Plants which grow in streams, lakes, and ponds, in drains and ditches, and in the sea are often referred to as water plants. If the term is used to include plants which spend most of their life partly submerged in water, as well as the algae which live, more or less, completely submerged, there is difficulty in defining the limits of what should be included, but there are a few ferns and some flowering plants which are worthy of note for their watery habitat. Some representatives of these will be included.

The report of the Working Party on Mineral Resources (1964) states that past work for the appraisal and utilisation of water resources has followed three phases:

1. Early single-purpose developments largely for hydro-electric and municipal supplies:

2. From 1944, the soil conservation and rivers control phase in which widespread community developments, including an intensification in the network of river gauging and meteorological stations, were initiated through national work and by newly established local authorities:

3. From 1959, a phase in which the collection and publication of hydrologic data suitable for multi-purpose planning was introduced and undertaken comprehensively.

The third phase has been patterned on methods used by the Water Resources Division of the United States Geological Survey where the work is organised in four branches dealing with surface water, ground water, quality of water, and general hydrology.

by Norman Hargrave Taylor, O.B.E., formerly Director, Soil Bureau, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lower Hutt.

• National Planning for the Use and Control of Water, N.Z. Engineering 19 (7), Campbell, A. P. (1964)
• Report of Working Party on Mineral Resources, National Research Advisory Council (1964).

Terrestrial water may be considered as falling into three broad classes:

1. Surface water – the free-flowing water of streams and rivers, and the water of ponds and lakes:

2. Ground water – the water held in saturated strata below:

3. Soil water – the water held in association with air in unsaturated superficial layers of the earth.

Each of these three classes of water is closely related in the hydrologic cycle and the ways in which one of them is used may affect, to varying degrees, both the quantity and the quality of the other classes. Hence in multi-purpose planning they are considered as a unity, not as separate unrelated subjects.

Expanding industry, which requires an increasing amount of hydro-electric power, makes large demands upon the available water both in the actual manufacturing processes and in the disposal of industrial wastes. As far as is humanly possible, problems of water allocation, of possible re-use of water, and of determination of quality, need to be foreseen and their solutions carefully planned. As farming and forestry become more intensive, the value of production per unit area of land must be greater and seasonal deficiencies of soil moisture become increasingly significant in the economy. A greater amount of water will be needed both for full-scale and for supplementary irrigation. The provision of a well-distributed and assured supply of water for stock is today a pressing need on many farms.

Floods present special problems largely because flood plains, with their flat terrain, good soil, and abundant water of all three classes, are desirable places on which to live. Unfortunately the sense of security engendered by flood-protection works tends to attract more and more wealth and people to areas that one day will be endangered by the inevitable large flood. Whether, by vegetative control of the catchment, we can do much to reduce this threat is a moot point, but a great deal can be done towards minimising the amount of debris and silt the flood will carry.

Besides being needed for human consumption and for such purposes as farming, forestry, industry, sanitation, electric power, inland navigation, and recreation, water plays a part in our cultural life and in our sense of aesthetic values. No sane community would seek an economic advantage at the cost of lifeless or stinking rivers. In multi-purpose water planning, therefore, each and every one of these potential needs must be respected and wise decisions made whenever they are in conflict.

In New Zealand most people have grown up with the idea that water is in plenty for their needs and that the excess is a nuisance which must be hurried to the sea as quickly as possible. As, however, the population increases, industry expands, and farming and forestry enter new phases of development, the many and varied calls upon available water supplies become urgent, and careful multi-purpose planning is required if conflict and waste are to be avoided. In common with other progressive countries, New Zealand has come to realise that the water with which it is so richly endowed is a priceless asset to be controlled and used to the best advantage.

The annual expenditure on the construction and maintenance of public water supplies exceeds £5 million. The following table gives the expenditure by local authorities on the construction and maintenance of water supply facilities over the period 1959 to 1964. Waterworks expenditure is compared with total expenditure on construction and maintenance for all works.

These figures were abstracted from Local Authority Statistics, published by the Department of Statistics.

NOTE—Total expenditure on all works excludes that by special-purpose authorities apart from urban drainage authorities.

by Denis Anderson Ferrier, B.E.(HONS.), B.SC.(N.Z.), D.I.C. Civil Engineering Division, Ministry of Works, Wellington.

Approximately 70 per cent of the population of New Zealand is served by public water supply piped systems. Apart from a small proportion which relies on Government-owned water supplies, the remaining population obtain their water from private sources, such as springs, streams, shallow wells, artesian bores, and roof catchments. On a national basis, there is no shortage of water for present or likely future uses. In some districts, however, such as arid Central Otago and the larger urban areas, water is not available where it is wanted, and so must be obtained from distant sources to meet the demand. In addition, although rainfall is generally abundant and evenly distributed throughout the year, some districts suffer from seasonal drought conditions which cause temporary shortages of water. This condition applies particularly to the hill country on the east coast of the North Island and in the northern part of the South Island.

