in overlong hours was created, and stood against Ernest Bevin's

Bevin, Rt Ron Ernest, PC('40) (1881–1951): MP (UK) from 1940, Min Labour & Nat Service 1940–5, Sec State Foreign Aff 1945–51, Lord Privy Seal 1951

well-conceived attempts to revive sanity.’

Calder, p. 118

Overtime and absenteeism, through exhaustion and the pay motive, readily became a cycle in which workers got more money for the same or less work. This was the case in Britain and to some extent in New Zealand. Especially if workers were absent in normal hours, overtime would be needed to catch up on orders. Frequently, awards required that on overtime evenings payments must be made for at least three hours, whether or not the full time was worked. As an instance, trainee girls in a clothing factory on 17s 6d a week had to be paid 1s 6d an hour overtime, with a minimum of three hours. Thus they would receive 4s 6d for three hours or less on overtime, but only 3s 6d for eight hours' normal day work.

Auckland Star, 31 Jul 40, p. 12

By 1943 the excessive post-Japan hours were largely reduced: for defence works, engineering trades and the railways they were usually between 48 and 56 a week, though longer hours—up to 60 and 70 a week—were worked sporadically on the wharves and by ship repairers, railway drivers and cement workers.

Hare, Labour in New Zealand 1943, pp. 28–9; Press, 21 Mar 41, p. 4; Evening Star, 10 May 43, p. 2

During 1944 hours continued to shrink, with building and construction trades, railways and engineering work running at between 45 and 48 hours weekly, though there were exceptional cases of 60 hours or so.

Hare, Labour in New Zealand 1944, pp. 12–13

Some hours, however, were lengthened. From March 1944 the Auckland Transport Board's traffic staff worked a 6-day week of 54 hours. They had previously been averaging 48 to 50 hours; the increase was to meet the inroads of absenteeism, though it was realised that ‘longer hours before long would bring increased absenteeism.’

Dominion, 9 Feb 44, p. 6

Throughout, with both men and women absentee rates varied greatly from firm to firm. This was noted by the Industrial Psychology Division researchers who found rates varying from 1.37 to 9.40 per cent among men and from 5.45 to 21.70 per cent among women.

Industrial Absenteeism, pp. 20, 23

Sullivan drew attention to it in January 1941 and at the same time the Otago Daily Times had found in virtuous Dunedin one firm with a very high absence rate.

see p. 685, fn 113. This variation was also recorded in several reports by newspapers and manufacturers on post-holiday absences.

On 4 January 1943, when absenteeism was reported to be ‘rife’ in Australia, Auckland returns to work were satisfactory, except in the clothing trade. In shipbuilding and some other heavy industry, work had continued over the holidays, and there was no trouble at Westfield's freezing works or other equally essential industries. Ten clothing firms questioned in Auckland reported that only a small proportion of their staffs were present on the day the firms re-opened, but it appeared that this day was not held to be compulsory.

Evening Star, 5 Jan 43, p. 2

There was no large-scale absenteeism, however, and some clothing firms that were overhauling machinery had arranged to open later.

NZ Herald, 5 Jan 43, p. 2

Again Dunedin was fully on the job, and there were few complaints from Christchurch where most large factories had arranged to re-open a week later on 11 January.

Press, 6, 12 Jan 43, pp. 2, 4

At Wellington few complaints were lodged officially—an early report stated that 95 per cent had returned on time

Evening Post, 5 Jan 43, p. 4

—but a local survey declared that absentee rates were very serious, ranging from 26 to 80 per cent. Details for seven firms with very high rates were given, with no suggestion that others were less affected, and employers were said to be demanding that the penal regulation be applied.

Dominion, 9 Jan 43, p. 4; quoted by Baker, pp. 156–8

Four months later, at Easter, a Dominion article found that, in the absence of sufficient penalties, in eight Wellington firms 163 employees, 11 per cent of the total 1476, resumed late. The numbers varied greatly from firm to firm: 2 out of 180, 17 out of 300, 27 out of 160, 53 out of 254, 13 out of 140, 22 out of 80. Employers called on the National Service Department to state the number of cases investigated, prosecuted and fined.

Dominion, 28 Apr 43, p. 4

This was supported by a Dominion editorial on 29 April, attacking the government's weakness with slackers. The Christchurch Manufacturers Association at the same time reported that at four Christchurch factories with a total of 1000 employees, 140 were absent on the Tuesday after Easter.

Evening Star, 30 Apr 43, p. 6

After 1943 there was less outcry in the press against absenteeism. Manpower officers were imposing more penalties, victory was closer and possibly investigators such as Dr Hare and the Industrial Psychological Division, along with overseas findings, had persuaded some employers' spokesmen that, for continued effort, rest was needed and if not given would be taken. The Industrial Rest Period Regulations of December 1943 (1943/194) had decreed that, for the efficient prosecution of the war, all workers whose awards did not already entitle them to at least five days' paid annual holiday should have such a holiday from 27–31 December inclusive, while those whose work had to continue over these days should have an equivalent rest period within six months.

The provisions of these regulations were replaced by permanent legislation in the Annual Holidays Act 1944, dubbed a ‘revolutionary measure’. Yearbook 1947–49, p. 651, 1946, p. 620. see p. 696

On 7 January 1944 the New Zealand Herald reported that Auckland absences varied from rather high to almost negligible and that managers did not regard them seriously, some saying that factories had been working very hard for a long time, often up to 60 hours a week, that some lateness was expected, even that an extra day or two off now would mean more output in the long run, and that the weather was ideal for holidaying. Some clothing and footwear proprietors had themselves arranged not to open for a further week, acknowledging that workers needed a longer rest than in normal times.

NZ Herald, 7 Jan 44, p. 4

In Wellington, many manufacturers were very pleased with the rate of returns, though one firm had a 33 per cent female absence on Tuesday 4 January. Here too some employers had approved longer holidays, one reporting that this had ‘worked out pretty well’; the ‘habituals’ were still away but few of the others.

Dominion, 5, 11 Jan 44, pp. 4, 4

There were reports of men returning late to the Wanganui freezing works and to some West Coast mines.

Ibid., 5, 6 Jan 44, pp. 4, 6

A New Zealand Herald article stated that there was increasing evidence that Auckland employers were interesting themselves more and more in industrial health and were realising that while nothing could be done about certain types who stayed away for no reason, these were only a small proportion of their employees. It quoted from the Medical Journal of Australia that to fulminate against all absentees as slackers or worse was plain foolishness. The problem deserved careful study. It was in part a medical one and doctors must insist on this being accepted. Bureaucracy could be both insensate and unintelligent. Past a certain point long hours did not improve production; fatigue was cumulative.

NZ Herald, 18 Jan 44, p. 6

After Easter 1944 Wellington manufacturers who surveyed 12 firms employing 2123 persons found that absenteeism ranged considerably, averaging 10.5 per cent, almost all by women.

Dominion, 13 Apr 44, p. 4

There was a calm tone in the New Zealand Footwear Manufacturers' annual report, presented in July 1944, although theirs was a hard-pressed industry. They had suffered to some extent from absenteeism but only with a very small number of workers was it persistent or avoidable. ‘It is well known that in industries which employ a large percentage of female labour, where inexperienced labour is being used to a substantial degree, and where long hours of overtime are being worked, there is usually a chronic absenteeism. In the footwear industry last year, however, manufacturers, in conjunction with workers' organisations and Department officials, have, with the goodwill of the operatives, reduced absenteeism to a minimum.’ The effort made by married women was warmly commended.

Auckland Star, 1 Jul 44, p. 4

By December 1944 the Annual Holidays Act had decreed that, except where existing awards were more favourable, every worker should have two weeks' holiday on full pay. Most took these holidays at Christmas, many factories being closed for 19 days. There were fewer reports of absenteeism, with suggestions that some was expected, as in the mines and freezing works.

NZ Herald, 4, 11 Jan 45, pp. 4, 4

Of 12 Wellington firms, half reported their staff position as practically normal, half found it bad; again women were the offenders.

Ibid., 11 Jan 44, p. 6

The New Zealand Herald featured two articles which reported on work conditions and staff welfare in factories in the four main centres and advised that improvement was necessary.

Ibid., 5, 8 Jan 45, pp. 6, 7

In all, newspaper reports and the industrial research of Dr Hare backed up the National Service Department's opinion that there could be seemingly identical factories in the same neighbourhood with widely different absentee rates, and that the solution was mainly in sympathetic adjustment between management and staff, in improved individual handling of cases of absenteeism, and in elimination of conditions which promoted ill-health, undue fatigue and lack of interest.

A to J1944, H–11A, p. 20, 1945, H–11A, p. 41

In the last year of the war the Department repeated that real unavoidable absenteeism was difficult to determine. Incidence had changed little in the past year. Among men it was highest in heavy industry, mining, sawmilling, the freezing works, iron foundries, building and construction. Among women, most occurred where routine was monotonous and sometimes physically exhausting, as in textile and clothing manufacture and in the domestic work of hotels, restaurants and other institutions. It was believed to be higher with persons held under direction, among young persons imperfectly adjusted to work environment and among women with domestic responsibilities; in general, women continued to be worse than men.

Ibid., 1945, H–11A, p. 42

The annual report of the New Zealand Employers Federation, considering the health and character training of children, future employees, said that there should be flexibility in current hours: no restriction should be placed on mothers who wished to work shorter hours or to stagger those hours.

Dominion, 17 Oct 44, p. 6

Probably it could be said that the great increase of industry during the war, combined with the labour shortage, brought absenteeism to the fore, and that after the initial impact, industry learned to live with it while learning also that its own conditions must improve.

Broadly speaking, in the first nine months of 1942 effort was concentrated on home defence, but towards the end of those months New Zealand was moving away from coastal defence, air fields and camps to its tradition of sending troops to meet the enemy beyond its shores.

see p. 705

Meanwhile, as American demands for food grew and shortages of all sorts increased, there was widespread restiveness about mobilisation and manpower. For employers and the public in general the manpower problem loomed over and through all other difficulties. There were recurrent demands that the government should make a thorough survey of military and industrial needs and of the men and women available, and shape policy accordingly; that it should make up its mind and take the people into its confidence. The interdepartmental War Planning and Manpower Committee in August 1942 attempted to frame an ‘all in’ plan covering the total economy, but it was soon clear that the administrative complications and disruption involved would be immense and might create as many difficulties as solutions,

Wood, pp. 247–8; Baker, p. 482

while in the improving war situation problems were changing faster than the scheme could have been applied. Perforce, the government answered pressures with piecemeal adjustments and withstood grumbles.

There were several lines of thought concerning the competition between the Army and industry for manpower. Some wanted the main Pacific effort to be not in soldiers but in feeding and servicing Americans, while others protested that the providers of biscuits and cheese, of potatoes and cabbages, could not claim a speaking place in the post-war Pacific. It was also argued that New Zealand already had quite enough men in the forces, and that overseas commitments could be drawn from those in camp without calling up the older men, thus further disrupting economic and family life. Again, many thought that after, say, six months of training men should be returned to their civilian jobs, ready for recall in a military crisis. There were complaints that soldiers were held uselessly in camps at the dictate of the Army which cared nothing for the total manpower problem or any aspect of the war effort except the supply of servicemen.

Mobilisation was highest in July 1942, with 154 549 men and women in the Services, 52 651 of them overseas. By November 1943 the home forces had dropped to 60 965, while those overseas had reached the peak of 75 952.

These figures are taken from A to J 1948, H–19B, pp. 3, 10, 13. Baker, pp. 81–2, 484, says that peak mobilisation was in September 1942, with 107 000 serving in New Zealand and about 50 000 overseas. This follows figures given in A to J 1946, H–11A, p. 15, but the final official tallies of service strengths in A to J 1948, H–19B, are preferred here, and were adopted by Wood, pp. 243, 277, and Yearbook 1950, p. 208, though with some difference in the numbers at home and overseas.

After the call-up in June 1942 of 21 000 family men aged 32–4, the Director of National Service considered that the armed forces had now claimed all the men that the national effort could afford, and he urged that there should be no more ballots.

Baker, p. 481. At the war's start the total labour force was estimated at 700 000 men and women. In July 1942 151 073 men, about 43 per cent of the male population of military age, were mobilised. Yearbook 1950, p. 208

But 35 000 men in the Army were not fit, by age or medical grading, for overseas service,

Wood, p. 251

the Air Force was seeking volunteers from Army ranks and to meet overseas commitments in two divisions it was necessary both to probe into the higher age groups and to comb out those from earlier ballots held in essential industry. More than 22 000 men aged 35–7 were called up in the 17th ballot of 15 September 1942, nearly 22 000 of 38–40 years in November, and 32 000 of 41–5 years, for limited home service only, in December.

A to J1946, H–11A, p. 120; Star–Sun, 21 Jan 43, p. 4

The early complaint that people did not know there was a war on was replaced by murmurs that New Zealand was over-committed. Fraser, on 21 November 1942, said that there was a lot of loose thinking about manpower, and alarmist talk about the effect of ballots on industry; only 25 per cent of those then being called were reaching camp, and only 20 per cent were expected from the 41–5-year-olds. Among the older men, more skilled and responsible, it was found necessary to postpone service for increasing numbers; by October 1942 fit reserved men were reckoned to exceed 30 000, and by mid-November about 10 000 fit men had been released from camp.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1941–2’, p. 28, referring to a report to the Min Nat Service, Oct 42, NS 13/2/125, pt 1; Press, 14 Nov 42, p. 4

Farmers and others reiterated their needs for labour if production were to be maintained, complaining that the Army held men for home defence after the danger had passed, often squandering their time on useless routines. The New Zealand Herald wondered if a large Army rather than a strong Army had been created;

NZ Herald, 11 Nov 42

Truth complained that men were taken in too quickly for proper training and regardless of civil dislocation, hinting that the Army was guided by its need to balance the number of senior officers.

Truth, 18 Nov 42, p. 11

The Wanganui Herald suggested that merely putting more and more men into uniform did not necessarily improve military strength, and that to recall the 2nd Division for Pacific service might avoid further calling-up and disruption;

Wanganui Herald, 25 Nov 42

there were murmurs about a standing army awaiting most improbable attack.

Ibid., 24 Nov, 7 Dec 42; Timaru Herald, 5 Dec 42; Press, 21 Jan 43

The Southland Daily News on 26 January doubted the wisdom of calling men from important jobs to a routine of eating and marching day in and day out. Manufacturers spoke of men who could be infinitely more useful in vital jobs than as soldiers, of production falling because staffs were exhausted by long hours and concentrated effort while it was known that thousands were wasting time in camp. They suggested that the government, though sympathetic to manufacturing problems, was guided by Army views.

NZ Herald, 30 Oct 42, p. 2, 20 Nov 43, p. 6; Press, 24 Feb 43, p. 4; NZPD, vol 262, pp.66–7

As noted elsewhere,

see p. 712

conferences at Christchurch and Auckland drew together all such discontents, including grave misgivings about an active Pacific force, in proposals that it was time to reduce the home Army and move from defence to production.

Fraser, on 4 December 1942, said that in the improved situation all agreed that it was time to decide on the minimum force needed to defend the country, how many could be released and how they could be recalled if danger loomed again.

NZPD, vol 261, p. 976

McLagan on 23 December announced that the utilisation of manpower would be re-considered early in the New Year and that the 41–5-year-olds just balloted should stay in their jobs till further notice. The New Zealand Herald on 29 December remarked that most of these men, ‘putting two and two together’, felt that their military service would not be more than ‘a sort of glorified Home Guard’, with perhaps three months in camp and some spare time training. In fact, they were never called to camp; the sending out of their notices had been in part a continuation of action initiated a good deal earlier, and it served to bring this group under Manpower direction.

At the other end of the age range there was increasing uneasiness about boys of 18 and 19 remaining in camp, many of whom had not even started on a real job, apprenticeship or university work. In May 1941, when the intake age for Territorials had been lowered to 18, training was for a few months only, and did not itself break normal career development very much; but in January 1942 such service became permanent home defence. By the end of the year, there were thousands of lads with months of Army routine behind them, and the prospect of a year or so more of it before they were old enough for overseas service. Non-sentimental groups, such as the RSA, Chambers of Commerce and manufacturers, feared that work attitudes might be gravely impaired by long exposure to routine garrison duty, and meanwhile employers were reluctant to take on 17-year-olds, knowing that they would soon be called up.

Press, 28 Nov 42, p. 4, 24 Feb 43, p. 4; Auckland Star, 28 Jan, 4 Feb 43, pp. 4, 4

Recognising this, the government announced on 16 March 1943 that the Army would release those of 18 and 19 years who wanted to return to civilian life.

There was, at the start of 1943, strong public pressure for the reduction of home forces, and some for the Pacific force being on garrison work only. This did not prevent the government from responding to another strong pressure, that New Zealand should bear its part fully in the Pacific, by deciding on 6 March to increase the 3rd Division to full divisional strength, transforming it from a garrison to a combat force.

Wood, p. 252

These would be Grade I men; it was the lower medical grades in the main that were to be released to industry.

There had, in fact, been many releases already. No sooner were men rushed into the Army in the post-Japan flurry than there was urgent need to get vital workers out again. Even in the three months April–June 1942, 2300 men considered key workers were released, the recommendations of appeal boards being approved by the Army.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1942’, p. 16, quoting report to Min Nat Service, 21 Oct 42, NS 13/2/125, pt 3; see p. 720

Pressure for more widespread releases came strongly from rural areas. About April 1942 county councils, led by Inglewood's, sent in with monotonous regularity a resolution expressing grave concern at the withdrawal of workers from industry, urging that after a period of training men should return to their homes, with full equipment, to be members of a compulsory militia, incorporating the Home Guard, kept efficient by compulsory parades. In July the Farmers' Union conference passed a similar resolution. The government replied that it was not possible to combine such demobilisation with effective defence,

Ibid., pp. 17–18

but fully realised that to maintain production, to keep cows in milk and ensure that sufficient crops—potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, fodder, linen flax, vegetables, tobacco—were planted and harvested, farmers must be sure of adequate labour, particularly to meet their surges of work. With spring approaching and the battle of Midway won, Fraser on 8 July 1942 announced that men on farms liable for military service would be left there in the meantime, and farming men already in camp would, where necessary, be returned to the land.

In camps such men were listed, farmers could apply for them, and the men themselves could apply to return to their previous occupation. Primary Production Councils had increased responsibility: they had lists of men called in ballots and other information, and they advised Manpower authorities of needs in their districts, recommending recalls, either temporary or permanent; they could even, on grounds of public interest, institute appeals that they thought justified where the people concerned had not appealed or where the Army had failed to return men considered essential to farming. They also advised and encouraged farmers about crops needed and organised the pooling of equipment.

Evening Post, 27 Jul 42, p. 4; also Polson, Min Primary Production for War Purposes, NZ Herald, 14, 15 Jul 42, pp. 4, 4; Evening Post, 16 Jul 42, p. 6

As military service appeal boards were flooded with applications and speed was vital, provisional leave was readily granted to get men on to the land immediately, while longer or continuing needs were sorted out. Farmers might not get the special men they wanted, Polson explained, but they would get good farm hands.

NZ Herald, 25 Sep 42, p. 2

Men who convinced their officers that farms needed their labour were released, usually for 14 or 28 days, pending inquiry by the boards.

Broadfoot, Min Nat Service, Evening Post, 8 Aug 42, p. 6

About 12 000 of the Territorial force, that is those whose age or medical grading disqualified them from overseas service, had come from farms. By August appeals totalled almost 8000 and in the first rush about 6000 men were released to a farming community which had not expected such ready compliance.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1942’, p. 19

Similarly, for freezing works, experienced men in camp, and even some without experience, could volunteer through Manpower officers, who would seek their release,

McLagan, Min Industrial Manpower, NZ Herald, 27 Nov 42, p. 2

while to lessen Army disruption some men being called up for service were drafted instead to the meatworks from December to May 1943.

NZ Herald, 3, 29 Dec 42, pp. 2, 4

In all, stated the Minister of Defence on 14 November 1942, since 15 July essential work had received more than 10 000 men from the Army. Further figures recorded that from June to the end of November, 12 693 men (9177 for farms and 3516 others) were released from camps and only 4000 of them had been reclaimed by the Army.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1942’, p. 33, referring to A to J 1943, H–11A, p. 34, and notes prepared for secret session, 3 Dec 1942, PM 81/1/3, pt 2

The initial exuberance was replaced by closer scru tiny and more consideration of a man's military value. Only in very exceptional circumstances and with approval from Army Headquarters were men released who were in line for overseas service and who had done a substantial part of their training, nor were Grade I single men of overseas age granted postponement or release unless they were of remarkable civilian value.

Ibid., pp. 19–20, referring to War Cabinet direction, 3 Sep 42, NS 13/2/60; Polson, Auckland Star, 12 Sep 42, p. 6

Towards the end of 1942, with the invasion threat clearly receding, both elasticity and caution had been evolved. For dairy factories, shearing and freezing works, for planting and harvesting, an employer wanting a man or several men applied to the District Manpower Officer who, if no civilians were available, would ask the Army for suitable men. Unit commanders could on their own authority release men for up to 40 days, but if they were needed for longer an appeal board's recommendation was necessary. Always, appeal boards and Manpower officers had only advisory powers: decision on whether a man could or could not be released rested with the Army.

Journal of Agriculture, 15 Dec 42, p. 323

There were Army decisions that seemed vastly unreasonable to farmers such as keeping a man with considerable farming experience whose alleged main Air Force task for two and a half years was pouring tea, or retaining a tractor driver to pump petrol into Army vehicles;

Wanganui Herald, 9 Dec 42, p. 8; Press, 6 Dec 43, p. 4

sometimes farmers did not get the men they asked for but were given others;

NZ Herald, 25 Sep 42, p. 2

some men were released for a time from camp without real justification;

Ibid., 30 Sep 42, p. 2; Evening Post, 8 Aug 42, p. 6

there were delays and uncertainty.

NZ Herald, 17 Sep 42, p. 2

The system was not foolproof, or proof against opportunists.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1942’, p. 21

In the hurried pressures of 1942 there was little perfection, only the meeting of emergencies as they arose. As Fraser said on 9 July 1942 New Zealand, with its sparse population, had to make all sorts of compromises, between the efficiency of the Army and the efficiency of industry.

NZPD, vol 261, p. 529

Farming was not the only industry relieved by Army releases. Fraser on 4 December said that between 1 July and 25 November 1942, 14 519 men had been released. In the 1749 who emerged during November, there were 631 farmers, 424 shearers, 110 dairy workers, 14 miners, 68 timber workers, 41 market gardeners, 121 freezing workers and 340 miscellaneous.

Ibid., p. 954

By April 1943, withdrawals from the Army totalled 20 416 (11 718 for farms, 8698 others).

A to J1943, H–11A, p. 34. These figures were for releases recommended by appeal boards, of which actual releases would be 90%.

Most were not permanent: 32 per cent of the recommendations were for less than three months, 29 per cent for three to six months, 39 per cent for more than six months including sine die; in addition 1450 men had their leave extended.

Ibid.

All this produced what the Press of 5 March 1943 called ‘a jostle at the camp gates, between a stream of men leaving the Army, partly trained, to go back into industry, and a stream of men in the higher age groups drafted out of industry to begin training.’ By now Army's appetite was sharpest for Grade I men suitable for overseas.

To March 1944 ‘Category A’ comprised all men medically Grade I, of 21–40 years inclusive. Thereafter Category A was revised to mean Grade I men of 21–35 years with fewer than three children and less than three years' overseas service. A to J 1946, H–11A, p. 22; NZ Herald, 13 Feb 45, p. 4

The 41–5-year-olds were not disturbed and in March 1943 the Prime Minister, announcing new procedures for releases in which District Manpower officers largely replaced military appeal boards, said that while as many men as possible would be released to industry, only in very exceptional cases would Grade I men be released. Every effort would be made to extract Grade I men from industry,

Press, 25 Mar 43, p. 4. Armed forces appeal boards continued to deal with the movement of Grade I men, both into and out of the Army.

replacing them with men less physically fit. In September 1943 McLagan stated that since June 1942 13 800 farm workers had been released, of whom about 4000 had been remobilised, while 1500 new men had been drawn from farming into the forces, making the net gain to the industry about 8300.

Evening Post, 24 Sep 43, p. 5

In June 1943 the Army in New Zealand was re-organised: Grade I men were to be held for reinforcements or transfer to the Air Force. Field units were to be demobilised and most of them placed on a care and maintenance basis, while the remainder were to be the core, for training and for maintaining equipment, of a part-time Territorial force, on pre-war lines.

But such service was commuted to a month at farms or freezing works in 1943–4, and then forgone.

Anti-aircraft and coastal defence would be gradually reduced.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1943’, pp. 16, 31–2

This facilitated the movement back to industry. In all, to the end of March 1943, 16 300 men were released from the Army.

A to J1946, H–11A, p. 22

McLagan at the end of October 1943 announced that between 1 April and 28 September, to all industries, 12 241 men had been released and the outflow was continuing.

