Jigsaw pieces, Tauranga Heritage Collection
Eighty years on, the disciplined parades and sombrely beautiful memorials that mark the two surrenders of the Axis forces of World War II have become self-contained markers of victory and a conclusive end to the war. This Jigsaw of Europe, created by Mere Productions in New Zealand during the war and gifted to the Tauranga Heritage Collection by Jinty Rorke, reminds us that it may not have felt like that at the time.
Bay of Plenty Times, 8 May 1945, p.3
Certainly the Bay of Plenty Times offered a definitive banner headline on its main news page on 8 May 1945. But of course the likelihood of what was even then called VE Day had been the subject of speculation for some time. Exactly a week before, the Bay of Plenty Times’ “Out and About” column - a selection of what modern journalists would call “briefs” - reported a miscellany of items more or less involved with the local war economy (including the start of the increase in births and marriages that came to be known as the “Baby Boom”). Those that directly illustrate the impact of war include: the release of a prisoner of war, improved poppy day sales in Katikati, the death of a soldier in the NZ Expeditionary Force, the return of six Katikati men from the N.Z.E.F, and a preliminary announcement from the Acting Prime Minister, Walter Nash[1], confirming that schools will close for two days starting on the day the war in Europe is officially declared over. The Tauranga South Bowling Club was similarly aware of the possibility, announcing the closure of its summer season on 12 May unless any peace celebrations came first.
The peace celebrations did come first. The schools were closed. Parades assembled in Tauranga, Katikati and Mount Maunganui (this one deferred due to inclement weather). The Mayor and other dignitaries made their well-prepared speeches, there was a lot of singing, drinking, and bunting. And life, and the war in the East, went on. It was not quite a peace, and there was another victory still to be won.
Gradually the adamantine commitment to the national war effort that Peter Fraser insisted on began to alter. The Industrial Manpower Committee sat in Tauranga on 10 May 1945 and allowed three of four appeals (the fourth was adjourned sine die)[2]. In August the Minister of National Service announced that returned servicemen were to be exempt from compulsory direction and that the regulations would soon be further eased[3]. But the sittings of the Armed Forces Appeal Board “were to proceed as usual” and over 14 and 15 May 163 appeals from Tauranga and Te Puke reservists, typically able-bodied young men who were needed on the farms[4],[5] and factories of the home front, were heard[6]. Food rationing continued[7]. Conscientious objectors occasionally succeeded[8]. And the lurking fear that it would be necessary to invade Japan was the most chilling undercurrent of the winter of 1945.
“1945 Victory Loan”, Title frame from National War Loan Council film, Archives
New Zealand
A cool financial current was at work as well. Less than a week after VE Day, the fourth of a series of “Victory Loans” was launched[9]. There were choices: stocks, bond purchases, or savings accounts, all government-backed with guaranteed repayment, as an attempt to avoid the burden of international borrowing to support the costs of the war. War-weariness takes many forms. The initial public response was less than enthusiastic, although the patriotic messaging incorporated references to armed forces’ pay and allowances, rehabilitation, UNRRA, and the defeat of Japan.
Composite of official advertisements from the Bay of Plenty Times
The official advertisements published in the Bay of Plenty Times graphically illustrated the worthier aspects of building the peace. Officials also supplied, and newspapers published, ‘league tables’ of contributions from different towns, and different regions, to spur a competitive effort. Bank managers wrote letters[10] to those of their customers whom they thought might spare some cash. Indications are, that in Tauranga at least, this was not working.
What clearly did work was the power of the National War Loan Council to galvanise local committees. Quotas had been assigned by region: Tauranga’s was £111,000. By 21 May the Editor of the Bay of Plenty Times was expressing some misgivings and encouragement in equal measure, with even a tang of social credit:
“Some people may ask why all these stage effects with what is actually a business affair? In our view the authorities did the right thing in introducing the loan in this particular way [a Parliamentary launch with a band and a choir of schoolchildren] because the greater part of the loan must come from the small investors, and from those who have hitherto not subscribed to such issues … The business people and those in the habit of dealing in stocks and shares do not need any such theatricals to introduce the loan to them. On this occasion it is imperative that the workers and those with small means should be asked to support the issue and many may wonder why this is necessary …
“[For] earlier loans companies, firms and private individuals have subscribed freely. Some patriotic people placed funds at the disposal of the Government for the duration of the war and six months after and free of interest. The big man cannot furnish more funds … the money is in the country. This is proved by the notes in circulation. In 1938 the note circulation was about £9,000,000; it is now over £34,000,000. With this huge sum in the possession of the people the Victory Loan of 1945 could be easily taken up.”
Ten days later, Tauranga’s loan commitments were a mere £43,000. Clearly something had to be done. An astonishing series of locally sponsored advertisements was the result. They are compelling, unglamorous, and increasingly direct in their impact. It is tempting to consider how these particular Tauranga firms chose to commit to the local campaign, but we have no current evidence of their conversations.
Composite image of local advertisements
By 13 June, three days before the loan opportunity closed, the subscription gap stood at £27,000. We may never know exactly how it happened, but the hard work of the War Loan Committee must take the lion’s share of the credit for the triumphant headline of 18 June 1945[11]:
Bay of Plenty Times headline
The wounded feelings aroused by Wellington’s failure to adequately recognise Tauranga’s contribution to this not-quite-last battle is a story for another day. As is the relatively muted treatment accorded the eventual, and evidently deeply shocking, conquest of Japan in August 1945. The horrors of this war did not end in the winter of that year. To me, considering that uncertain season, the story of the Victory Loan shows some tenacious moral purpose that we do well to note in our now even more uncertain world.
Completed Europe jigsaw
[1] Prime Minister Fraser was overseas at the San Francisco Conference, convened to draft the United Nations Charter
[2] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19450517.2.10 For the background details, see https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19450510.2.7
[3] They were. See https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19450820.2.7
[11] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19450618.2.7
