OBJECTS OF THE ASSOCIATION

The objects of the Association shall be:

i. To foster the care, preservation, and proper use of archives and records, both public and private, and their effective administra-tion.

ii. To arouse public awareness of the importance of records and archives and in all matters affecting their preservation and use, and to co-operate or affiliate with any other bodies in New Zealand or elsewhere with like objects.

iii. To promote the training of archivists, records keepers, curators, librarians and others by the dissemination of specialised knowl-edge and by encouraging the provision of adequate training in the administration and conservation of archives and records.

iv. To encourage research into problems connected with the use, administration and conservation of archives and records and to promote the publication of the results of this research.

v. To promote the standing of archives institutions.

vi. To advise and support the establishment of archives services throughout New Zealand.

vii. To publish a bulletin at least once a year and other publications in furtherance of these objects.

ARCHIFACTS

Published by the Archives and Records Association

of New Zealand October 1989

A R C H I F A C T S

Editor Jane McRae

Editorial Committee Theresa Graham Peter Hughes Bruce Symondson Jane Wild

Archifacts is published twice yearly in Apnl and October

Articles and correspondence should be addressed to the Editor at

Te Hukatai, Maori Studies Library, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland

Intending contributors should obtain a style sheet from the Editor

Reviews Editor David Green

Copyright ARANZ 1989 ISSN 0303-7940

C O N T E N T S

SHEILA N A T U S C H A Postcard From Ulva 1 M M ROCHE The Timber Industry m New Zealand 1880-1920 6 JEFF KIRKUS-LAMONT Archivists and Their Users 14 M STODDART Sampling - The Much Maligned Archival Choice 19

Shorter Articles BRUCE SYMONDSON National Archives Policy Concerning Storage of Local Government Records or Archives 33 BRUCE SYMONDSON ARANZ Submission on Te KeteAronui 35 JANE K O M I N I K Protecting our Past for the Future — The Antiquities Act 38 A Certificate m Archives Management 40 KEN SCADDEN Fourth Parbica Training Seminar and Conference 41 ARANZ 13th Annual Conference 43 Annual General Meeting 44 PENELOPE FELTHAM National Register of Archives and Manuscripts of New Zealand 44

Tomorrow's History A N N E B R O M E L L Family Historian 45 JANET FOSTER Anglican Diocese of Auckland 47 PETER HUGHES University of Auckland Library 48 JANE M C R A E University of Auckland Library 50 KEITH SINCLAIR Historian 52 R C J STONE Historian 53 JANE WILD Auckland Pubic Library 55

News & Notes 58

Books and Book Reviews 63

Accessions 73

ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND INC

Ρ O Box 11-553, Manners Street, "Wellington, Ν Ζ

PATRON His Excellency The Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves

COUNCIL

PRESIDENT Michael Hoare

VICE PRESIDENTS Brad Patterson

Bruce Symondson

SECRETARY Sheryl Morgan

TREASURER Jan Gow

EDITOR Jane McRae

MEMBERSHIP Meryl Lowrie SECRETARY MEMBERS Penny Feltham

Alison Fraser

Peter Hughes

Kathryn Patterson

Michael Purdie

Stuart Strachan

David Thomson

Police Centennial Museum, Royal Ν Ζ Police College, Private Bag, Ponrua

Economic History, Victoria University, Wellington Auckland City Council, Private Bag, Wellesley Street, Auckland Massey University Library, Private Bag, Palmerston North Ρ O Box 25 025, Auckland 5 Maori Studies Library, Auckland University Library, Private Bag, Auckland 15 Rochester Street, Wilton, Wellington 5 Ρ O Box 11436, Wellington 5 Pimble Avenue, Karon, Wellington 5 Ν Ζ & Pacific Collection, Auckland University Library, Private Bag, Auckland 20 Khyber Road, Seatoun, Wellington 3 Canterbury Museum, Chnstchurch Hocken Library, Ρ O Box 56, Dunedin History Department, Massey University, Palmerston North

E d i t o r i a l

This issue of ArchifactsYias been, produced by an editorial commit-tee from Auckland In the absence of an editor for Archifacts we came together as a group because we all wished to see this very useful publication continue We are pleased that our proposal of a team editorship was accepted by ARANZ Council The proposal contained a commitment to publish two issues of Archifacts a. year for the next two years We agreed m the first issue to publish copy from the previous editorship The second issue is proposed for April 1990 and we intend that this will have a major theme of archival resources for research on Maori topics The two other issues in the proposal are timed for October 1990 and April 1991 Robin Ormerod of Wellington has agreed to produce a Newsletter for members in the intervening quarters We look forward to bringing Archifacts to you and welcome your participation m providing material for future issues

