The crime rate in New Zealand is considerable for an uncrowded country where good living standards are attainable by all without a struggle. An indication of the prevalence of more serious crime is that in 1964, 1,420 persons were sentenced to detention for three months or more and 113 to imprisonment for three years or more or to preventive detention. Of all persons detained, 1,577 (43 per cent) were convicted of offences against property, compared with 1,035 (35·8 per cent) in 1956. Those sentenced to detention for sexual offences numbered 201 (5·6 per cent) in 1956 and 183 (5·8 per cent) in 1964. The ratio of prisoners to each 10,000 of the general population was 38·61 in 1890, 17·37 in 1928, and 15·38 in 1939, compared with 14·12 in 1964. This does not mean a corresponding reduction in the amount of crime, since before the First World War in particular many were sent to prison who would now be given probation, dealt with under the Child Welfare Act, or merely fined.

Riots, organised crime, and rackets are absent from New Zealand. Armed robbery is rare and the murder rate low. Bribery and corruption are not problems, either as distinct offences or as handicaps in dealing with offenders. On the other hand, assaults, disorderly conduct, and vandalism by larrikin groups, and many offences against property, are relatively common.

The extent of sexual crime is hard to judge because probably a considerable but unknown proportion of non-violent cases never comes to police notice. The number of rapes and violent assaults fluctuates widely. A bad feature two or three years ago was a number of multiple rapes of one victim. What does seem clear is that in New Zealand sexual crimes more readily arouse public emotion than do any others. A rise in the figures, however temporary, or a series of sensational incidents, produces widespread agitation for sterner and even savage punishments.

As elsewhere, crime among young people in New Zealand has increased. Despite liberal use of probation the number of those under 20 sentenced to detention rose from 343 in 1956 to 840 in 1964. The proportion of Maoris among younger offenders is particularly high. The crime rate among Maoris generally is much higher than among non-Maoris. Over 29 per cent of those sentenced to detention during 1964 were Maoris, while less than 6 per cent of the general population over 15 were Maoris. The principal reason for this appears to be the emigration of younger Maoris to the hitherto almost wholly European cities. The transition from an isolated and semi-communal rural society to the individualistic city way of life presents many with problems outside their experience. They may be bemused by different conditions and differing standards of values. An upsurge of crime in such circumstances is not peculiar to New Zealand. The problem is likely to persist with the continuing movement of Maoris to the larger towns; it is, however, more a social than a criminal one.

The penal administration has two aims – to ensure that those committed to institutions are securely kept there and, more positively, to do everything practicable to rehabilitate offenders, especially young offenders, so that they will become good members of the community. To this latter end there has in recent years been considerable expansion in chaplaincy, educational, trade training, and psychological services within all penal institutions. Former negative approaches have not had notable success and, under a policy of responsible experimentation, new methods and techniques are being adopted. One of the most promising is known as group counselling, which may briefly be described as a meeting of a number of inmates under the leadership of an officer, to discuss their problems together.

Particular attention is paid to the problems of transition from prison to the free society. The step from custody to freedom is a difficult one for prisoners, many of whom require assistance, advice, and discipline if they are not to relapse into crime. For this reason those released from a sentence of detention in a detention centre, borstal training, preventive detention, or imprisonment for 12 months or more are on probation for a period. The Court may order that a person sentenced to less than 12 months' imprisonment be on probation after release. As another means of bridging the gulf between institutional life and the free community, inmates may be allowed absence on parole for a short period before their discharge to revisit their homes, arrange employment, and so on. There is power also to release selected inmates during the day to work in the community. For borstal trainees pre-release hostels have been established at Invercargill, Auckland, Hamilton, and Wellington, chosen inmates residing there and working for wages for private employers. The sanction for misbehaviour is immediate return to the institution. There is room for much more to be done to help offenders after their release; for instance, by setting up post-release hostels. Efforts are being made to enlist the help of the community in making good citizens out of young delinquents.

The need to release persons sentenced to indeterminate detention at the most appropriate time led to the establishment in 1910 of the Prisons Board, the present counterparts of which are the Prisons Parole Board and three Borstal Parole Boards. The Prisons Parole Board may also consider the case of persons serving finite terms of imprisonment in special circumstances and advises the Government concerning the release of those serving life sentences. It has a Judge as chairman, the Secretary for Justice, and up to five other members. A Magistrate presides over each Borstal Parole Board, the other members being the Secretary for Justice, the superintendent of the particular institution, and two local residents.

