1917 in New Zealand

← 1916 1915 1914 1917 in New Zealand → 1918 1919 1920
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	Other events of 1917 Timeline of New Zealand history

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State - George V
• Governor - The Earl of Liverpool Until 28 June ^[1]
• Governor-General - The Earl of Liverpool from 28 June^[2]

Government

The 19th New Zealand Parliament continued as a grand coalition led by the Reform Party. The General Election which was due this year was deferred due to the war.

• Speaker of the House - Frederic Lang (Reform Party)
• Prime Minister - William Massey (Reform Party)
• Minister of Finance - Joseph Ward

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition - Joseph Ward (Liberal Party) Ward retained that title even though he was part of the coalition government.^[3]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland - TBD
• Mayor of Hamilton - John Robert Fow then John William Ellis
• Mayor of Wellington - TBD
• Mayor of Christchurch - Henry Holland
• Mayor of Dunedin - TBD

Events

• The West Coast Times is merged into the Hokitika Guardian and Star. The newspaper started in 1865.^[4]
• April: The first Caudron^[5] biplane purchased by Henry Wigram for the Canterbury Aviation Company arrives.^[6]
• 1 May: The New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own) is formed as the 3rd Brigade of the New Zealand Division, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
• 7 May: Cecil McKenzie Hill makes the first flight for the Canterbury Aviation Company.^[6]
• June: Pilot training by the Canterbury Aviation Company commences at Sockburn.^[7]
• 24 September: Ten New Zealand soldiers killed in England in Bere Ferrers rail accident.
• 20 October: 850 New Zealand soldiers killed in the Second Battle of Passchendaele, the greatest loss of life in a single day in the Military history of New Zealand.
• December: Six o’clock closing of hotel bars introduced as a wartime measure, see Six o'clock swill.

Arts and literature

See 1917 in art, 1917 in literature, Category:1917 books

Music

See: 1917 in music

Film

See: Category:1917 film awards, 1917 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1917 films

Sport

Golf

• The New Zealand Open championship and National Amateur Championships were not held due to the war.^[8]

Horse racing

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Adelaide Direct ^[9]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Steel Bell (2nd win) ^[10]

Rugby union

• The Ranfurly Shield (held by Wellington) is not contested as interprovincial matches are cancelled due to the war.

Soccer

Provincial league champions:^[11]

• Auckland: Brotherhood
• Canterbury: Linwood
• Hawke's Bay: Waipukurau
• Otago: Northern
• Southland: No competition
• Wanganui: No competition
• Wellington: No competition

Births

• 6 May: Roy Scott, cricketer
• 6 July: Arthur Lydiard, runner and athletics coach
• 17 October: Martin Donnelly, cricketer.
• 13 December: Keith Hay, construction company founder, mayor of Mt Roskill, conservative activist.

• (in Vienna, Austria): Erich Geiringer, physician, writer, scholar.
• Frank Gill, Air Commodore and politician.
• Eddie Isbey, politician.
• (in England): David Henry Lewis, sailor and Polynesian scholar

Category:1917 births

Deaths

• 3 February: Robert McNab, politician.
• 27 July: Arthur Brown, Mayor of Wellington.
• 24 August: Alfred Kidd, politician and Mayor of Auckland
• 4 October: Dave Gallaher, rugby player (first captain of the All Blacks)
• 6 October: John Davies Ormond, politician.
• 22 October: Bob Fitzsimmons, boxer.
• 12 December: Sir Charles Bowen, politician.

Category:1917 deaths

See also

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

References

Years in New Zealand   17th century 1642 1643   18th century 1768 1769 1770 1772 1773 1774 1775 1777 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800   19th century 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900   20th century 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000   21st century 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Timeline of New Zealand history

1917 in Oceania Sovereign states Australia Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Associated states of New Zealand Cook Islands Niue