1913: The Battlecruiser New Zealand a Gift to Empire?

April 12, 2023

By AHNZ

Today in history, 12 April, 1913, the Battlecruiser HMS New Zealand arrived in Wellington and proceeded on a tour of our Dominion. It was visited by an estimated half-million New Zealanders—almost half the population.

For example, Christchurch Mayor Harry Holland helped see to that by organising the visit of 1240 children from Dunedin to come up to Lyttleton and be billeted so they too can enjoy the ship¹. This was more or less at the same time as his successful campaign to become mayor and I’m not sure which came first! Ref. Thomas (2016)

Matthew Wright has a book out about HMS New Zealand subtitled ‘A gift to Empire’. In reality it was a gift from Joseph Ward to himself at taxpayer expense. Announced in 1909, New Zealand entered £2,000,000 of debt to pay for warship, Prime Minister Ward consenting on behalf of us all without ever asking. It was the same ‘jingoistic’ branding that brought Lord Kitchener to “inspect” the country in the lead up to the 1911 General Election. Ref. 1910: Election Campaign Disguised as Lord Kitchener’s Military Inspection, AHNZ

Remember the rule of Anarchist Political History: ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL POLITICS.

Wright is a prolific author but he’s a Statist author. That means he has trouble being skeptical of government claims and a tenancy to be forgiving of the sociopaths we elect to office. That does help his books get into government schools though and makes them safe to publish. What he is very good at, in my opinion, is gathering up and organising lots of relevant information systematically.

Ward, of course, didn’t put us into debt to help British politicians out or “The Empire” or even New Zealand. He did it to help himself and his Liberal Party appeal to the voter so he could be re-elected. It would also be in-keeping with political hay-making that the construction of the battleship also lined the pockets of Ward and his political clients. Wright probably didn’t look too deeply into that aspect but I guess I’ll find out when I read the book.

The battleship did not save Ward’s skin. It came too late. By 1913 he had resigned and the Liberals were replaced at long long last by William Massey’s Reform Ministry. Ref. 1913: The Great Strike Boogaloo, AHNZ

HMS New Zealand was sent to scrap in 1922 under the terms of the Washington Navel Treaty. New Zealand did not finish paying for it until 1944! However, bits of it are scattered around such as the guns which you will find at the northern entrance to Auckland War Memorial Museum.

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1 HMS New Zealand in Lyttleton, 13 May

Image ref. The Press (1913), Alexander Turnbull Library; AHNZ colorised (2021)

Ref. May Your Shadow Never Grow Less: The Life and Times of Henry and Jane Holland, Helen Thomas (2016)

Ref. 1916: HMS New Zealand vs HMAS Australia, AHNZ

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