Dominion, 28 Oct 43, p. 6

By 31 March 1944 the year's releases were 18 433, as well as 5500 soldiers returned from overseas.

A to J1944, H–11A, p. 35

In 1944–5 a further 13 900 were released from home defence units, while 9500 ex-Pacific Division men were directed to essential industry.

Ibid., 1946, H–11A, p. 23

In December 1943 industry still held 39 014 Grade I men, more than 12 500 of them in farming but spread through all manner of occupations from mining and sawmilling, building and transport, to the police and the clergy.

NZ Herald, 2 Mar 44, p. 4

Among these, the search for servicemen went on: in the year ending 31 March 1944, 6835 such men were found, singly or in groups.

A to J1944, H–11A, p. 34

For instance, on 3 June 1943 appeals for 75 Category A wharf workers were dismissed, the appeal board saying that the waterfront, in line with other industries, must contribute its quota to the forces.

NZ Herald, 3 Jun 43, p. 2

From late in 1942 a major question perplexing minds at all levels was, where should New Zealanders fight? Should they beat Hitler first, in the Middle East and Europe? Should they, like the Australians, be sent against the enemy nearer home? Or should at least a proportion of them be released from the armed forces to the production front, increasing the supplies of food that New Zealand was geographically suited to produce and that were urgently needed by Britain and by Americans in the Pacific? These questions swayed back and forth during 1943, with no clear decision made till March– April 1944, when it was settled that the Pacific Division should return, temporarily; some 12 000 men would be used in food production and supporting industries,

Documents, vol III, pp. 430–44

while 6000 would remain as cadres in New Zealand from which the Division could be rebuilt for Pacific service in 1945.

Ibid., pp. 438, 455

Finally, on 11 September 1944 War Cabinet decided that the 2nd Division should remain in Europe until the end of the Italian campaign and that the cadres of the 3rd Division should be disbanded and become reinforcements in Europe.

Ibid., p. 456

This was hidden in the future. New Zealand's Pacific land force, the 3rd Division,

The popular name is used here, though on 15 November 1942 its title officially became 2NZEF in the Pacific (codename Kiwi Force).

came into being very quietly. On 6 August 1942 War Cabinet finally settled that a division should be established for service in the Pacific, based on the force of about 2350 men who on 24 July had returned from Fiji, replaced by Americans.

Documents, vol III, pp. 318–33

An original proposal that it should hasten to Guadalcanal in late August having miscarried,

Wood, pp. 245–6; Gillespie, pp. 72–5

the Division was quietly gathered at mobili sation camps. The first public mention of its role was on 27 August when Coates spoke of War Cabinet, with Parliament's secret session approval, having decided to reinforce the Middle East troops and also to supply New Zealand soldiers for any other theatre of war in which they might be required.

Evening Post, 28 Aug 42, p. 4

On 31 August, in America, Fraser said that New Zealand's policy was to attack the Japanese in the Pacific rather than risk fighting at home.

Scholefield, Diary, 31 Aug 42

It was from such oblique references, plus information filtering from the soldiers themselves, that New Zealanders first learned of the new enterprise. On 29 October the advance party of Kiwi Force left for New Caledonia and by the end of February 1943 more than 13 000 were there.

Kay, Chronology, pp. 62, 73

Meanwhile, at the end of 1942 the Eighth Army, for the last time, drove west across North Africa with widespread plaudits poured upon its New Zealand Division. The folks at home basked in the achievements of their troops, feeling that they had fairly come into their own at last, shining in the world's eyes as remarkably able soldiers, agile and tough, their fighting style expressing the innate quality of their nation. With the three-year-old North African episode about to end, the question arose: where should the Division fight next?

There was strong feeling that the 2nd Division should stay where it was doing so well, against Germans and Italians. Thus the New Zealand Herald, early in December 1942, looking boldly ahead to the invasion of Sicily, Italy or the Balkans, demanded to know whether it was seriously proposed at the very moment of the opening of the much-predicted second front that New Zealand should ask for the shipping and escort necessary for the safe return of the 2nd Division. It was unlikely that the troops, flushed with victory and expecting to be in the van of the attack on Europe, would wish to turn aside, wasting valuable months in travel and the retraining that would be needed to fit desert shock troops for totally different fighting.

NZ Herald, 8 Dec 42; also letters on 9, 11, 29 Dec 42, all p. 2; Auckland Star, 11 Dec 42, p. 2, 9 Feb 43, p. 2

On the other hand many thought that New Zealand should now fight in the Pacific, in order to defend its homeland and to be heard at Pacific post-war conference tables. Early among those who advocated that the Middle East Division should return to rest and then tackle the Japanese were the ex-Labour members J. A. Lee and W. E. Barnard.

The idea was current even earlier, expressed for example by a correspondent, GVP, in Auckland Star, 27 Jul 42, p. 2: ‘… is it the wish of the majority … that New Zealand ignore the Japanese and continue sending against the Nazis the last man and the last shilling?’

Lee, on 17 October 1942, said that manpower targets were too vast, New Zealand was going into the war too quickly, soon women would be enrolled for active service and in street after street there would be no married men. The House and the people should know what industries were to be maintained and how this would be done.

NZPD, vol 261, pp. 759–60

On 4 December he agreed with Fraser that New Zealand was a Pacific country and said that if good relations were to persist with the Americans it must fight alongside them.

Ibid., pp. 971–2

Barnard, late in November, urged that in the greatly changed situation New Zealanders were no longer needed in North Africa: after three years they deserved a rest and thereafter their experience would be valuable against the Japanese.

Wanganui Herald, 25 Nov 42, p. 5

In January 1943, he declared that it was no use winning the war on foreign fields but losing it on the home front through lack of foresight: there was a duty to the men overseas to maintain the economic structure. New Zealand was heavily over-devoted to military effort while called on to produce even more food for Britain. After six months' training, newly drafted men should return to industry, and the Division, instead of going on to Europe, should return to fight nearer home.

Press, 18 Jan 43, p. 4

The Auckland Star in particular campaigned for the Division's transfer to the Pacific, its editorial on 23 November 1942 setting the stage. ‘Without [the New Zealanders] the Afrika Corps would scarcely have been prevented from reaching Suez last July, and without them again General Montgomery

Montgomery, Field Marshal Bernard Law, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein ('46), of Hindhead, KG('46), GCB('45), DSO (1887–1976): cmdr Eighth Army 1942–4, C-in-C British & Allied Armies N France 1944, cmdr British Army of the Rhine 1945–6; CIGS 1946–8, Dep Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1951–8

might not have won the decisive victory at El Alamein.’ Though none claimed that the Division by itself won these battles, its presence had been indispensable to victory. In Greece, Crete and twice in Libya it had shared campaigns that were disastrous, costly, or at best inconclusive, but now it enjoyed the exhilaration of pursuing the enemy. It was time to consider whether it should be committed to the long, bitter struggle ahead in Europe or be brought home and, after rest and retraining, fight against Japan. ‘There are, of course, arguments against withdrawal, and these will not suffer from lack of advocacy’, wrote the Star. ‘We are concerned that the contrary arguments shall be heard, and heard in time. Perhaps our Government is even now expressing them; we hope it is. If so, it is voicing the deep conviction of a great body of New Zealanders who feel that the Dominion's war effort to date, and above all the achievements of its Division, have won for it the right to be heard—and heeded.’ It was in New Zealand's interest to shorten the Pacific war as much as possible, by supporting to the utmost the Americans who were bearing the brunt. ‘A country which wishes to preserve its independent existence in the Pacific must fight for it in the Pacific, and if … too small to sustain indefinitely a considerable effort both in the Pacific and the Middle East, then common sense insists that it should concentrate its forces in the Pacific.’

Auckland Star, 23 Nov 42

Repeatedly the Star warned that Japan's strength grew from its conquests, which would enable it to carry on the war for 20 years if need be; that blows at the Japanese heart needed bases from which to strike, and that New Zealand could make a significant contribution if its main force, seasoned and unsurpassed in quality, were not concentrated in the Middle East.

Ibid., 24, 26 Nov, 1, 5 Dec 42

The Star's hint that the government was already moving to transfer the troops was shrewdly placed. On 19 November, Fraser had explained to Churchill the priority of the Pacific offensive for New Zealanders, adding that as most of the Division had been away for well over two years and it had taken very heavy casualties (18 500 out of a total 43 500), there was a ‘general feeling in the country that our men have a strong claim to return’, which would sharpen when it became known that Australia was recalling its last division from Africa.

Documents, vol II, pp. 142–4; Wood, p. 248

However, by 4 December 1942, in response to British and American reluctance and to massive shipping difficulties, War Cabinet decided, and Parliament in secret session agreed, that the Division would remain in the Middle East ‘for a further period.’

Documents, vol II, p. 148; Wood, pp. 249–50

Fraser afterwards reviewed recent events: the Axis retreat and the Allied landings in west Africa, occupying Algeria and Morocco; the German seizure of so-called Free France and the suicide of the French fleet; Russian resurgence, notably near Stalingrad; America's naval success in the Solomons and Japan's retreat in Papua to beachheads at Buna and Gona. Concluding, he hinted at change: ‘It is, I am afraid, clearer to us in the South Pacific than it is to those in North Africa and in Europe that the war with Japan is going to be a hard and bitter struggle.’ But New Zealand's own defences were much stronger than a year earlier and forward positions had been established in New Caledonia. ‘It is only right that we should take part in the Pacific offensive, which will keep the Japanese as far as possible from our own shores. This new forward move necessitates a review of our defence responsibilities and commitments.’

Dominion, 5 Dec 42, p. 6

Ensuing newspaper comment, while supporting the view that the Pacific war required New Zealand's effort, inclined towards contributing supplies rather than soldiers. The Press said, ‘… if the British and United States governments are in favour of a holding war in the Pacific and Asia they have failed to understand the realities of the war against Japan.’ Japan had already won all the material needed to strengthen its war machine and though this would eventually be outpaced by America, delay meant that the Japanese must be driven from strong bases instead of from outposts. Further, for some time many New Zealanders had wondered if they could sustain two fighting forces plus supply commitments.

Press, 7 Dec 42

The Timaru Herald noted that Fraser was for the first time criticising the general direction of the war: ‘he considers, and rightly so, that New Zealand's first war task now is to co-operate in whatever moves are made to keep the Japanese as far as possible from these shores’, which must involve driving them from bases whence they could push south.

Timaru Herald, 9 Dec 42

To the Otago Daily Times, the situation now called for re-allocation of manpower in the Services and industry, and, ‘as the Prime Minister's opinion that a holding war … is not sufficient may be endorsed’, the government must face up to highly complex problems.

Otago Daily Times, 7 Dec 42

The Dominion foresaw that Fraser's proposed review might alter the channels of effort, concentrating more on production and supply.

Dominion, 5 Dec 42

The New Zealand Herald, urging strongly that the Division should remain in the Middle East, opposed the idea, underlined by Coates on 7 December, of sending ‘men and more men’ to the Pacific. This would impose heavy, indeed impossible, burdens on one and a half million people. The huge population and wealth of the United States must bear the brunt of the approaching offensive while New Zealand must reduce its home forces, make more use of the Home Guard, reinforce the Division in the Middle East and restrict its service in the Pacific largely to garrison duties. ‘We shall perform our duty better if we cut our military coat according to our cloth.’

NZ Herald, 8 Dec 42

Several factors favoured acceptance of the policy filtered down from Churchill, Roosevelt and non-Pacific military leaders of merely holding Japan in check while concentrating on Germany. The slow, hard fight in New Guinea and Guadalcanal had bred the idea that driving the Japanese north would take years, but that when the full might of the Allied navies and other forces could combine in attacking the enemy mainland, all the occupied lands would fall like ripe plums.

Ibid., 9 Dec 42; Auckland Star, 11 Dec 42, p. 2, 9 Feb 43, p. 2

Japanese tenacity and the squalor of jungle fighting, the waste of time in retraining and the squandering of lives during apprenticeship to the jungle and the Japanese, were doubly unattractive set against the harvest of golden opinions which the 2nd Division was winning by hard-earned expertise. It could also be argued that if the Pacific offensive were to be long delayed, New Zealand should concentrate on providing supplies rather than soldiers for it.

Further, Pacific-mindedness was far from widespread. The Press, while noting that New Zealand was beginning to discover its environment, reminded that for more than 50 years the South Pacific and its islands had scarcely entered national consciousness. Fiji, the Cook Islands or Samoa meant less to the average New Zealander than Denmark or Holland or Egypt; six months earlier very few could have located Pago Pago or knew anything of the status of Tonga or the geography of Fiji.

Press, 26 Dec 42

The longstanding preoccupation of radio and newspapers with the European and Middle East war reinforced this remoteness from the Pacific. And behind all the talk and tendencies was the hard military fact that as yet there were not the men and hardware needed for a major Pacific offensive. As the Press pointed out on 11 March 1943: ‘In spite of American mass production and mass mobilisation, the United Nations have not enough men, aeroplanes, and munitions to stage war-winning offensives, east and west, at once. The decision to concentrate on Germany and Italy and hold Japan was not capricious or short-sighted but inevitable.’

Meanwhile, the ‘general feeling’ of which Fraser had informed Churchill,

see p. 708

that the 2nd Division should return, flared up, ranging in its public expression from trade union remits to letters from fiancées and mothers. Thus late in November the New Zealand Federated Labourers' Conference urged that the Division which had served so magnificently should be returned to New Zealand's threatened shores and that other troops could go to the Middle East. If the whole Division could not be brought back, those who had been away almost three years should be returned in drafts for a spell.

NZ Herald, 28 Nov 42, p. 6

‘Wedding Bells’ spoke for fiancées:

The past three years have been long months of anxiety and loneliness, but these last few weeks a ray of hope has crept into our dismal hearts. Surely after all the brave deeds our sweethearts have done they will be brought home for a rest. Surely, instead of always watching the others, we too will be able to wear a frock of white and carry orange blossoms and feel the warmth of a baby's arms. Alas, the ray is soon quenched when we read of the probability of our loved ones being shipped off to Europe to most likely spend another three long years on the battlefront. Bring the division home is our cry.

Auckland Star, 26 Nov 42, p. 4

The cry was echoed with variations in many letters, notably in the Auckland Star,

Ibid., 24 Nov–2 Dec 42

but also in other papers. One urged that early volunteers, the cream of young manhood, should be breeding the future generation.

NZ Herald, 12 Dec 42, p. 2

They could be replaced by others, such as the soldiers then leaning on their rifles at home. Several warned against leaving men at the front too long till they were burnt out and broken as in the last war.

Press, 2 Dec 42, p. 4, 22, 26 Jan 43, pp. 6, 6; Dominion, 17 Mar 43, p. 4; AucklandStar, 24 Mar, 12 May 43, pp. 2, 2

As the Auckland Star itself noted on 5 December 1942, its own proposal to bring the Division back for Pacific service was confused, especially by next-of-kin, with the feeling that the men had done their share nobly and should now return to loving arms and well-earned rest, followed by home service or industry. The idea of sending them off again to fever-stricken islands was clearly repugnant to some.

Auckland Star, 22, 24 Mar 43, pp. 2, 2

The evolution of the decision to maintain the 2nd Division in the Mediterranean as New Zealand's main striking force, while Pacific troops waned, is lucidly set forth by Professor Wood,

Wood, pp. 247–61, 277–91

but outside Cabinet and command counsels the issue of whether New Zealand should fight in two theatres was linked with the other question: should New Zealand soldiers fight in the Pacific or would their most useful Pacific service be the production of food and base camp facilities for the Americans? July 1942 saw peak mobilisation: 154 549 men and women, though only 52 651 were then overseas.

Many more soon went overseas, eg, 5500 to 2NZEF as 8th Reinforcements in December 1942, about 15 000 to the Pacific by March 1943, and large numbers in the Air Force. Final figures are given in A to J 1948, H–19B. see also p. 698

This drain was accepted during the anxious period from December 1941 to November 1942, though some lifting of the burden had shown since June in the movement of men into and out of the Army, the jostle at the camp gates described by the Press on 5 March 1943.

see p. 704

Obviously it would be more profitable to concentrate on production, and to practical New Zealanders more concerned with post-war trade prospects than with post-war power politics it also seemed more necessary. As 1942 closed, various bodies debated the manpower needs of the forces and of industry, and considered adjustments that would ease the strain. At Christchurch on 25 November, in a conference called by the Progress League, 40 Canterbury organisations and local bodies held that the country had bitten off more than it could chew and called on the government to review manpower. There must be food for the Allies and the oppressed countries after the war, as well as for normal customers but instead manpower shortages were reducing production. Continuous home service was ‘wasteful of manpower, inefficient, costly, tedious, and frustrating to the men concerned’; it was especially demoralising for 18-year-olds. There should be short intensive training, then release to civilian work, and fewer Home Guard and EPS parades. For a few, prisoners-of-war seemed an obvious source of labour, not only for productive work but for land clearing and development; the government should follow other Empire countries in bringing in these prisoners especially Italians who were law-abiding, excellent workers and who would not need much military control.

Press, 26 Nov 42, p. 3. The only POWs in New Zealand were a few Japanese at Featherston.

A Press editorial criticised the appeal system, which kept men in suspense for months.

Press, 26 Nov 42

At Auckland, during eight days shortly before Christmas 1942, the local Chamber of Commerce, the Trades Council, the employers' and the manufacturers' associations pondered together, and their findings were endorsed by the executive of the Auckland Farmers' Union. They agreed that the development of United States power in the Pacific had removed the immediate menace and created new problems. New Zealand should now move from maximum military defence to maximum utilisation of manpower in production for American demands. They had ‘grave misgivings’ about maintaining a large active force in the Pacific; they thought that there could be substantial economy in overseas training and still more in home defence. Military training for all between 18 and 46 years should be accepted, but it should be for limited periods only, while women in the forces could be used both more widely and with more economy. Industrial efficiency should be improved through more manpower utilisation and production committees; those already established had rendered excellent service.

NZ Herald, 23 Dec 42, p. 4

Even as these recommendations were published on 23 December McLagan, advising the just-balloted 41–5-year-old men to stay in their jobs, announced that the government would re-consider the utilisation of manpower early in the New Year.

Ibid., 23 Dec 42, p. 2

Several newspapers commented on the Auckland conference. The New Zealand Herald remarked that unanimity among such bodies was as rare as it should be influential. New Zealand had reached the end of its military resources and must ask whether the production front was being stripped to man the fighting front which would be disabled without adequate supplies.

Ibid.

The Evening Post found the government's decision to review manpower wise and timely. The Auckland conference had rightly pointed to new problems, including production for Americans, and maximum utilisation could be achieved by training intensively as many men as possible, then releasing them to industry.

Evening Post, 24 Dec 42

To the Press, these Auckland resolutions were the result that might be expected from the government's indecision, weakness and reticence: unofficial organisations had begun to talk about manpower with great freedom and frankness, and the public listened. ‘Statements of this sort which are growing increasingly frequent, acutely embarrass the government and its military advisers, who cannot reply to them effectively without disclosing facts which the enemy would be glad to know.’ In war, where only the government and its military advisers knew all the relevant facts, the government's manpower policy decisions should be taken on trust, but the public did not have this trust because evidence was accumulating that the government manpower policy was no more than a set of feeble compromises.

Press, 24 Dec 42

This pressure to contribute goods rather than fighting men was reproved by some papers. In the post-war Pacific those who had shared the heat and burden would be seriously heard, while those who had supplied the biscuits and jam would be ‘also present’, warned the Auckland Star of 23 December. The Star–Sun thought that these proposals, to satisfy the manpower needs of production and the commercial sector first and keep the residue, if any, under arms lest the Japanese break through, would ‘shock the community .… This will not suit the Britons of the South. There is going to be no gibe that New Zealanders defended their shores to the last drop of American blood.’

Star–Sun, 23 Dec 42

At least two provincial papers welcomed the ‘strong advice’ of the Auckland conference. The Timaru Herald, with some agility, said: ‘That this country should allow total responsibility for the defence of New Zealand soil to rest with others would be an idea totally repugnant to most New Zealanders. However, such a thought is not even remotely implied.… The question is simply one of deciding what is the most effective contribution New Zealand can make to the war.’ The plain fact was that the Japanese could be driven from their outposts only by stronger bodies of troops than New Zealand could supply; ‘New Zealand will naturally have a considerable part to play in the general Pacific campaign, but that part cannot be exclusively military’. Inevitably New Zealand was a supply base, but recently Service demands had been so tough that capacity in this role had been ‘seriously prejudiced’; large releases from the forces had been necessary, and there should be still more from the ‘standing army’ of thousands unfit for overseas service. The issue was plain, and the government should not need outside advice. The present critical stage, concluded the voice of Timaru, perhaps echoing the Press, would not have been reached if the government had planned the use of manpower scientifically instead of taking a drifting policy which it was not anxious to have discussed in Parliament.

Timaru Herald, 26 Dec 42

The Wanganui Herald approved the Auckland advice as bold and timely. There was a good case for training every man fit for overseas service, but what could be said for keeping thousands of the less fit in camps, fed, clothed and housed at community expense, their wives meagrely supported by taxation? Most could be returned to civilian life and the Home Guard. ‘Why have a standing army for home defence when it has no battles to fight and looks as if it never will? And above all, why go on extending it, specially when the need for labour in all kinds of civil occupations is desperate?’

Wanganui Herald, 24 Dec 42

In all, it could be said that the Auckland conference and its reception showed wide feeling that New Zealand was doing more than its share of soldiering, and that it was time to turn to other things. The line of thought that New Zealand could take an adequate part in the Pacific without actually fighting there readily linked into and augmented belief that the Middle East and Europe were the proper theatres for New Zealand's fighting men, a belief firmly held by the National party, among others. During a by-election campaign early in 1943, Sullivan stated that it was the desire and intention of the government to return the 2nd Division home as soon as possible.

Auckland Star, 21 Jan 43, p. 6

Holland, who had repeatedly said that New Zealand was over-strained and that it was absurd to have two divisions overseas, plus heavy Air Force and Navy commitments, declared this statement to be a great and painful surprise, proof that the government was hopelessly out of touch with public opinion. He could imagine no greater injury to the war effort or anything that would be more bitterly resented by the gallant fighting men than this talk of withdrawal, and nothing would please Rommel more. He added that the home front was not in New Zealand as some might think, but ‘up at Guadalcanar, at Rabaul, at Buna and elsewhere in the disease-infested tropical area’, and that New Zealanders were quite unused to jungle fighting.

Ibid., 5 Feb 43, p. 2.‘Guadalcanar’ was an early and incorrect spelling.

The Auckland Star commented that New Zealanders would not relish the implication that these dangers should be braved by Australians and Americans but not by New Zealanders.

Auckland Star, 5 Feb 43, p. 2

The government's action amid all this was two-fold: as stated earlier, on 6 March 1943 War Cabinet approved the increase for the 3rd Division, which would convert it from a garrison to a combat force;

see p. 701

and on 25 March measures were announced to quicken releases from the Army to industry of men below overseas standard.

See pp. 704–5

In a mid-March debate, Holland and Polson strongly criticised the build-up of the Pacific force, saying that New Zealand for its size had too many soldiers and was running out of men.

NZPD, vol 262, pp. 423, 427, 433

Coates, seeing the 2nd Division as ‘the spirit of the Eighth Army’, said that its recall would be very discouraging to that Army, and he was confident that New Zealand could maintain both forces for 12 months, and provide a net gain to industry of four to five thousand men.

Ibid., p. 429

Several Labour members, Nordmeyer,

Ibid., p. 470

Anderton

291Ibid., p. 489

and Frost,

Ibid., p. 456. Frost, Frederick Ledger, ED (1887–1957): b UK; 1NZEF 1916–18; MP (Lab) New Plymouth 1938–43

advocated the return of the Division as soon as military circumstances permitted, for retraining and Pacific service. Combs,

Combs, Harry Ernest (1881–1954): MP (Lab) Wgtn Suburbs 1938–46, Onslow from 1946; Under-Sec Min Finance 1947–9

another Labour man, spoke for it remaining where it had done such splendid service, a blow struck in Tunisia being as effective for New Zealand's safety as a minesweeper in Hauraki Gulf.

NZPD, vol 262, p. 485

Fraser reminded that New Zealand could not scuttle out of war in the Pacific now if it wished to be heard afterwards, but promised that at the end of the Tunisian campaign the Division's future would be decided by the House. He also said that everything possible must be done to release some of the longest serving men: a start must be made with the First Echelon at any rate.

Ibid., p.479

This was a reference to the furlough scheme then being discussed with Army leaders and with Churchill,

Wood, p. 254; see p. 726

a scheme that would soothe at least a section of those calling for the return of the Division.

Soldiers in the 2nd Division also discussed the Middle East–Pacific question and, to judge by scattered letters that reached newspapers and a few references in official documents, they preferred to keep out of the Pacific. On 6 May 1943 Jones, visiting the Division, cabled that while there seemed to be a general desire to return to New Zealand, ‘I formed the impression that there was no desire on the part of the men here to fight in the Solomons.’

