The history of the prohibition movement in New Zealand has been determined by its demand that the general question of the sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor be decided by direct popular vote, and by its ultimate aim of a system of State-enforced total abstinence.

The movement first attained national importance and enjoyed its period of greatest political power in the 1890s. Although prohibition and temperance groups were neither united nor altogether clear in their aims before this period, they were, nevertheless, a feature of New Zealand social life from the earliest days of European settlement. There is a report of a temperance meeting being held in the Bay of Islands in 1834, and at Hokianga in 1842 a “teetotal society” was formed by members of the Wesleyan Methodist Mission Station there. The New South Wales liquor laws, nominally in force in New Zealand, were, in fact, freely contravened, and complaints of drunkenness, particularly among Maoris, were frequent.

Sporadic attempts by groups such as the Maine Liquor Law advocates were made to control the production and sale of liquor during the 1840s and 1850s, but these measures were largely ineffective. During the 1860s, however, the widespread drunkenness, which was such a feature of pioneering life, found a response in the foundation of a large number of temperance societies. The New Zealand Independent Order of Rechabites, a total abstinence benefit society, and a Band of Hope Union were both founded in Auckland in 1863. Other early groups were the International Order of Good Templars and the New Zealand division of the Sons and Daughters of Temperance, and, at a later stage, the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

During the 1860s most provinces passed licensing ordinances. Many of these contained a “permissive clause” giving residents the right to secure, by petition, the cancellation or granting of liquor licences in their district.

Printing in New Zealand got away to a bad start. It was a missionary venture, and notions of typographical style did not exist. Apart from poor presswork, the types and their presentation were undistinguished, and the printing itself was clumsily functional. It must also be remembered that, by the thirties of last century, standards of English design were entering a long decline which not even the precept and example of William Morris in the late nineties could level off. We inherited a bad tradition, and the untidy struggle of pioneering provided neither the men nor the means to improve it. The dismal banality of Victorian printing suited very well the dismal banality of our literature and most of our architecture. There was no competition for the “modern” faces stemming from Bodoni, which is in itself a vulgar face, until the introduction of Old Style. This coincided with the arrival of the linotype about the turn of the century, and proved for a long time to be the biggest single factor in freezing type design anywhere. Our machine faces were – and largely still are – Moderns and Old Style. The vogue for tin-fence Century and tin-pot Cheltenham remained a force majeure in New Zealand printing until the thirties of this century.

Although printing is our ninth-rating industry (1962–63), with 10,000 employed and an annual output valued at more than £31 million, it is not the purpose of this article to examine its ephemera. Books are the most enduring and therefore the most important form of printing; yet, until recently, it was not possible to produce attractive books. Jobbing and newspaper work dictated types and styles. Book printing overseas is a specialised business. Here, even today, we have but a handful of firms who concentrate on it – Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd. (especially the Christchurch branch), and the Caxton Press and Pegasus Press of Christchurch. The Government Printer has a big output of books, mainly scientific or technological, and these show evidence of careful and often highly successful design. It is significant that all these firms have Monotype faces available. The Monotype is not widely used in this country. It is perhaps a third dearer to operate than slug-casting machines, but is twice as good for bookwork, though compositors not used to handling it are unreasonably prejudiced. The Government Printer has (at present) our only Monophoto Filmsetter and is busy assessing its possibilities for our essentially short-run offset lithography processes. Shortly after the Second World War, Monoset Ltd., a trade-setting firm in Christchurch, installed a fine range of book faces, later acquired by Whitcombe and Tombs. Acquisition is one thing and use another, but the fact is that where our earlier typographers were always, through limitation of means, forced to ingenious improvising, the typographer of today has a fairly wide choice of good faces for book composition which, in general, he makes good use of.

By the beginning of the First World War excellent machining (not excluding colour) was being done; but standards of typography lagged the usual 20 or so years behind England's. The art-craft movement, an inevitable outcome of the misapplications of Morris's work, did not affect New Zealand except in a leaning from Modern to Old Style which was an uneasy attempt to tidy up the genuine Old Face, and in a brief rash of badly designed initial letters and exotic founts.