The supply of a safe and wholesome water to the urban population depends on one of the largest and certainly one of the most important industries in the country. The demand for water varies considerably from one locality to another and from season to season, but the average daily demand for each person served by a public supply generally falls within the range of 50 to 90 gallons. This represents an annual usage of something like 100 tons of water for every man, woman, and child. Fortunately water is one of the cheapest commodities available to the public, the cost being about 6d. a ton delivered into each household every day of the year. The total amount of water delivered by urban water supply systems averages about 120 million gallons a day, but rises to about 200 million gallons a day in mid-summer.

Public supplies of water are obtained mainly from rivers and streams with their sources in bush-covered upland catchments, while only about 20 per cent are drawn from groundwater sources. The water obtained from surface sources, while originally of good quality, is deteriorating as catchment cover is destroyed by wild animals such as deer, pig, and opossum, and as the upland areas become developed for pastoral and agricultural purposes. These areas are also becoming more accessible to the public and increasingly used for recreational purposes by trampers and others, with consequent greater risk of water contamination. Thus many supplies, once reasonably safe, now require treatment to ensure their suitability for public consumption.

The Department of Health in 1960 adopted the “International Standards for Drinking Water” issued by the World Health Organisation as a basis for assessing drinking-water quality. In 1961 the Department made a survey of over 200 public and Government water supplies serving 70 per cent of the country's population, and graded each supply against these international standards. The survey indicated that only 44 of the individual supplies, serving 35 per cent of the total population on public supplies, could qualify for an “A” grading (“Good”). A further 87 supplies, serving 41 per cent of the total, were graded “B” (“Doubtful – better operation and possibly better treatment and/or other improvements required”), while the remaining supplies, serving 24 per cent of the population, were regarded as unsatisfactory.

Industries, especially those concerned with food processing and pulp and paper production, have a high demand for water. The meat and other food industries have seasonal demands, whereas the pulp and paper industry uses something of the order of 40 million gallons a day throughout the whole year. The latter industry, which is located in proximity to the exotic forests some distance from towns and cities, has its own independent water supplies. Some of the meat-processing plants are sited near centres of population and may draw their water requirements form public supplies, but the remainder have their own sources. The total national requirements for the meat industry is some 50 million gallons a day in the peak summer period.

(Vespula germanica).

This cosmopolitan insect, also known in New Zealand under the names of German wasp and Waikato wasp, is one of the most recent introductions. Evidence shows that over-wintering queens were accidentally imported from overseas in cargo which was first opened at Te Rapa Air Force Depot in 1944. These queens successfully established nests and their progeny have been efficient colonisers. The spread of the wasp is well mapped. By 1951 it had established itself over most of the North Island and at the present time is throughout the country. The wasp has a vicious sting which it can use repeatedly. It is thus a nuisance to humans. It can, however, be regarded as a beneficial insect because of its predominantly carnivorous diet. For most of the summer the nest is populated by workers and these eat and feed their young on caterpillars, blowflies, and all sorts of insects and spiders. It is thought that the blowfly population of most New Zealand bush areas has been reduced very considerably since wasps have become established. In autumn when drones are being reared, worker wasps forage for the sweet carbohydrate foods required by the drones and hence are attracted to jam, honey, ripe and over-ripe fruits. The wasps live in subterranean nests which they construct with masticated plant fibres. Normally a colony lives for one season with the queens alone surviving the winter, but in New Zealand there have been many instances of colonies continuing in an active state throughout winter and thus developing very large nests. A normal single-season nest may reach a size of about 1 ft in diameter but some New Zealand multi-season nests have reached a diameter of several feet.

by Roy Alexander Harrison, D.SC., Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.

In response to a request dated 10 May 1965 from the Government of South Vietnam for combatant support, the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. K. J. Holyoake, announced on 27 May 1965 that New Zealand would provide a four-gun battery of artillery to that country and that it would serve alongside an Australian Infantry Battalion.

In a White Paper tabled in Parliament on 13 July 1965, entitled New Zealand Assistance to the Republic of Vietnam, it was stated that, while the Government had to consider its defence obligations and commitments elsewhere, it had decided that the dispatch of an artillery battery to Vietnam in no way detracted from New Zealand's ability to sustain its forces in Malaysia. Because of the formal request from Vietnam, the New Zealand Government, it was claimed, had acted in pursuance of its obligations under the SEATO Collective Defence Treaty, to which the free territory of Vietnam was joined by protocol. Prior to the Prime Minister's statement of New Zealand's support on 27 May, it was announced that the New Zealand V Force, consisting of 161 Battery, 16th Field Regiment, RNZA, and a small Headquarters and logistic support element totalling 120 men, with four 105-millimetre pack howitzers, would be transported to Vietnam by RNZAF Hercules aircraft. This New Zealand V Force, together with supplies and equipment, arrived in Saigon during July 1965.