Documents, vol II, p. 193

Fraser inquired (7 May), ‘What exactly is in their minds if they don't want to go into the Pacific after they return? Do they wish merely to have leave and then return to the Middle East?’ Had it been made quite clear to them that Americans were here not as garrison troops defending New Zealand but were using the country only as a base for training or recuperating after service?

Ibid., p. 197

Jones replied on 10 May with what Wood has called exasperating but probably accurate obscurity that he had made it clear that there was no question of replacing Americans in New Zealand, but the Division had heard of conditions in New Guinea and the Solomons, and while he felt sure that they would serve where required, the majority, given the option, would prefer the healthier Middle East theatre.

Ibid., p. 198 Wood, p. 258

A soldier wrote that men of the 2nd Division had no desire ‘to limp home as worn-out veterans’, to ‘some killing garrison job in New Zealand or the islands’.

Auckland Star, 30 Jun 43, p. 2

Another said that there was no wish, after home leave, to tackle the Japanese; it would be ‘better to stay here and finish our part, then return to New Zealand and know that, for us, there will be no more active service, but perhaps a spot of Home Guard, or, better still, a job in “essential industry” making about ten notes a week.’

'Ibid., 9 Apr 43, p. 2, also 24 May 43, p. 2

Such feeling was to harden when the first furlough draft came back.

The 2nd Division was conspicuous in the Tunisian successes of late March and April 1943 and, despite the sadness of heavy casualties, satisfaction in these fighting men was confirmed and strengthened. Indeed, one colonel was later moved to write that, contrary to some popular belief, other divisions also acted as spearheads, and although he was himself a one-eyed New Zealander he knew from experience the fighting qualities of, for instance, the 51st (Highland) Division, the 9th Australian Division and the Indian troops.

NZ Herald, 10 Apr 44, p. 2

Meanwhile descriptions of the slow, soggy, slogging struggle of jungle fighting confirmed feeling that the Middle East and Europe were better battle-grounds than the Pacific. There was also feeling that the Pacific war was America's show; America was so much larger and comparatively so much less mobilised than New Zealand.

Auckland Star,8 Dec 42; NZPD, vol 262, p. 433

Men of the 2nd Division disliked the idea of starting afresh, overshadowed by the big nation.

Fraser on 4 December 1942 had said: ‘I do not believe in the theory of a holding war in the Pacific while the fullest efforts are concentrated on one second front in Europe. … It is only right that we should take part in the Pacific offensive’.

NZPD, vol 261, pp. 952–3

But late in April 1943 he set forth to Churchill a changed policy, based on feelings in the country, with a request that Churchill should smooth the way for its full acceptance by New Zealand's Parliament:

A message from you, which I could read to Parliament in secret session, appealing for the retention of the Division ‘on symbolic and historical as well as military grounds’ would, I feel, have very great influence especially if you could associate President Roosevelt with yourself in the message.… President Roosevelt's name, alongside your own, would powerfully reinforce the appeal, and … I feel that the New Zealand Parliament should be apprised of the United States' view.

Documents, vol II, pp. 188–90

Churchill on 3 May cabled back in his fullest style: the New Zealand Division had held a foremost place in the ever-famous fighting march of the Desert Army from the battlefields of Alamein to the gates of Tunis, a ‘shining place in the van of the advance.… There could not be any more glorious expression of the links which bind together the Commonwealth and Empire, and bind in a special manner the hearts of the people of the British and New Zealand isles, than the feats of arms which the New Zealanders … have performed’. On military grounds, General Alexander

Alexander, Field Marshal Harold Rupert Leofric George, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis ('52), KG('46), GCB('42), DSO, MC (1891–1969): C-in-C Middle East 1942–3, 18th Army Group N Africa 1943, Allied Armies in Italy 1943–4; Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean Theatre 1944–5; Min Defence 1952–4

and General Montgomery ardently wished that they would maintain their association with the 51st Highland Division, ‘one equal temper of heroic minds’, to the liberation of Europe.

Yet it is not on those grounds that I make this request to the Government and people of New Zealand. I make it even more upon the sentiments which unite our Commonwealth of Nations. I can, of course, replace the New Zealand Division with another well-trained division from the United Kingdom. It is the symbolic and historic value of our continued comradeship in arms that moves me. I feel that the intervention of the New Zealand Division on European soil, at a time when the homeland of New Zealand is already so strongly engaged with Japan, will constitute a deed of fame to which many generations of New Zealanders will look back with pride.

Documents, vol II, pp. 190–1

This message did not involve Roosevelt, but a fortnight later, when Churchill was in Washington, Fraser again pressed him to discuss the Division's future with Roosevelt, and received on 17 May a further cable from Churchill, saying: ‘Both the President and I feel very strongly that it would be a great pity to withdraw the New Zealand Division from the Mediterranean theatre where it has given such splendid service. We hope means will be found to sustain both divisions in their present strength and station. If this cannot be done, it would be better when the time comes to accept a lower establishment.’ The cable pointed out that the 2nd Division would not be in action until September or October, and that shipping for its repatriation would entail great loss in the build-up for attacking France in 1944.

Ibid., p. 210

Freyberg on 13 May had pleaded movingly for the Division to remain where it had fought so hard and won such honour. ‘It seems to me that just as Mr Churchill has inspired a nation with words so your Division has been his counterpart with deeds. If the New Zealand Division never fought again it would rank as one of the finest divisions of all times and be spoken of as we speak today of Craufurd's

Craufurd, Robert (1764-1812): UK general, judged the finest commander of light troops who served in the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic War 1803–15; mortally injured leading assault on Cuidad Rodrigo; brilliantly headstrong and unconventional

Light Division in the Peninsula.’ The Division itself would welcome remaining in the Middle East, where it knew its enemy and how to fight him, while its presence in a Balkan campaign would greatly encourage the people of Greece and Crete.

Documents, vol II, p. 201

Armed with these missives, Fraser on 21 May could steer the issue through a secret session ‘in an atmosphere almost entirely removed from party politics and partisanship.’

Ibid., p. 212

The Pacific-minded section of Labour accepted the argument and would remain loyal in any case, while the Opposition was placated and deprived of an election plank.

Wood, p. 259

Fraser had shown to the full both his political and military intuition.

It was decided that the 2nd Division would remain in the Middle East and go on to Europe; that both divisions would be maintained as long as possible, with smaller establishments as manpower ran out; that long-service men, beginning with 6000 from the first three echelons, would be relieved, replaced in the first instance by fresh men from New Zealand, later by those returning from furlough, and that the Pacific Division would be re-organised on a reduced scale, with adjustments to its troops then in New Zealand.

Documents, vol II, p. 214; see p. 726

Though ground fighting in both Europe and the Pacific was apparently provided for, in reality the implications of these decisions tilted the scales towards Europe. The only men available to relieve the first three echelons were those promised in March to the 3rd Division, which would have made it a full combat force and without which it could be no more than two brigades.

Wood, p. 260

Fraser on 30 August 1943 told Admiral Halsey that eventually Mediterranean reinforcements must be drawn from New Zealand troops in the Pacific, and at about the same time, in an election speech, he said openly that within months troops in the Pacific would be used to strengthen the 2nd Division.

NZ Herald, 2 Sep 43, p. 4

The 3rd Division was accordingly of minor usefulness, the tasks given it were minor, and in all eyes it became more an available source both for reinforcing the 2nd Division and for home production. It was the Air Force that bore New Zealand's real share in Pacific service, with the Navy some way behind. Early in June 1943 Halsey's deputy, Rear-Admiral T. S. Wilkinson,

Wilkinson, Vice-Admiral Theodore S. (1888–1946): USN 1911; Sec Navy General Board 1931–4; cmdr USS Mississippi 1941–2; dep cmdr 5th Pacific 1943; cmdr Amphibious Force Sth Pacific 1943, 3rd Amphibious Force 1944–5; Joint COS 1946

told War Cabinet that in American evaluation of New Zealand's part ‘Air came first, Navy second, production third and Army fourth’.

Wood, p. 260

By May 1943 there were 3000 airmen in seven squadrons with 89 aircraft serving in Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal, New Caledonia and Fiji with plans, depending on the arrival of aircraft etc, to build these up to 14 squadrons and 6600 men.

Documents, vol II, p. 215

In October 1944 the RNZAF had 7500 men and women in the Pacific zone and their number rose to 7972 in April 1945.

A to J1948, H-19B, p. 13

The importance of farm production, even ranged against defence claims, was further measured by the various Army schemes that brought in the sheaves and the hay and potatoes between January 1942 and the 1944–5 season. In the midst of the post-Japan rush to camp Semple, on 16 January 1942, announced that farmers whose lately called up workers were urgently needed for harvesting could have them released temporarily.

Press,17 Jan 42, p. 8; see p. 701

This worked well, with quick releases, men being out 24 hours after applications went in, while the entrance of others was delayed till the harvest was gathered.

Ibid., 27 Feb 42, p. 4

Apart from these releases, unit commanders helped local farmers by lending men for harvest work on their own responsibility, an unofficial arrangement with no payment involved.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1943’, p. 34

Though the Army did not ask farmers for money, the soldiers themselves were less obliging, at least in some areas, as D. C. Kidd,

Kidd, David Campbell (d 1954 aet 65): MP (Nat) Waimate 1938ff; farmer, member Canty Land Bd 1932ff

member for Waitaki, told the House in May 1942. A Captain Anderson had come to his district to explain how farmers could get men two days after an application. He also explained that the young men released from military duties for essential work had to be volunteers.

These young men held a meeting, and stated that they wanted £3 10s a week for a five-day week, working nine hours a day, or a total of forty-five hours in a week. Just imagine the position facing this essential industry! We must get the crop in. The elements are against us, and yet young men tell us that they will not work more than forty-five hours a week to put in the crop. That sort of thing irritates the farmer.

NZPD, vol 261, p. 235

Next season, with primary production councils pointing out that wheat acreage was increased and labour depleted,

Dominion, 24 Nov 42, p. 3

the Minister of Defence on 8 December 1942 announced that to make hay and silage and to harvest the main crops, unit commanders were authorised, when convinced of genuine need, to release men from camp for up to 28 days; for longer periods, application must be made through Manpower officers.

Timaru Herald, 9 Dec 42

Then, a few days before Christmas, on 21 December, the Ministers of Defence and Supply jointly stated that this was inadequate. In appropriate South Island areas Army units and sub-units would be moved to improvised camps to do harvesting work under Army control. Military commanders, aided by farmers' organisations, made reconnaissance for camp sites from which to attack the silage, hay, grain and potatoes, working out supply and transport problems. Liaison officers with farming experience were in each group, Army radios and telephones made communication easy, trucks took the men to and from the farms daily, though on isolated farms some were billeted. Farmers provided tools, teas and midday meals, and paid 2s 3d an hour per man to the Army; the soldiers received their military pay, the balance going to camp funds. Normal Army training, it was stated, would continue during any pause in harvest work; Church parades in the stubble were photographed, there were jokes about Stukas and stocking to conquer.

Star-Sun, 24 Dec 42, p. 5; Press, 24 Dec 42, p. 4, 8, 13 Jan, 1 Feb 43, pp. 3, 4, 3(photo); Auckland Star, 13 Feb 43, p. 4

Afterwards, the National Service Department claimed, ‘It is the general opinion that the harvest in the South Island was gathered more efficiently last season than ever before’, and gave full credit to the Army which, besides supplying enough men for peak demands, used its field equipment to keep several hundreds of men in each locality working as one complete body. Field radio stations kept Unit Commanders continuously posted of the latest developments. Army lorries shifted men and supplies rapidly from place to place as crops ripened or work was completed, while local resources of labour, tractors, etc., were in many cases taken over and used collectively in their own locality as the Army organisation moved through the district. Threshed grain was transported to the rail, and transport arrangements were in many cases carried right through to the flour mills themselves. At the peak of the season, some 8000 to 10 000 men were engaged in some phase of harvesting work.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1943’, p. 35, quoting Dir Nat Service to Min Nat Service, 13 Aug 43, NS 13/2/125, pt 2

Faithfully, some trade unionists, such as the Kaiapoi freezing workrs, protested against the soldiers not being paid directly by the farmers.

Auckland Star, 9 Feb 43, p. 2

In the 1943–4 season, the Army, much diminished by overseas exodus and by home force reductions, could not repeat this performance with mobilised troops, but Territorials were called up to do a month's work on farms in place of a month's military service. They were not balloted but selected by local committees, consisting of the military area officer, the secretary of the local armed forces appeal board and the district manpower officer. After appeals, 13 240 men were listed for collective harvesting. Single or childless married men of 18–40 were preferred, then married men up to 30 years old, with up to three children. Numerous essential industries, such as railways, butter and cheese factories and electric power, had block exemptions, while the selection committees chose those whose absence for a month would least disrupt industry, and at the most suitable times: for instance, grocery assistants were not called up during December.

WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1943’, pp. 33–4

Successive drafts lived in temporary camps set up and run by the Army at places chosen in the light of district needs, assessed by primary production councils. They were taken to farms in a 20-mile radius by Army transport, and wore Army denims.

Dominion, 15 Oct 43, p. 4; NZ Herald, 18, 19, 20 Nov 43, pp.2, 2, 8; Press, 4 Dec 43, p. 3

This year the scheme applied to the North Island as well, including its large vegetable farms, but about 2400 North Island men went to some of the South Island's 60 camps.

Dominion, 23 Nov 43, p. 4, 18 Jan 44, p. 4; Press, 31 Dec 43, p. 6

Farmers paid 2s 6d an hour to the Agriculture Department, while the men received the Army's 7s 6d a day, plus 6d an hour bonus and 2s 6d an hour for work beyond 8 hours a day or before 7 am and after 5 pm.

Dominion, 24 Nov 43, p. 4

There was some hard feeling when Territorials were working alongside civilians who had better pay rates, such as potato pickers doing 80 bags a day for 6d a bag.

Auckland Star, 22 Dec 43, p. 4

Some Territorials were sent to the freezing works, but there they received normal rates, £6 4s 4d a week, plus any overtime.

Ibid:, Dominion, 11, 23 Dec 43, pp. 6, 4; NZ Herald, 4 Jan 44, p. 2

Work was needed for a considerable time, from the hay making of December to South Island potato gathering in April and May.

Press, 19 Apr 13, May 44, pp. 2, 4

Not all the men selected were actually posted and there were complaints that primary production councils had over-estimated farmers' needs.

Dominion, 8 Feb, 17 Oct 44, pp. 3, 4

Some farmers were critical that many were lads under 20, willing enough but inexperienced and neither fit for heavy stocking nor worth 2s 6d an hour; consequently demand for them slackened. In previous seasons many had been older men, used to farm work; the younger men found it both hard and dull.

Press, 25 Mar 44, p. 6; WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1943’, p. 36

There were also reports of splendid organisation and of highly satisfied farmers paying bonuses, one even taking his men to an hotel dinner.

Dominion, 7 Jan, 9 Feb 44, pp. 4, 4; NZ Herald, 18 Nov, 1 Dec 43, pp. 2, 2 & 5 (photo)

In the 1944–5 season, fewer men were needed: the 3rd Division and other releases were bringing the supply of farm workers nearer to normal, and more machinery was available. The Territorial organisation of the previous year was not repeated, but a limited number of mobilised men were available for more carefully checked requirements, with fewer camps than in the last two seasons.

Dominion, 17 Oct, 8 Dec 44, pp. 4, 6; Auckland Star, 26 Oct 44, p. 7

Inevitably, within the community there were mixed feelings about the men reserved from military service because of their value to industry. Obviously there were some men of far more use to the country in their own jobs than as soldiers. There were also borderline cases: there were government servants, whose value to the nation was not obvious to their neighbours; there were farmers' sons whose fathers had acquired more land and set their sons on it. Though it was no easy matter for appeal boards to decide whether an older or less fit man could be trained in reasonable time for a skilled job, ordinary men and women formed clear opinions on this case or that, opinions in which the term ‘racket’ occurred not infrequently, especially when their own sons, brothers, friends or husbands had forborne to make such appeals, or their employers had been too patriotic to make them. Other employers, keen to retain trained men, single or otherwise, in skilled work, thereby avoiding the mistakes inevitable with change and less experienced staff, made as strong a case as possible. The good pay, augmented by bonuses and overtime, drawn by many reserved men heightened jealousy.

A newspaper letter from an Ashburton farmer's wife, with two sons, one serving his country, the other still at school, shows some of the feelings current.

Certainly farming is hard work, but there are many farmers getting in some cases more than one son off. I agree there are certainly some genuine cases, but the ‘so-called genuine’ cases make it terribly hard for a man with a real case; he is almost ashamed to apply. Provided the farmer has a tractor, he can farm up to 400 or 500 acres with very little outside aid; my own husband does, and our farm is in first-class order. At times, when necessary, I myself go out and do my share in the paddocks, but it hurts when you see others hiding their sons behind a bag of wheat. Most farmers have daughters who can drive a car, so therefore should be able to drive a tractor, milk, etc. 1 do and I find it no hardship, besides doing my own housework. My advice to the Appeal Boards is to get one or two genuine men to go into the different districts and inquire into the cases, especially of some which had been adjourned sine die.

Press, 9 Apr 41, p. 12

To the men themselves, their friends and families, and to many casual people, it appeared differently: they were working hard, doing necessary things, without the praise lavished on soldiers. Three letters, two written in 1943–4, one a long time after the war, show some aspects of their position and attitudes:

I am sure that I speak for most essential grade I men when I say we have been appealed for on numerous occasions, and our appeals have been adjourned sine die. Many of us have opposed our appeals but to no avail.… According to our employers, we are already in the Army, but ‘on loan’ to the essential industries.… While agreeing that in some cases grade I men may have easy jobs, that does not go for all. My ‘cushy’ job is working every week-night from sundown to sunrise at the most nerve-wracking machinery

Evening Star,21 Jul 43, p. 5

Another letter written in September 1969 recalled how a farmer toiled to stay with his land and his young family. He had bought 120 acres just before the war, and was milking 40 cows.

We had 5 young children—a bad season and a big mortgage. On the ‘Day’ my husband's name was listed in the paper … for overseas service, I'll never forget the ghostly look on my husband's face that morning. He said, ‘What am I going to do? I want to do my share, but I can't leave you & the children & the farm, with all this debt.’

His own farm, with its 40 cows, was too small for large crops, but the manager of the local stock and station firm advised that good land nearby could be leased for wheat growing,

There was a special drive in 1942–3 to grow wheat in the North Island. Ross, A., Wartime Agriculture in New Zealand, p. 262

and advanced credit for a new tractor and plough which made the whole undertaking possible, and the farmer's appeal was granted. ‘My husband would get up at 4 am each morning, milk the 40 cows, feed the pigs; eat a hurried breakfast, and off he'd go to the Plough … until dark, then come home, & milk the cows, coming in to tea most nights 9 or 10 o'clock.’ His wife, with the young children, could not milk, but:

grew vegetables, lots & lots of them, & flowers, & sold as many eggs as I could.… We had one aim, to reduce our debt [to the firm] as soon as possible to prove our worth in the confidence they had in us. The crops were reasonably good … and it was a wonderful feeling to know we were ‘doing our bit’ although there were the occasional few who sort of wondered ‘Why’ my husband didn't go overseas with the rest, in a sneering sort of a way. This hurt both of us, as we were really trying to do almost as much as the ones who ‘went away’. Those few never realised the big effort we were gladly making to help save our Country. The ones behind the lines, as in all things, are often doing as much sometimes more than those in the front lines.

Mrs E. Bergen of Palmerston North to author, 20 Sep 69

Another man in 1944 regretted his retention, resented criticism, and was aware that the gap between those who fought and those who stayed would persist: ‘It might be a strange fact for the RSA to digest, but there will be many Grade A men like myself who envy the soldiers.… We are aware that we are out of it; and that we will always be out of it.’ He suggested that retained men should form their own association in lieu of Service associations, its coat of arms showing a muscular worker ‘held back by an obvious official with a spool of red tape and the president of the RSA attacking our unprotected rear with an Army boot.’

Auckland Star, 4 Jul 44, p. 4

It was known that about 40 000 Grade I men were held in Industry, of whom about 13 000 were single. The latter especially were the targets of envy and criticism. Since June 1942 men had been called up in age groups, irrespective of family responsibilities, but uneasiness persisted at this departure from the 1914–18 procedure of taking first those with the least family responsibility. Mothers of young families bitterly resented their men being sent overseas while others, fit and childless, were safe;

Evening Star, 28 Jun 43, p. 5

others shared their feeling. Thus Orr-Walker SM, chairman of an Auckland armed forces appeal board, said it was ‘monstrous’ that men with several children were being sent to camp while jobs that such men could do, given a few months' training, were filled by fit young men on good wages.

Dominion, 11 Nov 42, p. 4

An appeal case illustrated at workshop level the conflict implicit in many retentions. The making of munitions was organised by the government, with various engineering firms producing components to order, along with other items for both civil and military use. A government munitions liaison officer, appealing for 12 employees of one such firm, was asked by the Crown representative if he maintained that a Grade I single man who was making ploughs should not have to go to the war, even though a married man with three children might have to go in his place. He replied that it was departmental policy to urge the retention of all engineers, single or otherwise. The Crown representative, asking if this policy was made public, was answered, ‘I don't think so. Why should it?’ and replied ‘Because the public should know that though it is drummed in every mouth by politicians that single men must go there is at least one Department that is not prepared to accept that principle.’

Ibid.,20 Nov 43, p. 4

These many-faceted grievances, probably largely inevitable, smouldered. They flared up when the volunteers of the first echelons, with three years' service behind them, came home on three months' leave, and were expected thereafter to return to Europe.

see p. 727ff

From the start of 1943, or even earlier, Army Headquarters in Wellington and the Middle East had considered the possibilities of giving long-service men home leave, replacing the first draft with reinforcements and successive drafts with men returning from leave.

After discussions with all concerned, from Churchill down,

Documents, vol II, pp. 222–45

this became reality. On the morning of 12 July 1943 (when the invasion of Sicily filled the headlines) the Nieuw Amsterdam, preceded by a deal of rumour

Evening Post, 16 Jul 43, p. 4

and cryptic telegrams to next-of-kin, brought more than 6000 men of the first three echelons to the wharf at Wellington. In a cold southerly drizzle a crowd, mainly women, pressed against the gates. There was no parade—this was left for the home towns—and the men were hastened home, blessed with railway passes for holiday travel and with 10 gallons of petrol a month, the current civilian ration being 1–2 gallons a month. It was firmly stated by various authorities that they were on three months' leave and would be returning. Reports quoted men as saying that they wanted to go back to their mates and finish the job.

Almost immediately, however, feeling against their return to Europe reared up strongly. The RSA at Oamaru led off on 13 July, remarking that here they had the best argument yet for ‘getting at the shirkers’. A meeting resolved that these men, especially the married ones, should if they wished take positions in the home service army or in industry, releasing Grade I men for overseas. Employers who had had three years to replace such men could now prove their sincerity and those sitting back on ‘cushy’ commissions or as instructors could show their keenness to serve.

Evening Star, 14 Jul 43, p. 2

An editorial approving this ‘thoughtfully worded resolution’ said that it would be widely held that every effort should be made to keep any of those men in New Zealand who wanted positions in home defence or in essential industry not so highly technical as to need a long period of specialised training.

Ibid., 15 Jul 43, p. 4

The Dominion on 5 August reported endorsement of this idea by the Makara–Hutt Valley Farmers' Union, and on that same day the Director of Publicity ordered that there should be no reference without his permission to soldiers on furlough replacing men in essential occupations or on farms, or to the future composition or disposition of New Zealand forces overseas.

Wood, p. 267; WHN, ‘Censorship of the Press’, chap 9, p. 3; see also p. 954

Accordingly there were no more published carpings, only reports in various towns of receptions and parades of the furlough men augmented by others who had been sent home earlier.

But such ideas simmered as the veterans viewed what they had been defending for three years. They saw the country on the eve of an election, in no mood of uplifted unity or effort. People had become used to the war, they picked their way through it, fitting normal lives into it as far as they could. Those with men they loved overseas lived in anxiety, deep-seated if not overtly anguished. Some people were working very hard but many merely worked their 40 hours or so, comfortably aware that with labour extremely scarce their jobs were secure despite any slackness. Many jobs offered overtime and a few paid wages above awards; the resultant pay-packets, which probably lost nothing in the telling, seemed very good to men who remembered pre-war wages. Inevitably, with three years of fighting and of North African camp life in their bones, they felt unfamiliar at home, emotionally dislocated in familiar surroundings. This feeling crystallised around resentment of stay-at-home soldiers and fit young men on good pay. They were not soothed by the presence of thousands of Americans and the pre-occupation of many girls with exotic, better-paid boy-friends.