Improving Standards

Our typographical naissance did not take place till the early thirties – not more than a dozen years behind the authentic renaissance in England. The credit must go to R. W. Lowry, who at Auckland Grammar School discovered a master, Gerry Lee, with a handpress and a collection of old type faces. Fired with enthusiasm and possessed of an instinctive flair for bold and masterly use of type, Lowry found himself at the university in the midst of an upsurge of creative writing. In the magazine Phoenix, edited by James Bertram and, later, by R. A. K. Mason, he was able to give himself full expression. Several notable books, slight in bulk, came from several presses, one of the most interesting being a collection of Mason's poems. In the absence of good machine type faces (and money) he did a great deal of hand setting, and quickly discovered the rugged authority of Caslon Old Face. He was also one of our first users of Gill Sans. Without devoting himself too closely to the minutiae of typography, he always showed a sure and characteristic touch without any tendency towards the “ye olde” private-pressery that can become so tastefully similar.

His example was followed by the Caxton Club Press at Canterbury University College. Here, too, existed a group of young writers some of whom are now well known. The work was undistinguished at first – there was no money for foundry types, and the linotype faces available to the trade were Century, Textype, and one Old Style without italic. In 1936 the Caxton Press was put on a modest business footing, and continued to build up types for eventual full book production. Right from the beginning an emphasis was given to the publication of New Zealand literature in the best attainable formats, though it was not for some years that a trade setter could be persuaded to put in the matrices for 11-point Baskerville with italics and small caps. The Caxton Press has been practically alone in printing books for the sake of printing. These include an Areopagitica and a Boccaccio story hand set in Caslon, Hero and Leander hand set in Perpetua italic, and numerous smaller books produced with an indifference to selling price. Its two type specimen books were something new for this country, combining pleasant literary extracts with colourful display. A fine edition of The Ancient Mariner, illustrated and embellished by Leo Bensemann, was produced, together with a couple of books of that artist-typographer's own work in various media.

Last founded, the Pegasus Press has done good traditional bookwork, with meticulous attention to detail and presswork. It uses the same trade faces as the Caxton Press and the same bindery, but the Pegasus Press is not afraid of bold unorthodox treatment of jackets and prelims. This may be justified in novels, with which these presses have had successful experience.

The happy conjunction of J. C. Beaglehole and Joseph Heenan (later Sir Joseph), Secretary for Internal Affairs, produced the Centennial Survey series and several other notable books either through the Government Printer or Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd. For the series, 13-point Bembo was specially imported. As an amateur learning much as he went along, Beaglehole considered carefully each detail of “style” and composition. Both the Government Printer and Whitcombe's have magnificent plant, and can produce magnificent results. Perhaps they have too many people and interests to satisfy, and so tend to lose the individuality of a house style.

Binding has always been a problem. Apart from the Government Printer and Whitcombe's, there was not, until recently, a case-making machine in the country. Cases were, and still are, made by hand, with the dry comment that there is not so much difference in price. The quality and range of bookcloth is threadbare – import restrictions again impose shoddy on us. Besides those firms already named, we expect to get, and do get, excellent binding from F. Cartwright and Son Ltd., Christchurch, and L. D. Hanratty Ltd., Lower Hutt.

Hurry is the enemy of typography and good printing. It is a condition of industrialism, and printing today is more industry than craft. The other enemy is ignorance. That printers of all people should be so unlettered is cause for amazement. In New Zealand they have lost practically all the design sections of the trade to advertising agents. The inevitable advent of educated design-typographers will further reduce them to the status of mechanical troglodytes.

by Dennis James Matthews Glover, D.S.C., B.A., Author and Typographer, Wellington.

