Since the passing of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act, considerable progress has been made with river control throughout the country. Action has naturally been focused first on the major river valleys where there has been a history of severe flood damage and where the property owners have been able to meet their share of the cost. Schemes are now in hand, or planned, to deal with the lower reaches of most of the major problem rivers, and they range from channel clearing, training works, and bank protection with partial flood protection up to floods of 5–10-year frequency, to complete protection with stopbanks up to floods of 100-year frequency. Such schemes may involve expenditure up to £2,500,000, and Government subsidies vary generally from £1–£1 to £3–£1 or more depending on the economics of the proposed works and the capacity of the property owners to meet their share of the cost.

The policy of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council is to encourage soil conservation work as complementary to river control. In the case of four large river schemes and several smaller schemes, planning has included the whole catchments. As farmers become aware of the benefits of soil conservation work, comprehensive planning for other river catchments will follow.

There are many rivers in New Zealand where major control schemes cannot be justified at the present time but where a great many smaller individual works covering clearing, training works, bank protection, minor stopbanking, and the like are being carried out. Such works primarily serve to hold the river in check and prevent serious deterioration until such time as more comprehensive planning can be justified. Type and cost of works have to be related to the financial capacity of the individual to pay. Subsidies are generally £2–£1 but may be up to £3–£1. Local share of the cost is generally met by individual cash payments.

As continuity of control and maintenance is of the greatest importance in river work, the Council therefore encourages the planning of comprehensive schemes where rating districts are established to ensure the meeting of capital charges and adequate future maintenance. Rating for works is based on benefits and with larger works it is usual to classify the land benefiting into six classes to conform to the degree of benefit estimated for defined areas. Rating is normally based on capital value, but there is also provision for rating on an acreage basis.

Since 1942 a total length of approximately 2,600 miles of river channel has been improved, 1,400 miles of banks protected, and 250 miles of diversions and 850 miles of stopbanks completed. The present annual expenditure on river works is approximately £1,500,000. On schemes that are well advanced there have already been not only substantial savings in flood losses but also major increases in production due to the protection afforded.

New Zealand is favoured with a generous and well distributed rainfall exceeding 45 in. over about 70 per cent of the country and with only a very small area with less than 25 in. In some districts, such as the west coast of the South Island and the western central plateau of the North Island, annual rainfall exceeds 100 in. with extremes over 200 in. on the West Coast and Fiordland.

The topography and soils over most of the country generally favour a high run-off both in total flow and in peak flood discharges. There are, however, in the North Island some areas where flood peaks are greatly reduced by porous pumice soils, while on some river systems the natural lake storage in headwaters helps to control flooding. The general condition of the country has had an appreciable effect on the magnitude and incidence of flooding, due in some areas to such factors as the clearing of steep hill country, excessive burning, overgrazing by domestic animals, and grazing and browsing by animal pests.

Severe storms are likely to occur at any season of the year, arid extreme falls of 12 in. to 20 in. in 24 hours and up to 40 in. over four to five days have been experienced in certain areas. It is therefore not surprising that river control is a major problem in New Zealand, with total run-off and peak flood discharges being among the highest in the world.

Prior to 1941 river-control work in New Zealand was mostly carried out in piecemeal fashion with little appreciation of the causes of the more frequent and damaging floods and of the need for overall planning. River boards were established in 1884 to protect the more important rural and urban areas against flooding and did much good work as far as their limited resources would allow. The authority of boards usually extended over limited lengths of river; raising the necessary finance was difficult, and there was no assurance of Government subsidies. In these conditions it was difficult to plan and carry out works along the best lines to meet the increasing demands for better protection; consequently, works were often designed to meet the immediate problem. Threats to communications and other public utilities were usually met by the Ministry of Works, Railways Department, or county councils carrying out their own protective works.

The increase in flood damage, the deterioration of river channels, and general lack of progress in river control to meet increasing development, coupled with the growing awareness of the problems of soil erosion and deterioration of our hill country, led in 1941 to the passing of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act, which included amongst its primary objectives the control of rivers, prevention of damage by floods, the control of erosion, and the promotion of soil conservation. The Act made provision for the establishment of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council as the national authority in these matters, responsible to the Government through the Minister of Works. The Council consists of 14 members representing catchment boards, catchment commissions, county councils, municipalities, river and drainage boards, Federated Farmers, and Ministry of Works, Agriculture, Lands and Survey, Forest Service, and Treasury Departments, with an independent chairman.

Broadly, the function of the Council is to establish policy; to initiate the carrying out of surveys and investigations; to collect and publish information; to set up standards of work; to allocate finance; and generally to coordinate the activities of Departments, local bodies, and other organisations throughout the country in so far as they are concerned with soil conservation and river control. The work of the Council is administered through the Ministry of Works and the Department of Agriculture, and sufficient funds are appropriated annually for the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control vote to cover administration and works programmes.

