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1942 Seacliff Mental Hospital fire
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On 9 December a fire at Seacliff Mental Hospital, north of Dunedin, killed 37 of the 39 female patients in Ward 5.
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1943 Hyde railway accident
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On 4 June the Cromwell–Dunedin express derailed near Hyde, central Otago, with the loss of 21 lives.
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1944 Three settlements
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Arising out of the 1926 Royal Commission and other formal investigations, Settlement Acts provided compensation to several major iwi for land taken in the nineteenth century. The three major settlements were: Ngāi Tahu (£10,000 per annum for 30 years), Waikato-Maniapoto (£6,000 per annum) and Taranaki (£6,000 per annum for 50 years and £5,000 thereafter). These were negotiated by Sir Eruera Tirikatene MP, Princess Te Puea and Sir Maui Pomare respectively. Copies of the Treaty of Waitangi were hung in every school and marae in 1945.
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Time Line of events 1900 - 1950
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1947 Ballantyne’s fire
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On 18 November 41 people were killed in New Zealand’s deadliest fire, in the Ballantyne’s Department Store in Christchurch.
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1947 Complete political autonomy
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In 1931, the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster, which confirmed complete autonomy for its six dominions. With Australia, New Zealand held back from adopting this status and, 16 years later, was by far the last of the six to do so. On 25 November 1947, the Constitution Amendment (Request and Enabling) Act allowed New Zealand itself to alter, suspend or repeal any aspects of its constitution.
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Time Line of events 1900 - 1950
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1948 Mount Ruapehu air crash
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On 23 October a Lockheed Electra airliner crashed near Mount Ruapehu, with the loss of all 13 passengers and crew.
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1950 Legislative Council Abolished
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Until 1950, New Zealand had an appointed Upper House, the Legislative Council, in addition to the elected House of Representatives. In 1950, the new National Government appointed 25 new members, all pledged to vote for the Council's abolition. On 18 August 1950, the Council voted itself out of existence by 26:16, and this took effect on 1 January 1951. New Zealand has retained a unicameral (single house) parliamentary system since that time.
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Time Line of events 1950 - 2000
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1951 Waterfront strike
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On 9 February, in a climate of rapidly deteriorating industrial relations on the waterfront, the Waterside Workers Union refused to work overtime at all ports. The employers had previously taken action to reduce the workers' conditions, which induced the Union's action. Claiming that this amounted to a strike, the employers responded by suspending the workers, who then counterclaimed they were being locked out. The government took draconian measures, including declaring a state of emergency and using armed forces personnel. The dispute was not ended until 15 July, after a total of 1157390 man-working days had been lost, and it became New Zealand's largest industrial dispute.
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Time Line of events 1950 - 2000
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1953 Māori Affairs Act focuses on ‘unproductive’ land
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A measure designed to force unproductive Māori land into use was introduced by the Government in the Māori Affairs Act. Anyone who could now show the Māori Land Court (renamed from the Native Land Court in 1947) that a piece of good land was not being used could then apply to have it vested in trustees. This Act, allowing some flexibility in land management such as trusts, remained the governing legislation for Māori land for 40 years.
For the first time, a reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, visited Waitangi.
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Time Line of events 1950 - 2000
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1953 Tangiwai railway accident
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On 24 December a North Island main trunk express plunged off the Tangiwai bridge into the Whangaehu River. The bridge had been fatally weakened by a lahar from Mount Ruapehu’s crater lake. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. This is New Zealand’s worst rail disaster.
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Time Line of New Zealand disasters
