1950 in New Zealand

← 1949 1948 1947 1950 in New Zealand → 1951 1952 1953
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	Other events of 1950 Timeline of New Zealand history

New Zealand entered into the Korean War - a total of 4,700 New Zealanders served in Korea. New Zealand also was involved in the Malayan Emergency.

The New Zealand Legislative Council was abolished, see Suicide squad.

The 1950 British Empire Games was held in Auckland.

Wool prices boomed, tripling during the year, due to U.S. stockpiling as a reaction to the Korean war. This was offset somewhat by increases in the prices of other (imported) commodities, but began the biggest economic boom of the 20th century in New Zealand.^[1]

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 1,927,700^[2]
• Increase since 31 December 1949: 35,600 (1.88%)
• Males per 100 females: 100.7

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State - George VI
• Governor-General - Lieutenant-General The Lord Freyberg VC GCMG KCB KBE DSO^[3]

Government

The 29th New Zealand Parliament continued. In power was the newly elected National government under Sidney Holland of the National Party.

• Speaker of the House - Robert McKeen then Mathew Oram
• Prime Minister - Sidney Holland
• Deputy Prime Minister - Keith Holyoake
• Minister of Finance - Sidney Holland
• Minister of Foreign Affairs - Frederick Doidge
• Attorney-General - Clifton Webb

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition - Peter Fraser (Labour) until his death on 5 August, then vacant until January 1951.^[4]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland - John Allum
• Mayor of Hamilton - Harold Caro
• Mayor of Wellington - Will Appleton then Robert Macalister
• Mayor of Christchurch - Ernest Andrews then Robert M. Macfarlane
• Mayor of Dunedin - Donald Cameron then Leonard Morton Wright

Events

• 4 January: Start of the 4th British Empire Games in Auckland.

Arts and literature

See 1950 in art, 1950 in literature, Category:1950 books

Music

See: 1950 in music

Radio

See: Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film

See: Category:1950 film awards, 1950 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1950 films

Sport

Athletics

• George Bromley wins his third national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:55:07 in Napier.

Chess

• The 57th National Chess Championship was held in Auckland, and was won by P. Allerhand of Wellington (his second win).^[5]

Horse racing

Harness racing

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Chamfer^[6]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Victory Globe^[7]

Rugby union

The British and Irish Lions, captained by Karl Mullen, toured the country, losing three tests to the All Blacks and drawing one.

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

• Ranfurly Shield

Rugby league

New Zealand national rugby league team

Soccer

• The Chatham Cup is won by Eden who beat Technical Old Boys 3—2 after extra time in the final.^[8]
• Provincial league champions:^[9]
  • Auckland: Eastern Suburbs AFC
  • Canterbury: Technical OB
  • Hawke's Bay: Watersiders
  • Nelson: Woodbourne
  • Otago: Northern AFC
  • South Canterbury: Northern Hearts
  • Southland: Brigadiers
  • Taranaki: City
  • Waikato: Claudelands Rovers
  • Wanganui: Wanganui Athletic
  • Wellington: Seatoun AFC

Births

• 3 January: Robert Oliver, road and track cyclist
• 5 January: Matt Robson, politician
• 26 February: Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1999–2008
• 6 April: Muriel Newman, politician
• 29 April: Paul Holmes, radio and television broadcaster
• 24 May: Allison Durbin, singer
• 13 June: Pete Hodgson, politician
• 17 June: Lee Tamahori, film director
• 24 June: David Aspin, wrestler
• 1 August: John Britten, engineer and inventor
• 12 August: Ken Shirley, politician
• 26 September: Andy Haden, rugby player
• 9 November: Parekura Horomia, politician
• 10 December: Simon Owen, golfer
• 13 December: Ruth Richardson, politician

• (in Hungary): George Baloghy, painter
• David Benson-Pope, politician
• Godwin Bradbeer, painter
• Alan Duff, writer
• Stephen Franks, politician and political commentator
• Greg McGee, screenwriter and playwright
• John McKinnon, diplomat and public servant
• Judith Mayhew, lawyer and academic
• Stephen Parke, physicist
• Kura Te Waru Rewiri, painter

Deaths

• 14 July: Apirana Ngata, Māori politician and lawyer.
• 11 December: Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and computing pioneer.
• 12 December: Peter Fraser, 24th Prime Minister of New Zealand.

• William Twigg-Smith, painter.

References

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

For world events and topics in 1950 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 1950

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

1950 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