The birth of Wellington was the result of the efforts of Edward Gibbon Wakefield to promote planned colonisation through the auspices of the New Zealand Company. Wakefield had observed the hardships and deplorable results elsewhere of unplanned colonisation and the Wellington colony was the outcome of his planning of a model settlement by a careful selection of suitable emigrants and by provision for the orderly social, economic, and political development of the settlement. As a result, the Wellington venture, though not free from certain hardships, was a vast improvement upon earlier examples of haphazard colonisation and made an important contribution to the extension of British trade and influence overseas. The site was chosen in 1839 by the New Zealand Company's agent, Colonel William Wakefield, because of the excellence of its harbour and the perfect deep-water anchorage near the shore. Although the advance party came in September 1839 in the Tory to negotiate land acquisition from the native population, the main body of immigrants arrived in the Aurora on 22 January 1840. The city's founders set up the colony of Britannia at Pito-one, now Petone, but moved after several months to the more sheltered bay of Lambton Harbour in a southern arm of the port. This site was less subject to flooding and more easily defended against the rather hostile natives. The settlement was later renamed Wellington to perpetuate the “association of the Mother Country with the future of the town” and as a commemoration of the support given by the Duke of Wellington for the principles of Wakefield's colonisation scheme.

The city became a municipality in 1853 and, until 1905, consisted of several wards which shared the responsibility of local development. In 1865 the city became the capital of New Zealand, the seat of government being transferred from Auckland. At certain times the city has been enlarged by the addition of adjoining boroughs, Melrose, Onslow, Miramar, and Karori, and the district of Johnsonville. Since 1905 the city has remained undivided with full municipal status. Today the Wellington City Council exercises jurisdiction over an area of 18,249 acres, a municipality with a capital value of £162 million. This controlling authority comprises a mayor and 15 councillors who are elected every three years. Many of Wellington's services are operated by the city corporation. These include the airport, municipal transport, electricity supply, gas manufacture and supply, drainage and water supply, refuse collection and street cleaning, milk treatment and supply, traffic control, public libraries, and the morgue, cemetery, and crematorium.

Although Wellington is the centre of business and commercial affairs, some large residential areas, part of Greater Wellington, lie 12 miles to the north, one area, the Porirua Basin, being recently developed. It is forecast that the future population of the basin will be 80,000. To cater for its needs, a new town centre is at present being constructed there. It allows for 120 business sites, civic and Government buildings. Population growth within the area has been so rapid that in 1965 Porirua reached city status. From the early 1950s extensive areas of farm lands have been taken over for State housing, not only there but also at Tawa, Linden, and Titahi Bay. Situated on the northern shore of Porirua Harbour is Plimmerton, named after the Plimmer family, well-known early residents of Wellington. In the Ngatitoa Domain are the remains of the Paremata Redoubt, barracks built as a base for military operations against hostile Maoris who were threatening the Hutt Valley. Today the only remaining Maori pa is at Takapuwahia, between Porirua and Titahi Bay. Titahi Bay in the early days was a Maori settlement and a whaling station. The name means “one cabbage tree”, or possibly is a corruption of “te tahi” – “the one”, signifying one of the four forts which Te Rauparaha established in the locality. Tawa (formerly Tawa Flat because of the forest of tawa trees which covered the floor of the valley) was one of the areas subdivided into 100-acre sections by the New Zealand Company in 1841 in accordance with its settlement schemes.

Rapid urban growth in Wellington is fast depriving the city of its historic places. The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, consecrated in June 1866, is among the few buildings of historical and aesthetic significance which have endured. A new Cathedral, however, has in part been constructed to replace it. The Thistle Inn in Mulgrave Street has survived from early colonial days, as has the Plimmer House in Boulcott Street, an interesting example of an early colonial cottage. The Dominion Museum and National Art Gallery are situated on a site in Buckle Street overlooking the city and are part of a striking group of buildings of modern architecture which include the National War Memorial, Carillon Tower (49 bells), and Hall of Memories. Scattered throughout the city are numerous memorials in the form of reserves, fountains, plaques, and civic amenities. Chief among these are the Otari native plant reserve, the Katherine Mansfield memorial and garden, the Lady Norwood Memorial rose garden and begonia house, the Citizens' War Memorial (Cenotaph), and the Bandsmen's War Memorial sound shell in the Botanical Gardens.

POPULATION (urban area): 1951 census, 133,414; 1956 census, 138,297; 1961 census, 150,544.

by Richard Gregory Heerdegen, M.A., L.R.S.M., Junior Lecturer in Geography, Massey University of Manawatu.