The future of the furlough men did not become an election issue, although reports of Holland saying, at the start of the campaign, that ‘no man should be sent to the war twice before everybody had gone once’ caused the Director of Publicity to remove, on 2 September, the silence imposed on 5 August.

Wood, p. 267; see p. 727

The subject was avoided: the men were in the Army and politicians did not encroach on Army affairs; they were part of a scheme, approved by very high command, in which by returning they released others.

The Dominion on 1 October 1943, under the heading ‘Statement Awaited by Men's Relations’, looked all round the question of their return. During the election the Prime Minister had hoped that the married men might be able to remain and that all cases might be considered; although men must return before others could be relieved, the Prime Minister had also said that the government had never claimed that it could maintain two divisions indefinitely and that within months the Pacific Division would be used to strengthen the 2nd Division.

NZ Herald, 2 Sep 43, p. 4

Militarily, battle-trained men were extra-valuable, while replacements drawn from industry would need several months of training. There was overwhelming public feeling that at least the married men, especially those with children, should not have to go to the war twice while others went not at all, but there were harder and more practical factors to consider. Men who had gone as early volunteers would not care to go before appeal boards, feeling that this would link them with objectors to service; a line of demarcation by the government, based on domestic responsibilities and length of service, would be preferable.

Dominion, 1 Oct 43, p.6

Also on 1 October, the Prime Minister announced

War Cabinet had made these decisions on 29 August, but publication was withheld awaiting Freyberg's comments. Documents, vol II, p. 253

that, except for essential personnel, all married men with children, all men of 41 years or more and all Maoris should return to civil life unless they volunteered to go again to the Middle East. All not medically up to standard would be exempted, also those whose appeals on grounds of undue hardship were recommended by service appeal boards and allowed by the Army. Leave was extended till the end of October.

Medical boarding and the hearing of appeals started on 12 October, and thereafter some bitter letters appeared in the press by or on behalf of those liable to return: they had lived with hardship and danger for three and a half years, doing the spade work in times of inadequate equipment and air support, they had been proud volunteers and were now conscripts, while fit young men sheltered in home camps or on high wages in essential industry. ‘If 6000 cannot be raised out of those we see running around our cities, then I will eat my tin hat.’

Auckland Star, 18 Oct 43, p. 2, also 6, 15, 19, 20, 21 Oct 43, pp. 2, 2, 2, 2, 4; Press, 18, 20 Oct 43, pp. 6, 4

Naturally, the RSA espoused the cause. There was widespread reporting of Auckland RSA speeches about husky young men in and out of uniform who had never seen a day's service, and of virtual conscription after four years in the Army. They believed that the war would last another two years and if men were overseas for six years they would not be fit for civilian life afterwards. The local president stressed this last point and inequality of sacrifice, saying that the Association had already contended that length of service should be a ground for appeal. It would not be satisfied if men with four years' service were sent back while fit single men made £10 or more a week.

Dominion, 16 Oct 43, p. 4

The Wellington RSA on 19 October, and the national body next day, while recognising that decisions on military needs must rest with the government, that military exigencies might require the return of the furlough men to active service and that some men in other units, such as the Navy and Air Force, had been serving even longer, called firmly for a thorough review of the manpower situation. The remedy was to comb out a division from the 35 000 fit, category A, retained men, and to reduce the industries classed as essential.

Press, 20, 21 Oct 43, pp. 2, 4

Appeal boards were uneasy. The Auckland RSA had protested strongly over board members who had never been soldiers hearing the appeals of returned men.

Auckland Star, 12 Oct 43, p. 2

Appeals could be made on hardship grounds only, but board members pointed out that the occupations of some, eg, dental mechanics or fitters and turners, would have kept them in New Zealand had they not volunteered in the first place. Also, appeal boards could not decide cases: they could only discover the facts and submit them to Army authorities which would decide yea or nay. The boards would have preferred to have the last word: one member was widely reported as saying that he would recommend the retention of every man who came before him. ‘When a man has done three years' service he has done enough.’

Ibid., 20 Oct 43, p. 4

Sir Apirana Ngata declared that all the furlough draft except key men should be made to stay home.

Ibid.,6 Oct 43, p. 4

All these awkward utterances caused the Director of Publicity on 21 October to reimpose silence concerning the furlough men

Wood, p. 268

but talk continued, and occasional references slipped into print. For instance, on 20 November in the Auckland Star a letter referred to the RSA proposal to replace with returned men home service soldiers who had ‘dug into soft jobs on the clerical side’, exploiting the war ‘for a safe, tax free, well-clothed job’ which would be ideal for the rehabilitation of returned men. An endorsing letter, three days later, said that seeing idle men, many in officers' uniforms, had a ‘disturbing and unsettling effect’ on the furlough men and ‘when they return to their units (if they do) will have a serious result on the efficiency of the Division.’

Auckland Star, 20, 23 Nov 43, pp. 4, 2

Only 1637 men were due to return after various appeals and after 2664 had been downgraded medically,

Wood, p. 268

which number suggested that doctors were not anxious to push reluctant men back to the front. Waiting for a suitable ship delayed their calling-up for nearly two months past the end of October, which encouraged belief that the government was wavering.

Are we to take casual work … in the expectation of being called-up next weekend, next year or never, or alternatively continue on four or five guineas a fortnight. … Is the Government afraid to send us back?' Auckland Star, 2 Dec 43, p. 4

Finally, when they were called to camp early in January 1944, the majority objected to sailing again while so many fit men remained in industry. After explanations by the Ministers of Defence and Rehabilitation, about 670 sailed with the 11th Reinforcements on 12 January; others later decided to go and in all more than 900 men re-embarked. Further medical downgradings and other changes narrowed the resisting core down to about 430

Figures in WHN, ‘Military Manpower 1943’, pp. 45–6, refer to Army Department's ‘Report on Mobilisation Branch’, unnumbered file, and its ‘Statement on Army Activities since 18 May 1943’ on PM file 81/1/3. Figures in these two reports vary, as they do in other accounts of the furlough affair.

Developments in the furlough strike have been described elsewhere

Wood, pp. 268–71; see also p. 954

and may be summarised briefly here. Despite the ban on publicity there was a sense of public support, and the resisters, in interviews with War Cabinet on 26 February 1944 and with the Prime Minister on 14 March, insisted that they would not go again till most of the Grade I men in industry were combed out. Court-martialled for desertion, they were convicted and sentenced to 90 days detention and lost all rank. Sentences were suspended pending judgment by the Court of Appeal, which on 5 April quashed the desertion convictions but said that the men could have been tried for insubordination, perhaps even mutiny.

War Cabinet then decided that those still resisting should be dismissed for misconduct and directed into essential industry, losing privileges such as mufti allowance, deferred pay, rehabilitation benefits and any gratuity due at the war's end. Legal challenges later caused deferred pay and mufti allowances to be restored. From a second furlough draft of 1900 that returned to New Zealand in February 1944, about 100 similarly refused to return and were also dismissed. A legal part of the dismissal procedure was publication of names in the Gazette; 407 appeared on 20 June 1944 and 143 more on 26 July.

Throughout, the rebels had the silent backing of the RSA and of many others, such as more than 3000 Wellington women who presented a petition to Parliament in August 1944.

Auckland Star, 3 Aug 44, p. 4

In January 1945 the RSA decided that the dismissed men might become Association members, and at the war's end all dismissal notices were cancelled and privileges restored.

As Professor Wood wrote: ‘… against a group which was popularly felt to have a good case the legal right to coerce became unreal. No one could well deny that any country which accepted the principle that soldiers could retire on their own initiative after three years’ service would be withdrawing itself from effective participation in the war. On the other hand, any civilian might feel distinctly uneasy in forcing men to return to dangers from which he himself had been sheltered throughout. Cabinet ministers who had emphasised on so many occasions the inestimable debt owed by the country to the men who had fought in Greece and Crete and North Africa found it difficult to treat some of these men as criminals when they argued that what was inestimable was also sufficient. The situation was indeed morally awkward.… Further it was evident that public opinion was in a state not only to appreciate but to exaggerate the force of the men's case for their release.… '

Wood, p. 271

Freyberg did not ponder moral problems, but recognised battle weariness. Even before the dismissals were gazetted, he wrote on 9 June 1944 to Fraser: ‘Signs are not lacking now that many of the old hands require a prolonged rest.’ If there should be heavy fighting throughout 1945, in the interests of efficiency a replacement scheme, not furlough, was needed, beginning with the withdrawal of 4th Reinforcements;

The first three contingents to leave New Zealand were called ‘Echelons’, thereafter ‘Reinforcements’

in fairness, men of the First, Second and Third Echelons who had returned from New Zealand would have to be included.

Documents, vol II, pp. 348–50

By 13 September 1944 War Cabinet had decided that the cadres of the 3rd Division would be disbanded, and their members, along with those temporarily released to industry and Grade A men held there on appeal, would in succession replace long-service 2nd Division men, beginning with the 4th Reinforcements. Men over 36 years old, or with three or more children, or who had already served three years overseas would not be called on to serve overseas in future.

Ibid., p. 358

On 21 September, when the 4th Reinforcements were returning, Fraser announced this publicly, stating that the 2nd Division, thus supported, would continue in Italy till the end of the fighting there. The policy of replacement will take the place of the furlough scheme in future, and as men become available for sending overseas the various reinforcements will be returned in succession, and also the men of the First, Second, and Third Echelons who returned to the Middle East at the conclusion of their furlough.'

Ibid., p. 362; Auckland Star, 22 Sep 44, p. 5

The news was very well received in Italy, reported Freyberg, though pleasure in it was tempered with doubt that the government would actually carry out the scheme, and ‘that its implementation is not likely to be a speedy process.’

Documents, vol II, pp. 374–5

Certainly replacements came more slowly than Freyberg had hoped. There were shipping difficulties

Ibid, p. 378

and men were not easy to extract from production,

Ibid., p. 382

though the stringency of appeal hearings increased. At the start of February 1945 appeal boards were told that, except from coalmines and sawmills, they should dismiss without qualification 20 per cent of cases reviewed from then until May.

Ibid., p. 385

Some boards even improved on this: the Auckland board, between 12 January and 6 March, heard 1100 cases, of which 395 were dismissed outright and 172 given short postponement before mobilisation.

Auckland Star, 6 Mar 45, p. 4

This intensive reviewing produced 4602 men for mobilisation before 30 April.

NZ Herald, 20 Apr 45, p. 6

Thus it had become generally accepted that three years overseas was all that a man should be required to give. Freyberg perceived that with longer service even troops of the highest morale did less well.

Documents, vol II, p. 366

Doubtless the men concerned were aware of the same thing, from a different angle; so, too, were Rehabilitation officers. Perhaps the fact that in 1914–18 few New Zealanders went much past this term on active service helped to establish the idea that three years overseas was both inestimable and sufficient service. The recalcitrant volunteers, however, in January–April 1944, rammed the point home.

Munitions work, the classic industrial effort of a country at war, was limited but enterprising. There was no thought of self-sufficiency, but the government, the British government and the Eastern Group Supply Council

A civil regional organisation set up to co-ordinate war production in the eastern and southern Pacific, comprising the United Kingdom and colonies, India, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, with the later addition of the Netherlands East Indies and Free French island possessions. A corresponding military council served the needs of the armed forces in the Middle and Far East. Elliot & Hall (eds), The British Commonwealth at War, p. 467

assessed New Zealand's resources, includeing its intelligent and adaptable work-force, to decide what could be done that could not be done more economically elsewhere, without using too much shipping space for raw materials, components and tools. About 300 machine tools of the latest design were supplied from overseas but machinery which could be used for or adapted to making munitions or allied war stores existed in the heavy engineering works of the railways and in hundreds of scattered private firms. Through the British Ministry of Supply and ammunitions advisory committee, links were established through which selected workshops made parts or stages of items which might finally be assembled in another place. Thus in May 1941 two Invercargill firms were finishing the cases of Stokes mortar bombs, the rough castings were made in Dunedin, and they were filled somewhere else.

Southland Times, 3 May 41, p. 6

A Wellington firm previously working on washing machines turned to making fuses for shells and parts for Thompson sub-machine-guns and aircraft for which it was necessary to design and construct locally 29 entirely new machines; its staff numbered 100, three-quarters being women, their ages ranging from 17 to 63 years.

NZ Herald, 3 Jun 42, p. 4

The only pre-war munitions factory, the Colonial Ammunition Company making .303 cartridges at Auckland, was for security reasons transferred to dispersed buildings in Hamilton, and in July 1942 women aged from 22 to 25 years living in Hamilton and Cambridge had to register for work there. The plant was expanded to double its output and with overtime and shiftwork produced 257 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

A to J1946, H-44, pp. 35–7, a report which is the basic source for this section; Auckland Star, 18 Dec 43, p. 6

For the precision essential in munitions work a multitude of gauges, both for production and inspection, was needed. The Dominion Physical Laboratory in Wellington was expanded, with annexes in the four main centres, each equipped with highly specialised machinery which enabled thousands of gauges and precision tools to be manufactured, measured and tested.

New Zealand produced far more than its own requirements of some items, notably 5 500 000 hand grenades and 1 150 000 shell fuses, largely to meet orders from Britain.

Baker, p. 136; Press, 4 Nov 41, p. 6; Dominion, 4 Feb 44, p. 4

Among other things some 9500 trench mortars, with thousands of spare parts, and 1 308 000 mortar bombs with fuses were produced; 1000 grenade mortars, 3750 rifle grenade dischargers, 10 000 Sten guns, 1500 automatic rifles; 20 million 12-gauge cartridges for training air gunners and 69 000 aircraft practice bombs; 20 000 anti-tank mines for the New Zealand Army; 50 000 chemical land mines for the United States and 19 million ammunition charger clips; 20 000 jungle and other knives. A new gasolene thickener for use with flame-throwing apparatus proved superior to the standard service types: between 5 and 6 tons were produced for American forces in the Pacific.

The railway workshops and the few motor car assembly plants tackled a variety of war gear, including the assembling of some 1200 tracked Bren-gun carriers and the slightly different universal carriers. Sub-contracts for the multitude of parts were spread throughout the country. For the New Zealand Army 207 light armoured cars were produced and for the United States forces 2641 motor vehicles were re-conditioned.

Evening Post, 28 Apr 41, p. 6; Truth, 5 Mar 41, p. 13; Baker, pp. 152 (illustration), 159

There was even some aircraft production. At Rongotai, Wellington, de Havilland Tiger Moths, sufficient for New Zealand's own needs in primary air training, were built. Their engines, instruments and wheels were imported, imported woods, linen and steel tubing were used; again some parts were contributed by other firms.

NZ Herald, 27 Mar 41, p. 10; Press, 29 Mar 41, p. 12; Evening Post, 23 Aug 41, p. 7; Baker, pp. 152 (illustrations), 224

The iron-rolling mills at Dunedin stepped up production, working two shifts from September 1940 to January 1944, to process iron and steel for building for the Railways Department and other users. A second plant, with most of its machinery locally made except for the rollers, worked in 1943 from April until October when improved overseas supplies of finished sections caused it to be suspended.

Baker, pp. 132, 151

Much material not actually munitions was made, ranging from hydraulic lifting jacks to tent pins and poles.

Radio making was deeply affected. By mid-1940 local makers, using some imported components, were just able to meet civilian needs. For military use, a general purpose transceiver already developed by 1942 attracted large overseas demands, particularly from the Eastern Group Supply Council for military use in India and other theatres. As far as possible locally made components were used to answer delays in supplies from Britain and America, while the production of domestic radio equipment was severely restricted. Full production of the transceiver began in April 1943. In all, 56 factories were involved in the production of some 14 500 sets, judged to be reliable and particularly suited to tropical conditions. The number of persons in the radio industry increased from 475 in 1938–9 to 1300 in 1944–5.

lbid., pp. 167–8, 137

New Zealand's metal-working and instrument-making trades were extended and stimulated by all these demands; they accepted challenges, learnt new methods and techniques, new standards of precision, and acquired some tool-making machinery of persisting value. The work-force was expanded and women were admitted, readiness to make things rather than import them was strengthened. After the war there was scope for the industry and for surplus war stocks in making equipment for UNRRA and other relief organisations, and there was great demand for locally made civilian hardware, such as builders' materials.

A to J1946, H-44, p. 36; Auckland Star, 8 Nov 43, p. 2

Linen flax production was both an agricultural and a manufacturing industry. It was run by a committee from several government departments, topped by the over-busy Minister of Supply, which, though intended to combine talents, proved cumbersome.

Baker, p. 217

The British government in 1941 undertook to buy the fibre produced from 25 000 acres during the war period and a year after.

A to J1941, B-6, p. 13

The Department of Agriculture sought out areas of suitable soil and climate and supervised farmers who undertook the new crop. In the 1940–1 season nearly 13 000 acres were sown; on about 30 per cent of it the flax was too short for fibre and was harvested for seed only.

Ibid., 1941, H-44, p. 20

Improvement followed; in 1941–2, 19 912 acres were grown; in 1942–3, 21 849 acres; in 1943–4, with a substantial carry-over of crop from the previous season, 9854 acres; in 1944–5, 12 599 acres.

Ibid., 1943, 1944, 1945, all H-44, p. 9

By 1944 Britain had increased supplies of flax, home grown in Northern Ireland

Star-Sun, 19 Apr 44, p. 7

and other Commonwealth countries: during the war period Canada had supplied 14 510 tons of fibre, Australia 6820, New Zealand 7460 and Kenya 3840.

A to J1946, H-44, p. 23

In September 1944 Sullivan explained that there would be no overseas market after the war; Britain would take the crop to be planted in 1944, then expected to be 15 000 acres, but would not care if it were less.

Auckland Star, 27 Sep 44, p. 4

Factories to extract the fibre were set up in country towns such as Blenheim, Balclutha, Otautau, Winton, Washdyke, Methven and Tapanui. There were three methods: retting-tanks, which meant high capital costs, straightforward technical processing, and high quality fibre; dew-retting, with capital costs low, labour needs high, and a lower quality product; scutching, with low costs and a like product. Machinery was made almost entirely by the railway workshops, notably turbine scutchers, breakers and tow-shakers, deseeders, boilers, tank reticulation, flax pullers and flax carts.

A to J1941, H-44, p. 20

In 1940–1 there were 11 factories with 23 retting-tanks; in 1941–2 17 factories with 99 tanks.

Ibid., 1942, H-44, p. 8

Where necessary housing was provided. In February 1943 staff numbered 1105 including 281 women, for whom there were five hostels; by March 1944 there were 723 men, 207 women; a year later 517 men, 102 women.

Ibid., 1943, H-44, p. 9, 1945, H-44, p. 9

Apart from export, flax fibre met local needs, for seaming twine and other cordage, fibrous plaster and upholstery. A linseed oil factory opened at Dunedin in 1943, replacing an import no longer available, and by the end of March 1946 had produced more than 1 million gallons.

Ibid., 1943, H-44, p. 9, 1946, H-29, p. 39, H-44, p. 24; Evening Post, 23 Feb 43, P. 5

It was decided to carry on reduced production to supply local industry. From March 1946 the New Zealand Linen Flax Corporation took over what plant it required at a price of £162,675; Britain, which had undertaken to pay the whole cost of this war-needed production, accepted a bill of £479,709.

A to J1947, B-l (pt II), p. 27

Post-war developments are irrelevant here, but flax-growing for linseed oil and its stock-food by-product continues; nearly 9000 acres are growing this crop in the 1980s.

Yearbook1982, p. 390

Early in the war New Zealand remembered its shipbuilding tradition. This had begun in kauri forest harbours in almost pre-pioneer days and had persisted both in composite vessels, with steel frames and wooden planking, and in all-steel construction such as the Auckland harbour ferries and the Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu. Now the New Zealand Navy, despite taking over most small coastal ships which could be converted into minesweepers, wanted more.

The first three, built in Auckland, had composite hulls and were powered by engines salvaged from condemned ships in Auckland's ‘Rotten Row’. They served throughout the war and then still had ‘sufficient life in them to permit, if need be, of their transformation as trawlers.’

A to J1946, H-15, p. 2. Except where otherwise noted, information here is derived from this Marine Department report. Photographs of the five largest types of vessels built appeared in the 1945 report. For security reasons, earlier reports were very reticent about shipbuilding.

The Navy then called for nine all-steel minesweepers. Eight of these were not built at Auckland; one, Awatere, was launched from the Patent Slip, Wellington, in September 1942 and was fully operational in May 1943.

Evening Post, 28 Sep 42, p. 4, 19 May 43, p. 4

Seven were built at Port Chalmers, by the Stevenson and Cook Engineering Company in association with the Fletcher Construction Company. Formerly, shipbuilding had flourished at the Port and there was strong local satisfaction that, in the phrase of Sullivan as he drove the first rivet, the clang of hammers and the tattoo of rivetters again rang across the waterfront. Work on these ships began in November 1941; the first two, Aroha and Hautapu, were launched in September and November 1942.

Otago Daily Times, 6 Nov 41, p. 8, 6 Sep, 20 Nov 42, pp. 4, 6 (photo), 2 (photo)

Waikato, launched at Auckland in October 1943, was the seventh of these all-steel units to be completed.

NZ Herald, 15, 18 Oct 43, pp. 2, 4

The steel for frames and plates came from Australia; prefabricated boilers came from Britain and were finished at the Port Chalmers yards and at the Woburn railway workshops. With engine forgings from Australia, the engines were constructed by A. and G. Price of Thames, who had faithfully built many railway engines, John McGregor and Co, Dunedin, and the railway workshops at Woburn. They were to give war-long, trouble-free service and some would continue in fishing trawlers for years longer. These minesweepers had an overall length of 135ft, breadth 23½ft, moulded depth 13½ft, loaded displacement of 612 tons and powerful, locally-built winches. Their speed was 10 knots and each cost £60,000.

With the minesweeper programme barely under way, the Admiralty asked for 12 anti-submarine Fairmile patrol ships, 112ft long, nearly 18ft in beam and with a 5ft draught; their loaded displacement was 80 tons and speed l8½ knots. The major wooden ship-builders of Auckland combined with smaller companies there on this project. Engines came from England and the Fairmile Company also supplied components for the hulls such as watertight bulkheads and frames of bakelised plywood, which contributed to their positive buoyancy. The keels were of hardwood and the double skin and decks of heart kauri.

Ibid.,30 Sep 42, p. 4

Each ship took about 14 000 feet of timber and to provide the kauri needed the State Forest Service scoured its resources. Each also had a bullet-proof fuel tank holding 2320 gallons, ‘work on which the shipwright tradesmen of Auckland were in their element.’

A to J1946, H-15, p. 4

Building of these vessels began in January 1942, launchings took place towards the end of the year,

Auckland Star, 29 Sep, 25 Nov 42, pp. 4, 4; Dominion, 26 May 43, p. 4

and the 12 were at work by December 1943. On average they were each completed in 35 000 man-hours, whereas the Fairmile Company's average time was 40 700 man-hours. They each cost £35,000.

Meanwhile, with steel and auxiliary units from Australia and Britain, two non-propelled steel oil-barges, similar to one already started for the Union Steam Ship Company, were built at Wellington's Patent Slip, one for the Navy, the second eventually for the Union Steam Ship Company. They were 180ft long, 36ft wide, 15¼ft in moulded depth, carried 1400 tons of oil and each cost £50,000. In addition, for the RNZAF about 27 small vessels, in all costing £20,000, were built through the Public Works Department to serve as refuelling barges, crash launches and flare path dinghies at air bases in New Zealand and in Pacific islands.

Towards the end of 1942 American authorities asked if New Zealand could build small craft for their use in the Pacific. The Marine Department's 1946 report stated: ‘At that stage, puckered up as we were with our own Navy construction programme, the answer to the question was definitely “No”’; but through the advocacy of James Fletcher, Commissioner for Defence Construction, thought was given to what could be done by combining engineering and shipwrighting firms and hundreds of other small engineering and woodworking workshops into syndicates for constructing these small craft. Fletcher, with the Marine Department at his back, had Controller of Shipbuilding added to his functions. Most of the American project was contrived at Auckland. Executives from shipbuilding firms, in an Allocation Committee, arranged contracts and sub-contracts and at the peak 200 local firms were prefabricating parts. Assembly took place at two new, hastily constructed shipyards, one for steel ships at French Street, one for wooden ships at Fanshawe Street. ‘Diluted’ labour was used extensively: hundreds of housebuilding carpenters were transferred to shipwrighting and in a few months became expert in a quite different trade.

The programme included 50 wooden tug-boats, 45ft long, 14ft in beam and 7ft in depth, with diesel engines from America. The planking and most of the wood was kauri, but frames were of beech, knees of pohutukawa, towing posts and bitts of hardwood, sheathing and false keels of totara. During 1943 about eight of these wooden hulls, each costing £7,250, began to slide down the launching ways every five or six weeks, and by November 1944 all of them were well away on active service.