The editorial team of five has one archivist/records manager and four manuscripts librarians This may seem an imbalance for an Archives and Records Association It is, however, typical of the profession in New Zealand, and elsewhere, to be made up of people from different backgrounds It is also, we feel, a strength of ARANZ that it manages to bring together in its conferences and publications a wide variety of people of different skills and inter-ests We hope to show that breadth of skills and interests through the range of material in Archifacts

This issue comprises material that was outstanding from the former editorship and some received since our appointment It contains the usual mix of articles, reviews, and accession lists, Analecta has been replaced by News & Notes We have initiated a section of invited comments on issues of interest to us all This section was prompted by our feeling that there is a need for greater

communication between users and custodians of archives and amongst members of the Association

The hiatus over the editorship of Archifacts reflected a low point in the Association's organisation, and in relationships between members Low points often occur when groups of people work together and they can be useful if they force a reappraisal of what a group is working for and how it should achieve its goals, some-times they result in renewed enthusiasm It is pleasing to report that there has been an active response to solving the dilemmas facing the Association, and that there has been a good renewal rate of subscriptions to ARANZ We expect that the Association will be livelier and more committed to achieving its objectives in the future But that expectation can only be met if we make our goals explicit and agree on ways of achieving them To do this we need regular and open communication

To promote such communication, we thought it appropriate to devote a section oí Archifacts to a written forum about the profes-sion and the Association The selection of comments begun in this issue concerns ways of usmg and developing collections We asked some Auckland custodians and users to descnbe projects which they would like to see undertaken relating to manuscript and archival collections in our public institutions, and we also contrib-uted our own views to the section We hope that these and future comments in this section will generate discussion in Archifacts; perhaps too they will provide points of discussion for members at our October Conference

We urge readers to offer articles, notes, comments and reviews for inclusion in Archifacts, and we hope that more institutions will take advantage of the opportunity to notify their recent acquisi-tions by contributing lists to the Accessions section We also encourage correspondence from readers concerning material in Archifacts ox concerning the use and management of archives and records

Jane McRae

A Postcard From Ulva Sheila Natusch (née Traill)

Wellington

This article concerns Charles Traill of Ulva ( 1826-1891), Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island It reports on some documents found about him and puts a plea for more

There is nothing like publishing a book, or even circulating a photocopied family history, to bring all kinds of paper out of the shed — material that any amount of sifting through our research institutions would never have brought to light One day recently I was visited by a marine biologist who needed information on Chas Traill's scientific work in Stewart Island waters, the very next few day, fnends arrived, bringing (quite out of the blue) a postcard owned by the next-door neighbour of a Hawkes Bay friend of theirs This friend, interested in trees, thought I might like to see the postcard It was from Chas Traill to Kirk

In Charles Traill's day it was quite respectable to be as keenly interested m trees (and other vegetation) as m shells When asked whether he had been a professional or amateur naturalist, I could only reply that he had been a respected one, well known to Hutton, Hector and perhaps other well-known names beginning with H

For some reason, members of the Traill family are born fossickers The Orkney background of one branch would have encouraged an interest in ancient monuments and prehistoric relics, as well as in shells (fossil and recent), seaweeds, small ferns, orchids and other low-growing plants of present-day Orkney, and any remains of previous taller vegetation that might appear in the peat hags William Traill of Westness on Rousay Island, Orkney, (1797-1858), had, according to his son William's obituary, 'a private museum containing collections of shells and other objects of Natural History' The remark 'young Traill was fond of strolling along the beach and investigating nature at first hand' would apply to most of us, young or old

Dr Thomas Traill of Liverpool and Edinburgh made a collection of fossil fishes from the Old Red Sandstone Dr William Traill, son of William of Westness, had his own cabinet collection of molluscs from many parts of the world, giving valuable specimens to scientific institu-tions, and Charles Traill his brother, who settled eventually on a small island in Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island, had his own little museum on

Ulva His half-brother Walter was another Ulva naturalist Back in Scotland, their cousin George William Traill (1836-1897) interested himself in Scottish algae, and a more distant kinsman, Professor James Helenus Trail of Aberdeen (1851-1919) taught botany at the University and published a substantial botany of Aberdeen Prof Thos Stewart Traill was another notable in his day, among other things he was keeper, in the 1820s, of the Liverpool Museum of Natural History Dr William Traill planted flax, koromiko and manuka — surely sent by Charles 5 — on Orkney, along with exotics from elsewhere, while Charles had his own tiny Kew on Ulva