The City of the Strait, Mulgan, A. (1939).

Apart from numerous secondary schools in and around Wellington, the city's needs for higher education are catered for by the Victoria University of Wellington which was established as Victoria University College by Act of Parliament in 1897 in commemoration of the sixtieth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. In 1961 it became an autonomous university by the Victoria University of Wellington Act of that year. The roll, numbering 155 students in 1899, is now 4,500 students (1965). The University has four faculties: those of arts, science, commerce, and law. It also offers special courses in Social Science and Public Administration. The 22 departments have an academic staff of 220 who teach over 150 classes. The city is well endowed with libraries: the public library with nine branches and a mobile service; those of the University and the General Assembly and various Government Departments; the Alexander Turnbull Library, which specialises in the Pacific countries, New Zealand, and English literature; and the country-wide National Library Service. The New Zealand Ballet Co., Opera Co., and the NZBC Symphony Orchestra, as well as many local drama and musical societies, have their headquarters in the city.

As the seat of Government, Wellington is the location for most head offices of national and international organisations and for agricultural, scientific, and industrial bodies, cultural archives, and records. It is also the home of representatives of foreign governments and other nations of the Commonwealth. In Kelburn overlooking the city are the Dominion Meteorological Office, the Carter Observatory, and Wellington's famous cable car, which runs from the heart of the city to a viewpoint 500 ft above. While Wellington has continued to expand as an administrative and commercial centre, the nature of the city's physical location has restricted industrial growth. The main portion of industry, through lack of suitable sites, has become decentralised to nearby urban areas, such as the Hutt Valley and Tawa-Porirua. During the past three years, in conjunction with the development of Wellington Airport at Rongotai, there has been a concomitant development there of warehouses, stores, and various light industries, such as engineering, electrical appliances, printing, and aircraft repairs and maintenance. Apart from an iron foundry and engineering works at Kaiwharawhara and meat freezing works at Ngauranga, the range of manufacturing in Wellington is limited mainly to consumer goods. The industrial centre of the Wellington conurbation is concentrated in Lower Hutt.

Situated as it is in a central position in the country, the city holds a commanding position for trade and communications. The airport, only four miles south-east from the Chief Post Office, is the hub of internal air services. For the year ended 31 December 1964 the airport statistics were as follows: domestic arrivals, 260,552, and departures, 254,526; overseas arrivals, 25,237, and departures, 25,201; cargo, 1,939,799 lb; and mail, 336,374 lb. An air-freight service to Nelson and Blenheim links the two main islands of the country, while daily air services by TEAL and QANTAS connect the capital with Australia. Road and rail services join the capital with all parts of the North Island, while the barrier of Cook Strait to continuous communication with the South Island is overcome by nightly sailings of the inter-island passenger vessels, Maori, Hinemoa, and Rangatira. In the spring of 1962 the Government-owned road and rail ferry Aramoana (“pathway over the sea”) began plying between Wellington and Picton, the northern terminal of the South Island Main Trunk railway. The Port of Wellington, adjacent to the main streets of the city and providing one of the major bases in the country for handling exports and imports, serves all the ports in New Zealand and shipping centres the world over. For the year ended 31 December 1964 shipping arrivals were 571 overseas vessels (2,457,314 net tons) and 2,022 coastal vessels (2,380,036 net tons). Inward cargo totalled 2,010,556 tons and outward cargo 860,822 tons. The chief commodities exported overseas, in order of importance, are frozen meat, 78,907 tons; wool, 46,950 tons; tallow, 9,734 tons; milk products, 14,888 tons; butter, 13,891 tons; and hides, skins, and pelts, 13,474 tons. Motor spirit and kerosene, 236,372 tons; and motor vehicles and parts, 188,121 tons, are the chief imports from overseas. Specialised coastal cargoes such as coal and cement accounted for 86,054 tons and 100,153 tons respectively of the inward coastal cargo. Major repairs can be effected to all sizes of ships on one of several slipways or on the floating dock, which can accommodate ships up to 16,000 tons.

Under the influence of the concentrated air flow channelled through Cook Strait, Wellington has a well-deserved reputation for windiness. During the day only 15 per cent of the winds fail to reach 5 miles per hour and, of the remainder, 47 per cent are from N or NW and 29 per cent are from S or SE. Gales, accompanied by gusts up to 60 miles per hour, occur on about 30 days per annum and are most frequent in the spring and summer. Gusts to 90 miles per hour are comparatively rare in the city itself, but much higher speeds have been recorded in adjacent exposed places.