Auckland Star, 27 Nov 44, p. 6; A to J1946, H-15, p. 5

In the other yard, 22 sea-going steel tug-boats were assembled, each 75ft long with a diesel engine of 300hp. Their all-welded construction encountered a shortage of welders, answered by a training course of three or four weeks under experts and careful supervision on the job. The bow portion, the middle and the stern were prefabricated separately and were brought together in masterly fashion. From May 1944 about two were completed every month; by 15 November, when the fifteenth was launched, 12 were already at work in the Pacific.

NZ Herald, 28 Nov 44, p. 4

The largest vessels were 15 powered lighters, of steel and timber, 114ft long, 24ft wide and 11ft deep, virtually small cargo ships, carrying up to 250 tons each and costing £26,700.

Auckland Star, 27 Nov, 2 Dec 44, pp. 4, 6

Two were built at Port Chalmers, the rest at Auckland; more than ten had sailed off to the Pacific before the war ended and the remainder were completed as handy little coasters for New Zealand.

Need for work to be spread beyond the hard-pressed shipbuilders caused 140 wooden barges, 50ft long, to be constructed by coachbuilding firms in Christchurch and a building firm in Dunedin, at a total cost of £160,000. Sudden demand for 100 non-propelled steel trailers (at £270 each) was met by coachbuilding firms in Christchurch and Auckland. Sixty wooden dinghies, 12ft and 14ft long, were produced as a ‘side-line’ by Auckland coachbuilders.

When the American programme was thinning out towards the end of the war, the British High Commissioner for the Western Pacific ordered five general purpose wooden vessels for servicing Pacific islands. They were 60ft long, gross tonnage 58, diesel-engined with speed when loaded of eight knots. When the 50 45ft wooden tugboats for the Americans were finished, the British Ministry of War Transport ordered 24 similar tugs for the use of the Eastern Group Supply Council; 12 were completed by the war's end and the remainder cancelled.

In addition to all this, New Zealand's shipbuilding labour force— about 4000 men—coped with repairs on American vessels, on some units of the British Pacific fleet and on merchant ships. A central Docking and Repairs Committee, drawn from shipping companies and the Marine and Navy departments, arranged dockings to reduce delays. Repairs on American ships cost nearly £690,000, and those on New Zealand Navy and other vessels a little more than £467,500.

A to J1945, H-15, pp. 5–6, 1946, H-15, p. 7

In all, achievements in shipbuilding and repairs might be considered a credit to the organisation and labour concerned. They did not draw much publicity although from the start launchings of New Zealand naval vessels, which preceded their active service by several months, were occasions for ministerial inspections and speeches on achievement, pulling together and will to win. After the American base at Auckland was withdrawn in October 1944, reports on American launchings also appeared.

The whole cost of ships built for the New Zealand Navy was £1,270,000, while that of the American programme totalled £2,213,000, a charge under reverse lend-lease on the New Zealand government.

Ibid., 1945, B-1, pt II, p. xix, 1946, H-15, pp. 4–5

It seems good value in money and in organisation, labour, skill and timber.

CHAPTER 16 The Shoe Pinches

PETROL rationing was the first dent in civilian life made by the war. With one short break it continued from 5 September 1939 until 1 June 1946. It was re-introduced 17 months later and not finally abolished until 31 May 1950. During 1936–9 car registrations had increased by 42 per cent to make New Zealand second only to the United States in cars per head. In the transport field, although the licensing of motor services, introduced in 1931, had checked their use to some extent on routes served by railways, heavy truck registrations increased by 32 per cent in the same period. Petrol imports went up by one-fifth and by 1939 comprised four per cent by value of all imports, with the private motorist using more than half of the total. It was on him, then, that the main brunt of rationing was to fall.

Baker, p. 416

Britain was anxious to conserve dollars for buying United States war material, and as American capital financed many oil wells even in British or Dutch territories, purchases there still involved some dollar exchange.

War History Narrative, ‘Petrol Rationing in New Zealand 1939–45’, pp. 11–12.

The Oil Control Board in London, established in November 1939 as a sub-committee of the War Cabinet, exercised overall control of petrol imports by Commonwealth countries, where restrictions varied. Most of these countries, persuaded by the Oil Control Board, had petrol rationing schemes working by mid-1940. India, which then used no more petrol than New Zealand, argued that rationing would be administratively impractical; the Board accepted that restrictions in South Africa would be impolitic, and not until October 1940 were modest cuts, amounting to about eight per cent, begun in Australia. New Zealand, after close restrictions in the first three months of the war followed by two months' full relaxation, in February 1940 introduced a scheme designed to save 25 per cent of pre-war consumption, in July tightened it to increase savings to one-third and in November relaxed it.

These figures are from Payton-Smith, D. J., Oil, a Study of War-time Policy and Administration, p. 205. Sullivan, announcing the restrictions on 22 January, said that the govern ment aimed to save 30 per cent of normal consumption. For July Payton-Smith increases New Zealand's savings to one-third of pre-war use, whereas July instructions in New Zealand reduced existing rations by one-third. Any seeming discrepancies may be resolved in the following pages which give the 1940–5 changes as they occurred in gallons to the private motorist.

Early in 1941 the London Board, through control of the tanker fleet, introduced stricter economies. Australia, from 1 June, cut consumption back to two-thirds of its pre-war rate and in July aimed at 40 per cent of the pre-war level. New Zealand in May returned to the scale of the previous July, aiming at two-thirds of pre-war consumption and in August increased the saving by another 10 per cent. In that month India began with a scheme to save 25 per cent of pre-war consumption. In July Canada began ‘voluntary’ restrictions, with petrol deliveries to retailers cut by a quarter. By the end of 1941 South Africa was the only major Commonwealth country taking no steps to reduce its use of petrol.

Japan's attack intensified the need for civilian economy, as thereafter more petrol was used in industry, agriculture and defence construction. By mid-1942 New Zealand had a zoning scheme for goods distribution and had made cuts in road passenger transport; basic private car running was cut to 450 miles a year and, with brief summer holiday relaxations in 1943–4 and 1944–5, remained at this level until the end of the war. Australia's ‘basic’ remained at 1000 miles a year but supplementary allowances were cut. In February 1942 South Africa began rationing with a ‘basic’ worth 4800 miles annually but by the end of the year this was reduced by half. In India and Ceylon oil imports fell from 2.1 million tons in 1941 to only 1.7 million tons in 1942, and by May India was trying to use only 50 per cent of normal supplies. In 1943, despite the efforts of governments and the continuance of rationing, civilian petrol consumption began generally to increase, although South Africa in September 1943 made a 25 per cent cut in supplementary rations. India by 1944 was running a third of its commercial motor vehicles on producer gas.

Payton-Smith, pp. 41–2, 80, 203–6, 343–4, 349, 451

New Zealand had to send regular reports of stocks held before tankers were allocated to the long New Zealand run. Every war crisis meant that fewer tankers could be spared for this, and that arrivals would be more irregular. Uncertainty thus strengthened the need to keep adequate reserves, producing and maintaining cuts in the petrol for private cars, plus efforts to avoid unnecessary running or overlapping by commercial vehicles.

From the outbreak of war, oil fuel regulations rationed motor spirits and power kerosene through the Post and Telegraph Department. Chief postmasters became district oil fuel controllers and about 340 postmasters, already deputy registrars of motor vehicles, became sub-district oil fuel controllers.

A to J 1940, F–1, p. 15

Local advisory committees, convened by the Post and Telegraph Department from other departments concerned and from trade and transport interests, gave informed, unpaid assistance.

NZ Herald, 9 Mar 40, p. 12

Under policy stemming from War Cabinet, commercial licences and allocations were reviewed from time to time, while those feeling aggrieved could appeal through their local advisory committee.

In the confusion of the war's first few days, extra petrol slipped Past the controls: sales for the week ending 9 September 1939 were more than a million gallons above the weekly average. By 20 September essential industrial and commercial licences were issued and the coupon system was established for private cars. Numbered coupons were issued, their value and the dates on which they could be redeemed being stated each month by the central authorities, according to the state and prospects of reserves.

Baker, p. 417

Varying amounts were allowed during October and November and, stocks having accumulated, restrictions were lifted on 1 December 1939.

Evening Post, 1 Dec 39, p. 6

New Zealanders had their last summer of unfettered motoring.

On 23 January 1940 it was announced that at the request of the British government, to conserve dollars and save tanker trips, rationing would resume in February. As there was as yet no such proposal in Australia, it was easy to suspect that this was an extension of the unpopular import restrictions imposed in 1938.

Truth, 14 Feb 40, p. 1, charged that the government was concealing its need to save sterling funds under the cloak of patriotism

The announcement stated that the cabled messages from the British government had been made available to representatives of the press, employers and workers, the Farmers' Union and motoring and transport organisations, who fully recognised the necessity. The aim was to reduce normal consumption by 30 per cent while maintaining essential services and production, and avoiding as far as possible domestic hardship and unemployment in the motor industry. Large cars would receive 12 gallons a month and smaller cars 8 gallons, allowing an average domestic running of about 240 miles a month.

Press, 23 Jan 40, P. 8

Given a week's notice, many people who had containers, storage space and ready money, laid in reserves if they had not already done so, despite statements that such hoarding was sabotage.

Sullivan, Minister of Supply, said that he had heard of one farmer who had 100 44- gallon drums buried round his farm, and of others who had 20 or more. NZ Herald, 23 Jan 40, p. 6

In the last days of January, long queues at the pumps filled every sort of container from 44-gallon drums down to preserving jars. The 4-gallon tins in which petrol and kerosene had customarily been sold (and which had provided thousands of all-purpose buckets) were prominent, some re-selling briskly at 2s 6d each. Unusual containers such as the battered tanks of disused cars appeared, and a Dunedin reporter watched a motor cyclist ride off like John Gilpin with two ‘peters’ (half-gallon beer flagons) uneasily slung behind him.

Otago Daily Times, 1 Feb 40, p. 8; NZ Herald, 1 Feb 40, p. 10

Some retailers made stores of their own for emergency use or future sale to favoured customers, but the beginning of investigations by oil fuel controllers rapidly sent much of this back to the depots.

Otago Daily Times, 14 Feb 40, p. 8

It was legal for private motorists to have eight gallons in store besides a full tank and most had contrived at least this.

NZ Herald, 10 Feb 40, p. 8

When cars were re-licensed at the end of May 1940 they were grouped by horsepower: under 9.5, from 9.5 to 14.5, and over 14.5. Basic private car rations were to be 6, 9 and 12 gallons a month respectively, and for motor cycles 3 gallons,

Baker, p. 472; Evening Post, 12 Apr 40, p. 6

but with tankers arriving irregularly these amounts varied from time to time. Less than three months later, following the crisis of June 1940, Nash announced that these amounts would be trimmed by 33 per cent to 4, 6 and 8 gallons, with motor cycles getting 2, to permit about 150 miles of pleasure running a month.

Evening Post, 1 Jul 40, p. 8; 150 miles may have been optimistic

Commercial licences were reviewed, resulting in a general reduction of 3½ per cent.

NZ Herald, 3 Oct 40, p. 12

Various devices to save petrol were quickly contrived. For instance, in the Wellington city area refuse collection was made in daylight by horse-drawn vehicles where possible, with a new central incinerator, saving the long hauls to Moa Point and Clyde Quay.

Evening Post, 11 Jul 40, p. 13

The Railways Department started to reduce its road services, beginning with those between Auckland and Rotorua.

Dominion, 3 Jul 40, p. 11

Zoning of deliveries was extended, with more trades representatives on the advisory committees and with some reductions in cost. Auckland from 19 July 1940 was divided into 190 milk zones, each vendor delivering to a compact area of about four streets, reducing the use of petrol by 75 gallons a day and the cost of milk by ½d a quart.

Evening Post, 18 Jul 40, p. 6

The Observer commented that long-distance driving had become an uncanny experience on account of the emptiness of the roads; recently between Napier and Taupo a driver had seen only two other cars.

NZ Observer, 4 Sep 40, p. 5

Meanwhile trains, especially excursion ones, were packed. The Observer on 25 September described a Sunday night train which left Hamilton at 6 pm and at 11.15 pm steamed triumphantly into Auckland, most of its passengers then in a merciful coma. It had stopped at every station and at every station more people piled in. A guard, pushing round and over the bodies, displayed no visible emotion. ‘Yes, it was often like this on the trip back, especially when the troops were travelling.’

Ibid., 25 Sep 40, p. 8

In Australia, proposals for a ration permitting about 40 miles a week to private cars raised storms of criticism

Press, 15 Jul 40, p. 8

and the rationning which began on 1 October 1940 was more generous.

Evening Post, 2, 5 Oct 40, pp. 8, 13; Payton-Smith, p. 205

The New Zealand motor trade, pleading for an additional million gallons a month, argued that the restrictions arose from financial reasons, not from the war. There were complaints of inconsistency, of waste by government-run vehicles while propaganda was persuading citizens that it was disloyal to use even their meagre ration for recreation. Mechanics were unemployed, trade and business were being depressed, the petrol tax at 1s 2d a gallon was unduly heavy. The rationalisation of deliveries was socialisation under the cloak of war emergency.

Evening Post, 13, 20, 29, 30, 31 Aug, 5 Sep 40, pp. 5, 4, 13, 5, 15, 6 & 10; editorials in Taranaki Daily News, 21 Aug 40, and Palmerston North Times, 4 Sep 40; NZ Herald, 7, 10 Sep, 4 Oct 40, pp. 13, 8, 9 (ad for petition); NZ Observer, 4, 25 Sep 40, pp. 5, 3 (cartoon). The retail price of petrol was 2s 6d a gallon in January 1940 and had risen to 2s 8½d by March 1942. NZ Herald, 27 Jan 40, p. 10; Dominion, 20 Mar 42, p. 4

In November an increase of 25 per cent, raising private car rations to 5, 7½ and 10 gallons in their respective classes, seemed a partial but disappointing response to such pressure,

Press, 1 Nov 40, p. 8

but at about this time sinkings of ships in the Pacific made danger more obvious and quietened petrol protests.

Evening Post, 3, 19 Dec 40, pp. 11, 8

The war grew heavier in 1941; New Zealand troops were in battle, apprehension about Japan increased, the skills of motor tradesmen were being used in the forces and in making munitions. In May, after a conference representing most petrol-using interests had declared that a further reduction would be of real assistance to the Empire's war effort,

Dominion, 29 Apr 41, p. 6

the ration was lowered again to that of July– October 1940: two coupons giving 4, 6, and 8 gallons a month for the three groups of cars.

Press, 26 Apr 41, p. 8

In August 1941 this was reduced by 25 per cent, three coupons used over two months yielding 3, 4½ and 6 gallons a month—that is, just half the rate determined for June 1940.

Ibid., 1 Aug 41, p. 8; Baker, p. 472

The Auckland Star on 4 August remarked that the owner of a heavy car would now pay £12 a year in various fees for the privilege of buying £9 worth of petrol, nearly enough to take him from Auckland to Papakura once a week; but the latest cut was being met with calm resignation by motorists who had very patiently accepted successive assaults on their petrol tanks.

There was no enlargement of the ration for Christmas of 1941, but the amount due for November to January on coupons 11–13 could be drawn in December and January.

NZ Herald, 26 Nov 41, p. 6

On the morning of 8 December 1941, when war with Japan was declared, there was a rush to buy the full three coupons' allowance. ‘Califonts, kegs, kettles, demijohns, vinegar and whisky bottles, tins of all descriptions, and even a new dust-bin’ were proffered at Wellington. At 2 pm the chief Oil Fuel Controller barred all receptacles except petrol tanks and the use of coupons 12 and 13 was cancelled.

Dominion, 9 Dec 41, p. 8

G. H. Scholefield recorded in his diary that a ‘few bright spirits’ were still carrying petrol away in all sorts of containers till late afternoon, and there was ‘much boasting this evening of smart instances of beating the ban’. Three days later, when the Prince of Wales and Repulse had been sunk, public opinion swung against the use of private cars. ‘Even people who exulted in having drawn their petrol are now bashful about taking their cars out.’

Scholefield, Diary, 8, 11 Dec 41

On 13 December all petrol for private cars was suspended indefinitely.

Singapore fell before the private motorist could again buy any petrol. A motor trade official stated on 18 January that in England 8 horsepower cars were getting 4 gallons a month and 20 horsepower cars 8 gallons.

Press, 27 Jan 42, p. 6

The South Island motor interests in mid-February urged that, in view of ministerial statements that petrol for New Zealand was allocated by the British government, New Zealand rations should equal those of Britain for similar purposes.

Ibid., 18, 20 Feb 42, pp. 4, 4

In March 1942 those who had not collected on coupons 11 and 12 in December were able to do so,

Evening Post, 28 Feb 42, p. 8. For June the only ration was No 13's, held over from December, at half their face value.

and No 14 was available for April. Thereafter, from May 1942 until June 1945 one coupon a month at half its face value, yielding 1, 1½ or 2 gallons, was the basic ration for private cars. In the summer holiday periods of 1943–4 and 1944–5 full face value was restored to the coupons of December and January.

NZ Herald, 30 Oct 43, p. 6, 31 Jan, 28 Nov 44, pp. 2, 4; Auckland Star, 27 Nov 44, p. 6, 1 Feb 45, p. 6

For men returned from overseas there was extra petrol: those on furlough received 10 gallons a month for three months; those invalided back and discharged, or returned to duty in New Zealand, received up to 20 gallons. Men on final leave received 10 gallons.

NZ Herald, 30 Oct 43, p. 6

On 8 May 1945, with the war in Europe ended, War Cabinet decided that the coupon for June would be worth one and a half times its face value, which, with the half coupon already available for May, would give the equivalent of two full coupons for May and June,

Dominion, 8 May 45, p. 4

For July a full coupon was available, and from 1 August 1945 rations were doubled, giving 4, 6 and 8 gallons for cars, 2 gallons for motor cycles, equal to the British ration.

NZ Herald, 30 Jul 45, p. 4

Allowances for commercial vehicles were determined by Oil Fuel Controllers' offices, backed by advisory committees, and at the start not much sacrifice was required, though conservation was asked for. Gradually restrictions were tightened and amounts reduced. For instance, when rationing was re-imposed with comprehensive revision in February 1940, in Auckland's milk and baking industries original petrol licenses were reduced by 20 per cent for one month and thereafter by 33⅓ per cent, when some zoning arrangements had been devised.

Ibid., 2, 21 Feb 40, pp. 8, 12; see p. 323

At first zoning was voluntary, arranged through the co-operation of traders, petrol advisory committees and the Transport Department. Under Delivery Emergency Regulations (1940/176) of August 1940 zoning schemes could be applied to milk, bread, meat, coal and firewood, and groceries in any given area; by 1942, 17 schemes were operating.

Baker, p. 419

The daily household delivery of milk was an obvious target. In July 1940, the four milk vendors of Marton had started a scheme by which they saved 69 of the 251 gallons of petrol they had used each month.

Wanganui Herald, 16 Jul 40, p. 6

In metropolitan Auckland by September 1940, allocation of delivery areas to vendors saved some 2295 gallons a month.

NZ Herald, 7 Sep 40, p. 10

A year later, Blenheim was divided into eight districts, each allotted to one milk vendor.

Press, 22 Sep 41, p. 4

The Upper Hutt Borough Council, on the other hand, in December 1940, rejected the Transport Department's suggestion that zoning of milk should be adopted, holding that the district was being economically served, that zoning would cause hardship to the consumer and as the district was still growing would be inopportune.

Evening Post, 19 Dec 40, p. 10

In Christchurch late in 1940 a milk zoning scheme was devised, not without protest from consumers' representatives: ‘It's dictatorship. It's just what we're fighting this war against. The people have got to have their say.’

Press, 13 Sep 40, p. 8

Semple, Minister of Transport, in July 1940 declared that rationalisation not nationalisation was his purpose, while Auckland's Master Carriers opposed a merger proposal advanced by the government.

Dominion, 11 Jul 40, p. 9

Early in 1942, when the tyre shortage heavily reinforced the need to reduce commercial mileage, commercial licences were overhauled, aiming at 50 per cent of the former issue.

Evening Post, 28 Feb 42, p. 8; see also p. 322

Household deliveries of bread, laundry, meat and groceries ceased or were severely curtailed.

see p. 323

Existing zoning arrangements were tightened and many more instituted. The sort of saving intended was shown at Christchurch which from 1 June was to be divided into 211 milk zones, for the most part each being one milkman's round,

Press, 15 May 42, p. 3

requiring only 300 instead of 1000 delivery miles daily. The Press on 23 April had remarked that this saving could be gained only by depriving the consumer of freedom to choose and change his supplier, and the Milk Board or Health Department would have to assume responsibility for quality and purity. In the chastened mood of 1942 controls that would have been strongly resented a few months earlier were accepted without much noise. The Press on 16 May said that shortage of petrol, tyres and manpower was so acute that all distribution services had to be cut to the barest minimum, which in turn made urgent New Zealand's need for a protective consumers' organisation on overseas lines.

In June 1942 new regulations gave the Minister of Transport very wide powers, resulting in the setting up of 67 Goods Transport Control Committees and 18 Taxi Control Committees to conserve tyres and petrol by distributing demands fairly, with maximum thrift and eliminating what was judged to be unnecessary.

A to J1943, H–40, pp. 2–3; Baker, pp. 419–20

Zoning was progressively extended. For instance: on 11 August 1942, Wellington's bag wash and dry cleaning business was allotted, with no household deliveries suburb by suburb, among four firms.

Evening Post, 11 Aug 42, p. 4

From 1 September 1942 each Auckland carrier had his own area, and could not work outside it without special permission;

Auckland Star, 22 Aug 42, p. 7

from 31 October 1942, by a general order, no grocer could deliver in built-up areas more than once a week, while the smallest parcel must weigh 8lb or be more than 3 cubic feet. There were special arrangements to prevent overlapping in rural districts.

Dominion, 31 Oct 42, p. 6

Further, on 13 August 1942 authority was gazetted to extend zoning over wholesale as well as retail deliveries.

Evening Post, 14 Aug 42, p. 4

Although the petrol licences of some commercial vehicles were reputed sometimes to exceed their needs, these licences were subject to revision. Thus, when Allied resources were being concentrated for the attack on Europe, the Oil Fuel Controller was directed to make a comprehensive review of licences for commercial and other uses.

Auckland Star, 19 May 44, p. 6

Early in the war, the average number of trailers in use showed a striking increase, from 7826 in 1939–40 to 11 249 in 1941–2.

A to J1942, H–40, p. 2

The numbers of buses and service cars did not vary much between 1941 and 1944, nor did those of taxis and rental cars; motor cycle numbers remained steady, at about 15 500 in 1941 and 1942, dropped to 11 355 in 1943, perhaps because many young men, their usual riders, were in the forces; their number rose again to 13 667 by March 1945. At the end of 1942, 190 002 cars were licensed, about 18 000 fewer than in 1941; this figure rose to 196 804 in 1943, 200 100 in 1944. The number of trucks and vans had, at the end of 1942, dropped by 3380 to 44 217; this rose again by more than 2000 during 1943 as vehicles were released from the armed services.

Ibid., 1943, 1944, 1945, all H–40, p. 1

The rationing of petrol, far more than any other item, produced prosecutions. These covered a wide field: plain theft, forged coupons, selling errors by petrol companies; amounts large and small acquired by fraud; also misapplication, such as a farmer using in one vehicle petrol obtained for another. A few examples may indicate the range. In 1940 intricate false statements over a second-hand car supposedly converted to a hearse resulted in a known total of 974 gallons being improperly drawn; also in an £82 fine and a month in prison.

Truth, 16 Oct 40, p. 35

A Wellington petrol firm which had 11 tanks and only 10 pumps omitted to declare the extra tank's content when restrictions were re-imposed in February 1940; for the sale of 400 undeclared gallons, the sellers went to gaol for terms ranging from one to three months, while more than 20 customers paid fines, mostly of £10 or £15.

Dominion, 13, 14 May 42, pp. 6, 6

Two farmers who obtained 88 gallons for a tractor between March and July 1942, during which time the tractor had not been used, each paid £20 and costs.

Press, 31 Aug 42, p. 3

For syphoning 14 gallons out of Army trucks in February, a 19-year-old man spent a week in gaol and an older man got a month.

Dominion, 29 Feb 44, p. 6

A petrol seller whose returns to the Oil Fuel Controller showed the sale of 1275 gallons whereas the total sold was actually 4193 gallons pleaded inexperience in book keeping but spent a month in prison.

Ibid., 23 Oct 43, p. 7

Two men found with six gallons of Army petrol bought from a soldier at 5.s a gallon went to prison for two months and Luxford SM said that receiving was worse than theft; paying double the market price encouraged dishonest people in charge of petrol to sell it.

NZ Herald, 22 Dec 42, p. 2

There were many other breaches, as when a bus company obtained 153 gallons above its licence, anticipating an authorised increase

Ibid., 7 Sep 40, p. 13

or when a Hamilton firm, running three petrol stations, sold 46 gallons in May 1941 and 8 gallons in June for which it did not have coupons.

