Story: Timekeeping

Just as New Zealanders’ work came to be regulated by the clock, so too did their leisure hours. In 1917 six o’clock closing of pubs was introduced as a temporary wartime measure, but was made permanent the next year. This poster was produced by the New Zealand Alliance, a prohibition organisation. It came out just before the 1949 referendum on the liquor hours, in which six o’clock closing was decisively endorsed. However, after a subsequent referendum in 1967, closing time was extended to 10 o’clock.