Rainfall measured at Kelburn averages 49 in. per annum. The driest period is from January to March, each month averaging 3 in. Winter is the wettest season, each of the months June to August averaging 5 in. Rain falls on 159 days per annum, and on 97 of these the amount reaches 0.1 in. Once in 20 years a fall of 5.5 in. may occur within 24 hours, and 1.1 in. in one hour. In the last 100 years the longest period without rain was 34 days.

January and February, each with a mean temperature of 61 °F, are the two warmest months, and July (47°F) is the coldest. In January the daily maximum averages 68°F, and the minimum 55°F; in July the corresponding daily range is from 51°F to 42°F. The extreme range is small; 80°F is reached only once in two years, while air temperatures below freezing point (32°F) do not occur at Kelburn, 415 ft above sea level. In more sheltered areas and in the Hutt Valley winter nights are colder and frosts occur on most calm, clear nights between May and September. Rainfall also varies considerably; in Lyall Bay and Miramar it averages 40–50 in. per annum, while the Hutt Valley has 50–55 in. and Wainuiomata about 70 in. Sunshine in summer is 50 per cent of the possible amount; in winter increased cloudiness reduces it to 40 per cent. For the year the average duration is 2,000 hours. Residents on the hills above 500 ft occasionally find themselves in cloud, but fog in the central city area is rare. Hail showers occur on about 12 days per annum, mostly in winter, but hail damage is negligible. Thunder is heard briefly on about five days. The city streets are never seen under snow.

The north-west – south-east trend of the hills has hampered the development of transport links between the city and its northern hinterland. This physical obstacle has resulted in the formation of only one main arterial outlet from the city as far as Ngauranga, where it bifurcates to continue northwards to the Manawatu and north-eastwards to the Hutt Valley and the Wairarapa. The steepness of the surrounding hills has largely determined the physical layout of the city. The commercial and industrial concerns are situated on the few flat areas of the inner business district while the suburbs occupy sites enjoying sunny positions and views of the harbour.

Due to its position astride the Wellington Fault, the city has had many earthquakes, one or two of which have affected the face of the city. The one in 1855 raised much of the coast of the harbour some five feet and aided reclamation work along the Lambton foreshore, where Wellington's commercial district now stands. Another heavy tremor occurred in 1942, when considerable damage was done to buildings in the city and surrounding districts.

Wellington City, the capital city of New Zealand, is situated at the southern tip of the North Island in the geographical centre of the country. The city spreads over more than 18,000 acres of land and is built on the shores and the surrounding hills of Port Nicholson, an almost landlocked natural harbour of 31 sq. miles, considered to be one of the finest harbours in the world. Port Nicholson, the Maori name for which is Whanganui a Tara, was named in 1826 by Captain Herd, of the First New Zealand Company, in honour of a friend who was the harbourmaster at Port Jackson, Australia. From many vantage points of easy access overlooking the city, including Mount Victoria, Kelburn, Brooklyn, Wadestown, and Khandallah, a wide panorama of splendid views can be obtained, ranging from a foreground of massive buildings and busy wharves to the background of rugged hills studded with suburban homes. Wellington's rocky coastline affords few sandy bathing beaches, but the marine drive from Ohiro Bay to Eastbourne compensates for this lack.

Traders, merchants, shore whalers, and land speculators.

A new biography of Weller, Edward appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

The Weller family of three brothers, like so many more of the oddly assorted company of Europeans who first brought trade to New Zealand in the days between 1827 and 1840, achieved scant biographical mention in the contemporary reports and writings which provide most of the information about that era. When they came to the South Island of New Zealand from Sydney, they were known as eager and enterprising traders in any field that promised reasonably safe and remunerative returns. The early sealers and whalers had been operating on the New Zealand coast for some years when, in 1831, the Wellers cast their eyes across the Tasman and decided that there were business prospects in the new land. They fitted out the ship Lucy Ann, of 214 tons, loaded it with muskets, gunpowder, grog, hardware, clothing, stores, and whaling equipment, and set out for New Zealand. From the outset they concentrated on the South Island and had interests from Banks Peninsula to Foveaux Strait. In a very short time they had whaling stations in operation and had established a brisk two-way trade between Sydney and New Zealand.

From 1831 the brothers made Otakou, on the Otago Peninsula, their headquarters, and in doing so may be said to have founded the port of Otago 17 years before the first Scottish settlers arrived. They built jetties, storehouses, wharf buildings, and dwellings. Their investment was a substantial one, but it was not long before they had evidence to justify it. The Dublin Packet and the Joseph Weller made up the trading fleet with the Lucy Ann, and soon their oil and whalebone were being shipped out in large quantities. In addition they built up a steady trade in timber, spars, flax, potatoes, dried fish, Maori artefacts, and even tattooed Maori heads which were in keen demand in Sydney.