Ibid., 9 Aug 41, p. 10

There was frequent newspaper mention of cars apparently exceeding their rations. An article in the Dominion of 15 April 1944 referred, among other mysteries, to more than 1500 cars seen at Trentham during the last race meeting, most from at least 20 miles away: ‘There are suspicions of the sources that amount almost to certainties. There is a black market, the price usually mentioned being 6s a gallon and probably that market is supplied in more than one manner, straight-out theft and double use of coupons probably being the commonest.’ In double use of coupons, a holder of a licence for essential purposes, finding that he did not need all his allowance, signed the record at the petrol station to show that he had drawn the full amount, obtaining from the station-owner coupons for a corresponding quantity, to sell or give away. Licences were given to people who worked in hours when public transport did not run, but if they cycled or shared cars they would have petrol to spare. There were many others who obtained petrol for essential use but did not need it all. Employees in a business or public service using many cars, or servicemen, might regularly steal from vehicle tanks small amounts that would not be noticed but which could usefully add to private car mileage.

Dominion, 15 May 44, p. 8. H. S. S. Kyle told the House on 24 June 1942 that men in the air force had bottles to fit their hip pockets in which they cook a little home each night. NZPD, vol 261, p. 396

Another supply device was revealed by a Palmerston North builder on defence jobs.

With 3 cars—two on blocks in hayshed—I found enough coupons to keep one car going. Benzine was available, if I kept circulating with plenty of friends—and kept up my tennis!

When gallons of petrol were tipped on air force tennis courts, just to dry off a shower of rain, a civilian became a bit blatant where and how benzine was obtained.

Letter to author, 7 Oct 69

To meet such evasions, more regulations were introduced. After April 1944 the authorities could demand full information on the source of petrol.

Dominion, 28 Apr 44, p. 4 (1944/63)

Also in 1944 it became necessary for motorists to write their names and car registration numbers on the backs of petrol coupons, and for petrol to be placed only in the tanks of motor vehicles. These restrictions were removed in February 1945.

Auckland Star, 28 Feb 45, p. 7

Before the war, a government committee examining petrol substitutes had decided that producer gas was the most practical, and after the war's start worked on details of carbonised coal burning machines. A design was made available to manufacturers, who worked under government licence to required standards of reliability.

NZ Herald, 7 Sep 40, p. 13, describing a booklet produced by the Ministry of Supply; Evening Post, 5 Oct 40, p. 10; Standard, 29 Jan 42, p. 2

As petrol rationing tightened after the fall of France, several makes of gas producers were advertised, informative articles appeared in newspapers,

Auckland Star, 29 Jun, 6 Jul 40, pp.3, 15; Press, 10 Jul 40, p. 8; Dominion, 16 Jul 40, p. 3; Otago Daily Times, 18 Oct 40, p. 3

and there were burners on the running boards or bracketed on to the backs of some cars. In September 1940 the Railways Department began installing on its buses 40 large producers made at the Woburn workshops.

Evening Post, 21 Sep 40, p. 10; Truth, 5 Mar 41, p. 13 (photo)

After Japan's entry, interest increased and by 26 January 1942 about 1800 were in use.

NZ Herald, 20 Dec 41, p. 14, 6 Jan 42, p. 4; Standard, 26 Jan 42, p. 2

The machines had problems. Gas gave less power than petrol, hence it was more effective in higher powered engines, in buses, service cars and trucks. Its use demanded more skill, both in driving and in engine care; starting could be tricky, as could intersections and traffic lights. One engineer said that this fuel put a driver back to about 1912 as far as the certainties were concerned but there were no insuperable difficulties for drivers with the necessary mechanical sense. Engines using gas required exacting care and the needed steel plate to make producers was not over-plentiful.

NZ Herald, 21 Feb 42, p. 8

They were viewed askance by some county and forestry officers because of the fire risk from clinkers and hot ashes deposited by the roadside.

Press, 12 Feb, 5 Mar 42, pp. 4, 6; NZ Herald, 7 Feb 44, p. 2. After February 1944 gas producers were prohibited on roads through the Waiotapu, Kaingaroa and Waipoua State Forests between 1 August and 30 April.

The rubber shortage of 1942, by making tyres and tubes the chief problem of motorists, lessened enthusiasm for gas producers.

Auckland Star, 11 Aug 42, p. 6

By the end of March 1943 the Transport Department recorded a total of 1773 cars and 507 trucks fitted with gas producers.

A to J1943, H–40, p. 4

In May 1943 three manufacturers advertised that producers could then be obtained without a permit, that the rationing of ‘char’ had been altered to allow private motorists up to five hundredweight a month, which was equivalent to about 45 gallons of petrol, and that there was plenty of ‘char’ all over the North Island and in most districts of the South Island.

Evening Post, 12 May 43, p. 3

In New Zealand most producers used carbonised coal as fuel; some, as in Australia, used charcoal made from various timbers, but the Australian hardwoods made much better charcoal.

Ibid., 7 Aug 41, p. 10; Standard, 29 Jan 42, p. 2; Auckland Star, 11 Aug 42, p. 6

In 1942 a Wellington man patented a new type of gas producer burning raw coal.

NZ Herald, 23 Sep 42, p. 2

Another fuel, conspicuous though of limited use, was household gas carried in large roof bags. These held about 50 cubic feet of gas but as 290 were needed to equal a gallon of petrol, they were useful only for small cars on short runs. Some gas works had special installations that rilled gas bags in about three minutes.

Dominion, 20 Feb 42, p. 6; NZ Herald, 23 Feb 42, p. 6; Press, 27 Jan 42. p. 4

Lighting kerosene, too, was sometimes used as fuel. A magistrate, fining a man under the regulation which decreed that only fuels subject to tax should be used in motors, remarked that judging by the smell from motor exhausts this regulation was very frequently broken.

Dominion, 8 Apr 44, p. 6

After 30 years, several people have offered recollections of the petrol shortage and its stratagems. A woman on a two gallon ration of petrol, who travelled from Wellington to Hastings once a month to visit her elderly mother, wrote of gas producers: ‘I believe they played havoc with the engines but we had many miles of happy motoring with ours…. Sometimes we used to arrive looking like chimney sweeps as every few miles we had to stop and stir up the coke with a long poker. The owners of gas producers were a very close knit community and whenever one stopped to “declinker here” (as the road was marked) a passing gas-producing vehicle never failed to stop and ask if all was well.’

Mrs Vida Stace, 28 Forest Road, Raumati South, to author, 17 Oct 69

A child of the war years whose father made gas producers remembers many trips with the big burners on the side, and also the family's mortification when other children used to call out, ‘When will the pies be ready, Mister!’

Mrs Sylvia M. Robinson, Birkdale, Auckland, to author, 23 Sep 69

A number of devices were recalled by Mr J. T. Burrows of Ashburton:

Every few miles on the main road through Canterbury plains there were 44 gallon drums set in the ground so that motorists who had gas producers could stop and take out the ashes and place them in the drum so as not to start fires. All sorts of wood was used and strangely enough willow was about the best fuel and made the most gas from a given quantity of wood. Broom wood was useless as it gummed up the valves of the car and the same could be said of Turps which the painters could get, and used as fuel for their cars. One chap I know had a most ingenious arrangement. He used crude oil. He had a copper pipe wrapped round & round the manifold of his car (an old Dodge). He would start up and run on petrol until the manifold got hot and then switch to oil which would burn well once the old bus got hot enough. Cars ran very well on kerosene once they warmed up and also on the household gas although it didn't have much kick. Three gallons of petrol didn't take one very far in a month and 10/- a gallon on the black market was beyond most people.

I think the air force types were the worst offenders and most chaps at stations had a tank under the dash filled with aviation [fuel] and would switch to kerosene as soon as the motor was warm enough. Both fuels in most cases filched from the air force. Engine oil was reconditioned. Put through a dairy separator it could be used over again and there were ways of removing the colouring from army petrol so that it could not be distinguished from the civvy issue.

Letter to Cherry Raymond of NZ Woman's Weekly, 8 Sep 69

Another aspect comes from a woman who served out petrol. ‘As I worked in a garage I saw several of the charcoal burners fitted on the running boards of cars. The mechanics loved to tinker with them. They were rather smelly and the driver had to rake out the clinker and these little piles of coke could be seen on the side of the road. One of my duties was to “dip the tanks”—the underground petrol storage tanks. At the end of the month I would spend some hours balancing the petrol bought and sold and adding up petrol coupons to account for the sales. We did not have electric petrol pumps and I developed a larger muscle on my right arm than on the left….’

Mrs V. M. Bullen to ibid., 19 Sep 69

Apart from petrol, paper was probably the first major persisting shortage. Most paper and cardboard came from overseas. Scandinavian supplies were soon cut off, while rising prices reduced imports from North America, for munition-buying dollars could not be lavished on packaging and newsprint. Ordinary grease-proof paper soon became scarce, and though its local manufacture began early in 1940, lunches were repeatedly put in well worn paper,

NZ Herald, 3 Feb 40, p. 15; Evening Post, 20 Apr 42, p. 4

Wrapping paper became and continued to be both expensive and scarce. Grocers and butchers asked women to bring baskets and their own paper, and cotton bags or bits of sacking or linen that could readily be washed were suggested for bread and meat, or even basins for the latter.

Nelson Evening Mail, 15, 28 May 40, pp. 4, 4; Evening Post, 10 Jul 40, p. 9, 20 Apr 42, p. 4; Press, 13 Jul 40, p. 10, 20 Apr, 18, 30 May 42, pp. 6, 4, 4; Auckland Star, 22 Apr, 31 Jul 42, pp. 6, 6

A Gazette notice on 19 March 1942 prohibited the wrapping of goods already packaged.

Newspapers were reduced in size again and again. The Herald, for instance, from 14–20 pages in 1940 had by early 1942 fined down to 6–8 pages. This remained more or less the standard size for the Herald and other papers till late in 1944, when a very gradual increase began. Stationery was firmly conserved. On 15 August 1940 regulations permitted legal documents such as affidavits to be typed on both sides of the paper.

Press, 16 Aug 40, p. 7

Business firms, local government, the Public Service, practised all sorts of economies. Typing was single spaced, margins smaller, the backs of pages were used, envelopes were re-addressed, senior government officials wrote to each other on small pages, and many returns were made quarterly instead of monthly. For carbon copies, mounting sheets and cyclostyling, the backs of old forms were often used.

Evening Post, 28 May 40, p. 9; Paper (General) Conrrol Notice, No 1942/126, 1 May 42

Alternatively, there was a brownish paper, made locally with salvaged waste paper as a main ingredient. Business people and householders were asked to take clean paper of all descriptions to depots. Government departments added old files, schoolboys collected bundles of newspapers and there were house-to-house drives. The commercial use of paper also was curbed by regulations: the size of business cards, Christmas and other greeting cards, of cheque forms, labels, letter-heads, pads, exercise and account books was limited, while advertising leaflets were prohibited, along with such fripperies as streamers, confetti, table napkins, library book covers, cake frills, hand towels, facial tissues and cardboard for packing shirts.

Paper Manufacture and Sale Notice, No 1942/127, 1 May 42

Corrugated iron, New Zealand's standard roof material, was acutely short by mid-1940, with the frames of many houses waiting for it.

Wanganui Herald, 8 Aug 40, p. 6; Press, 14 Apr 41, p. 8

By regulations in February 1941 no one, in town or country, could start a building that would need corrugated iron without permission of the Building Controller.

Dominion, 14 Feb 41, p. 8

Iron could be used, said the Minister of Supply in July 1941, only for essential repairs. Locally made corrugated asbestos cement roofing would be saved for factories and warehouses, but there were plenty of flat asbestos sheets for outhouses and farm sheds, while for all new homes and public buildings with pitched roofs tiles must be used.

Press, 30 Jul 41, p. 10

Tiled roofs were already uniform for State houses. By the end of 1942 the Wanganui Education Board was taking corrugated iron from its fences to meet roofing needs.

Wanganui Herald, 18 Nov 42, p. 5

Spouting and pipes were also scarce and by January 1943 State house builders were using square or V-shaped wooden spouting with square-sectioned wooden downpipes.

Press, 26 Jan 43, p. 4, quoting from NZ National Review

Liquor was another early shortage.

See chap 20

By December 1940 in Auckland most hotels would sell only half bottles of whisky, the most popular spirit, or gin, though some regular customers could still get full-sized ones.

NZ Herald, 21 Dec 40, p. 13

A few months later the drought was much worse, with even half-bottles hard to come by.

Dominion, 7 Feb 41, p. 5; Evening Post, 10 May 41, p. 8

By July many could buy spirits only in measured nips over the counter

NZ Herald, 3 Jul 41, p. 8

and a year later the price of these nips rose from a pre-war 6d to 10d to meet increased tax.

Evening Post, 12 Jun 42, p. 4

Some early shortages, such as artists' materials,

Ibid., 5 Nov 40, p. 8

musical instruments,

Press, 20 Sep 40, p. 7

prams

Otago Daily Times, 30 Oct 40, p, 6; Southland Times, 20 Jan 41, p. 4; NZ Herald, 24 Jan 41, p. 8, 12 Jun 42, p. 2; Evening Post, 18 Jun 42, p. 4

and lawn mowers,

Evening Post, 15 Apr 41, p. 6; NZ Herald, 26 Nov 41, p. 8

were first felt as intensifications of import restrictions imposed in 1938. China and enamel ware and silk stockings, were other notable examples, drawing on the government many reproaches because wartime scarcity was hastened by low pre-war stocks. Since 1938, imports of fancy china had been severely curtailed and licences were mainly for utility lines, such as plain white cups and saucers with narrow gold rings. Cheap continental supplies had ceased and, with licences buying less as British prices rose, with orders taking longer to arrive and several large shipments sunk, the famine of crockery, along with glass and enamel ware, was sharply felt early in 1941. Even the standard white and gold china was very scarce; there were plain glass tumblers but not much else, and enamelware of all kinds—pots, kettles, pie dishes, basins, mugs and plates—had vanished from warehouses and could be found only in the more remote retail shops where stocks lasted longer. Aluminium had disappeared, diverted to war.

Auckland Star, 10 May 41, p. 8

In response to scarcity, import licences were increased, but prices were rising faster

Press, 24 Dec 41, p. 4

and English potteries were hard-pressed to maintain supplies.

NZ Herald, 12 Jun 42, p. 2

From time to time glass cups and saucers came from Australia and a pottery firm at Auckland, started since the outbreak of war, strove to fill the breach, beginning with massive cups, and proceeding to saucers and plates.

Auckland Star, 3 Aug 42, p. 5

Crown Lynn china was cradled by the war, and its youthful form was rugged.

The occasional arrival of imported china and enamel goods caused some of the most strenuous shopping scrambles of the war. For instance in November 1942 when, to celebrate its twelfth birthday, J. R. McKenzie's in Dunedin displayed such wares, the crowd packed so tightly in the doorway before opening time that a plate-glass window was shattered.

Press, 27 Nov 42, p. 6

In Wellington, two traffic officers were needed to control the crowd outside a store in Willis Street before its doors opened on a supply of plain breakfast cups and saucers, combs and wool.

Auckland Star, 13 Oct 42, p. 2

When an Auckland store released about 20 gross of assorted cups and saucers they were all sold within half an hour, with women helping themselves from the bins and assistants anxiously collecting the money.

Ibid., 26 Feb 43, p. 4 (photo)

However, as one dealer remarked in 1942, there were large domestic reserves of china: in many homes half of it reposed in china cabinets.

Ibid., 3 Aug 42, p. 5

There were also reserves of oddments tucked into store cupboards, remnants of dinner sets and tea sets, slightly chipped jugs and dishes. Many newly-weds set up house on contributions from mothers and aunts and friends of china, cutlery and pots.

At a time when nylon yarn was unknown, imports of silk stockings had been much reduced since 1938 and ceased altogether late in 1940 when, said Nash, it was estimated that local mills would produce 289 500 dozen pairs that year.

NZPD, vol 253, p. 480. In 1941 Nash said that production was 250 000 dozen pairs. see p. 760

Retail supplies were becoming irregular in both quality and quantity when Nash on 4 December 1940 suggested that women might buy fine woollen ones instead of silk.

Press, 5 Dec 40, p. 10

This triggered off a buying spree ‘like three Christmas Eves rolled into one’,

NZ Herald, 7, 21 Dec 40, pp. 10 & 15, 10

with some women trying to buy 15 pairs at once.

Press, 7 Dec 40, p. 12

In 1940 bare legs were frowned on by most employers, but when some girls, disapproving of the greedy scramble, declared their willingness to wear sandals without stockings during summer, their employers agreed and the practice spread in many factories, offices and shops,

Ibid., 11 Dec 40, p. 10; NZ Herald, 14 Dec 40, p. 10; Taranaki Daily News, 11 Feb 41, p. 8

particularly among girls with shapely well-browned legs. But though some wholeheartedly relished this freedom under summer dresses, plenty, even among young women, felt slovenly and shabby at work without stockings, while many establishments held that standards and stockings must be maintained. For instance, the Auckland Hospital Board in February 1941 voted 6:5 that stockings must be worn by the kitchen staff,

Dominion, 11 Feb 41, p. 10

and students working as wardsmaids in the vacation of 1944–5 were sent home if they appeared without stockings.

Craccum, 28 Feb 45

Of course in such areas all thoughts of silk stockings were abandoned: assorted cotton and rayon ones, seldom fully fashioned and much given to wrinkling and sagging, were perforce accepted by working women for both warmth and convention.

It was not only the absence of stockings themselves; there was also the problem of anchoring foundation garments which in the Forties were far more generally used than they became in the era of pantyhose. With the right corsets women were well dressed, without them merely dressed.

Auckland Star, 20 Mar 42, p. 3

The Woman's Weekly, scorning the idea of stockings from Japan,

To wear stuff made in a hostile country, just for the sake of luxury, was rank disloyalty to England. Japan was a potential enemy, awaiting a favourable opportunity to attack, and buying Japanese stockings would be sending a donation to the Mikado for war purposes. NZ Woman's Weekly, 20 Feb 41, p. 1

suggested stockings of wool or cotton in winter and bare legs in summer. Admittedly with empty suspenders the belt or corset would creep up in a clumsy roll round the waist, skirts would wrinkle and matronly figures show bulges, but the belt or corset could be kept in place by a detachable satin strip buttoned on between the legs: ‘with a few shillings for materials and an evening's work, one can easily make a dozen or so’.

Ibid.

For the pale-limbed there were stocking creams.

Evening Post, 18 Jan 41, p. 15; NZ Herald, 17 Dec 41, p. 11

These illusions did not gain wide acceptance; they could look patchy and they rubbed off on skirts and sofas. Most women stuck to stockings and women's pages repeatedly advised on their care. Usually a few pairs were hoarded for best occasions and the rest patiently darned. During the latter half of 1941 complaints mounted against the government for mismanagement

eg, Dominion, 7 Oct 41, p. 8

and against selfish women who prowled the shops snapping up far more than their share of stockings as these emerged from the three hard-driven local mills.

NZ Woman's Weekly, 25 Sep 41, p. 1

When churchmen were asked how they would regard bare legs in the congregation, Canon D. J. Davies

Davies, Very Rev David Jones (1891–1974): b Wales, to NZ 1924; Anglican, Curate Gisborne 1924, Vicar Opunake etc 1927–38; Hon Canon 1937, Dean 1948, Wellington

of St Paul's, Wellington, gaily suggested that this might largely depend on the legs, adding that the church would take a sensible view and was used to summer sports clothes. The Presbyterian Moderator said that there was no rule: to wear or not to wear stockings was left to the individual. Archbishop O'Shea thought that in necessity the stockingless could come to church: correct attire was not a matter of faith but simply one of discipline and good order.

Evening Post, 9 Sep 41, p. 9

Nash spoke of additional machinery sunk on the way, of skilled workers in the forces, of shortage in the United Kingdom and of the impropriety of spending dollars on American stockings while local mills were making 250 000 dozen pairs a year.

Auckland Star, 7 Aug 41, p. 4; NZ Herald, 8 Oct 41, p. 6; NZPD, vol 259, p. 734, vol 260, pp. 980–2

Late in October 1941 he offered to grant licences for British stockings,

NZ Herald, 22 Oct 41, p. 6

by which time the British cupboard was nearly bare.

Ibid., 31 Oct 41, p. 8

Meanwhile, since about August 1941 there had been requests for rationing, by private people, women's organisations and trade unions.

Evening Post, 7, 9 Aug. 6 Sep 41, pp.8, 11, 8; Press, 9 Oct 41, p. 8 (letter), 22 Jan 42, p. 4; NZ Herald, 8 Aug, 8 Nov 41, pp. 8, 10

Nash on 7 October thought rationing impracticable,

NZPD, vol 260, p. 981

but late in November the Auckland Hairdressers Union was told that the government was seeking means for more equitable distribution, and in January 1942 the Women's Institutes learned that rationing was being considered.

NZ Woman's Weekly, 26 Nov 41, p. 6, 4 Feb 42, p. 6

By February it was expected that stockings, but no other clothing, would be rationed shortly.

Dominion, 27 Feb 42, p. 6

New Zealand's first ration books (petrol coupons were always separate) were issued in April 1942, and on 27 April rationing began, with sugar and stockings as the first items. Every woman over 16 years was entitled, once in three months, to one pair of fully fashioned stockings, of silk, art silk or cotton.

Rationing, while it curbed greed, did not end the stocking shortage. New Zealand in 1942 had five mills, three of them—one in Christchurch, two in Wellington—making fully fashioned, seamed stockings, the kind most wanted. Two other mills, in Auckland and in the Manawatu, made circular stockings for which hosiery coupons were not required. These were relatively plentiful but they did not have the fit of the fully-fashioned. The top price for silk stockings was 16s 3d a pair while those of a mixture of silk and rayon ranged from 3s 11d to 8s 11d.

NZ Herald, 29 Apr 42, p. 6

Women hunted stubbornly for the rare silk specimens, on the principle that silk stockings were stockings and anything else was merely a leg covering.

Ibid., 17 Jul 42, p. 2

As Australia's Dame Enid Lyons

Lyons, Hon Dame Enid, GBE(37): wife Rt Hon Joseph Aloysius Lyons, PM Aust from 1932; 1st woman MHR (Darwm 1943–51); 1st woman member Federal Cab; newspaper columnist 1951–4

put it, two years later: ‘There exists in the mind of every woman the belief that the most undistinguished ankle becomes a thing of beauty in silken hose, and that even the most graceful without it deteriorates into a mere joint.’

NZ Herald, 17 Mar 44, p. 2

The Rationing Controller in 1942, recognising this view and the shortage of even non-silk fully-fashioned stockings, eased tension by extending the currency of the second hosiery coupon to six months.

Ibid., 17 Jul 42, p. 2; Evening Star, 26 Jan 43, p. 2

Hosiery advertisements in July 1942 explained that hopes of finding pure silk stockings were practically nil: raw silk was unobtainable and in every 100 pairs, locally made or imported, only six were pure silk. Further, fully fashioned stockings were made on heavy intricate machinery which could be handled only by men, who also were not available. Good wartime hose, of necessity not fully fashioned but in fine durable fabric and good shades, was excellent value at 3s 6d to 4s 11d. Women were entreated to face the facts and adapt themselves to present conditions.

Press, 14 Jul 42, p. 3; Auckland Star, 22 Jul 42, p. 3

Pressure on so-called silk stockings persisted throughout the war. A report that they were in any shop drew hosts of women, not merely ladies-at-leisure, but girls from offices and factories, their employers accepting their absence as inevitable, some with active good-will. One woman who worked in a dairy company's office wrote later: ‘We'll always remember how the boss lent us his car when silk stockings arrived in town and we all piled in.’

Mrs H. D. Mitchell of Hastings to author, 9 Sep 69

Even when silk was impossible crowds poured in for fully-fashioned rayon or cotton hose. A shipment of these from America in March 1944 drew queues of about 500.

NZ Herald, 15 Mar 44, p. 4

In 1941 shortages developed over a widening range as stocks ran out and replacements became irregular, inadequate or non-existent, or Service demands drained off supplies. Railway tarpaulins were short,

Press, 22 Mar 41, p. 10

so were motor and bicycle tyres in some areas.

NZ Herald, 15 Mar 41, p. 10

New cars, even small ones were disappearing.'

Star–Sun, 10 Apr 41, p. 5

Tools, household fittings (including baths and sinks), aluminium and enamel kitchenware, cutlery, fountain pens, jewellery, and all but the most expensive watches were a cross-section of shortages by April 1941,

Evening Post, 15 Apr 41, p. 6

while lack of tobacco pipes, made largely from French and Italian briar roots, was promoting experiments with the roots of native trees such as beech and manuka.

Press, 20 Jun 41, p. 6; Auckland Star, 6 Nov 42, p. 2

Blankets became scarce as woollen mills worked on Service orders, and they would be scarce for a long time.

