Title: War Economy

Author: Baker, J. V. T.

Publication details: Historical Publications Branch, 1965, Wellington

Part of: The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945

This text is the subject of: ‘Something of Them Is Here Recorded’: Official History in New Zealand

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Details of Public Works Expenditure

The Australian port of Darwin was bombed by the Japanese in February 1942; and in 1942–43 there appeared in the New Zealand accounts the first large expenditure on anti-aircraft defences. Perhaps an even more significant indicator of the feelings of the time, the first expenditure on underground operational centres was recorded in the same year.

The year 1942–43 saw also the first large expenditures on coastal defences, harbour defences and controlled mine bases; and again, a significant acknowledgment that shore-based defences might prove inadequate, there was considerable expenditure from 1942–43 on ‘Military Roading (including tank obstacles and road-blocks)’.

Some Government activities to assist wartime industries are also revealed. For example, from 1940–41 to 1942–43, there was substantial expenditure on linen flax factories and, in 1943–44 and 1944–45, on dehydration factories.¹

The item ‘Prisoner of War Camps’ appeared for the first time in 1942–43, followed by larger expenditure in 1943–44. The first 450 prisoners of war arrived in September 1942 and were held in Featherston, on the site of a World War I military camp. This camp ultimately held about 800 Japanese prisoners. They were to be returned to Japan in January 1946.

For the first three years of war, until the 1942–43 burst of defence construction activity in preparation for a possible Japanese invasion and to accommodate United States forces, the largest construction expenditures tended to be those on behalf of the RNZAF. This work involved mainly the construction of new airfields and stations. The following brief summary appeared in the 1946 Year-book;²

‘By March, 1941, the construction to the requirements then visualised had been completed, or was in hand, at the following fourteen stations, at a total approximate cost of £4,448,000. New Plymouth, Whenuapai, Hobsonville, Ohakea, Levin, Woodbourne, Harewood, Wigram, Taieri, Omaka, Tauranga, Nelson, Waipapakauri, and Rongotai.

‘The expansion necessary to meet the Japanese threat, and the need to accommodate the large numbers of United States air units which it was proposed to base in this country, necessitated a further drastic increase in the building programme in 1942. By March, 1943, some 37 RNZAF stations were in operation in New Zealand, the total construction costs being £11,470,000.

‘The improvement in the Pacific war situation from the end of 1943 onwards resulted in a progressive diminution in the number of stations.’

Nearly all the construction work for the United States forces occurred in the two years 1942–43 and 1943–44. Some exceptionally fast work was done, including the initial camp at McKay's Crossing, Paekakariki, and the hospital buildings in Auckland.¹ A Public Works Department report says:² ‘In the Wellington district the most noteworthy achievement was the erection within less than six weeks of camps in the Paekakariki area for over 20,000 US Marines. Other camps were built in and around the city, in the Hutt Valley, and at Masterton. Huge blocks of stores sprang up along the Wellington waterfront, in the Hutt Valley, and at Paekakariki.’

The same report says:

‘… in the Auckland district, camp and barracks accommodation was built for 29,510 personnel, containing 4,421 buildings covering a total floor area of 1,113,316 square feet. Three hospitals provided beds for 4,500 patients, in 251 buildings of an aggregate floor area of 1,005,000 square feet. New blocks of stores in and around Auckland were made up of 174 buildings of a total area of 1,733,467 square feet, of which 1,624,760 square feet was storage space.

‘Corresponding figures for the Wellington district were: camps and barracks for 26,542 personnel in 2,505,925 square feet of tents, buildings and huts; hospital beds for 2,340 patients in 59 buildings and 115 huts covering an area of 151,341 square feet; and 752,480 square feet of new storage space.’

All these figures are exclusive of a very considerable area of existing accommodation made available to the Americans.

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Gross Expenditure on Defence Works by Public Works Department
ARMY WORKS
£(000)

	1939–40	1940–41	1941–42	1942–43	1943–44	1944–45	1945–46	Total
1. Military Camps	1,095	1,209	517	2,723	1,244	487	274	7,550
2. Coastal Fortifications and Gun Emplacements	142	135	343	794	682	205	102	2,402
3. Anti-Aircraft Defences	6	20	6	356	160	18	4	569
4. Magazines	9	15	7	278	529	70	30	939
5. Guard Stations	4	4	23	43	16	2	1	93
6. Underground Operational Centres	–	–	–	62	36	2	–	100
7. Office, Storage, and Workshops, etc. Accommodation (excluding capital cost of new stores)	12	13	30	79	88	35	19	276
8. Bulk Fuel Stores (including splinter proofing and camouflage)	–	–	36	19	5	10	–	70
9. Internment Camps	1	2	1	107	11	8	–	129
10. Prisoner of War Camps	–	–	–	21	128	56	23	228
11. Camouflage	–	–	24	80	12	3	–	118
12. Military Roading (including tank obstacles and road blocks)	–	–	35	358	386	224	128	1,131
13. Machine Gun Posts	–	–	1	37	6	3	–	47
14. Radar Stations	–	1	12	18	10	3	–	45
15. Portable Huts, Warehouses, etc	–	–	105	1,092	82	9	1	1,290
16. Hospitals and Convalescent Depots	–	60	246	393	512	466	258	1,936
17. Miscellaneous	2	21	5	12	138	33	1	212
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——
totals	1,271	1,480	1,390	6,471	4,046	1,634	842	17,135
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——