An important development is to keep offenders out of institutions and to rehabilitate them within the community whenever practicable. The offender is one who is unable or unwilling to respect his obligations to others. But however enlightened a prison regime may be, it is difficult to learn in captivity how to live as a member of the free community. A significant development in policy is therefore to reform offenders wherever possible within the community. The sentence of periodic detention is a step in this direction.

The Criminal Justice Act of 1954 extensively revised the penal system. Its approach was to provide every means of diverting the young or inexperienced offender from a life of crime, while protecting the community against the hardened criminal by keeping him out of society for a long period. The following are the principal sanctions at present available to the Courts when an offender is convicted.

Probation. Anyone convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment may be released on probation for a term of between one and three years. There are statutory conditions relating to such matters as employment, residence, associates, and general behaviour, and the offender is under the supervision of a probation officer. Special conditions are often imposed; for instance, that the offender shall abstain from intoxicating liquor or pay a specified sum as restitution. An offender may be fined as well as being placed on probation. Breach of the conditions of probation is an offence and also renders the probationer liable to be sentenced for the original offence. Probation is widely used in New Zealand, 2,024 offenders being placed on probation in 1964, a figure slightly higher than in recent years.

Fine. Fines are by far the most common penalty imposed in this country and the only penalty for minor offences not punishable by imprisonment. In 1964, 146,488 fines were imposed in all Courts, the great majority being in the Magistrates' Courts for traffic violations.

Periodic Detention. This sentence, introduced in 1962, is intermediate between probation and the detention centre or borstal. In August 1965 it was available to Auckland, Christchurch, and Invercargill Courts. Intended principally for delinquents of the lout, larrikin, and vandal types, it may be imposed on any male between 15 and 21 who could be imprisoned for his offence or who refuses to pay a fine. A youth sentenced to periodic detention must report at a work centre on a specified number of occasions in each week during a specified period. This period must be spent in participating in such activities, attending such classes, and undergoing such instruction as the warden of the centre considers conducive to reformation. The offender may be employed on such suitable work within or outside the centre as the warden directs. It may be noted that there is power to detain the offender overnight, but not for a longer continuous period than 60 hours.

Detention Centre. Male offenders between 16 and 21 convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment may be sentenced to detention in a detention centre. The term is three months, reducible to two for good behaviour. The sentence provides a short period of discipline and hard work, coupled with positive educational measures. During 1964, 205 youths received this sentence, which is served at Waikeria Youth Centre in the Waikato.

Borstal Training. This involves detention in a borstal for an indefinite period not exceeding two years. To qualify, the offender must be between 17 (in special cases 15) and 21 and convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment. The time of release is determined by a Borstal Parole Board. There are borstals for males at Waikeria, Invercargill, and Waipiata, in Central Otago. Another is planned for the sandhill country near Wanganui, and inmates will be employed in afforestation work. The main borstal for girls is at Tawa, near Wellington. In 1964 this sentence was imposed on 449 offenders.

Imprisonment. This may be for a finite term or for life, the maximum for each offence being prescribed by statute. Inmates whose sentence is finite may earn remission of up to one-quarter of their sentence by good behaviour.

In 1964, 3,401 persons were sentenced to imprisonment. Anyone serving a sentence of up to eight days may be detained at any police station and those serving not more than 28 days may be detained in one of the police gaols. There are 11 principal prisons, including two prison-farms, both in the central North Island. The maximum-security prison for New Zealand is at Mount Eden, Auckland, where “lifers”, dangerous criminals, and preventive detainees are held. This institution has outlived its usefulness and a new maximum-security prison is being built at Paremoremo, across the harbour.

Preventive Detention. This may be imposed on certain persistent offenders and involves detention for a minimum of three years and a maximum (except in the case of sexual offenders) of 14.

Prison conditions were bad for many years. An understandable reluctance for the colony to expend its scanty energies and resources on lawbreakers resulted in prisons failing to reach the minimal standard expected in any civilised community. The worst feature was the confinement of children and the insane with ordinary criminals. Other evils were the absence in practice of uniform rules and standards of treatment and lack of security in most gaols. This led to the common practice of keeping prisoners in irons.

The early prisons survived a scathing attack by the Judges in 1861 and the critical report of a Royal Commission in 1868. Only in 1880 did the appointment of an Inspector-General (Arthur Hume, formerly Deputy Governor of Dartmoor and Wormwood Scrubs in England) begin the creation of an efficient prisons system. Under Hume the system was reorganised and greatly improved. Although in many respects his policy was harsh, rigid, and backward looking, he was responsible for some progressive innovations before his retirement in 1909. A road-making camp failed at Milford Sound in 1890, but a tree-planting camp was established at Waiotapu, near Rotorua, in 1901. This was a most significant step. It marked the end of close custody of every inmate, isolation, and unproductive toil as principles of penal policy. The Waiotapu and other tree-planting camps were later superseded by prison farms, which are an important feature of the New Zealand penal scene.