Beginnings in New Zealand

The power of the written word had been recognised even before the invention of printing and it is therefore the more remarkable that the early missionaries in New Zealand did not take prompt steps to invoke its aid. Orthography had been set for the Maori language and a grammar was available by 1820. Yet nearly 15 years of devoted labour passed almost unsupported by books in the language. True, the missionaries half a world away from their headquarters knew their need and, in 1830, built hopes on the news that William Yate, after six months' “training” in Sydney, had arrived in New Zealand with a printing press. The training consisted in “seeing through the press” a selection from the Bible and Prayer Book in Maori. Judging from Yate's achievement when he set up the press at Kerikeri, one can infer that the experience was inadequate. A few hymns and a catechism are the only known productions of Yate's printing enterprise. Yate's assistant, the other half of an ineffective team, was a boy of 15 who had had some experience in the Sydney Gazette office. Yate was apparently a capable if unusual man and it is surprising that he did no more or better printing and that he made no mention of this work in his quite useful book, An Account of New Zealand (1835). Yate's press went back to New South Wales some time before 1844 with Benjamin Isaacs, a printer living at Kerikeri.

At length, in 1833, the Church Missionary Society decided to send out a well-equipped press and a trained printer. In that humble printer the society could scarcely have envisaged the versatile, vigorous, and brilliant spirit that was to leave more than the imprint of ink on paper in the new land. William Colenso, a Cornishman, was appointed for this service and, after half-a-year's observation and, presumably, practice in the printing house of Watts and Son, near Temple Bar, he sailed from London for Sydney in June 1834. The equipment was selected and dispatched by the society without consulting Colenso; thus it is understandable that there were serious omissions. Transhipping at Sydney on 10 December 1834, Colenso arrived at Paihia on the thirtieth. The landing of the heavy Stanhope iron press was another matter; in the absence of a jetty it was necessary to build a platform across two canoes and transport the press on the calm sea of early morning. The boxes of type had to be kept from the covetous eyes of Maoris who would have seen its potentiality for lead bullets. A room, formerly used as a schoolroom, in the home of the C.M.S. missionary, Charles Baker, became the printing house. Here the press was installed and the gear unpacked. Colenso's chagrin can be imagined at finding much vital equipment lacking, even printing paper. He improvised effectively and set to work, using paper from the private stocks of the missionaries and from the Kerikeri store. On 17 February 1835 he printed the first copies of the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians, translated into Maori by the Rev. William Williams. This was substantially the first book to be printed in New Zealand, if Yate's humble claim is set aside.

From this point onward Colenso worked unremittingly, sometimes with the assistance of Maoris or hands recruited from ships calling at the Bay of Islands. His major achievement commenced in 1836 with the printing of the Maori New Testament, completed in December 1837 in an edition of 5,000 copies, 1,000 of which were for the Wesleyan missions. In 1836 he printed the first book in English to appear in New Zealand, Report of the Formation and Establishment of the New Zealand Temperance Society. This was published after the inaugural meeting in May 1836. With the coming of Captain Hobson and the beginnings of Government, Colenso was called upon to do a certain amount of official printing. After several other kinds of service, recorded by W. H. Williams in his Bibliography of Printed Maori, Colenso's press was sold by an Auckland auction house for £142, and there its history ends. The next press in the country appears to be that installed by the Wesleyan Mission at Mangungu, on the Hokianga River, late in 1836. In 1839 the Roman Catholic Mission set up a press at Kororareka, but very few publications emanated from it before it was sold, according to Dr T. M. Hocken (Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, Vol. 33, p. 486), to the New Zealander newspaper in the early 1850s. Bishop Selwyn brought out a press with him and this operated at Waimate in 1843–44, afterwards going on to the Kaitaia Mission.

Early Newspapers

In the meantime lay presses had been established. On 15 June 1840 The New Zealand Advertiser and Bay of Islands Gazette commenced publication at Kororareka. This newspaper, sponsored by traders and land speculators, was so opposed to the Government and so virulent in its criticism that it even refused Government advertisements. The Government retaliated by publishing a Gazette Extraordinary for its official announcements. It was printed by Colenso at the Paihia Press for the first several issues. The official New Zealand Gazette is today's equivalent of this original. The rebellious Advertiser was suppressed and it seems likely that its printer was engaged to take over the printing of the Government's Gazette.