Charles Traill also kept a store and ran the first Stewart Island Post Office, from which (for a time) local leaves could be sent as postcards He and his wife took a warm interest in the people then called 'the Natives' — Maori and part-Maori families living at the Neck and on Bravo Island—and whatever they had to offer seems to have been taken in good part according to the customs of the day

In Auckland this year my Traill cousins produced a box of Traill papers, including inter aha the following

(a) letters concerning the disposal, after Walter Traill's death, of the Ulva Traills' shell collection, and the need to have it catalogued (one envelope, labelled Rough Catalogue of Mr Traill's Collection of Shells, is infunatingly empty), (b) 1868 Journal (m pinkish-tan, embossed cover) including lists of shell species dredged on expeditions round parts of the North Island coast, and giving Maori and scientific names, (c) Geo Wm Traill's Monograph of the Algae of the Firth of Forth with C Traill's name on the cover (much decorated with geometrical figures and Latin declensions, perhaps the work of Charles's daughter Ellen), and illustrated with float-dried seaweeds, (d) aletterfromF Burroughs,fromRousay,Orkney,dated 14/12/1889 when Charles was ill in bed with what sounds like hepatitis Australia and New Zealand, wrote Burroughs, would be 'the Countries of the future' when Europe with its 'strikes and Socialism' was played out It is interesting, too, to hear the Little General's own side of Orkney political manoeuvrmgs

Another item that has come to light is Charles Traill's copy of a small handbook on New Zealand fern species, annotated with his own notes on Ulva and other Stewart Island species sighted, collected or grown by him It is interesting to line up with the Ulva 'Chaff Book' found at Ringa-nnga,whichismfactalistof 'Maori' and 'Pakeha' plants growing in the Ulva garden

A Stewart Island cousin some years ago gave me some letters written to Charles Traill when he was living in Oamaru, they include pathetic requests for help from the unfortunate and destitute, which (from what

Charles Traill of Ulva

can be pieced together of Charles's nature) were probably met. And my father supplied his obituary; and a letter from Kirk, among others. At that stage I had not seen the Auckland box, but from the documents I did have, and others seen in the Hocken Library, I put together, for the family and anyone else interested, a short account of the UlvaTraills and

their relatives, ancient and modern If there is one document that puts Charles Traill alive and breathing

before us, however, it is the small postcard to Kirk mentioned above Postmarked 'Wellington', 'Bluff, 'Paterson Inlet' and 'NZ RPO-IN', and date-stamped T , '5 ' and '9 Dec '8 ' It is addressed simply to Professor Kirk, FLS etc, The Terrace, Wellington, and reads

/ take the query m your telegram of 26th Inst to be "Is it absolutely certain that Taitea is not Podocarpus Halln " On the information elicited from Natives I had not the temerity to express any opinion to you but though I cannot give a decided reply to your question I may mention that I suggested to the Natives that perhaps the Taikura was merely the Taitea grown older The idea seemed to them new & improbable, but they did not seem certain that it was not so

Ido not think my suspicion likely to be well founded unless trees are found of an intermediate kind between those of which the whole of the wood is red and the others (Taitea) that are said to be white from arc [umference] to centre — or very nearly to the centre

CT Ulva, 301188

Not for the careful scientist the simple yes-or-no answer'

His dredging journal, which I showed to Dr R Κ Dell of the National Museum, struck RKD forcibly as the work of someone who knew his shells, and he said 'the log could have been written by one of us today (with a few name changes), apart from the fact that our little boats have engines and don't have to rely on sail power' The journal covers dredging work round the North Island between February and April 1868, when Traill lived (and was in business) in Oamaru According to his obituaryin the Southland Times, 4December 1891, 'While residentin Oamaru Mr Traill paid a visit to Foveaux Straits, and there, while dredging for shells, made a discovery of oyster beds ' This expedition must have its own deck-log somewhere, but so far it has not been (may I so put it') dredged up It may be in among one of his fellow conchologists' papers, perhaps-m one of our institutional basements, but then again it may be in a tin or cardboard box among the old papers in somebody's house — if some house-proud body hasn't thrown it out Any ancient muttonbird-leaf postcards postmarked 'Paterson Inlet' would be equally welcome here