Meanwhile the First Offenders Probation Act of 1886 introduced a new method of dealing with inexperienced minor offenders. Limited in scope until 1920 and for many years little used, even where it was available, the Act nevertheless marked a revolution in penal methods. At the other end of the scale an indeterminate sentence for habitual criminals was introduced in 1906. This was the precursor of preventive detention.

The Crimes Amendment Act of 1910, sponsored by Sir John Findlay, was another milestone in penal thinking. Reformation was to be emphasised. Better classification, individualised treatment, more trade training, and education were to be provided. The keystone was the sentence of reformative detention, which could be imposed for periods of up to 10 years by Judges and three years by Magistrates, even if the ordinary maximum for the offence itself was less. A Prisons Board was constituted to inquire at least once a year into the case of every reformative detainee and habitual criminal and make recommendations as to his release.

The bright promise of this measure proved a mirage. The bold policy it envisaged was not carried out, primarily because the institutions, the staff, and the administrative strength of purpose were lacking, because the sentence of reformative detention was not used by the Courts in the way intended, and because the Prisons Board did not live up to its responsibilities. Reformative detention became the same in practice as ordinary imprisonment, the terms imposed depending on the gravity of the offence and not the needs of reformation. Declaration as a habitual criminal also lost some of its effect, coming to mean in practice simply the addition of a year to a finite sentence. In 1924 borstals were provided for, this being the only important innovation between 1910 and 1954.

The need for security of person and property is a fundamental one in any community. It was a prime motive for the establishment of British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840. Already, however, in 1838, residents of Kororareka (now Russell) had formed a Vigilantes' Association for enforcing law and order, and they provided the first place of detention in this country of which there is any record – an old sea chest, ventilated by gimlet holes. After 1840 more orthodox prisons were established, although the first ones were scarcely escape proof. The Akaroa gaol was typical. It was described as a mere mud cottage quite unfit to hold prisoners, who could have pulled it down with their hands. Until 1854 the worst offenders were transported to Tasmania. Penal servitude within New Zealand was then substituted; it was in turn abolished in 1893.

This was the name given to a dolphin which from 1888 to 1912 used to meet and escort ships over a certain stretch of water across Admiralty Bay, north of the French Pass (used by ships travelling between Wellington and Nelson). So regular was the dolphin in its habits that on 26 September 1904 it was protected by Order in Council under the Sea Fisheries Act and remained so until its disappearance. It is thought to have been the first individual sea creature protected in this way by any country.

Pelorus Jack, whose sex was never determined, was identified from photographs, probably correctly, as a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus), a species not common in New Zealand waters. It was his habit to meet the steamers near Cape Francis and travel with them (playing about the bow and in some accounts rubbing against the plates) as far as Collinet Point near French Pass; or likewise in the opposite direction. In spite of his name he did not frequent nearby Pelorus Sound, and local residents familiar with his habits assert that he never went through French Pass.

After his protection, wide publicity made Pelorus Jack world famous; postcards based on photographs were much used, and many tourists, including the author Frank T. Bullen, made the trip to Nelson specially to see him, without being disappointed. A short movie film exists. He was often with the ship as long as 20 minutes (the time to cross Admiralty Bay) and was said by local residents to prefer the faster ships. George Webber, a sheepfarmer of French Pass, in boyhood met the steamers twice weekly to exchange mailbags and on occasion had to push Pelorus Jack away from his dinghy with an oar to avoid capsize due to rubbing. Webber's accounts, corroborated by many others, establish that the dolphin continued in its habits for 24 years. Since this approximates to the normal life span of a dolphin, Pelorus Jack (or Pelorus Jill) was probably an infant in 1888, possibly an infant bereaved before weaning (cf. Opo) which might explain in part the unusual behaviour pattern. Eyewitness accounts stating that Pelorus Jack “rubbed against the ship” must be regarded as doubtful. Others, referring to “motionless swimming”, are precise descriptions of a dolphin riding the invisible “pressure wave” which is formed below the surface by a ship's forward motion, and suggest that Pelorus Jack, like innumerable other dolphins, was enjoying getting a ride from ships that passed through his home range, the regularity being due to the frequency of ships in that area.