The Weller enterprise was not satisfied merely with trans-Tasman trade. The English market beckoned, and in their efforts to develop it they were pioneers in the tariff and customs relationships between this country and the United Kingdom. Right at the start they experienced tariff difficulties. Edward Weller foresaw a profitable market for whale products on the other side of the world and in 1833 sent a trial shipment to London. The cargo arrived safely, but as New Zealand had not yet been proclaimed a colony it was classed as a foreign country, and the English revenue authorities put an impost of £26 a ton on whale oil as Weller Bros., despite their Sydney domicile, were regarded as foreign traders. Strong representations made to the Home Government were of no avail. In the face of such a handicap the trade had to be abandoned, and the station at Otakou, as Edward Shortland noted in 1843, with its numerous buildings, was already in decay.

Perhaps it was this setback that turned the attention of the Wellers to the accumulation of land. The trade with Australia and their whaling ventures were still flourishing, but the Weller aggressiveness had to find an outlet for expansion and this was discovered in a fantastic policy of land purchase. Joseph Weller, who was engaged in the Foveaux Strait area, started the ball rolling with some modest purchases of land in the vicinity of Bluff, and then found two Maori chiefs who sold him Stewart Island for £10. The Maoris later repudiated the sale, although they admitted that Weller had actually bought half the island and two off-shore islands. Meanwhile Edward and George Weller, who were dividing their time between Sydney and Otakou, were also in the market for land. Their speculations were on a vast scale, almost assuming the proportions of empire building. When in 1834 and 1835 their general business began to slacken off, they intensified their efforts to accumulate land, and by the time the first colonists arrived in Wellington in 1840, they claimed title to nearly 3,000,000 acres. Two areas totalling half a million acres on and around Banks Peninsula were bought for £67, which like all other payments to the Maoris was made in kind – arms, clothing, spirits, and hardware. Two more purchases of 500,000 acres and 400,000 acres were made in Canterbury for an overall consideration of £82. Then the brothers went to the North Island and acquired another area of nearly half a million acres on the East Coast for a single cask of gunpowder. Further transactions at strategic points in the South Island, involving areas from 3,200 acres to 56,000 acres, added to their huge domain.

By the end of 1835 the Wellers were convinced that they would have to withdraw from Otakou. Joseph Weller had died at the Otago base that year, and by the time the country was proclaimed a British colony the business was defunct. After the 1840 proclamation of sovereignty, George and Edward Weller were among a considerable company of anxious merchants and land speculators who met a nervous and hesitant Governor Hobson in Wellington to try to ascertain the Government's intentions about land titles. But Hobson was of little assistance. Sir G. Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, had taken a hand in the matter, and all past purchases had to be investigated and approved by the Crown. The gauntlet was thus flung down to a veritable army of land sharks, jobbers, and speculators. The Wellers accepted the challenge and prepared to fight for their kingdom. Their lawyers in Sydney assured them that bona fide land purchases in a foreign country made before a proclamation of sovereignty could not legally be invalidated. On this opinion the Wellers took their stand, and in 1841 presented 13 claims, covering the whole of their purchases, before the Court of Claims that had been set up on the instructions of Sir George Gipps.

The litigation that followed was protracted, and in the words of George Weller, “utterly ruinous”. The two surviving brothers urged their titles in the face of an official attitude that their acquisitions were “gifts or pretended gifts”. The Court rejected every one of their claims and recommended to the Government that “no grant be made”. The documents of the hearing, still in the National Archives in Wellington, show the dogged nature of the fight the Wellers put up, but they were doomed from the start. Each claim carried a marginal note setting out the consideration for which the land in question was acquired, the amounts varying from a cask of gunpowder to sums ranging from £10 to 50 and 60. George Weller sought to retain Stewart Island as the heir-at-law of his deceased brother Joseph, but that petition, like all the others, was thrown out of Court. Not surprisingly the Wellers at this stage slipped unobtrusively out of the pages of New Zealand history.

by Ronald Jones, Journalist and Script Writer, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Wellington.

• Old Land Claims Files, 1840–41 (MSS), National Archives
• History of Otago, McLintock, A. H. (1949)
• Murihiku, McNab, R. (1909)
• The Old Whaling Days, McNab, R. (1913).

