Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 21:14
DEFENCE – ARMED SERVICES: NAVY, ROYAL NEW ZEALAND
Although the Royal New Zealand Navy was formally constituted in 1941, its development can be traced back for more than a century, and falls into four separate phases. In the first, which began even before the Treaty of Waitangi of February 1840 and continued for 47 years after it, New Zealand's naval defence consisted of occasional visits by ships of the Royal Navy based on New South Wales. There was no base in New Zealand. In 1887 the second phase began. In answer to requests from New Zealand for more protection owing to growing French and German interests in the Pacific, Britain agreed to maintain seven additional ships in Australasian waters, and Australia and New Zealand agreed to make an annual contribution toward their cost. New Zealand's share was initially 20,000 a year. This increased to 40,000 in 1903, and in 1908 was voluntarily set at 100,000 a year for a period of 10 years.