The Timber Industry in New Zealand 1880-1920 M M Roche

Massey University

At first sight the timber industry may appear to be separate from this conference's focus on agricultural and scientific records Closer exami-nation suggests however that the ümber industry as a field of study, in common with forest history generally, faces a difficulty common to the writing of the history of specialised branches of science, and applied science in particular, in that the researcher is ultimately faced with the problems of evaluating the contribution of technical discussions to policy formation and decision making 1 A second related difficulty is that forest history, both overseas and in New Zealand, has tended to be the preserve of retired professional foresters who have technical knowl-edge and sometimes direct involvement in the events being discussed as well as enthusiasm for their work, but who sometimes lack an historical appreciation of the skills and demands of the new task they have set themselves 2 Graeme Wynn in reviewing Thomas Simpson's book 3 on the New Zealand timber industry remarked, its emphasis upon facts rather than upon their explanation makes it closer to bare chronicle than to history 4 Professional scholars of course have their own cross to bear and often have been accused of writing for their peers and failing to communicate clearly

At an interpretive level closer attention to the timber industry, m this context meaning the felling of indigenous forests, does suggest that the process of agricultural settlement was more complex than the sequence of land occupation and bush burn recounted by various historians, economic historians and historical geographers 5 This paper instead presents the timber industry as a segmented chain of commercial-industrial operations ranging from forest acquisition through process-ing to sales

The timber industry m its own right has received scant treatment from scholars, land acquisition and development instead tending to subsume sawmillmg, so that timber is typically mentioned only in the context of the prodigious deforestation that took place in New Zealand by 1900 6

Stone's penetrating analysis of the place of the timber industry m the

This article is the edited text of an address given at the ARANZ Conference held at Palmerston North, 2 -4 September 1988

Auckland regional economy from the 1870s to 1880s remains the singular exceptional treatment of the industry and even here it is clearly only one of a number of critical elements m his explanation 7 The kauri timber industry that Stone and others have written of is quite specific with regard to the highly capitalised industry that emerged, the qualities of Kauri timber and the restricted biogeographical range, to the north of 37 5 degrees south 8

The regional timber industries that emerged with the spread of European settlement in the rest of New Zealand from the 1850s were typically more modest in scale than the kauri timber industry These have been only haphazardly studied at a firm and a regional level The possibilities opened up by Arnold's case study of the Manawatu sawmil-hng industry to the 1880s9 have not been followed up Arnold posed and endeavoured to answer the question 'whence came the capital resource, and entreprenuenal and labouring skills, which made possible the rapid, almost dramatic, rise of the Rangitikei-Manawatu indigenous timber industry5 ' 1 0 He also indicates how by providing a valuable crop m its own right 'the forest harvest played a major part in the rapid transformation of much virgin forest land into developed farmland' 1 1

Given the general emphasis on the theme of deforestation to make way for agriculture, the question of entrepreneurship and capital in the context of the farming community and the sawmilhng industry seems worthy of further attention The focus here is not on the Manawatu though, but on timber industry in the upper Rangitikei and West Taupo forests from about 1890 to 1920, the period after the Manawatu had been cleared

The comparative volume and importance of writings by those with a close involvement in the timber industry has meant that certain facets of the industry are better understood than others In particular the tasks of felling, and sawing and hauling are all reasonably well covered The pictorial record is also similarly weighted towards selected activities, particularly bullock teams, tramways, steam haulers, sawing and cartage of timber The important fact that sawmilhng was part of a set of interlocking commercial activities ranging from the purchase of cutting rights, harvesting, transport, sale and resawing of timber tends to become obscured The techniques and technology of sawmilhng are generally better understood than arguably more important considera-tions relating to forest acquisition and marketing of timber products (Table I) Aspects of investment in the timber industry, a vital concern for understanding the industry tends to be somewhat overlooked

Compartmentalised thinking of people as farmers, sawmillers or in other rigid occupational terms can be misleading Undeniably larger scale sawmill firms existed but even George Gammon whose family operated several plants in the Dannevirke area in the early 1900s and later moved their business to the West Taupo forests and eventually on to the Mamaku's as the merchantable forests were cut out, retained his

Archifacts Tab le I

Indigenous T i m b e r Product ion Cha in c!880s-1920

TIMBER CUTTING RIGHTS

I Felling

I Hauling

I Sawing

I Transporting

I Timber Sales

I Resawing Sash & Doors etc

Axes-Saw

Oxen-Tramway-Log Hauler

Spotmill - Permanent Mills

Horse drawn Railway

PICTORIAL RECORD

Poor

Excellent

Average

Average

interest m a family farm Robert Wilson, a member of the noted Bulls farming family, was another who began sawmilling m a small way with plant purchased from a recently closed Dannevirke mill where supplies had been exhausted 1 2 Wilson in turn followed the forest frontier northward establishing the Rangataua Timber Company in 1906 and later the Marton Sash and Door Company 1 3