Details of the trusts listed below may be found in A Directory of Philanthropic Trusts (1964), published jointly by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research and the J. R. McKenzie Trust Board

Anglican Boys' Society Trust (Lower Hutt). This was founded in 1952 to provide homes and facilities for the maintenance and education of boys. The trust runs the Sedgeley Boys' Home, Masterton.

Arawa Maori Trust (Rotorua). Established in 1922, when the Government agreed to pay an annuity of £6,000 to the Arawa tribe, the trust uses its funds for the education and general welfare of the tribe.

Edith Winstone Blackwell Trust (Auckland). This trust was established in 1950 and is available for charitable purposes.

Blair Benefactions (Dunedin). In 1913 John Blair established a fund to provide for specified educational and cultural purposes in Otago.

W. G. B. Brown Trust (Wellington). The trust was established in 1936 and is governed by an Act of Parliament. It provides financial assistance to non-Catholic charitable institutions situated within 10 miles of the Wellington General Post Office.

Sir John Logan Campbell Residuary Estate (Auckland). The annual income is used to assist charities, objects of public utility, relief of distress, or for educational purposes in Auckland Province.

Harold Chaffer Memorial Endowment (Dunedin). This trust was established in 1946 to further medical education and research at the University of Otago.

Arthur Thomas Clarke Trust (Wellington). Set up in 1929 by the will of the donor, the trust is for the general benefit of, and for educational and charitable purposes in, Paekakariki township.

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (Wellington). Established in 1965 by Act of Parliament, the trust makes grants and awards fellowships to persons who will contribute to the advancement of any trade, business, or profession carried on in New Zealand for the general benefit, or to the advancement of the Commonwealth as a beneficial influence in world affairs.

William Louis Cox Memorial Scholarship Fund (Tauranga). The trust was established in 1950 to provide scholarships for pupils of the Whakatane District High School, who have trained as teachers, to receive advanced training in social science.

Norman Cunningham Trust (Auckland). Established in 1955 by the donor's will, the trust endows a fellowship for the advancement of research in animal welfare and veterinary science.

Dempsey Trust, Inc. (Dunedin). This trust, founded in 1892 assists hospital patients and former patients of the Otago Hospital Board's institutions and assists children in the care of various institutions.

Dolamore Trust (Gore). Incorporated in 1949, this trust exists for specific purposes within the borough of Gore.

P. A. Edmiston Trust Board, Inc. (Auckland). Set up in 1946, this trust provides for certain purposes within the Auckland City and Province. These must be completed by 1968.

Charles and Ella Elgar Trust (Wellington). This trust, which was established in 1945, provides assistance for disabled servicemen, discharged servicemen, and the children of servicemen who have died since the Second World War. Assistance may be given in specified ways. The trust is not perpetual.

Woolf Fisher Trust (Auckland). Established in 1960, the trust endows travelling fellowships for teachers from New Zealand State post-primary schools

William Francis Gordon Trust (New Plymouth). This trust, which was established in 1936, endows a small annual scholarship to the Nelson School of Music. The remainder of the income is applied to such charitable institutions and objects in New Plymouth as the mayor shall direct.

Gilbert Conway Hamilton Trust (Dannevirke). Set up in 1959, the trust provides assistance for poor and needy residents of Dannevirke.

Sir James Hay Charitable Trust (Christchurch), set up in 1959, aids all charities within the Canterbury area, concentrating on smaller organisations which do not normally receive such assistance.

Hellaby Grassland Research Trust (Auckland). The trust provides income for research into New Zealand's indigenous grasses.

Rose Hellaby Medical Scholarship Trust (Auckland). Established in 1959, the trust provides scholarships for research or overseas post-graduate training in the fields of rheumatic disease, physical medicine, and manipulative treatment.

E. L Herbert Memorial Trust (Eketahuna). This trust was established in 1946 to support boys of any religious denomination at a suitable institution run by the Church of England.

Lucy Duncan Hewitt Trust (Auckland). Established in 1957, the trust encourages organ-music within the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.

Thomas Hobson Trust (Geraldine). This trust, which was established in 1907, is for public and charitable purposes to benefit residents of Geraldine.

Homewood Trust (Te Puke). Created in 1942, the trust benefits ex-servicemen of the Second World War and their dependants. It awards the George Alley Scholarship to assist in the higher education of the sons of returned servicemen or servicewomen.

Arthur Hopwood Charitable Trust Board (Palmerston North). This trust distributes money annually to charitable organisations in the Palmerston North and Blenheim districts. It was established in 1949.

Horowhenua Earthworks Trust (Levin). Constituted in its present form in 1959, the trust makes grants to religious enterprises of an evangelical and fundamental character.