NZ Herald, 29 Apr 41, p. 6; 1 Jun 42, p. 4; Press, 4 Mar 43, p. 6; Dominion, 8 Apr, 2 Nov 44, pp. 4, 9 (ad)

The carpet quest was second to the stocking quest, though a long way second, noted the Woman's Weekly of 4 September 1941, with all sorts fetching fabulous prices at second-hand dealers and auctions.

After April when the first £1 million Service biscuit order came from Britain,

NZ Herald, 17 Apr 41, p. 8

the chocolate-coated, icing-filled varieties disappeared, leaving only plain crackers, gingernuts, wine arrowroot and malt biscuits with a few chocolate fingers now and then; all were sold loose, not in packets.

Auckland Star, 15 Jul 41, p. 2; NZ Herald, 21 Jan 42, p. 8

Meanwhile, with shifts and overtime, production increased from about 9000 tons to more than 20 000 tons.

Statement by manufacturers in Straight Furrow, 15 Dec 43, p. 65

Knitting wool had been growing scarce for some time. The fine sorts were imported and local mills concentrated on Service needs.

NZ Herald, 17 Oct 41, p. 8

By mid-1941 many jerseys remained unknitted and, in particular, many babies lacked their shawls, matinée coats, woolly suits and dresses, widely regarded as their birthright and properly displaying the talents of their mothers, aunts and grandmothers.

Evening Post, 2 Jul 41, p. 9

A cartoon by Minhinnick showed a crowd trailing a nervous, scurrying shopper: ‘They say she knows where there's some wool’.

Ibid., 4 Jul 41, p. 7

Sullivan, Minister of Supply, on 30 June 1942 stated that defence contracts were being rearranged, so that knitting wool, baby wool and white flannel could be made locally.

NZPD, vol 261, p. 433

The wool shortage was to persist for years, claiming special coupons in ration books, while old garments were unravelled and re-knitted, and jerseys and children's clothes were contrived from wools of many colours.

they say she knows where there's some wool! Black and white cartoon drawing showing woman sneaking away hurriedly from a crowd of other women, past a shop window. Caption reads They say she knows where there's some wool!

Dealers in camera film, with at best a weekly quota, took to selling it only at a fixed hour one morning a week, one roll to each customer from long queues, while advertisements explained that film was needed for air reconnaissance. Cameras were also scarce and other advertisements urged people to avoid waste and help themselves by selling old cameras and photographic equipment.

NZ Herald, 31 Oct 41, p. 6; Dominion, 5 Feb, 29 Oct 42, pp. 3, 3; Auckland Star. 3 Dec 42, p. 6

Alarm clocks became and remained unprocurable, especially the cheaper ones that had come mainly from Germany and Japan. Imports had been severely cut in 1938, and stocks were already low when Empire clock-makers turned their talents to munitions.

Evening Post, 18 Nov 41, p. 8; Star–Sun, 1 Apr 42, p. 4; Auckland Star, 8 May 43, p. 4

Wrist watches, which came mainly from Switzerland, were soon scarce; by April 1941 the cheaper ones had vanished.

Evening Post, 15 Apr 41, p. 6

Demand for repairs increased heavily but lack of parts and skilled labour made these very slow.

Auckland Star, 11 Dec 42, p. 4

From late in 1943, at intervals, more Swiss watches, mainly of the military type, were imported through Portugal, their prices ranging from £4 to £15, but repairs, even of utmost priority, took at least six weeks,

Dominion, 24 Nov 43, p. 6, 8 Mar 44, p. 4

and one Auckland jeweller in May 1944 displayed a notice that no new work would be accepted that year.

Auckland Star, 4 May 44, p. 4

The list of lacks large and small lengthened sharply when Japan entered the war. New telephone installations were banned immediately, conserving equipment for essential uses, and by July 1943 there were 10 000 applications waiting.

Dominion, 24 Jan 42, p. 6, 28 Jul 43, p. 4

Demand was particularly keen in Auckland, where population growth outstripped the automatic telephone exchange facilities, and where about 4000 telephones were sought late in 1944 when the whole country's demand was given as 8000.

Auckland Star, 10 Oct 44, p. 5

Pressure on the timber industry, plus shortage of firewood, made fruitcases scarce and by regulation in March 1942 apple and pear boxes had to be returned to growers.

Ibid., 10 Mar 42, p. 6

All sorts of bottles, including small ones for medicine, milk and soft drinks became scarce,

Press, 13 Jan 42, p. 7; Auckland Star, 10 Mar 42, p. 6

and by 1943 it was often necessary to return a soft drink bottle in order to buy one. Lack of hair brushes, late in 1941, was eclipsed by that of combs. Hair styles of the Forties, with curls, waves, rolls and page-boy bobs, needed much grooming, and combs, though cheap, became treasures. Small shipments were keenly rushed

Otago Daily Times, 29 Oct 41, p. 4; Star–Sun, 2 Apr 42, p. 4; NZ Herald, 14 Oct 42, p. 2

and there was ready sale for combs which a few manufacturers began to contrive from native woods. Rata was favoured for the teeth and rewa-rewa for the backs. One Wellington chemist reported sales of 12 gross within a month adding, ‘If you had told me any one-shop chemist could have sold that many combs in a lifetime I would not have believed you.’

Auckland Star, 30 Oct, 4 Dec 42, pp. 2, 4

From 6 July 1942, no more radios were made for the public; stocks held out for a year or so longer, but second-hand sets were fetching high prices early in 1944.

NZ Herald, 6, 17 Jul 42, pp. 2, 2, 9 Feb 44, p. 4; see p. 735

In June 1942, British and American restrictions on the export of component parts caused prohibition of the manufacture of 28 electrical articles, ranging from hair dryers and bed warmers to water heaters, stoves, radiators, kettles and toasters. There was not an instant shut-down; groups of objects were phased out over several months, and elements were still made for repairing essential items such as water-heaters, stoves, radiators, irons and jugs.

Evening Post, 27 Jun, 25 Jul 42, pp. 4, 4

Electric light globes were locally made, but their bases required imported metal which became unobtainable. An Auckland firm used bakelite, believing itself the first in the world to do so, while the public was told that after 1 June 1942 it would be necessary to return the base of an old globe in order to buy a new one. Again this edict was phased in gradually. In June retailers had to produce bases equal to 50 per cent of their next order, and this was increased by 10 per cent monthly till by November no base meant no new globe.

NZ Herald, 14, 16 May 42, pp. 4, 9

Kapok, then the usual filling for mattresses, pillows and cushions, was impounded at the end of April 1942: anyone holding more than 28lb of kapok had to inform the Factory Controller and could not dispose of it without his consent; cotton drill was also restricted.

Evening Post, 24 Apr 42, p. 4; NZ Gazette, 23 Apr 42, p. 1166

The government decreed further that all owners of machine tools, even amateur craftsmen, must send lists of them to the Factory Controller.

Evening Post, 22 Apr 42, p. 4; NZ Gazette, 9 Apr 42, p. 976

Razors, nail files, needles, shoe polish, washing blue, golden syrup were scarce or made so by greedy buyers.

NZ Herald, 29 May, 17 Jun, 25 Sep 42, pp. 2, 2, 2; Auckland Star, 30 Sep, 17 Dec 42, pp. 4, 2; Press, 25 Jul 42, p. 6

Pencils were worn to stumps.

Dominion, 26 Oct 42, p. 4

Shortage of imported mustard induced two middle-aged carpenters with clean records to steal a 1lb tin of it, the property of the United States government, for which they were each fined £5.

Auckland Star, 15 Oct 42, p. 6

It also induced the planting of mustard on 1000 acres in South Canterbury. The seed went to Australia to be processed and some came back to New Zealand. Meanwhile advertisements encouraged patience and economy.

Dominion, 16 Nov 42, p. 3; Press, 14 Jul 42, p. 6, 25 Jan 43, p. 4; Auckland Star, 2 Mar 43, p. 2

Cutlery was increasingly short and disappeared rapidly from eating-houses, replacements when obtainable costing 100–400 per cent more than before; little flat pieces of wood, formerly issued with cartons of ice cream, now stirred tea. Much crockery vanished likewise, and plastic substitutes arrived. It was difficult, reported the Auckland Star, to keep anything on tables except plates which were awkward to steal, especially when dirty: Wellington's railway cafeteria provided bakelite spoons with which to eat pies well covered with gravy.

Auckland Star, 14 Dec 42, p. 2, 9 Apr, 11 Nov 43, pp. 2, 4

Occasionally concern was expressed about chipped and cracked crockery in restaurants, but little could be done beyond advising the anxious to bring their own cups; even the thick cups, some without handles, that were made locally cost 2s 6d each and could not be discarded at the first chip.

Evening Post, 5 May 43, p. 4; Dominion, 7 Jul 44, p. 4

As for glasses, the president of the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club complained of the widespread belief that a person who bought a drink at the bar also bought the glass.

Auckland Star, 7 Apr 43, p. 2

Torch batteries became so scarce that by mid-1943 the night staff at hospitals were making their rounds with candles and storm lanterns, saving their few serviceable torches for emergencies.

Dominion, 24 Jul 43, p. 6

Floors and furniture looked less shiny after shortage of beeswax stopped the manufacture of polish.

Evening Post, 16 Jul 43, p. 3

Some shortages caused administrative changes. In September 1941 Semple announced that no new car number-plates would be issued during the war. Sidney Holland suggested permanent plates plus windscreen stickers to show that the vehicle was licensed, and Semple thought that yearly issuing of plates would never return.

Press, 20 Sep 41, p. 10

By regulations in May 1942 the 17-year-old practice of affixing new, differently coloured number-plates after each annual registration of motor vehicles was indefinitely suspended ‘until new registration plates are issued by the Registrar’. New plates were issued in 1946, in 1951, 1956 and 1961, and the system of permanent number plates began in 1963. Meanwhile motorists were obliged to keep their number-plates clean and legible; if obscured by rust etc they could be repainted, or new ones purchased at the Post Office.

Ibid., 22 Jan 43, p. 4; Dominion, 7 Jun 45, p. 6

The annual registration issue of dog collars was also checked by shortage of metal for buckles and Ds. This was noticed in September 1941

Press, 18 Sep 41, p. 4

and in January 1943 regulations provided that any local authority which could not obtain new collars could issue discs that could be attached to the old collars; only for dogs registered for the first time would there be new collars.

Auckland Star, 6 Jan 43, p. 5. The dog population of Auckland city was then estimated at between 4500 and 5000.

Some shortages were answered by local industry. Cardboard making was stimulated both by its own shortage and by the need to replace tin containers.

NZ Herald, 7 May 41, p. 10

Bell tea moved into 1lb cartons as early as March 1940, and two years later containers for golden syrup had tops and bottoms of tin, bodies of cardboard.

Otago Daily Times, 26 Mar 40, p. 7; Auckland Star, 30 Jul 42, p. 4

Wallboard from wood pulp and various plywoods was developed for building needs.

NZ Herald, 7 May 41, p. 10; A to J1942, H–11, p. 2

Macaroni was made at Timaru.

Press, 19 Nov 42, p. 6

At Auckland the firm Mason and Porter began making lawn mowers.

NZ Herald, 12 Dec 41, p. 9; see p. 329

During 1941 lack of imported oranges deeply troubled Plunket-advised, vitamin-conscious mothers. The Department of Health said that tomato juice was a half-strength substitute

Evening Post, 25 Mar 42, p. 6

but rose hips could provide an extract much richer in Vitamin C than that of oranges, and various recipes were published.

eg, NZ Nursing Journal, Jan 42; Palmerston North Times, 3 Fep 42, p. 3; Dominion, 11 Mar, 7 Apr 42, pp. 3, 2

Sometimes the hips could be bought cheaply at Plunket Society rooms,

Mrs Eunice Robinson of Miramar, Wellington, to author, 14 Sep 69

sometimes home-made syrup was sold at patriotic stalls. The abundant roadside briars of Otago and Southland were tackled by a Dunedin firm early in 1943 and later that year rose hip syrup was being sold by chemists and grocers.

Auckland Star, 27 Jan, 17 Nov 43, pp. 2, 2

Pre-war, most of the world's agar-agar, used in meat canning and for bacteriological cultures in scientific and medical work, came from Japanese agar seaweed, and well before Japan's involvement scientists in many countries began testing their own red seaweeds. Dr Lucy Moore,

Moore, Lucy Beatrice, MBE(′59): b 1906; DSIR botanist from 1938

of the DSIR found one, Pterocladia lucida, yielding generous amounts of high quality agar, that grew plentifully on most open rocky coasts round the North Island and the northern parts of the South Island. New Zealand's agar industry was formally licensed in December 1941.

Press, 19 Dec 41, p. 6

Through the Internal Marketing Division, the weed was gathered and dried in tons by local Maoris, by school children and Girl Guides, for about 10d a lb net dry weight, and processed to supply not only New Zealand but British and Allied needs as well.

Auckland Star, 16 Jan 42, p. 2, 9 Feb 43, p. 2; Education Gazette, Jun 42, pp. 136–7; Press, 20 Nov 42, p. 4; NZ Herald, 29 Oct 42, p. 5, 19 Apr 43, p. 2; Evening Post, 11 Dec 72, p. 29 (article by Nancy M. Adams)

Another seaweed, carageen, previously obtained from Ireland, of wide use in industry—for skin lotions and cough mixtures, in brewing, in leather and glue making, and as a food-jelly— grows vigorously on the coast of Stewart Island and Southland. During 1942 collection began, at 1s 9d per dried pound, for local manufacture and inquiries for it came from Australia, Britain and America.

Press, 11 Sep 42, p. 4

Pre-war the most popular timber for furniture had been Japanese oak, well grained, hard wearing and easily worked; there were few well furnished New Zealand homes without some specimens of it, stated a Dominion article on 10 December 1941. But imports had been stopped in mid-1941, and by the end of that year stocks for only about four months remained.

Southland Times, 20 Jun 41, p. 4; Dominion, 10 Dec 41, p. 6

Already in 1940 Auckland furniture factories, busy with increased trade, were making much use of rimu, then in adequate supply at about 5d a foot whereas the limited Japanese oak had risen from 6l/2d a foot to more than double that rate.

Wanganui Herald, 18 Sep 40, p. 4

Imports of other furniture woods also practically ceased, leading to the increased production of local plywood, and furniture-makers turned increasingly to three little-used native hardwoods, tawa, taraire and mangeao. The State Forest Service discovered that the widely distributed tawa, when kiln dried and chemically treated, was durable besides being easily worked and attractive.

A. W. B. Powell, in Auckland Star, 2 Dec 42, p. 2. see p. 808

Shortage of labour, added to the shortage of wood, led to a furniture control notice being gazetted on 21 January 1943. This prohibited the making of such non-essential items as plant-stands, standard lamps, cutlery and cocktail cabinets, glass-fronted cupboards and bookcases. To avoid undue demands on materials and manpower, maximum dimensions were set for occasional tables and tea wagons; bedroom suites could not have more than four or five pieces; size, the number of drawers and area of mirrors were all prescribed. Dining suites could not exceed six pieces, and again dimensions were limited.

Press, 22 Jan 43, p. 4

Smoking, not generally known during the 1940s to be a health hazard, was widely accepted as a prop to wartime morale, soothing and companionable. Cigarettes and tobacco were included in patriotic parcels and sold cheaply in Service canteens. Shortages

Before the outbreak of war a move was made to further both tobacco growing and cigarette manufacture in New Zealand. This was accelerated during the war when importation of manufactured cigarettes was progressively curtailed and the percentage of locally grown leaf in cigarettes increased (30% in 1938–40, 35% for the next 3 years, 40% for 1944–6). Production of cigarettes doubled from 600 million a year in the years 1938–40 to 1200 million a year from 1944 to 1946. Baker, pp. 173–4

in civilian supplies in 1943–4, arising largely from diminished imports, lack of labour for processing, and from distribution priorities, were resented by workers with little access to shops, such as carpenters, freezing workers and miners. This led to trade union protest

Union Record, 1 Jul 43; NZ Herald, 21 Feb, 3 Mar 44, pp. 2, 2

and to the part-time employment of women at tobacco factories.

see p. 1095

War reduced fish supplies. In 1940 several big trawlers from Auckland and Wellington were converted for minesweeping, leaving only the smaller craft which worked nearer the coast and in calmer waters.

Otago Daily Times, 13 Jul 40, p. 12; Wanganui Herald, 16 Jul 40, p. 9

As with all commercial users, their oil fuel was limited. After Japan's entry, they were prohibited from showing lights or flares on harbours or foreshores.

Dominion, 12 Feb 42, p. 6

Italians, a substantial proportion of New Zealand's fishermen, especially at Wellington and Nelson, were limited to daylight hours and certain areas. Some Cook Strait grounds and 200 square miles of the Hauraki Gulf were, for defence reasons, barred to all fishing boats. Fishermen were forced to work areas normally avoided, where the sea bottom was rough, with damage to their nets and lines. At the same time, the armed forces were taking large amounts of the diminished catch.

NZ Herald, 14 Apr 42, p. 2; Auckland Star, 7 Sep 42, p. 4; Dominion, 10 Jul 43, p. 6; Press, 27 Sep 43, p. 4

The greatest shortage in 1942 was of rubber, with tyres the major item, for though New Zealand already had a small, expanding rubber industry, until 1946 all tyres were imported. Stocks were low at the outset, especially of some kinds, for the 1938 import restrictions had caused dealers to concentrate on quick-selling lines. Manufacturing difficulties in Britain and enemy sinkings were soon felt.

Baker, p. 140; Evening Post, 8 Feb 41, p. 8; Otago Daily Times, 15 Jan 41, p. 6

Japan's early successes captured most of the world's rubber sources, and Allied leaders loudly declared rubber to be the most crucial shortage facing them.

Evening Post, 4 May 42, p. 4

New Zealand imports henceforth concentrated on tyres for trucks, and from 1 May 1942 all tyres and tubes went under a rationing system: trucks in proportion to their usefulness were supplied with tyres and retreads while private cars were at the very end of the queue. Service cars, taxis, official cars, doctors and other priority users obtained permits under which approximately 20 000 car tyres were issued in 1942 and 46 000 in 1943 whereas the normal demand was for about 320 000—190 000 imported as tyres and 130 000 already fitted to cars.

Baker, p. 140

A trade journal cheeringly pointed out that as the makers claimed that their tyres were good for 18 000 miles, and the private motorist's petrol ration permitted 40 miles a month, a new set of tyres would, save for deterioration from age, last 36 years, and even a three-quarter worn tyre for nine.

Auckland Star, 28 Aug 42, p. 2, quoting Radiator, journal of the motor trade

At first, tyre and retread permits were issued by Transport Department district officers, but after 30 June 1942 they were handled by district oil fuel controllers,

Press, 30 Jun 42, p. 4

who were already handling petrol and who reviewed all existing petrol licences for privately owned trucks and vans, aiming to reduce mileage and save tyres. Zoning schemes, already under way to save petrol,

see p. 748

were tightened and multiplied over deliveries of bread, meat, milk, coal and firewood, drapery and laundry: for instance a statement was issued in mid-June on the stage reached by bread-zoning in every district.

Star–Sun, 15 Jun 42, p. 4

Zoning officers, seeking co-operation, invited traders to prepare their own schemes, but warned that unless they were almost ruthless there would be no civilian services at all in a few months.

Evening Post, 21, 25 Jul 42, pp. 4, 6

By September, War Cabinet's decision that, save for milk, coal and firewood, retail deliveries must cease where possible was generally accepted,

Auckland Star, 1 Sep 42, p. 4; NZ Herald, 11 Sep 42, p. 2

though groceries presented problems for which there were special regulations.

see p. 750

Doubling up of taxi passengers, which had been widely practised but which was rebuked by Semple as late as 2 March 1942, was on 1 April officially permitted and regulated.

NZ Herald, 2 Apr 42, p. 6

Public passenger and goods services were reduced, with the target of a 25 per cent mileage cut on week days and 75 per cent on Sundays,

Ibid., 30 May, 28 Jul 42, pp. 6, 2; Evening Post, 25 Jun, 10, 11 Sep 42, pp. 4, 3, 3

transport authorities saying bluntly, ‘There is a war on. People will have to learn to stay at home.’

Evening Post, 20 Aug 42, p. 4

By September, in the Auckland licensing area alone, such revision was saving 2 million miles annually.

NZ Herald, 2 Sep 42, p. 2

A dairy company in the South Auckland area made adjustments, including the transfer on loan of 1200 suppliers to other companies, that saved 700 000 truck miles a year, and suggested that similar action should be taken about beer wagons and horse-floats.

Press, 21 Dec 42, p. 4

The Transport Department, in March 1943, claimed that drastic measures saving 25 450 000 vehicle miles annually had been taken.

A to J1943, H–40, p. 1

To save wear on tyres, some bus stops were cut out,

In Auckland's eastern suburbs 20 were eliminated, leaving 80 on all routes in the area. Auckland Star, 31 Jul 42, p. 4

while regulations on 30 July 1942 prohibited over-loading of vehicles and imposed a maximum speed limit of 40 mph on open roads, without altering the usual 30 mph urban limits. Permits for retreading were guarded by quotas, priorities and formidable forms.

NZ Herald, 8 Sep 42, p. 2; Evening Post, 8 Sep 43, p. 3; Dominion, 5 Nov 43, p. 8

The humble bicycle shared the tyre shortage. Japan's entry had brought a great rush of bicycle purchases,

Baker, p. 465

but Sullivan on 15 June 1942 declared that current tyres would be replaced only for those who proved that the bicycle was their sole means of getting to work or school; there could be none for cycling for pleasure or where other transport was available.

Evening Post, 15 Jun 42, p. 4

Acquiring a new bicycle tyre was a formidable process; a form signed by the applicant's employer or teacher and by a cycle-dealer who had inspected the worn tyre went to the local rationing authority and if approved the dealer would be supplied with a tyre for sale to the applicant. Originally it was prescribed that a police officer must witness the applicant's signature, but this proved too unwieldy and was quickly withdrawn.

Auckland Star, 31 Jul, 7 Aug 42, pp. 6, 4

The limitation at its peak could be gauged by the Auckland area, where between Warkworth and Waiuku there were thought to be more than 50 000 bicycles, but the weekly allocation of tyres and tubes was only about 100.

Ibid., 18 Dec 42, p. 2

However in some cases at least officialdom was hoodwinked. In November 1943 a Greymouth dealer who was holding about 50 unclaimed tyres, having advised the applicants months earlier that their requests had been granted, concluded that as the worn tyres he had been shown could not have stood up to the intervening wear they had not been in actual use.

Press, 1 Nov 43, p. 4

Production of cycle tyres, which had been limited to an Auckland factory, increased after November 1943 when a Woolston factory began making them by a wartime formula using a proportion of reclaimed rubber, with a target of 7000 a month.

Ibid., 17 Nov 43, p. 2

Thereafter, allocations which had already eased slightly

Evening Star, 9 Jan 43, p. 2

became more adequate.

Collection of all waste rubber for salvage was vitally necessary. From May 1942 onward, contributions of worn rubber were constantly besought: old tyres, flooring, hot water bottles, rubber gloves, tennis shoes, crêpe soles, gumboots, galoshes, bathing caps and bath plugs. Garages set up collection bins, chambers of commerce organised drives, city councils attached bins to rubbish trucks. It was noticeable, in this as in other collections, that only small quantities were brought in to depots by people themselves, but big quantities were gathered by house-to-house canvassing. A garage man, surveying his near-empty bin, remarked that the usual excuse about transport did not hold: ‘the people who come here for petrol don't come on foot’.

Evening Post, 4 Sep 42, p. 4; Auckland Star, 15 Aug 42, p. 3

But drives, with scurrying school children and Boy Scouts directed by EPS wardens and with Army trucks picking up the harvest, produced huge piles.

Dominion, 19, 24, 27 Oct 42, pp. 4, 6, 4; Press, 16 Feb 43, p. 4

In all, 5000 tons of waste rubber, including half a million used car and truck tyres, were returned. Government required that the tyres should be sorted over, and those that could be repaired or retreaded were made serviceable, classified as to possible mileage, and sold second-hand to essential users.

Baker, p. 145

Gumboots were essential working equipment for thousands of dairy farms, in mines, meatworks and dairy factories, and they were accepted winter footwear for children. By 1942 imports had fallen from about 240 000 pairs a year pre-war to 24 000 pairs.

Ibid., p. 151

In February 1942 a rubber-goods retailer was urging farmers to make their gumboots last much longer than usual by keeping them in a cool dark place and clear of any grease, and having them mended before they were too worn.

Star–Sun, 20 Feb 42, p. 1

During that winter many boots that would normally have gone to the scrap-heap were patched and strengthened.

Press, 20 Jun 42, p. 4

For new boots, only some of the most urgent farmers' applications could be granted.

Ibid., 11 Sep 42, p. 4

Miners were relatively well supplied, the Mines Department having, as its Minister explained to an aggrieved West Coast Primary Production Council, bought up boots well ahead of need.

Auckland Star, 25 Mar 43, p. 4

But many farmers, and especially the women who were helping out on the farms, squelched about in leaky boots.

