Political Science

Three surveys in seven years have provided a considerable amount of information about New Zealand voting habits. The present survey is a small one involving only 163 interviews in one electorate, Dunedin Central. It concentrated on two problems: political information and the social background. In addition, as a study involving two interviews nearly two years apart, it can cast some light on long term voting habits.

For many years before the 1916 Easter Week Rising, Irish Home Rule had been an issue in New Zealand. Liberal leaders such as Stout, Grey, Ballance and Ward had shared platforms with touring Irish Nationalist MPs, while Irish immigrants had subscribed generously to Home Rule funds. In the first decade of the 20th century, infant Labour organisations, having, in spite of the Catholic hierarchy's frequent denunciations of socialism, many Irish supporters, were consequently compelled to take cognisance of the problem which agitated Irishmen throughout the world.

The author of this article, engaged on research into the Social Credit movement in New Zealand, decided to take advantage of the heightened political interest of election time, November 1966, to try to ascertain certain political views of electors in Hobson, especially with regard to the influence of Social Credit in the area. In 1966 three candidates stood for Hobson, New Zealand's most northerly and, over the years, most volatile electorate. They were the sitting member, Mr L. F. Sloane (National); the Leader of the New Zealand Social Credit Political League, Mr V. F. Cracknell; and Mr M. Srhoj of the Labour Party. In 1963 Mr Cracknell came within 31 votes of unseating Mr Sloane and, with only one exception (Wanganui 1957), at every election since 1954, when Social Credit first formally entered the political arena, Hobson has been the electorate to support the league most strongly in terms of votes.

Naval historians dwell fondly on the alleged nexus of a thriving merchant marine and the genesis of sea power. Admiral Mahan, for example, made it a central element in his philosophy of sea power. He stated the proposition as follows:

The purpose of this article is not to retell the history of the Maori Contingent abroad but to examine more fully than has been done hitherto the problems involved in the recruiting of its members. It should be stressed at the outset that the story is told almost entirely as it seemed to the Defence Department. It has, obviously, another side almost inaccessible to the present author, who does not read Maori and is not competent to collect and interpret Maori oral tradition. It seems clear that papers of some Maori protagonists discussed below still exist, and in particular that Te Puea's diary would be as valuable as it is closely guarded. Full use of Maori written and oral sources would certainly add to and modify what follows, throwing more light on the motives of those who assisted or resisted the efforts of the Army.