Skip to main content

Story: Weather forecasting

Funding cutbacks

Image
Funding cutbacks

During the 1980s there was increasing pressure on the New Zealand government to economise on meteorological services, resulting in a number of staff cutbacks. At the same time, a move to user-pays for specialised services was expected to generate income and offset the losses. However, many, including the aviation industry, did not hold such an optimistic view of the restructuring, as this cartoon by Eric Heath indicates.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: B-145-215

by Eric Heath

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Erick Brenstrum, Weather forecasting – Early forecasting, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/7578/funding-cutbacks (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Erick Brenstrum, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 June 2016.