The Act also provides for the establishment of catchment boards and catchment commissions as district executive authorities working under the general supervision of the Council on soil conservation and river-control work. Catchment districts normally cover a number of complete catchments with a community of interests and may vary in area from 1,500 to 13,000 square miles. Finance is allocated to these authorities by the Council annually to enable them to function, and boards and commissions submit proposals to the Council for checking of technical and economic aspects and consideration of subsidy. The same functions are also performed by the Waikato Valley Authority which, set up under a special Act, is responsible directly to the Minister of Works instead of to the Council.

Most of the old river boards and some of the drainage boards within catchment districts were abolished soon after the new authorities were set up, their powers and functions being taken over by catchment boards. Those internal drainage authorities which remain come under the supervision of catchment boards and the Waikato Valley Authority. Catchment boards have both elective and nominated members representative of local and Government interests. The members of the catchment commissions and Waikato Valley Authority are nominated from both local bodies and Government Departments. The 13 catchment boards, the Waikato Valley Authority, and one catchment commission already established, cover approximately 70 per cent of the country. Three additional catchment commissions are in the process of being set up, and practically the whole of the country will ultimately be covered by these special authorities. A limited amount of river control and a considerable amount of drainage work (concerned with specific local problems) is carried out by river and drainage boards which also qualify for financial assistance from the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council.

No sooner had the Auckland riot subsided than trouble broke out in the south. On 24 July two convicts made an abortive attempt to set fire to part of Mount Crawford Prison, Wellington. On the following day, at Paparua Prison, Christchurch, a riot broke out during a service in the chapel. A fierce fight followed in which six warders were injured. The east wing of the prison was set on fire, and the revolt was quelled only after tear-gas was used. More than 40 warders and policemen suffered superficial injuries.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington and Herbert Otto Roth, B.A., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Deputy Librarian, University of Auckland.

At Mount Eden Gaol, at 2 a.m. on 20 July 1965, two masked prisoners clubbed a warder who surprised them while escaping. Several more cells were opened and the prisoners then set fire to the central dome. Confusion spread as more of the inmates were freed to save them from possible suffocation. Fires raged throughout the day, gutting most of the prison buildings. While firemen struggled to put out fires, rioting prisoners showered them with bricks, crates, books, and molotov cocktails. Eventually the firemen were withdrawn from the buildings to prevent serious injuries. Meanwhile the prisoners, who controlled the inside of the gaol, burned anything combustible including furniture, bedding, and the records from the administration block. As the fires spread, warders courageously entered the burning cell blocks to see that no prisoners were trapped. A cordon of armed police, warders, and troops stood guard round the prison in the glare of hastily rigged floodlights. Warning shots were fired and high-powered hoses were used to discourage one attempt to break out. The riot ended at 10.45 a.m. on 21 July, when the prisoners surrendered after 33 hours of rioting. By that time the 83-year-old gaol was a blackened shell. All of the 293 prisoners were still in custody.

This riot, which has passed into Wellington legend as “the Battle of Manners Street”, took place on the evening of Saturday, 3 April 1943. It began at the Allied Services' Club in Manners Street (now the Manners Street Post Office) when, it is alleged, servicemen from the southern United States refused to let some Maori servicemen drink in the club. When the Americans removed their Army service belts to emphasise their point of view, New Zealand servicemen joined in and the “battle” spread into the streets. American military police, who arrived to restore order, took sides and used their batons. The fighting spread to the A.N.A. Club in Willis Street, where belts and knives were used, and into Cuba Street. It has been estimated that over 1,000 American and New Zealand, troops were involved, as well as several hundreds of civilians. The battle lasted for about four hours before order was restored by the civil police. Many American soldiers were injured during this affray and at least two were killed. The “Battle of Manners Street” was the ugliest riot in New Zealand's history.

The “Battle of Manners Street” was not the only clash between American and New Zealand troops in New Zealand cities. About the same time there were two similar riots in Auckland, and a further clash occurred outside the Mayfair Cabaret, in Cuba Street, Wellington, on 12 May 1945. There was also a clash between a small party of American servicemen and Maori civilians at Otaki in October 1943.

In no case has the result of any of the ensuing inquiries been published; and, owing to the strictures of wartime censorship, no reference to the riots appeared at the time in local newspapers.

A series of riots in New Zealand occurred early in 1932, during the world-wide economic depression. On Saturday, 9 January, a procession of unemployed, many of them women, marched to the offices of the Otago Hospital Board in Dunedin to demand relief. When the Board's officials refused assistance, the enraged crowd rushed to Wardell Brothers' grocery store nearby where they were met by a cordon of police. The store's windows were smashed but the police stood their ground. The situation remained tense, with large crowds milling through the streets and occasional fights breaking out, but the excitement subsided after a special distribution of 800 food parcels for the weekend had been arranged. An Emergency Relief Depot was opened after the riot, but on 9 April there were new unemployed disorders in Dunedin, again following a refusal of assistance by the Hospital Board.