Ibid., 7 Apr 43, p. 4; Straight Furrow, 15 Sep, 15 Nov 43, pp. 51 19; Press, 2 Nov 43, p. 4

Local rubber firms in July 1943 began turning out ‘austerity type’ boots which contained a large proportion of salvaged rubber.

Auckland Star, 11 Jun 43, p. 3

By April 1944 they had made 22 000 pairs and in 1945 production was at the rate of 125 000 pairs a year

NZ Herald, 26 Apr 44, p. 4; Baker, p. 151

which, with small shipments coming in from America, enabled the most urgent needs to be met. In the autumn of 1944, however, Waikato women were still making do with old sandals and shoes, or bare feet, while the Mayor of Auckland sought government permission to channel some 250 pairs of EPS gumboots to farmers and their wives, through the dairy companies.

NZ Herald, 4, 10 Apr 44, pp. 6, 2

A sharemilker's wife in May 1944 wrote that she and her husband, milking 60 cows, had not had a gumboot for more than two years: ‘We women in the country do not mind our hands in the mud, but we do object to our knees.’

Ibid., 22 May 44, p. 2

Applications for boots, explaining needs, were made through bootsellers to industry controllers and if approved the boots could then be sold. Children however did not qualify and were still in the mud. One such child, who towards the end of the war lived in a cottage on a farm, later wrote: ‘We had no real road in to the house but had to traverse the cowshed race. Because of restrictions only farming families were able to procure gumboots. We had to trek through the revolting mud barefoot and clean ourselves down at the road gate, before we could don our footwear.’

Mrs R. G. Spooner of Opotiki to author, 15 Sep 69

Although their production had already started in Auckland and was increasing hot water bottles, also imported, were in short supply in the winter of 1940, largely through panic buying.

Star–Sun, 15 Jul 40, p. 4; Wanganui Herald, 13 Jul, 14 Aug 40, pp. 6, 6

By 1941 cheap Japanese lines had disappeared, but the heavier British ones were more plentiful than in 1940. This plenty ended in 1942.

Dominion, 8 May 41, p. 8

On 1 May regulations ‘froze’ stocks: those held by ordinary retailers were declared to the Health Department and channelled to chemists who were restricted to a fortnight's supply at any one time and who could sell only on a doctor's prescription.

Evening Post, 2 May 42, p. 6

As an Opposition member said, ‘Things had come to a pretty pass if one had to pay 7s 6d to get a hot-water bottle costing 4s 6d.’

NZPD, vol 261, p. 433. The sum of 7s 6d was the consultation fee.

Two months later, as some doctors were over-obliging, restrictions were stiffened: it was stressed that certificates could be given only to regular patients and only when needed for proper medical treatment. Rubber hot-water bottles, said Sullivan, could no longer be bought just for comfort, all must be reserved for the sick and the injured, but some bottles, locally made of earthenware, were not restricted and their production could be stepped up.

Evening Post, 25 Jun 42, p. 7

Old fashioned remedies for cold feet were popular that winter, such as a well wrapped and stoppered glass bottle filled with hot

Black and white facsimile copy of Copy for Applicant record. COPY FOR APPLICANT No. 91015Applicant's name: Mr. F. Benge, 1944 Address: Te Marua, UPPER HUTTYour application through S.A.Edwards of Upper Hutt has been approved for one pairs knee gum boots, sizes 8Signature: (Authorized Approving Officer) (To be filled in by Approving Officer.) water, or a brick or stone warmed in the oven and likewise well wrapped. There were advertisements for at least two innovations. Mason Struthers produced a non-rusting metal hot-water bottle (‘will last a lifetime’) of triangular shape, unlikely to roll out of a bed, 18 inches long, holding more than four pints and priced at 13s 6d.

Press, 17 Jun 42, p. 4

A Christchurch chemist advertised that stone hot-water bottles of new, shallow, round design with screw tops were proving a boon to the public at 9s 6d each.

Ibid., 27 Aug. 42, p. 7

By 1943 there was a limited supply of locally made rubber bottles, though stoppers were still imported;

Auckland Star, 21 Apr 43, p. 4

some local woods, tested by the State Forest Service, made usable stoppers, the best from radiata pine boiled in caustic soda, then soaked in glycerine and parafin.

NZ Herald, 24 Jul 43, p. 6

Except for small amounts now and then elastic disappeared from shops, and factory-made garments had very little of it. Men's underpants had small elastic insets in waist bands which were adjusted by a buttonhole and two buttons or by tapes tying through buttonholes, and measuring of hips and waist was urged in advertisements;

Ibid., 25 Mar 44, p. 2

women's and girls' had fitted waist bands with side plaquets and a button. Schoolgirls, and others, found that the button could pop in strenuous moments, and many used a safety pin as well. There were stories of lingerie collapsing about the ankles of damsels in public, but tapes and buttons were hardly a joke for mothers with toddlers, especially at the toilet-training stage. ‘Pants took so long to get down that way’, one remembered. ‘We used to use a fair bit of tape to help the precious elastic out’.

Mrs Eunice Robinson, 14 Sep 69

Men's braces and sock suspenders vanished

Auckland Star, 21 Apr 43, p. 2

and when suspenders on girdles expired some women sewed tapes with buttonholes on to their stocking tops linking them to flat buttons on the foundation garment.

Ibid., 1 Aug 42, p. 3

The little rubber buttons on suspenders, often an early casualty, were replaced by ordinary (if errant) buttons, threepences or halfpennies. In mid- 1944 elastic was still so scarce that oddments 2–12 inches long, discarded by manufacturers as too short to go on the machines, were eagerly bought, and it was realised that several of the thin strands of rubber from the interior of a used golf ball, taken together, made a useful substitute.

Ibid., 1 May 44, p. 4

Foundation garments

To the question ‘Do all women wear corsets?’, a corset manufacturer, in a military service appeal for a male cutter on the grounds of public interest, answered, ‘Yes they all wear some type.’ But the appeal was thrown out. Dominion, 14 Mar 41, p. 9; see p. 759

maintained their elastic during 1942: ‘sleek as a seal! Elastic roll-ons, corselettes, corsets and panties with not a hook or fastening of any kind … firm, smooth and unencumbering’.

Dominion, 22 Oct 42, p. 3 (ad). A ‘tea rose corselette with dainty lace uplift brassiere’ cost 25-s; a heavy quality elastic corset, 22s 6d; a tea rose elastic roll-on corset, 14s 11d; aertex elastic panties 14 inches long, 8s 6d.

Advertisements urged women not to overestimate their strength in their new tasks: ‘Little Amazon take care.… This exacting new life could so easily overtax slender nervous and physical resources.… It isn't so much the longer hours the heavier work that is the danger … but muscles poorly supported, poor posture on the job.’

Evening Post, 31 Aug 42, p. 6

Or: ‘A man's work to do … and only a woman's strength.… To brace feminine muscles and internal organs against strain, every war-working woman needs a Berlei, and needs to wear it constantly. Correct posture defeats fatigue … you'll do your duty better in a Berlei!’

Dominion, 17 Nov 42, p. 6

During 1943 advertisements warned that from lack of materials and skilled workers one might have to search and wait for one's right fitting and to allow more room than usual because there was now less stretch.

Press, 4 Oct 43, p. 2

There were promises: ‘Government standardisation robs your Berlei of beauty (war demands must come first) but the vital support and fit are there intact. No longer a glamorous foundation perhaps, but at least a Victory corset—designed to help you stand the strains of war.… And when, the testing over, your fighting man comes home and beauty comes into its own again—then you shall have beauty without end in a Berlei’.

Straight Furrow, 15 Sep 43, p. 65; Dominion, 6 Nov 44, p. 8

Until such good times came, the Woman's Weekly, with the heading ‘Curing a tired corset’, advised how to cope with bones and busks, and splits in stretch girdles.

NZ Woman's Weekly, 25 Nov 43, p. 20

Other rubber goods were very scarce, such as the rings used to seal preserving jars. Rubber-selling firms concentrated on repairs: besides doing gumboots, tennis shoes and sandals, boots and shoes were resoled, wringers were re-rubbered.

Evening Star, 2 Mar 43, p. 6

Meanwhile thousands of rubber gas masks had been manufactured in Christchurch, and distributed to the EPS late in 1942.

See p. 564

Rubber for sporting gear, such as tennis balls, golf balls and the bladders for footballs and basketballs, which had become very scarce

Press, 24 Feb 43, p. 2

was released fairly generously from mid-1943.

Ibid., 5 Jul 43, p. 4

Scarcity of labour kept tennis balls hard to get during 1944, though the numbers obtained by clubs increased slightly. In September, the Auckland Lawn Tennis Association's share of New Zealand's total 7500 dozen balls (6000 dozen made locally of rubber, 1500 imported synthetic balls) was 815 dozen, compared to 700 dozen in the previous season, and there were prospects of more after Christmas.

NZ Herald, 23 Sep 44, p. 8

There were shortages of some locally grown goods, of honey, eggs and vegetables. With vegetables, increased production was the answer; with eggs and honey, fair distribution, meeting priority needs first and spreading the rest evenly.

Normally beekeepers could sell their honey as they chose, direct to private customers, to traders or to the Internal Marketing Division. With the honey crop of 1942 unusually low, all the honey sold to Internal Marketing on the growers' option was needed for hospitals, for the Services and prisoner-of-war parcels, leaving none for sale in cities. Thus areas where growers sold through local trade channels had honey, while others had none. To make distribution more widespread, regulations on 9 December 1942 obliged keepers of 20 or more hives in the coming season to sell 70 per cent of their honey to Internal Marketing, but 30 per cent they could sell where they pleased, as could the small producer with fewer than 20 hives, though all prices were fixed and 60lb was the maximum amount of any retail sale to a buyer at the apiary.

Honey Emergency Regulation 1942/331; Dominion, 10, 11 Dec 42, pp. 4, 4; NZPD, vol 263, p. 408

Among the 8407 beekeepers, with their 133 604 hives, some thought this reasonable, and said so;

eg, Dominion, 16 Dec 42, p. 6

others, like many producers in other fields, resented the intrusion of regulations, and it was suggested that some with, say, 30 hives, would reduce these to 20 so that they could simply sell to the public, getting about 2d more per pound than the 7d per pound paid by Internal Marketing.

NZPD, vol 263, pp. 428, 531, 603; Press, 30 Jul 43, p. 4

Despite some opposition and prosecutions, further restrictions were imposed in the 1943–4 season: the sale of all honey produced by owners of 20 or more hives was subject to Internal Marketing direction, although at the apiary sales not exceeding five pounds to any one customer at a time were permitted.

Honey Emergency Regulations 1943/200

In November 1944 beekeepers had to sell to Internal Marketing 30lb of honey from each but 19 of their hives, though if the total yield was as low as 40lb a hive they could also keep ten pounds from each hive after the nineteenth, and they could still sell in five pound lots.

Ibid., 1944/163

From mid-1941 onward, eggs were scarce in some cities, often very scarce indeed. New Zealanders were used to plenty of eggs and there were frequent grumbles, many directed at the government for interference in what it did not understand. Seasonal variations in production were normal, and for two years before the war the Internal Marketing Division, by exporting and pulping eggs during the flush, had assumed the task of maintaining equable demand. In wartime scarcity its efforts to maintain even distribution, with prices held by the Price Tribunal, were more difficult and less popular.

Pre-war, domestic hen-keeping was widespread. Even in city suburbs, although ‘batteries’ were unknown, the larger sections often had small hen houses where a few hens were fed on scraps and garden greens, with a little wheat and pollard, while farmers' wives were considerable egg producers. With the war fowl-feed from Australia became scarce and dearer

Press, 17 Jul 40, p. 4; Otago Daily Times, 15 Jan 41, p. 8

and by 1942 was mainly reserved for registered poultry-keepers.

NZPD, vol 262, p. 908

Meanwhile as people became more busy fowls became more burdensome, especially as price controls precluded much profit. With backyard keepers giving up or reducing their flocks, many who had kept themselves in eggs and sold their surplus became buyers of eggs. Military camps took large quantities, their demands increasing steeply in 1942, along with those of hospitals, visiting ships and United States forces.

Successive regulations sought to bring eggs at controlled prices from production areas to those in need of them, first meeting Service demands and civilian priorities, then distributing the remainder equitably. These regulations were resented by many producers as bureaucratic encroachments by officials who did not appreciate the problems and costs involved.

Evening Post, 30 Apr 42, p. 7; NZ Herald, 1 May 42, p. 7; Auckland Star, 11 Jun 42, p. 4; Evening Star, 20 Jun 42, p. 5; Dominion, 22 Oct 43, p. 3; Press, 22 Oct 43, p. 6; NZPD, vol 263, p. 67

Meanwhile since stores supplying eggs would increase their overall trade, some shops were willing to pay more than standard rates and contrived to secure more than their share from the producers.

By regulations in August 1940 the four main centres became egg marketing areas in which wholesalers had to be licensed and have proper facilities for grading, storing and pulping eggs. All eggs entering these areas had to go to the wholesalers who, if they had eggs or pulp, must supply any retailer who asked for them but could supply non-retailers only with the consent of Internal Marketing.

Egg Marketing Regulations 1940/146

Directing eggs to wholesale channels would make all producers contribute to non-civilian priorities and as many eggs as possible would go to ordinary retailers; wholesale supplies were not to be monopolised by a few stores, nor were hotels, restaurants, etc, to secure an undue share. Price orders adjusted prices seasonally, with district variations.

In mid-1942 grocers' supplies were markedly short, especially at Auckland and Wellington, where black-marketing augmented the drain-off to ships and Services.

Dominion, 10 Jun 42, p. 6

Also, grocers claimed that while prices were stabilised in the main centres, control was less strict in country districts, where higher prices could be charged, so that eggs did not reach the cities.

Ibid., 2 May 42, p. 6

In June 1942 priority rationing began in Wellington where the Plunket Society, Internal Marketing and the grocers arranged that Plunket chits for young children and expectant and nursing mothers should have first claim on whatever eggs were available to grocers.

Evening Post, 13 Jun 42, p. 4

On the same day a Wellington shop in two hours sold hundreds of eggs, at prices slightly above tribunal rates, to a queue 100 yards long.

Ibid., p. 7

More regulations on 18 June increased ministerial powers to direct eggs to wholesalers and lessen sales made directly to some retailers at the expense of others.

Egg Marketing Regulations 1942/179; Evening Post, 19 Jun 42, p. 5

Regulations could not, however, make eggs plentiful or regular at Auckland and Wellington, though they were relatively abundant elsewhere and though areas of directed selling were extended so that supplies could be pooled for the whole country, ‘We have no eggs. We don't know when we are getting any. We don't care’, a wearied Wellington grocer wrote on his window.

Dominion, 4 Nov 42, p. 6

A few weeks later, a Wellington paper reported that while in provincial districts any reasonable quantity of eggs could be bought in shops, some Wellington restaurants were reducing ‘bacon and eggs’ to ‘bacon and egg’ or even ‘bacon on toast’.

Ibid., 22 Dec 42, p. 6. On the same page a correspondent wrote that lately in Palmerston North she had bought three dozen eggs, and could have bought twice as many.

The Department of Agriculture tried to encourage small producers by issuing a leaflet on poultry-keeping and offering consultation with its experts.

Auckland Star, 3 Dec 42, p. 4

The price to producers was raised by 2d a dozen, and organisers strove to persuade country stores to crate their surplus to the cities, although profit thereon, after paying railage, was only about 1d a dozen.

NZ Herald, 26 Sep 42, p. 2

On the other hand, prosecutions for evasions, which would have been difficult and unpopular, were not attempted. In all, eggs reaching official centres decreased by thousands, so that while some chain stores could advertise six dozen lots for preserving, other grocers could muster only half a dozen to a family per week.

In June 1943 at Auckland and Wellington priority rationing was established by regulation, replacing earlier rationing through the Plunket Society and grocers;

Egg Marketing Emergency Regulations, 1943/87 and 1943/88

young children, expectant and nursing mothers and some invalids were to have at least three eggs a week from their regular retailers, and only after reserving their quota could the retailer sell his remainder to other customers. In March 1941 this system was extended over wide areas in both islands.

Ibid., 1944/49

Apart from this, after March 1944 there was comprehensive rationing of eggs not required by priority customers. It was linked to butter rationing, for which each person registered at one shop; the number of eggs available against each ration book varied and was announced week by week.

Dominion, 15, 18 Mar 44, pp. 4, 6; Press, 2, 24 May 44, pp. 4, 6

From October 1944 ration books contained egg coupons. In June 1944 government had met the producers' long-standing complaint of inadequate prices with a subsidy of 3d a dozen on eggs passing through proper channels.

Press, 1 Jun 44, p. 4

Meanwhile commercial cooks were using egg pulp and the less desired egg powder from Australia.

Ibid., 3 May 44, p. 2

In 1938–9 market gardens totalled 7806 acres,

Yearbook1940, p. 439. A market garden was a holding of an acre or more, outside boroughs.

with home gardens making a substantial contribution to the nation's vegetables. Commercial potato plantings and yields varied, from the 20 033 acres of 1939–40 to the 15 200 acres of 1941–2 and the 27 178 of 1943–4. For the four years 1940–4 the yield per acre averaged 5.8 tons. Good crops and low prices were followed by smaller plantings, as in 1938–9 when 18 032 acres gave 87 671 tons (the lowest yield since 1892) and Australian imports were needed. A glut yield of 141 000 tons followed in 1939–40, and as there was no indemnity for wartime over-production, farmers predictably turned away from the laborious potato field: 17 000 acres were planted for 1940–1, and 15 200 for 1941–2, averaging nearly 92 000 tons.

Ibid., p. 434; 1943, p. 268; WHN, ‘Department of Agriculture’, p. 170

During 1941, complaints of general vegetable scarcity and high prices led to an investigation by the Price Tribunal,

Otago Daily Times, 29 Nov 41, p. 8

which on 9 January 1942 stated that, apart from seasonal difficulties and 250 acres of the Hutt Valley being taken for housing, the shortage was mainly due to both home and market gardeners going into the forces, which themselves devoured large quantities, and to lack of planning among market gardeners. Vegetable growing should be encouraged in every possible way, such as the British allotment system in parks and reserves; planning should be organised among market gardeners, and wherever possible they should sell directly to retailers.

Evening Post, 9 Jan 42, p. 4

Already a new phase was beginning on the vegetable front, with needs increasing vastly and supplies diminishing. Commercial labour was reduced by mobilisation and by the pull of better paid jobs— even among steadfast Chinese gardeners, some were drawn to the meatworks,

NZ Herald, 22 Sep 42, p. 2

while domestic gardening was lessened by mobilisation, overtime and the Home Guard.

In the spring of 1942, while the Eighth Army battled for Egypt and the Americans for Guadalcanal, New Zealand faced general vegetable scarcity and famine in potatoes—though the controlled retail price of the latter, about 2d a lb, did not rise till new ones came in at 7d a lb in October.

Ibid., 13 Jun 42, p. 8; Evening Post, 1 Sep 42, p. 3; Auckland Star, 10 Sep 42, p. 2

Rice, haricot beans and dried peas replaced the faithful potato on dinner plates, while increased demand for other vegetables led to ceiling prices being placed on kumara, pumpkins, parsnips, swedes and white turnips,

Auckland Star, 22 Aug, 10 Sep 42, pp. 7, 2; A to J1945, H–30A, p. 8; Baker, p. 463

On average, New Zealanders each ate 114lb of potatoes a year, something over 2lb a week, but the Army ration was 1lb per man per day.

A Whangarei proposal to use sprouts (rose ends) from the peelings at camps, hotels, hospitals, etc, for seed purposes suggested that a good deal of this ration was pared off. Auckland Star, 25 Aug 42, p. 4; Evening Post, 13 Aug 42, p. 3

This was reduced to 3oz a day, cooked in jackets, from 21 August to 15 September, when it rose to 6oz. Ministers explained untoward demands and steps that the government was taking towards getting thousands of tons more vegetables, but public irritation was expressed

“come and get it!Black and white cartoon drawing of man putting text marked Vegetable Production Plan into a soup pot, with army officers lining up for food behind him. Text reads: Oh Boy! This is Going to Be Good— When It's Done! succinctly by cartoonist Minhinnick. He showed Barclay,

Barclay, Hon James Gillispie (1882–1972): former farmer, Dir Northern Wairoa Dairy Co 6 years, Pres Kaipara Branch Lab party; MP (Lab) Kaipara 1935–43; Min Agriculture, Marketing & Lands 1941–3; HC Aust 1944–50

Minister of Agriculture, serving minute potatoes to downcast soldiers, while Polson, Minister of Primary Production, hovered over a steaming boiler labelled Vegetable Production Plan, uttering, ‘Oh boy! This is going to be good—when it's done’, and a large menu listed Vegetable Hash, Potatoes in Greatcoats (3oz), Stewed Stuffed Production Plans, Grain of Salt and Honeyed Words.

NZ Herald, 24 Aug 42, p. 4

To avoid large rises in the prices of basic vegetables, the government bravely included potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, swedes and cabbages in the main stabilisation programme, launched in December 1942, though it was realised that the inclusion of vegetables with their uncertain price structure put the whole scheme in some peril.

A to J1945, H–30A, p. 8

To learn what supplies were probable in the near future, the government in January 1943 required every gardener cultivating more than half an acre, and all glasshouse growers cultivating not less than 2500 square feet, to send in lists of crops already growing and those to be planted before 31 July 1943.

Evening Post, 22 Jan 43, p. 4

Although commercial growers were extending their acres considerably,

NZ Herald, 26 May, 20 Aug 42, pp. 2, 2

the government, aware that American-augmented Service demands were beyond their scope, introduced its Services Vegetable Production Scheme,

See Baker, pp. 218, 463

which the Department of Agriculture began in July 1942. Within six months 1800 acres,

At the same time commercial gardens totalled 9100 acres. Ross, Wartime Agriculture, p. 278

in areas ranging from 10 to 190 acres, had been taken over from farmland, ploughed and planted, with some part-time help from soldiers,

The Dominion, 6 Oct 42, p. 4, reported that 25 volunteers with an officer, NCOs and a cook were planting onions in the Pukekohe district

and were producing 3 million pounds a month of various vegetables. The basic staff was 350 strong, more than 100 being women. Casual labour—mainly Maori, many women and, during their holidays, students and secondary school pupils–coped with rush jobs, such as pea picking. In addition, commercial growers under government contracts arranged by Internal Marketing were devoting many acres to Service needs.

Statement by Barclay, Press, 19 Jan 43, p. 4

The Commercial Gardens Registration Bill, passed without opposition in March 1943, furthered the contract system. Under agreed prices, growers undertook, in addition to meeting civilian requirements, to grow required acreages for the Services; what they could not supply would be grown by the State farms.

Evening Post, 12 Mar 43, p. 3

These farms continued to grow rapidly; 27 projects were established, some of 500 acres, nearly 5200 acres in all, with peak full-time staff of 1000, plus seasonal workers. At least once American servicemen, about 160, volunteered to fight an invasion of weeds on farms near Auckland,

Auckland Star, 29 Nov 43, p. 4

and mothers of school children were asked to give a few hours' work daily, the Army providing transport.

Ibid., 7 Dec 42, p. 2; NZ Herald, 23 Nov 43, p. 4

Cultivation on the larger areas was mechanised, with garden tractors, tillage equipment, vegetable planters, sprayers and pumps brought from the United States under lend-lease working on both State farms and the commercial growers' contracts.

WHN, ‘Department of Agriculture’, p. 209; Ross, Wartime Agriculture, p. 278

Apart from those eaten in New Zealand camps, vast quantities of fresh and treated vegetables were going to Americans in the Pacific. To handle these the Internal Marketing Division built sheds at Pukekohe, Hastings, Motueka and Riccarton and gradually introduced processing machinery which lessened the early demand for land workers. In 1944–5, from the Hastings building alone, more than 29l/2 million pounds of fresh vegetables went forth, trimmed, crated, wired and cool-stored. The Marketing Division, informed on recent British and American developments, established New Zealand's first major dehydration plants at Pukekohe, Hastings, Motueka and Riccarton. Also, by arrangement with the American firm Birdseye Foods and its associated New Zealand company Lever Brothers, the Marketing Division in November 1944 began quick-freezing peas and beans by the Birdseye process for American hospitals in the Pacific. Canning, as an economic ancillary to quick-freezing, was also developed; in the 1944–5 season, 192 139 30oz tins of peas and 6386 of beans were produced, and there were small experiments in canning peaches and pears.

A to J1946, H–30A (1945 Report), p. 23; Auckland Star, 6 Sep 44, p. 6

During 1944, with troops in New Zealand decreasing and commercial production expanding, State vegetable growing was lessened. By the autumn of 1945, 3495 acres had been re-sown in grass, for return to the owners, leaving 1686 acres for cropping in the 1945–6 season. On about 150 acres wheat and barley were grown instead and when American demands ceased suddenly in 1945, considerable quantit