The officially accepted identification of Pelorus Jack was made by D. C. Bates who also instigated the formal protection. After several false reports of his disappearance (one of which was contradicted by a “Personal” item in the Weekly Press, 9 October 1912) Pelorus Jack was last definitely seen about November-December 1912. A song, “Pelorous Jack”, was widely sung by schoolchildren 20 years later, and for many years a brand of chocolate fish was known as “Pelorus Jack”.

by Antony Francis George Alpers, Editor, Caxton Press, Christchurch.

A contemporary account is James Cowan's booklet Pelorus Jack (Christchurch, 1911). A more fully documented account, based on over 60 eye-witness descriptions, is in A. Alpers' A Book of Dolphins (1960), or its successor Dolphins (1963).

(1821–1901).

Pioneer runholder.

Joseph Pearson was born in 1821 at Bothel, Cumberland, overlooking Solway Firth, and throughout his life retained the broad North Country brogue. He was brought up on his father's farm and gained a good knowledge of stock there. He sailed from England for Australia on 3 March 1841 and was taken on as a cadet by a well-known squatter, Eden Grace, from whom he soon learnt the pastoralist business. He became a skilled and daring horseman and carried out several outstanding stock drives in Australia.

Pearson came over to New Zealand in 1851 in charge of stock for Joseph Hawdon, J. C. Aitken, and the Macdonald brothers and, further, was to make a report on the country. He was said to be the first to explore the upper Waimakariri where Lake Pearson was named after him.

He selected Craigieburn and Grasmere runs for Hawdon, and Burnt Hill for himself. Burnt Hill is an isolated hill in the middle of the flat country north of the Waimakariri. Haast said it was a volcanic outcrop – in fact, a small extinct volcano. Pearson took it up in October 1851. Robert Waitt, in a journey he took on horseback in 1856, visited him and was much impressed with his improvements. “His woolshed is an admirable one, capable of storing 100 bales; his run is a fine one and there is at hand abundance of timber for every purpose.” Pearson added to it two small Waimakariri runs, Dagnam and Worlingham, the latter of which he soon transferred to his son William Fisher and a friend Harry Brettagh. Later, he bought a small run, Rockliffe, of 7,000 acres, above the Waimakariri Gorge.

Pearson twice saved the life of R. H. Rhodes – once when he was surrounded by milling cattle and once when his horse became terrified by a swinging signboard in Melbourne. J. D. Lance said in a speech: “He was a grand example of a pioneer colonist to whom (I myself) and others 30 years ago looked to as their instructor.”

Pearson married, in Australia, Sarah Parkinson, a sister of T. H. Parkinson, of Kaituna; she was a tiny woman to whom he was devoted. A favourite saying of his was: “Sarah! Have some regard for the truth!”. Of his family of eight only two survived him.

Pearson died at Burnt Hill on 27 March 1901 aged 80, three months after his wife. His brilliantly able son, William Fisher Pearson, M.H.R. for Ashley, died on 3 July 1888, aged 34.

by George Ranald Macdonald, Retired Farmer, Kaiapoi R.D.

• Early Canterbury Runs, Acland, L. G. D. (1951)
• Oxford – The First Hundred Years, Gillespie, O. A. (1954)
• Lyttelton Times, 10 Jun 1885.

(1877–1953).

Farmer and pioneer aviator.

A new biography of Pearse, Richard William appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Richard William Pearse was born on 3 December 1877 at Waitohi Flat near Temuka, the son of Digory Sargent Pearse, a local farmer, and of Sarah Anne, née Brown. Pearse early showed a gift for mechanical experiments, and in 1900 made his own lathe, and afterwards designed and built his first aircraft in a workshop on the family farm. The machine was of bamboo construction jointed with aluminium for lightness, and had an eight-bladed sheet-steel propeller made from cut-down sheep-dip tins. As this first engine lacked sufficient power to lift the plane, Pearse designed a larger model which he completed towards the end of 1903, making his first two flights in the following March. Eye witnesses who saw these at Waitohi Flat recalled that the plane climbed slowly, pitched badly, and veered to the left before coming to rest on top of a 12 ft hedge. The flight covered about 150 yards. The wing designs of this plane are preserved in the New Zealand Patent Office, for he patented his controls in 1907. These revealed several notable features, the control services all being attached to the wings. He also designed a tricycle undercarriage with a steerable nose wheel. He constructed the smaller engine parts himself, but had the heavier cylinders and crankshafts made by Parr and Sons of Timaru. Another notable feature of the plane was the pilot's seat, which was set on a movable base, thus enabling him to withstand a crash landing at 100 miles per hour. Pearse's patent was No. 21476, and was gazetted on 8 August 1907.