Sir John Ilott Trust (Wellington). This trust was created in 1960 for charitable, religious, educational, and other purposes.

Charles Hayward Izard Trust (Wellington). Established in 1925 for charitable or educational purposes within New Zealand, as the Wellington City Council directs.

Andrew Jack Trust (Dunedin). This trust, established in 1942, provides income and capital to the Dunedin Branch of the New Zealand Returned Servicemen's Association for the benefit of returned servicemen or their dependants of any war in which New Zealand is involved.

Kelliher Art Competition Trust (Auckland). Established in 1961, this trust endows the Kelliher art prizes. The trust is perpetual.

Thomas George Macarthy Trust (Wellington). Administered by the Public Trustee, this trust makes grants for charitable and educational purposes in Wellington City and province.

Robert McClelland Trust (Christchurch). This trust, established in 1955, is for medical research with special emphasis on the cure for cancer.

Mackelvie Trust (Auckland). This fund, which was created in 1885, finances the Mackelvie Art Collection in Auckland.

Sir J. R. H. McKenzie Trust (Wellington). Estabblished in 1940, the trust can provide financial assistance for any charitable or educational purposes within New Zealand.

Sir J. R. H. McKenzie Youth Education Trust. This was set up in 1938 and is not a part of the above. It assists the advancement, education, and physical development of under-privileged boys and girls.

Reginald Mitta MacKinnon Trust (Invercargill). Created in 1924, this trust benefits St. John's Anglican Church, Invercargill, the Anglican churches in Southland, the poor and needy of Southland, and the promotion of agricultural interests.

Robert McLaren Patearoa Memorial (Dunedin). The trust's funds are for the benefit of children of soldiers who lived in Otago when they joined the armed forces, and who were later killed or disabled. The trust will cease 21 years from 17 November 1951.

Godfrey William Magnus Trust (Wellington). Created in 1952, the fund benefits Heritage and the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society.

Hyman Marks Trust (Christchurch). This trust, which was established in 1895, is for charitable purposes.

Masterton Trust Lands Trust (Masterton). Founded in 1871, the trust endows a number of scholarships and bursaries for students from or connected with the district. Further funds may be used for educational purposes.

John Meehan Trust (Timaru). This trust, which was created in 1935, provides funds for charitable purposes in Canterbury.

Barrington Miller Educational Trust (Gisborne). In 1943 this trust was established to help boys from Gisborne and its neighbouring counties to obtain higher education at university or in trade or commerce.

Thomas Richard Moore Trust (Palmerston North). Founded in 1955, the income from this trust is distributed by the T. G Macarthy Trust Board for educational or charitable purposes in the cities of Palmerston North and Napier.

Laurence William Nelson Trust (Whangarei). This trust was established in 1958 for charitable purposes in the Northland district. Special attention is given to those who are aged, destitute, or suffering from serious mental or physical disability.

New Zealand Aeronautical Trusts Ltd. (Auckland). This trust, which was incorporated as a trustee company in 1956, administers funds transferred to it from the New Zealand Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Walsh Memorial Organisation, and other aviation interests. It promotes aviation research more particularly on the technical side.

Ngaitahu Maori Trust (Kaiapoi). The funds for this trust derive from moneys paid by the Government in settlement of the purchase of the original Ngaitahu land block. It is for the general benefit of descendants of the original Ngaitahu people.

Norwood Crippled Children's Trust (Wellington). Sir Charles Norwood created this trust to benefit children who are suffering from cerebral palsy.

Nuffield Trust (Wellington). Founded in 1935 by Viscount Nuffield, this trust is devoted to the care of crippled children in New Zealand.

Otaki and Porirua Trusts (Wellington). Established about 1853 by the Church Missionary Society from lands deeded to them by the Maoris, the trust endows a number of post-primary scholarships for Maori children, priority being given to children from the Ngatiraukawa, Ngatiawa, and Ngatitoa tribes.

Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts (Wellington). Of similar origin and purpose to the Otaki and Porirua trusts, these trusts benefit Maori children, particularly of the Ngati Kahungunu residing in the Wairarapa district and on the east coast of the North Island.

Returned Services' Association Trusts (Wellington). These funds have been provided in various ways, but mainly by the gifts of individual donors. They are, in general, for the benefit of servicemen, servicewomen, and their dependants; but their special purposes vary considerably.

Sir Charles P. Skerrett Estate Education Charities Fund (Wellington). Established in 1929, the annual income of this trust is distributed to New Zealand educational charities, with the proviso that two-thirds be devoted to those connected with the Roman Catholic Church.