In Wellington the newly founded settlement issued its first paper at Britannia (Petone) on 18 April 1840. This was the New Zealand Gazette and Britannia Spectator, printed on a press brought in the Oriental by the editor, Samuel Revans. When the site of the city was changed to Wellington's present position, the word “Britannia” in the title was replaced by “Wellington”. It was, of course, the vehicle of the New Zealand Company, and a first issue was actually printed in London before departure. This paper has the distinction of being the first printed in New Zealand. It has one other distinction, that for a period when ordinary paper supplies were late in arriving, many issues were produced on pink blotting paper. The Otago Witness had a similar experience, when it appealed to its readers to provide paper – which apparently was forthcoming.

This is perhaps an appropriate place to mention the most curious of New Zealand's newspapers, the Auckland Times, printed by Henry Falwasser on a mangle, using a heterogeneous collection of type. It ran through 42 numbers in 1842–43 in this quaint form, and up to number 159 in 1846, when its producer died. The first newspaper in Auckland, however, was the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, which survived from July 1841 to January 1842. It was not an ancestor of the present New Zealand Herald, which was founded in 1863.

One of the most distinguished newspapers in these early years was the Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle founded in 1842 and ceasing in 1874. Other South Island papers appear later, the Lyttelton Times, commencing on 11 January 1851; the Otago News, on 13 December 1848; and the Otago Witness, on 8 February 1851. The oldest paper still publishing is the Taranaki Herald, begun in 1852.

It has been noticed above that the first printing for the Government was done by Colenso and, later, by the Bay of Islands Gazette Office. In 1842 these Gazettes for the first time carried the imprint of John Moore with the expression “Government Press”. After 1 October 1842 the Gazette imprint was “Auckland – Printed and published at the Government Press”. Not till July 1844, however, was a Government Printer appointed, in the person of Christopher Fulton.

Upon the visit of the Austrian exploring ship, the Novara, two Maoris were taken back to Austria. The Emperor, who met them, showed his interest by presenting them with a printing press. He also presented another press to the Catholic Mission.

The history of this press for the Maori people is eventful and important. It arrived at a time when the Maori “King” movement was flourishing and vocal with grievances. The press was therefore sent to Ngaruawahia, where in 1861 it commenced, under the editorship of Patara te Tuhi, the publication of Te Hokioi o Nui-Tireni. It continued till 1863 at irregular intervals, but early in that year there apperared a vehicle of counter propaganda, Te Pihoihoi Mokemoke, issued by a Government press conducted by John Eldon Gorst, Native Commissioner for the Upper Waikato. This publication so incensed the “Kingite” Maoris that, after the printing of the fifth issue, a party descended upon the press and removed it forcibly. This same press is today at the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.

Fine Printing

Although the general level of commercial printing, and especially newspaper printing, is today reasonably good in New Zealand, there has been relatively little effort until recent years to revert to pure typography and design in the manner of some of the nineteenth and twentieth century innovators in printing. In this brief survey it will suffice to refer to one printer preeminent in this field. This was Richard Coupland Harding, of Danish extraction, whose father, T. B. Harding, had bought the Hawke's Bay Times in Napier in 1865. The son took over in 1873, but in the following year the newspaper was discontinued and young Harding concentrated on the art of printing, wherein his heart lay.

In common with much of the culture of the Victorian era, printing was overburdened with ornateness and, just as in England this was opposed by the Whittinghams in their Chiswick Press and William Morris in his Kelmscott Press, so in New Zealand Harding led the way back to simplicity, proportion, and basic, if older, typography. He maintained a correspondence with leaders in the craft in England, such as William Blades and Talbot Baines Reed, and for a period conducted a journal, Typo, devoted to printing interests. He was intimate with Colenso, who bequeathed much of his material to Harding.

Some of the greater printing houses have dominated the printing scene for much of New Zealand's history. The firm of Whitcombe and Tombs, whose joint name first appeared as book publishers in Christchurch in 1884, has grown vastly, with printing houses in other centres, apart from its large headquarters in Christchurch. It is undoubtedly the largest printing concern of its kind in the country, with an impressive record of publications throughout its career. The two large houses in Auckland, both newspaper publishers as well, are the Brett Publishing Co. (the Star), and Wilson and Horton (the New Zealand Herald and Weekly News). In Sir Henry Brett's time the firm published a number of books, including some by Sir Henry himself. But this policy has of latter years given place to large-scale commercial printing.

