1931 in New Zealand:

Other years in New Zealand

1928 • 1929 • 1930 • 1931 (1931) • 1932 • 1933 • 1934

[edit] Population

• Estimated Population as of 31 December: 1,522,800 ^[1]
• Increase since previous 31/12/1930: 16,000 (1.06%)
• Males per 100 Females: 103.8

[edit] Incumbents

[edit] Regal and Vice Regal

• Head of State - George V
• Governor-General - The Lord Bledisloe GCMG KBE PC ^[2]

[edit] Government

Crowd on intersection of Willis and Mercer Streets, Wellington, outside the offices of the Evening Post, awaiting the results of the 1931 general election.

The 23rd New Zealand Parliament continued with the coalition of the United Party and the Labour Party with the Reform Party in opposition. During the year the agreement between United and Labour collapsed due to differing opinions on how to counter the Great Depression. The Reform Party, fearing that the Depression would give Labour a substantial boost, reluctantly agreed to form a coalition with United to avert elections. By forming a coalition, United and Reform were able to blunt Labour's advantage, ending the possibility of the anti-Labour vote being split and the general election in December saw the United/Reform coalition winning a majority.

• Speaker of the House - Charles Statham (Independent)
• Prime Minister - George William Forbes
• Minister of Finance - George William Forbes (United) until 22 September, then William Downie Stewart (Reform)
• Minister of Foreign Affairs - George William Forbes
• Attor - Thomas Sidey until 22 September, then William Downie Stewart

[edit] Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition - Gordon Coates (Reform) until September 22, then Harry Holland (Labour). ^[3]

[edit] Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland - George Baildon, succeeded by George Hutchison
• Mayor of Hamilton, New Zealand - John Robert Fow, succeeded by Frances Dewsbury Pinford
• Mayor of Wellington - George Troup, succeeded by Thomas Hislop
• Mayor of Christchurch - J. K. Archer, succeeded by Daniel Giles Sullivan
• Mayor of Dunedin - Robert Sheriff Black

[edit] Events

Damage to the Hastings Post Office inflicted by the Hawke's Bay earthquake

• 7 January: Australian aviator Guy Menzies makes the first solo flight across the Tasman sea, starting from Sydney and ending 11 hours 45 minutes later with a crash landing in a swamp near Harihari on the West Coast ^[4]
• 3 February: The Hawkes Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst, kills 256 people, mainly in Napier and Hastings
• 8 February: A Desoutter aircraft of Dominion Airline crashed near Wairoa, killing all three people aboard. This is the first fatality on a scheduled air service in New Zealand. ^[5]

[edit] Arts and literature

See 1931 in art, 1931 in literature, Category:1931 books

[edit] Music

See: 1931 in music

[edit] Radio

See: Public broadcasting in New Zealand

[edit] Film

See: Category:1931 film awards , 1931 in film , List of New Zealand feature films , Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1931 films

[edit] Appointments and awards

See: New Zealand Order of Merit , Order of New Zealand

• Archbishop of New Zealand
• Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia , see appointments to Diocese

[edit] Sport

[edit] Chess

• The 40th National Chess Championship was held in Rotorua, and was won by A.W. Gyles of Wellington. ^[6]

[edit] Golf

• The 21st New Zealand Open championship was won by Andrew J. Shaw, his 4th win. ^[7]
• The 35th National Amateur Championships were held in Christchurch ^[8]
  • Men: Rana Wagg (Hutt)
  • Women: Miss B. Gaisford

[edit] Horse racing

[edit] Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Harold Logan ^[9]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Royal Silk ^[10]

[edit] Thoroughbred racing

[edit] Rugby league

New Zealand national rugby league team

[edit] Rugby Union

Category:Rugby union in New Zealand, Category:All Blacks

• Ranfurly Shield

[edit] Soccer

• Chatham Cup won by Tramurewa (Auckland)
• Provincial league champions: ^[11]
  • Auckland: Thistle
  • Canterbury: Rangers, Nomads (shared)
  • Hawke's Bay: National Tobacco
  • Nelson: Hospital
  • Otago: HSOB
  • Southland: Rangers
  • Taranaki: Hawera, Albion (shared)
  • Waikato: Rotowaro
  • Wanganui: KP's
  • Wellington: Petone

[edit] Births

• 2 July, Robin Gray, politician and Speaker of the House of Representatives
• 23 July, Princess Piki Mahuta, later Dame Te Atairangikaahu, 6th Māori monarch
• 22 August: Maurice Gee, novellist and screenwriter
• 5 September: William Bell, cricketer
• September 15: Lincoln Hurring, swimmer
• 18 December: Noel McGregor, cricketer

• Bryce Harland, diplomat
• Mike Hinge, artist and illustrator
• Ralph Hotere, artist
• Thomas de Vere (Pat) Hunt, politician.

Category:1931 births

[edit] Deaths

• 9 September: Elsdon Best, ethnographer
• 28 October: Edward Robert Tregear, surveyor, public servant, linguist

• Peter Cheal, surveyor.
• Sir John Luke, politician, Mayor of Wellington.
• Owen Merton, painter.

Category:1931 deaths

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of years in New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• History of New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of environmental history of New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica

For world events and topics in 1931 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 1931