The most serious riot of the year took place later that week, on 14 April, in Auckland. Postal employees had called a demonstration and public meeting to protest against the 10 per cent cut in salaries imposed by the Government. As their procession moved up to the Town Hali it was joined by thousands of unemployed marching behind the banners of the Unemployed Workers' Movement. Outside the Town Hall the unemployed were refused admittance by a strong force of police. The crowd surged forwards and there was some scuffling and shouting. J. H. Edwards, the leader of the unemployed, rose to address his followers but was struck down by a police baton, and this incident became the signal for a general melee in which the enraged crowd attacked the police with pickets which they had broken off a fence near by.

Hundreds were injured in the fighting and, while the police were hemmed in near the Town Hall, looters ran through Queen Street smashing shop windows and raiding jewellery and other stores. Sailors with fixed bayonets were marched through town, but public order was only partially restored that night. There was more window smashing the following day in Karangahape Road, when mounted “specials” charged the crowds.

The Government hastily introduced a repressive Public Safety Conservation Bill but it failed to prevent yet another serious riot, this time in Wellington, on 10 May. Following a demonstration outside Parliament Buildings and an unsuccessful deputation to the Government, the unemployed rushed through Lambton Quay, Willis, and Manners Streets. Many shop windows were smashed and again some looting took place. There were many prosecutions arising out of these disturbances and sentences were heavy. Christchurch alone, of the four main centres, saw no unemployed riots during the depression, thanks largely to the efficiency of its relief services.

Several serious riots occurred in Wellington during the waterfront strike of 1913. The strike started on 22 October, but Wellington was reasonably peaceful until the arrival of mounted special constables from the country districts in the early hours of 30 October. That morning the strikers attacked a troop of “specials” near the Post Office stores in Waterloo Quay and put them to flight. Towards evening, the “specials” retaliated by charging the crowd in Post Office Square. In the mêlée that followed, several “specials” took refuge in Whitcombe and Tombs's store which was besieged by angry strikers and defended by the staff with drawn revolvers. Sir Joseph Ward questioned the Prime Minister about the provocative behaviour of the special constables, but more serious incidents were to follow.

On 3 and 4 November there were riots in Buckle Street, around the Mount Cook Garrison Hall where the special constables were quartered, and around the Royal Tiger Hotel. Dozens of people were injured, including a man and a boy who suffered bullet wounds. The following day, 5 November, saw the “Battle of Featherston Street”, when the strikers tried in vain to prevent the shipment of racehorses to the New Zealand Cup meeting at Christchurch.

The next fortnight was fairly peaceful but there were new disorders in Wellington on 18 and 19 November, after the police had been instructed to break up meetings in the Post Office Square. Minor incidents occurred in other centres during the strike but nothing approached the violence which reigned in Wellington and which Sir Joseph Ward described in Parliament as “a system of Mexican revolt and civil war, a system of our own kith and kin from the country being brought down against our own kith and kin in the town to use force for the settlement of an industrial dispute”. On several occasions in Wellington, Magistrates were said to have been ready to read the Riot Act. About a hundred people were prosecuted and sentences ranged up to 11 months' imprisonment. The strike, which was called off on 20 December, ended in the complete defeat of the unionists.

The only occasion when the Riot Act was read in Christchurch was on 26 September 1897, when Arthur Bently Worthington, the religious impostor, attempted for the third Sunday in succession to hold a public meeting. Hostile crowds had disturbed his earlier meetings but on 26 September the entire Christchurch police force, which had been concentrated outside the Oddfellows' Hall, was faced by a crowd estimated at 6,000 people. When Worthington and his friends emerged from the building and attempted to enter a cab, the crowd made a determined rush forcing the police back to within a few yards of the vehicle. At this critical moment a Magistrate climbed on to the box of the cab and read the Riot Act. Mounted constables, using their batons freely, were able to clear Lichfield Street sufficiently to allow Worthington to depart under police escort. A large crowd again assembled outside the Oddfellows' Hall the following Sunday. The Mayor, Magistrates, and a strong force of policemen were present but there was no disorder. Worthington soon afterwards left Christchurch to return to Australia.

The Timaru riots of 1879 were caused by the traditional hostility between Irish religious factions. The local Orange Lodge had announced its intention of joining a procession of friendly societies on Boxing Day. The landlord of the Hibernian Hotel arranged for Catholics from the district to come to Timaru that day to oppose the march. Police reinforcements were brought in from Christchurch but were unable to prevent the Orangemen from being besieged in the Foresters' Hall. A Magistrate read the Riot Act but the crowd did not disperse until after the Orangemen had taken off their regalia and had renounced their intention of marching through town.

While this riot took place in Timaru, with most of the Christchurch police in attendance, an Orange procession was attacked in Christchurch outside the Borough Hotel and several Orangemen were badly injured. Feeling was very tense in both towns during the next days. Police had to protect the Borough Hotel which angry crowds threatened to wreck, while Timaru was guarded by strong police and military forces brought in from Wellington and Dunedin.

There were no further serious incidents. Early in 1880, 14 of those involved in the Christchurch assault were sent to prison. The Timaru rioters, thanks to a vigorous defence by Robert (later Sir) Stout, escaped with being bound over, the landlord of the Hibernian Hotel alone being fined £100.