Technical progress has been marked by the early adoption of processes followed in America and Europe. Lithography was one of the earliest of such methods and examples date from the 1840s: its use was extensive, especially by the Government Printing Office, till well after the turn of the century. Chromolithography, which permitted the use of brilliant colouring, dates from about 1865. Although woodcuts were used considerably in periodicals, not much cutting was done here, the blocks commonly coming from Australia, where usually they had been already used. Photo-engraving worked through painful developmental stages from the late 1890s, but by the turn of the century was becoming established with the larger houses. The linotype machine revolutionised type setting when the first installation was made at the Auckland Star in 1897. The next great advance in type setting was the Monotype, introduced first in 1904, but its use extended but slowly until the last 30 years. Printing ink was always imported until F. T. Wimble and Co. commenced its manufacture in 1939.

by Clyde Romer Hughes Taylor, M.A., DIP.JOURN., formerly Chief Librarian, Turnbull Library, Wellington.

• Early Conflicts of Press and Government, Meikle-john, G. M. (1953)
• A History of Printing in New Zealand, 1830–1940, McKay, R. A. ed. (1940, McKay, R. A. ed. (1940).

Special Statistics of Prime Ministers

First Prime Minister:

Henry Sewell (1856) aged 48 years.

Youngest Prime Ministers to attain the office:

1. Stafford (1856) aged 37 years.

2. Vogel (1873) aged 38 years.

Oldest Prime Ministers to attain the office:

1. Nash (1957) aged 75 years.

2. Bell (1925) aged 74 years.

Oldest Prime Minister to hold the office:

1. Nash (1960), aged 78 years.

2. Bell (1925), aged 74 years.

3. Ward (1930), aged 74 years.

4. Whitaker (1883), aged 71 years.

Longest consecutive term as Prime Minister:

1. Seddon, 13 years 1 month 1 week.

Shortest terms as Prime Minister:

1. Sewell (1856), 14 days.

2. Bell (1925), 16 days.

3. Hall-Jones (1906), 1 month 1 week.

Longest terms as Prime Minister:

1. Seddon, 13 years 1 month 1 week.

2. Massey, 12 years 10 months.

3. Fraser, 9 years 8 months 1 week.

4. Stafford, 8 years 10 months (not consecutive).

5. Holland, 7 years 9 months.

6. Ward, 7 years 3 months (not consecutive).

Prime Minister with most portfolios:

1. Atkinson (1889), with 8.

Prime Ministers for greatest number of terms:

1. Atkinson, 5 terms.

2. Fox, 4 terms.

3. Stafford, 3 terms.

4. Whitaker, Vogel, Stout, Ward, and Holyoake have each had 2 terms.

Prime Ministers who held office while members of the Legislative Council:

1. Whitaker (1864) (1882).

2. Waterhouse (1872).

3. Pollen (1875).

4. Bell (1925).

Prime Ministers by country of birth:

1. England, 13.

2. New Zealand, 5.

3. Ireland, 4.

4. Scotland, 3.

5. Australia, 2.

First New Zealand born Prime Minister:

Sir H. F. D. Bell (1925).

Prime Ministers who died in office:

Ballance (1893), Seddon (1906), Massey (1925), Savage (1940), (Ward died a month after he resigned as Prime Minister, 1930).

Number who have held Warrant as Prime Minister:

(To September 1962) 27.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

In the constitutional debates of 1854 during the first session of the New Zealand Parliament, the term “Prime Minister” was frequently used in a somewhat casual fashion. This explains in part why it was some years before the term “Premier” came into general usage. William Fox, who took office in July 1861, was described in the Gazette as Attorney-General “with first seat in the Ministry”. In November 1864 Weld was gazetted as holding “a seat in the Executive Council and the office of Premier”. Stafford, his successor, in October 1865 was termed “First Minister”. In June 1869, when Fox again headed a Ministry, he was described officially as “Premier and member of the Executive Council.” Thereafter the term “Premier” was regularly used. Nevertheless, in the Schedule of the Civil List Act of 1873, provision was made for the salary of the Leader of the Government “being the Prime Minister”. The first Premier to use the title “Prime Minister” officially was Richard John Seddon. It was used in the New Zealand Year Book of 1900 and the Imperial Conference of 1903 confirmed the practice. A.H.MCL.

