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Browse the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

RIOTS

Contents


RIOTS

New Zealanders are, generally speaking, a law-abiding people. Unpopular regulations concerning drinking or gambling are frequently ignored, but disturbances of the peace are rare and the few riots which have occurred stand out prominently in our history. Popular fancy has dignified some of these incidents with the name of “battles”, but very little blood has been shed in New Zealand riots and few lives have been lost. The causes of these disturbances were religious at first, and in later years economic. No civilian riots have occurred in New Zealand since the depression of the thirties – a sign of the easing of economic and social tensions associated with the growth of the Welfare State.

Co-creator

Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington and Herbert Otto Roth, B.A., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Deputy Librarian, University of Auckland.