A New Zealand Army Engineer detachment of 25 men had served in South Vietnam in a non-combatant role from June 1964, but was withdrawn upon the arrival of the New Zealand V Force. R.A.B.

New Zealand's contribution to the emergency in Malaya, a difficult guerilla war, was to maintain a frigate or cruiser of the RNZN at Singapore, No. 75 Bomber Squadron RNZAF in Malaya (replaced in 1958 by No. 14 Fighter Squadron), and to send a Special Air Service squadron, a commando-type organisation of parachutists, to serve in the jungle as part of a British Commonwealth brigade. The SAS squadron was recruited early in 1955, left in November, trained in Malaya, and joined its parent unit early in 1956 in an operational role. It patrolled the dense Malayan jungle in search of guerillas until the end of 1957, had numerous clashes with elusive communist bands, and was then replaced by a full infantry battalion. Though the emergency has long since ended, New Zealand still maintains a battalion in this area as a current defence commitment. In the emergency the New Zealand Army lost 10 dead and 21 wounded, and the RNZAF lost five dead and two wounded in the course of its widespread and effective operations against the guerillas.

In September 1964, following the landing of a force of armed Indonesian infiltrators in South-west Malaya, troops of the First Battalion, Royal New Zealand Regiment, began an intensive search for these guerillas through mangrove swampland and jungle. This followed a firm declaration by the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. K. J. Holyoake that New Zealand, along with Britain and Australia, would strongly support Malaysia against Indonesian aggression.

by Walter Edward Murphy, B.A., Lecturer, School of Political Science and Public Administration, Victoria University of Wellington.

Army volunteers were called for in July 1950, and in August 1,100 men entered camp. When it sailed on 10 December, Kayforce, as the Army contingent was called, consisted of:

16 Field Regiment, RNZA;

a Signals Troop;

a Light Aid Detachment (to maintain vehicles and guns);

a Transport Platoon; and

a Reinforcement Training Unit.

Thus the force was a field regiment of artillery (25-pounders) with the necessary services to maintain it in action. The regiment fired its first shots on 29 January 1951, south-east of Seoul, spent a bitterly cold winter (for which it was not well clothed) in constant moves near the junction of the Pukhan and Han Rivers, and in April fought a series of defensive actions against Chinese mass attacks. At Kap'yong – in support of 3 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (of infantry) – 16 Regiment blocked the main line of the Chinese advance in a furious four-day battle ending on Anzac Day. For this both units were awarded the Korean Presidential Unit Citation. In June the regiment moved forward to the Imjin River. In the following month it became part of the Divisional Artillery of the newly formed 1st British Commonwealth Division, and in October fired 72,000 rounds in support of the Imjin crossing – an action which reached its climax on 4 November, when the regiment fired 10,387 rounds. By this time a Divisional Transport Company, another Light Aid Detachment, and more Signals troops joined Kayforce, bringing its strength to some 1,550, all ranks. The winter of 1951–52 passed quietly, with few moves, comparatively comfortable quarters, and warm clothing. More or less static warfare continued throughout 1952, during which the various features on the front north of the Imjin became well known: Hill 355 (“Little Gibraltar”), The Apostles, Searchlight Hill, Bowling Alley, and the Shooting Box. The Transport Company worked ceaselessly supplying the division. In 1953, as a cease-fire became increasingly probable, the Chinese strove in a series of attacks to gain a better armistice line and the regiment was kept busy. Two days of violent activity with the guns firing non-stop ended at 5.30 a.m. on 27 July 1953, when fighting officially ceased.

In two and a half years of almost continuous action, the New Zealand field gunners had fired nearly 800,000 rounds from their hard worked 25-pounders, the highest total of any field regiment in the war and far greater than that fired by any NZ regiment in the Second World War. The peace was an uneasy one, however, and 16 Regiment had to work and train hard to keep ready for action in the truce positions. In October 1954 the regiment withdrew from the line and was disbanded. No. 10 Company RNZASC stayed a little longer to supply the reduced Commonwealth Division and returned home early in 1955. Kayforce had worthily upheld the traditions of the 1st and 2nd NZEFs. Its casualties were 37 killed, 80 wounded, and one prisoner (duly returned through Panmunjom).

by Walter Edward Murphy, B.A., Lecturer, School of Political Science and Public Administration, Victoria University of Wellington.