The links between entrepreneurship, capital and forest reserves were generally however, more subtle and complex Land tenure emerges as a critical dimension Arnold's discussion of the Manawatu overlays a situation where Crown land was being alienated for settlement In other regional centres of the timber industry the situations differed By 1909 135,200 acres of the forests regarded as merchantible in the West Taupo region were situated primarily on Maori lands, with only 60,000 acres on Crown lands 1 4 Large scale ventures aside, and some of these were none too successful,15 the experience of the Taumaranui Totara Timber Company probably typifies the convergence of urban and rural interests to engage in sawmilhng ventures on Maori land, in this case at On-garure This was a considerable distance away from the instigators of the project and its capital backers This company had an interesting and somewhat complex past which began m 1903 when Charles Dempsey and Harold Mellsop secured the cutting rights over several blocks of Maon land Dempsey was an Irish born accountant and at the time Secretary of the Manawatu Farmers' Cooperative Association 1 6 Mellsop, a Forest Ranger during the New Zealand Wars, had by 1897 jointly established the Manawatu Land Company which later expanded into a general merchantmg firm 1 7

Shareho lders Res id ing N o $ 1 0 0 Shares

J o h n B e n n e t t Farmer Awahura 15 J o h n Wratt Farmer T a o n u i 10 J o h n Glover Blacksmith R o n g o t e a 5 Alfred B o a r d b e l t Farmer R o n g o t e a 2 5 Warren M a t h e s o n Farmer Pa lmers ton N o r t h 5 J o s e p h Broadbe l t Farmer R o n g o t e a 5

S o u r c e Co-W, 1 9 0 5 / 4 0

A cutting nght could be taken up directly or it might be resold at a profit to others wishing to become involved in the industry The particular trick was to negotiate a low royalty payment for an area of forest that was inaccessible because the railway was still distant The initiative did not always he with the entrepreneurs or sawmillers how-ever, some Maori owners where able to secure competitive royalties by playing off various sawmillers against each other 1 8 Two years later m 1905 a private firm, the Taumaranui Totara Timber Company, was registered with a nominal capital of £6510 Its six shareholders (Table II), were predominently farmers and all resident in a district adjacent to Palmerston North 1 9 Given Mellsop's business as a land agent and Dempsey's connections with the farming community it is reasonably easy to imagine how they might have persuaded three of the sharehold-ers, Benett, Wratt and A Broadbent to purchase their cutting rights to the Ohura South land, especially as it contained Totara, a valuable timber then increasingly in short supply Although a rather remote investment from the Manawatu, the Mam Trunk railway line would have facilitated the dispatch of timber to markets in Palmerston North and Wellington Organisation of the venture as a registered private com-pany also deserves comment The limited liability form provided a degree of protection for investors It also represented a comparatively sophisticated arrangement for facilitating the felling and conversion of forests into sawn timber at a time when most of the smaller operations were individually owned or organised as partnerships

Alas the company was not especially successful, m spite of appointing Samuel Knight an experienced sawmiller as managing director in 1906 At this same time the registered offices of the firm were shifted to Frankton where the company had established a timber yard presumably in a move to orient the business towards the larger northern markets Production in 1907 was 166,000 sp ft Totara, 43,000 sp ft Matai and 41,000 sp ft Rimu and Kahikatea or only about 40 per cent of capacity Timber not used locally was sent to both Auckland and Wellington The

T a b l e Π Taumaranui Totara T i m b e r C o 1905

whole enterprise with a 10 h ρ plant, workforce of 12 and cutting capacity of only 350,000 sp ft was a small scale operation compared with the other mills in the district,20 consequently much of its production was sold locally Strenuous efforts were made by the company from 1909 to expand the plant but in the long term this led only to their becoming heavily mortgaged to the Phoenix Foundry in Wellington and later to Robertson and Co This led m July of 1911 to the decision to voluntarily wmd up the company The plant was closed by November 1911 and liquidation completed by 1912 2 1