After the war Pearse built himself a second aircraft – recently discovered in a locked shed on the farm where it had rested forgotten for over 40 years. A third plane combining the principles of a helicopter and winged aeroplane is known only by drawings and a few photographs. Its remarkable engine, which Pearse designed, possessed six cylinders and could be made to operate either as a six-cylinder two stroke, or as a four-cylinder four stroke.

Pearse, who never married, died on 29 July 1953 at Sunnyside Hospital, Riccarton, and was cremated at Bromley, two days later. From all accounts he was a dour, taciturn man, but he was undoubtedly a mechanical genius. His work closely paralleled that of the Wright Brothers, with whom he corresponded, and he was unfortunate in that their first successful flight on 17 December 1903 at Kittyhawk, North Carolina, preceded his own by a mere three months. Much research, however, remains to be done before Richard Pearse's contribution to aeronautics can be adequately assessed.

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

• Evening Post, 16 Sep 1959, 17 Sep 1959, 11 Mar 1960, 30 Apr 1960
• Press (Christchurch), 21 Sep 1959, 19 Oct 1959, 28 Mar 1960
• New Zealand Herald, 27 Jan 1961.

(1887–?).

Convict escapee.

A new biography of Pawelka, Joseph John Thomas appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Joseph John Thomas Pawelka (the name is also spelled Pavelka or Powelka) was born at West Oxford, Canterbury, on 4 August 1887. His parents were immigrants from Moravia. His father worked as a labourer and bushman. When Pawelka was six years old the family moved to Kimbolton. The boy attended the State school there and afterwards worked as a butcher, being employed at the Palmerston North abattoirs. In September 1909 Pawelka married, at Ashhurst, Harriet Elizabeth Wilson, who was six years his senior. When his wife left him two months after their marriage, Pawelka attempted to commit suicide but was rescued, charged in the Magistrate's Court, and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon. Mrs Pawelka obtained a separation order but Pawelka, who remained very attached to his wife, continued to force his attentions on her. On 25 February 1910, following a complaint by his wife, Pawelka's home was searched and articles of furniture missing from several recent burglaries in Palmerston North were discovered. Pawelka was committed for trial on six charges of breaking and entering, and remanded in custody for a week. On 12 March, while the gaoler's back was turned, Pawelka placed two buckets against the prison wall, climbed to the parapet and made off on a stolen bicycle. This was the first of several daring escapes which was to earn him the nickname of the “New Zealand Jack Sheppard”. Recaptured at Awahuri, Pawelka was transferred to the more securely guarded police cells in Wellington but on 23 March he was again able to escape. A series of petty thefts north of Wellington marked his trail back to the Manawatu. On the evening of 2 April the home of John Kendall, near Palmerston North, was ransacked and husband and wife were held up by an armed masked intruder.

Three days later, three major fires occurred almost simultaneously in Palmerston North, destroying the high school and two shops in the Square. Pawelka was suspected of these outrages. The thought of an armed, desperate man roaming the city caused a state of terror in Palmerston North. The authorities brought in permanent artillery men from Wellington and police reinforcements, and organised what was until then the biggest manhunt in New Zealand's history. Sixty policemen, assisted by soldiers, scouts, and hundreds of voluntary helpers, combed the district. Pawelka, meanwhile, brazenly visited his estranged wife at her closely guarded home at Ashhurst, but the screams of his mother-in-law drove him off. On the next night, 10 April, a police sergeant was fatally shot in a struggle with an intruder in Palmerston North. On 11 April a civilian searcher who had failed to stop when challenged was shot dead in the street by another search party. With two lives lost, excitement in Palmerston North reached a fever pitch. At last, on 17 April, two constables captured Pawelka at Ashhurst. He went on trial on 25 May in the Supreme Court but was acquitted by the jury of charges of murder and armed robbery. Pawelka pleaded guilty to charges of theft and arson and was given three cumulative sentences of seven years' imprisonment. He was also declared an habitual criminal.

The severity of this verdict, which amounted to a life sentence, caused a revulsion of feeling in Pawelka's favour. Protest meetings were held, Pawelka committees were formed, and petitions on his behalf were circulated and widely signed. The New Zealand Times led the campaign for a reduction of the sentence. The trade unions took up Pawelka's case, and a representative deputation met the Minister of Justice to plead for the young man. But the Government steadfastly refused to interfere with the verdict of the Court. On 27 August 1911 Pawelka put an end to the agitation by escaping from Wellington's Terrace Gaol. He has not been heard of since, and is still listed as “wanted”.

by Herbert Otto Roth, B.A., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Deputy Librarian, University of Auckland.