Notes to Table of Ministries

(1) Domett was the only Prime Minister to resign mainly because of the adverse action of the Legislative Council.

(2) Prime Minister tendered his resignation after difference with his colleague (Vogel) whom he recommended should succeed him.

(3) As Vogel was in Australia at the time and could not be sworn in, the Governor used his discretionary power to summon a new Premier. He chose Fox, who had been the last Premier of the same party as Waterhouse. He held office until Vogel returned to New Zealand. A similar situation arose in 1906. Ward, Seddon's obvious successor, was overseas; the Governor therefore sent for Hall-Jones, who held office pending Ward's return.

(4) This Ministry contravened the Disqualification Act 1870, and probably had no legal existence. Atkinson therefore resigned and reformed his Ministry.

(5) All Prime Ministers since Ballance have either been elected, or have been confirmed in office, by the party caucus in the House of Representatives. Fox was the first Prime Minister to be elected by caucus.

(6) The interregnum arises because, when the Prime Minister dies, his Ministry ceases to exist; in such cases, however, his successor is appointed on the day of the funeral. In effect, during the interregnum there is a ministry but no Prime Minister.

(7) New Zealand's first real Coalition Ministry, formed of elements of the Reform and Liberal Parties.

(8) Bell was summoned at the end of the interregnum following Massey's death. The Reform caucus asked him to continue in office, but Bell refused on the grounds that he was too old. Caucus thereupon elected Coates to succeed him. Bell's refusal to remain in office had no connection with his membership of the Legislative Council.

(9) Coalition between Forbes's United Party and Coates's Reform Party.

(10) Fraser accepted office following the interregnum, on condition that the Labour caucus approved. When the caucus ratified the Ministry, Fraser resigned formally and was reappointed. Since this caucus the Labour Party has elected its ministers.

(11) Fraser invited two Opposition members to join a War Cabinet. These had no official portfolios, but did have administrative duties. The War Cabinet coordinated New Zealand's war effort while the ordinary Cabinet continued to administer purely domestic affairs.

(12) The War Administration was an expansion of the War Cabinet. More Opposition members were added and were given portfolios connected with the war effort. The Domestic Cabinet continued, and when this arrangement ended the War Cabinet was reconvened.

(13) Following the 1954 election, Holland reconstructed his Ministry. The Prime Minister himself did not resign and thus the change scarcely constitutes a change of ministry; however, the scope of the reconstruction was such that it can be best shown in this manner.

It is often stated that J. E. FitzGerald and T. S. Forsaith were the first two Premiers of New Zealand. This is quite erroneous. They were nothing more than members, without portfolio, of the Executive Council, which was presided over by the Administrator, Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. Wynyard. The first responsible ministry did not take shape until April 1856, with Henry Sewell as Colonial Secretary. To him, therefore, goes the honour of being the first Premier.

The Department of Statistics maintains a consumers' price index based on 1952–53 consumption and assessed at 1955 prices. In constructing such an index it is necessary to determine as accurately as possible the standard “basket” of goods consumed by the group to which the index refers. The New Zealand index relates primarily to urban dwellers living as families, and is representative of about 85 per cent of personal expenditures. To do this the index takes account of the prices of 375 goods and services ranging from bananas to babies' napkins, and from petrol to peanut butter. The compilation of such a basket of goods and services and the assigning of correct weight or emphasis to the price of each commodity is a major operation. Sources of group and commodity weights were obtained from statistics of goods available for consumption, from the survey of nearly all retail establishments included in the 1953 Census of Distribution, and from a 1952–53 survey of household budgets conducted by the Public Service Association. From the beginning of 1966, a revised consumers' price index becomes effective. Its base is quantitative consumption patterns of 1962–63 costed at the average of prices ruling throughout the year 1965.