Sutherland Self Help Trust (Wellington). Set up in 1941, the trust aids educational, religious, and charitable purposes, especially ex-servicemen and children.

Doris Elizabeth Geraldine Swadling Trust (Hawera). This trust, which was established in 1960 and is for residents of the Taranaki Province, endows scholarships in farming and music, and also provides for the extension of the Christian religion through the Methodist Church.

Tainui Maori Trust (Taumarunui). The fund derives from an annual Government payment in compensation for tribal lands confiscated in 1864–65. It is used for the benefit of such of the Tainui tribe who owned the lands confiscated. Philanthropic and educational activities are supported.

Taranaki Maori Educational Trust (Hawera). Established in 1961 by the Taranaki Maori Trust Board, this promotes vocational and higher education of members of the Ngarauru, Ngatiruanui, Ngaruahine, Taranaki, Te Atiawa, Ngatimutunga, Ngatitama, or Ngatimaru tribes.

Taranaki Maori Trust (Hawera). This trust derives from an annual grant by the Government in compensation for tribal lands confiscated during the Maori Wars. Grants are made annually for the purpose of improving the health and education of the Taranaki Maori people of the tribes mentioned as beneficiaries of the Taranaki Maori Educational Trust.

Tuhoe Maori Trust (Rotorua). The purposes of this trust, when its funds become available for distribution, are philanthropic and educational.

Turangawaewae Trust Board (Ngaruawahia). In 1921 Te Rata Te Wherowhero established this trust to encourage the study and development of Maori culture and arts, particularly singing, poi dancing, weaving, and carving.

Unlike the longer established communities of Europe and North America, New Zealand has developed, usually for practical rather than theoretical reasons, a system of social services which is basically State controlled. Only recently, and in the face of varied difficulties, have voluntary organisations begun to play an extensive and really significant part in the total structure of the welfare services. As pointed out above, the services available have been very largely economic in character, or have been mainly concerned, in the case of services for children, in providing a more suitable environment for neglected, deprived, and delinquent children. Only very recently have the personal, emotional, and other intangible aspects of the problems received much attention, from either the statutory or voluntary services. This development relies upon a body of trained, specialist staff, the lack of which has proved a considerable handicap. Victoria University of Wellington established a professional training course for social workers at the School of Social Science in 1950, but the number of trained workers still falls far short of requirements, while there is a serious lack of specialists in many associated fields, such as clinical psychology, child psychiatry, and play therapy. Most of the available services, therefore, function at well below optimum standards. The recent development, by which training facilities are provided for marriage counsellors under the auspices of the Department of Justice, is an encouraging innovation but does not meet the need for specialists of fully professional status within the social services generally. For instance, greatly increased sums of money have been made available from both State and private sources during recent years for the care of the aged, and voluntary bodies have been encouraged even to the extent of having the whole cost of erecting their institutions met by the State. As a result of such measures, problems of accommodation and physical care of the aged have been greatly eased in most districts, but it is unusual for organisations operating even extensive services for the aged to employ trained social workers or other specialist staff. Rehabilitation services for the aged are almost completely lacking, and, in strange contrast to the liberal assistance given for the provision of physical care and accommodation, very little help or encouragement is given towards employing or training specialist staff concerned with the personal and social problems of old people.

The somewhat piecemeal and haphazard way in which the State services have developed, together with the structure of the Public Service which administers them, has led to another set of complications. The State welfare services are fragmented into a large number of relatively small units whose functions are determined more by the traditional interests of Public Service Departments and by historical accident, than by the present-day nature of the problems to be solved. The result is that many people needing assistance for individual or family problems are able to obtain the necessary services only by approaching two or more Departments. Thus the Education and Health Departments are each partially responsible for services for physically and mentally handicapped children, while Social Security and Health Departments both provide services for the aged. Until the passing of the State Services Act of 1962, Public Service rules and practices made it almost impossible for the various services to be examined as a whole, or coordinated in any but the most superficial fashion, and no reorganisation or reform of the total system could originate at any level below that of Cabinet. Research into the overall functioning and effectiveness of the social welfare services was virtually impossible from within the Public Service. Although such reviews and reorganisation are now legally possible, it is probable that the necessary administrative arrangements could be made at this stage only with considerable difficulty.