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NAVY WORKS
£(000)

	1939–40	1940–41	1941–42	1942–43	1943–44	1944–45	1945–46	Total
1. Naval Bases	68	32	125	257	317	354	255	1,408
2. Naval Posts	–	–	16	74	83	20	4	197
3. Coastal Defences	–	1	12	64	4	3	–	83
4. Harbour Defences	–	–	–	82	37	2	3	124
5. Wireless Telegraphy Stations	–	–	–	14	3	7	4	27
6. Mine and Armament Depots	–	–	3	59	86	18	5	170
7. Controlled Mine Bases	–	–	–	141	54	–	–	194
8. Signal Stations	–	–	2	16	2	–	–	21
9. Bulk Fuel Stores (including splinter proofing and camouflage)	–	15	54	39	134	163	127	531
10. Barracks Hostels, etc.	7	11	59	41	24	13	8	163
11. Magazines	–	5	2	99	36	3	4	149
12. Offices, Storage, and Workshops, etc. Accommodation	–	–	–	19	106	86	169	380
13. Miscellaneous	–	–	–	2	8	–	–	11
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——
totals	75	65	274	906	893	668	578	3,458
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——

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RNZAF WORKS
(New Zealand and Overseas)
£(000)

	1939–40	1940–41	1941–42	1942–43	1943–44	1944–45	1945–46	Total
1. Airfields	339	340	944	2,792	649	235	188	5,486
2. RNZAF Stations	996	1,194	761	1,193	996	398	162	5,701
3. RNZAF Stores Depots	31	119	65	168	273	86	16	758
4. Miscellaneous RNZAF Establishments	1	11	46	65	98	43	33	297
5. Underground Operational Centres	–	–	–	30	25	14	1	70
6. Bulk Fuel Stores (including splinter proofing and camouflage)	8	7	45	238	88	12	3	401
7. Wireless Telegraphy Stations	10	3	6	5	9	4	2	37
8. Radar (Ground) Stations	1	–	17	116	137	22	–	294
9. Aeradio Stations	42	52	46	59	36	10	12	258
10. Seaplane Alighting Areas and Bases	41	10	66	216	17	2	1	353
11. Camouflage, Dummy Aircraft, etc.	–	–	30	108	7	–	–	145
12. Expeditions (Cape, Pacific, various)	4	18	37	59	56	43	37	255
13. Surveys and Investigations	8	6	18	21	10	5	4	73
14. Miscellaneous	8	30	100	57	30	17	7	249
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——
totals	1,488	1,791	2,181	5,128	2,433	890	466	14,377
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——

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CONSTRUCTION WORK FOR THE UNITED STATES FORCES
£(000)

	1939–40	1940–41	1941–42	1942–43	1943–44	1944–45	1945–46	Total
1. Camps	–	–	–	1,326	935	152	49	2,462
2. Hospitals and Convalescent Depots	–	–	403	467	1,013	304	44	1,867
3. Ammunition Stores and Magazines	–	–	–	177	72	8	–	257
4. Office, Storage and Workshops, etc. Accommodation (excluding capital cost of new stores)	–	–	–	186	502	235	58	981
5. Ship Repairs1	–	–	–	13	19	3	–	34
6. Huts and Buildings for the Pacific2	–	–	–	29	37	–	–	66
7. Miscellaneous	–	–	–	117	39	14	1	172
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——
totals	–	–	40	2,314	2,617	715	151	5,838
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——

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CIVIL DEFENCES AND GENERAL
£(000)

	1939–40	1940–41	1941–42	1942–43	1943–44	1944–45	1945–46	Total
1. Air Raid Shelters (erection and demolition)	–	–	7	576	108	72	30	794
2. Splinter proofing and camouflaging of Bulk Fuel Tanks	–	–	102	253	14	–	3	372
3. Fire-fighting Equipment	–	–	43	155	125	6	–	329
4. Black-out of Government Buildings	–	–	7	25	2	2	–	36
5. Accommodation for Cheese Workers	–	10	70	44	5	11	1	141
6. Workers' Camps (Defence, Industrial, Mines, Services Vegetable Production, etc.)	–	4	7	56	110	50	9	236
7. New Storage Accommodation	–	19	66	490	766	332	80	1,754
8. Refugee Camps	–	–	–	13	9	130	35	186
9. Dehydration Factories	–	–	–	–	135	276	37	449
10. Linen Flax Factories	1	197	298	171	23	3	–	692
11. Munition Factories	–	21	22	166	59	17	–	285
12. Reserve Stocks	121	186	769	17	28	17	–	1,138
13. Miscellaneous	–	–	22	16	168	27	15	248
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——
totals	122	437	1,412	1,980	1,554	943	211	6,658
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——
grand total, all Defence Works by Public Works Department	2,957	3,773	5,297	16,799	11,543	4,850	2,248	47,466
	——	——	——	——	——	——	——	——

Due to ‘rounding’, totals may disagree with the totals of individual items as shown.

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