1942 in New Zealand

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 1,636,400.
• Increase since 31 December 1941: 5200.
• Males per 100 females: 94.2.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – George VI
• Governor-General – Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Cyril Newall GCB OM GCMG CBE AM

Government

• Speaker of the House – Bill Barnard
• Prime Minister – Peter Fraser
• Minister of Finance – Walter Nash
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Frank Langstone then Peter Fraser
• Attorney-General – Rex Mason
• Chief Justice — Sir '''Michael Myers'''

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – Sidney Holland.

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – John Allum
• Mayor of Hamilton – Harold Caro
• Mayor of Wellington – Thomas Hislop
• Mayor of Christchurch – Ernest Andrews
• Mayor of Dunedin – '''Andrew Allen'''

Events

January–March

• 8 March – Japanese Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita of the Imperial Japanese Navy conducts aerial reconnaissance of Wellington. His Yokosuka E14y reconnaissance plane had been catapulted into the air from the Japanese submarine which stored the plane in a sealed foredeck hangar. After a successful daylight tour the submarine and plane headed north to make an inspection of Auckland on 13 March.

April–June

• 27 April – Rationing on sugar and women's stockings is introduced. The allowance per person is of sugar per week, and one pair of women's stockings every three months.
• 24 May – briefly operated off northern New Zealand in May 1942. I-21s floatplane flown by Lt Ito Isuma conducted a reconnaissance flight over Thames and then Auckland on 24 May.
• 29 May – Rationing on clothing, footwear and linen is introduced, with an allowance of 52 coupons per year.
• 1 June – Tea rationing is introduced, with an allowance of per person per week.
• 12 June First US Troop arrived 1942 at Waitematā Harbour in Auckland.
• 24 June – A severe earthquake, the 1942 Wairarapa earthquake struck the lower North Island, followed by a severe aftershock on 2 August. Considerable damage resulted in Masterton, other parts of the Wairarapa, Palmerston North and Wellington.

October–December

• 9 December – 37 of the 39 female patients in Ward 5 at Seacliff Lunatic Asylum are killed in a night-time fire – the country's worst fire disaster at that time.
• 13 December – Abel Tasman's first sighting of New Zealand 300 years earlier is commemorated in Hokitika by a Dutch delegation led by Charles van der Plas and hosted by the New Zealand government

Date unknown

• Japanese submarines operate in New Zealand waters in 1942 and 1943. They send reconnaissance aircraft over Auckland and Wellington, but do not carry out any attacks.

Arts and literature

Music

Radio

Film

Sport

Horse racing

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Haughty
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Loyal Friend

Rugby

• Ranfurly Shield

Rugby league

Soccer

• Chatham Cup competition not heldProvincial league champions:
• * Auckland: Mount Albert Grammar School Old Boys
• * Canterbury: Western
• * Hawke's Bay: Napier HSOB
• * Nelson: No competition
• * Otago: Army
• * South Canterbury: No competition
• * Southland: No competition
• * Waikato: No competition
• * Wanganui: No competition
• * Wellington: Hospital

Births

• 5 January: Trish McKelvey, cricketer.
• 12 January: Doug Graham, politician
• 23 January: Phil Clarke (rugby union), rugby union player
• 23 February: John Lewis, headmaster
• 16 March: Gordon Whiting, Judge,
• 24 March: Kerry Burke, politician.
• 21 April: Geoffrey Palmer, 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 19 June: Merata Mita, filmmaker
• 18 July: Mike Ward, politician
• 4 August: David Lange, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 12 August: Howard Smalley, cricketer
• 23 September: Ann Hartley, politician
• 25 September: Peter Petherick, cricketer
• 25 November: Barbara Bevege, cricketer
• * Susan Wakefield, Tax expert Judith Potter, high court judge.Roger Walker. architect.

Deaths

• 28 July: James Allen, politician and diplomat.
• 15 July: Denis 'Sonny' Moloney, cricketer.
• 17 July Robina Nicol, photographer and suffragist
• 27 August: Francis Mander, politician
• 12 October: Douglas Lysnar, politician.
• 8 November: Tim Armstrong, politician.