The absence of opportunity for a general overview, together with the largely economic nature of the welfare services, has inevitably provided a temptation, which has not always been successfully resisted, for politicians to devise changes in the services with an eye to electoral advantage rather than the most effective development of the system. On the whole, New Zealand's welfare services are an odd mixture of planning and chaos, of economic generosity and restriction on skill, of rapid advances in some fields, and inadequate development in others. The concept of the welfare State is so deeply ingrained in the New Zealand culture that one cannot imagine its being given up; indeed, all political parties are committed to maintaining it. The proportion of the national income that the community is prepared to devote to welfare is impressive. The main lack lies in the failure to attempt any kind of comprehensive plan to ensure that the resources available are used with the utmost efficiency and flexibility. The potentially adventurous developments are severely restricted by long outmoded forms of organisation and administration.

by James Harding Robb, M.A.(N.Z.), B.SC.ECON., PH.D.(LOND.), Associate Professor, School of Social Science, Victoria University of Wellington.

• The Welfare State in New Zealand, Condliffe, J. B. (1959)
• Welfare in New Zealand Scott, K. J. (ed.), (1955)
• The Decentralisation of Government Administration in New Zealand, Roberts J. L. (ed.), 1961
• Poverty and Progress in New Zealand, Sutch, W. B. (1941)
• The New Dominion – a social and political history of New Zealand, 1918 to 1939, Burdon, R. M. (1965).

Under the existing Geneva Conventions, provision is made for certain services such as the succouring of the sick and wounded, the care of prisoners of war, and the supplying of medical and recreational comforts for patients in hospitals, convalescent homes, and other institutions. This responsibility is the recognised role of the Red Cross. When the First World War of 1914–18 opened, the New Zealand Red Cross movement, as we know it today, had not been formed. When, however, war began, various groups throughout the country sprang into being, anxious to play their part in meeting the needs of those of our forces who had been rendered hors de combat by the effects of hostilities. To give homogeneity to these various groups engaged in this Red Cross work, inquiries were made of the British Red Cross Society in London, with the result that under its Supplemental Charter of 1911 it granted authority to constitute a branch of its organisation in this Dominion. Vested with this power Red Cross operations were accelerated, committees being set up in territories to conform with the then four military districts, i.e., Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago, Southland being added later. Appeals in support of the work were launched to which public response was prompt and generous, and substantial sums were remitted to the British Red Cross, thereby strengthening its hands in meeting its manifold obligations on all fronts on which our forces were engaged. In February 1917 a meeting of delegates of the branch was held under the chairmanship of the Earl of Liverpool, then Governor-General of the Dominion. The principal business was to decide on a name and the adoption of a constitution and rules. In deciding on the name, “The New Zealand Branch of the British Red Cross Society”, the words “and Order of St. John” were added on the motion of the late A. E. G. Rhodes, an officer in the order. Since the Red Cross and St. John were conducting their operations in England under a joint agreement, the meeting no doubt felt that, by the addition of the words, a similar step was being effected here. Some confusion resulted, but nevertheless the conjoint efforts in the First and Second World Wars were carried through with unimpaired and effective zeal.

In July 1919 a meeting was held at Cannes sponsored by the then allied powers, Great Britain, U.S.A., France, Japan, and Italy, at which the League of Red Cross Societies was constituted. This in effect federated on an international basis the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Lion, and Sun Societies, and it is under this organisation that Red Cross activities in the respective countries are pursued. Briefly stated, these objects cover the promotion of health, prevention of disease, and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world, irrespective of class, colour, or creed.

Today the league comprises 94 National Red Cross Societies with a membership of over 180 million.

In 1931 the society in the Dominion was reconstituted and ceased to be a branch of the British Red Cross Society. Today it enjoys, in common with kindred societies, full autonomy under the title of The New Zealand Red Cross Society Incorporated. Control of the work is in the hands of a council comprising two delegates from each of the society's 38 centres, plus a representative of the Government, and of kindred organisations. A Dominion executive of up to 12 is elected at the annual meeting of the council, whose duty it is to implement the policy of the council. There are 40 centres and 304 subcentres charged with the duty of carrying out the work in the territory under their jurisdiction. The adult membership, which is always increasing, stands (1965) at 25,379. Appreciating the potential for good among our youth, the Junior Red Cross movement with its ideals of service is fostered in our primary and post-primary schools with encouraging results. There are 756 Junior Red Cross Circles having a membership of 20,156.

Training in first aid, home nursing, communal health, and hygiene is conducted for young and old. Trainees when qualified are organised into detachments ready for service in epidemic, earthquake, flood, fire, tornado, or any other national or international emergency which might arise. But for those members who do not wish to undertake this type of training, there are many Red Cross activities which require only the interest and enthusiasm of the volunteer.

The society's objective is to bring succour to stricken humanity, thereby promoting understanding, goodwill, and peace among the people of all nations.