The index is maintained by the regular collection of prices of all the 375 commodities, and changes in these prices influence the level of the index in proportion to their initial 1955 weight. As well as revealing changes in the general retail price level, sub-indexes are compiled for the main New Zealand towns and for the major groups of household expenditure, e.g., food, housing, and apparel. The index for each group in 1955 is 1000 – this represents a separate starting point for each group and does not imply any equivalence between them. The percentages of base expenditure represented by each group are shown in the first row.

by John Victor Tuwhakahewa Baker, M.A., M.COM., D.P.A., Government Statistician, Wellington.

The 1890s marked the beginning of a recovery for New Zealand and this was reflected in a general upturn in price levels. The expansion of frozen meat and butter, and cheese exports, mainly to the United Kingdom, gave underlying strength to this movement. It was also associated with an upturn in United Kingdom price levels.

From 1900 to the beginning of the 1914–18 War, prices remained fairly steady, but in 1914 a sharp upturn occurred which lasted through to 1920. With the retail price index averaging an 8 per cent per annum rise, these years rank as New Zealand's most serious period of inflation. The 1920s saw again a stable price level which lasted through to the fall associated with the great depression. Export prices began to rise in 1936 and this movement was paralleled by a rise in retail prices.

During the 1939–45 War and up to 1949, retail prices rose at an average rate of rather more than 3 per cent per annum. The absence of the sharp rise usually associated with wartime was due to the imposition of price control, supplemented by direct subsidies on many essentials. The early 1950s brought a sharp rise in export prices, mainly from the wool boom associated with the Korean War. From 1953 onwards the rise in prices continued at a lower rate (about 4 per cent), the average increase for the whole decade being nearly 5 per cent per annum.

Only scattered records are available of prices prior to 1861. The “blue book” returned in 1851 to the United Kingdom by the colonial administration records the following commodity prices (1965 prices and subsidies are added for comparison):

In the early years of the colony there was evidence of considerable variation in prices between settlements and throughout the year. Because of the high cost of transport associated with scattered settlement and the geographical remoteness of New Zealand, prices in New Zealand were generally higher than those in the United Kingdom. Some idea of the transport problems of the time is given by the fact that in 1857 letters moving from Auckland to Wellington were carried via Sydney.

The gold discoveries of the early sixties stimulated immigration and led to a sudden growth of population which, in turn, caused a rapid increase in the demand for goods, with a consequent rise in prices. A subsequent decline in gold production was followed by a fall in prices to a level below that at the beginning of the decade. Julius Vogel's public works policy (first enunciated in June 1870) and an associated cheap land policy led to a further boom in prices in the early seventies, but by 1874 prices had again begun to fall. This time the fall proved to be the beginning of a prolonged downwards movement which lasted to the middle 1890s. This was a period of depression for New Zealand marked by low export prices and the collapse of the land-settlement policy. “In many districts the majority of land holders were ruined, their properties were surrendered to the mortgagees many of whom suffered the same fate, the principal one – the Bank of New Zealand – receiving so heavy a blow through the properties thrown back on its hands that in 1894 its manager warned the Colonial Treasurer that unless the Government came to the bank's assistance within a day or two the country would suffer the worst crisis in its history.”

The course of prices is of interest both to Government and to citizens in a modern State. For a country as dependent as New Zealand on foreign trade, changes in import and export price levels are of crucial importance and have a direct bearing on the general prosperity of the economy. The level of internal retail prices is of importance as an indicator of changes in purchasing power. The retail price index is consequently a central piece of evidence when the Court of Arbitration is considering an application for a general wage order.

The importance of price movements in these and other fields led to an early development of official indices of retail, wholesale, export, and import price indices. These became available at the beginning of the century. No official price indices exist for other than the last few years of the nineteenth century, although a study on the course of prices from 1861–1910 by J. W. McIlraith gives valuable information on price movements during that period.