• Pawelka, His History, Exploits, Escapes and Trials (reprinted from the Manawatu Daily Times) (1910).

(1874–1964).

Journalist, Labour Party official, and union organiser.

A new biography of Paul, John Thomas appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

John Thomas Paul was born on 16 August 1874 at Salisbury West, Victoria, Australia, where he was educated. In 1899 he came to New Zealand as a linotype operator on the Otago Daily Times, Dunedin. From the printing side of newspaper production he transferred some 20 years later to the literary section and served on the staffs of the Dunedin Evening Star, Otago Daily Times, and Otago Witness, which last he edited from 1924 until 1932 when it ceased publication. In the meantime he had taken an extremely active part in the trade union movement. In 1903 he became president of the Otago Trades and Labour Council and was also in the early years of this century president of the Otago Soft Goods, Electrical Workers', and Tailoresses' Unions, holding office in the latter for 35 years. He was also president of the Clothing Trades Federation.

J. T. Paul played a prominent part in the formation of the Parliamentary Labour Party. As early as 1904, at the Trades Councils Conference, he moved that “… an Independent Labour Party should be formed immediately …”. This resolution, which was carried by 16 votes to three, marked the end of the uneasy Labour-Liberal alliance. Paul's faith in the party's political future was justified. By 1917, when he was elected president (1917 to 1920) of the Labour Party, it had eight members in the House of Representatives and was already a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, Paul himself was making a significant contribution to Parliament as a member of the Legislative Council, to which he had been appointed by the Liberal Government in January 1907. In 1919, however, he resigned his seat in order to contest the Dunedin South electorate for the House of Representatives, but was defeated. It was not until September 1946 that Paul again entered Parliament when he was reappointed to the Legislative Council by the Labour Government. He held his seat until the abolition of the Council in 1950.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, with the Labour Government in power, Paul accepted the difficult post of Director of Publicity. Although the scope of his powers was not precisely defined, it was understood that he could prohibit the publication of news that might, or would, be detrimental to the war effort. The task of censorship does not make for popularity, and inevitably there were complaints about Paul's rulings. Nevertheless, his relations with the press were good and it is difficult to imagine any other person doing better. Paul was guided by his experience both as journalist and as politician, and he sought always to persuade rather than dictate.

During the early and mid-period of his political life, Paul was the author of a number of publications including Things that Matter (1909), Labour and the Future (1911), Labour's First Plank (1920), Labour Landmarks (1938), and Humanism in Politics (1946). At the same time he was active in other spheres. He held office in the National Defence League and the Otago Harbour Board Vigilance Committee (1906) and served on Patriotic Fund administrative bodies from 1916 onwards. In 1947, when the functions of the Great War Funds Board were transferred to the National Patriotic Fund Board, he was appointed to represent the old board on the new, a position he held until his death. In his later years Paul was a strong advocate of the value of the bicameral system of parliamentary government, following the abolition of the Legislative Council by the National Government in 1950. He worked hard for its restoration and gave evidence before several parliamentary committees – the Constitutional Reform Committee, 1952, which recommended the establishment of a Second Chamber; the Public Relations Committee (M-Z), 1961; and the Constitutional Reform Committee, 1964. In 1958 Paul was awarded the C.B.E. for valuable service in the fields of journalism and government.

Paul was a man of warm personality, with the gift of making many friends. As a speaker he was persuasive and authoritative, the result of wide reading combined with a thorough knowledge of the subject. He was a devoted party man though never a leader, for he preferred caution and a middle course. Yet it was as a moderate with a balanced viewpoint that Paul served his party best, especially in those formative years when a noisy and militant minority suggested that iconoclastic radicalism was Labour's goal. It was due to the calming influence of men such as Paul that the Labour cause became “respectable”.

J. T. Paul died at Raumati South on 25 July 1964 and was buried at Wellington where his home was. He was predeceased by his wife Ethel, née Blake (died 29 September 1961), whom he had married at Bendigo, Victoria, and by his daughter Dorothy. He was survived by two sons, Lionel, and Raymond.

by Alexander Hare McLintock, C.B.E., M.A., DIP.ED.(N.Z.), PH.D.(LOND.), Parliamentary Historian, Wellington.