Established at a time when m response to domestic demand indigen-ous timber production was reaching near record levels the venture doubtless seemed a good investment It might also be interpreted as a venture which moved capital to an investment frontier in the form of sawmilhng in the West Taupo Forests, m a search for greater profits than could be obtained in the farmers environment of Manawatu It was however of too small a scale to compete against the large mam trunk railway firms, especially as trading conditions worsened with competi-tion from imported Canadian and USA Oregon Pine around 1908 The experience of the Taumaranui Totara Timber Company was not unique —other companies such as the Puketapu Sawmilhng Co Ltd ( 1903), the Raetihi Timber Co (1907) and the Waiakeke Land and Timber Co (1901) had pulled together farmer capital from sawmilhng ventures and some of these firms were also notable for being not especially successful

The experience of the Taumaranui Totara Timber Company and others like it reinforces Arnold's suggestion that some Manawatu settlers were able to effect land clearance by selling cutting rights to sawmillers albeit in a more expansive fashion than in the 1870s and 1880s This is not an attempt to refute the extent and impact of bush burn techniques Clearly forests were only valuable as timber if there was some prospect of selling the product on an accessible market Often felling for ümber was not viable and fire was used to clear the land for farming Arnold's ideas can however be extended He m essence was concerned with the relationship between sawmillers and settlers taking up Crown lands and demonstrates that there were significant links between settlers and sawmillers Where Maori land is involved and significant numbers of mills, especially m the West Taupo forest cut out forest of this tenure, the process becomes altogether more complex and more revealing Four essential steps emerge, being (a) the securing of the cutting rights off the Maori owners by individuals who might or might not engage directly in the sawmilhng (b) m the case of the latter the resale of these to interested parties, (c) the formation of a limited liability company to undertake the milling of the block over a period of years and (d) either business failure or success, with the firm in any case typically being wound up when the block was cut The interpénétration of urban and rural entrepreneurship and capital is significant as is the

Portable Sawmill [Steel Bros, Manukau ? Wilson Bros, Pohangia?] Source: Putaruru Timber Museum 6/3

Wilson Bros. Sawmill near Totara Reserve, Pohangina, c.1900. Source: Putaruru Timber MuseumT:16

correlation between farmer capital and investment in sawmillmg ven-tures A difficulty of course is to gauge the extent of farmer backed limited company involvement in sawmilhng compared with private ventures or partnerships What can be suggested however is that the company ventures themselves were rarely adequate capitalised in com-parison with the larger sawmilhng firms

In summary then for the period 1900-1920 m the southern half of the North Island when the pace of land settlement was slowing, the land-scape was a complicated mosaic of settled, partly settled, and forested parcels of land of various tenures Simultaneously some of the expan-sion within the sawmilhng industry was driven by investment from within the farming community This points to a more more complex picture of land settlement and land use then has generally been appre-ciated It is pertinent to ask whether this pattern of activity was replicated in the other parts of the country

REFERENCES

1 L Rakestraw, 'Conservation Historiography An Assessment', Pacific Historical Review, 41, 2(1972), pp 271-88

2 ibid M M Roche, 'Forest History m New Zealand A Review and Bibliography', New Zealand Journal of Forestry, 29 (1985), pp 97-107

3 T E Simpson, Kauri to Radiata, Origin and Expansion of the Timber Industry m New Zealand, Hodder and Stoughton, Auckland, 1973

4 G Wynn, Review, New Zealand Geographer, 3 1 , 1 (1975), ρ 92 5 e g J D Gould, The Grass Roots of New Zealand History, Occasional Publication

N o 5, Massey University, 1974 W Β Johnson, 'Pioneering the Bush, and of Lowland Taranaki A Case Study', New Zealand Geographer, 17 ,1 (1961), pp 1-18 K. Sinclair, A History of New Zealand, 1973 E C R Warr, From Bush Burn to Butter, Butterworths, Wellington, 1988

6 e g K.B Cumberland, Ά Century's Change — Natural to Cultural Vegetation m New Zealand', Geographical Review 31, 4 (1941), pp 529-54

7 R C J Stone, Makers of'Fortune—a Colonial Business Community and itsFall, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1973

8 e g J Halbett and Ε V Sale, The World of Kauri, Reed Methuen, Auckland, 1986 A H Reed, The Story of Kauri, Reed, Wellington, 1953

9 R. Arnold, 'The Virgin Forest Harvest and the Development of Colonial New Zealand', New Zealand Geographer, 4, 5 (1976), pp 105-126

10 ibid , ρ 121 11 ib id , ρ 122 12 LJ Wild, The Life and Times of Sir James Wihon of Bulb, Whitcombe and Tombs,

Chnstchurch, 1953 13 RA. Wilson, The First Fifty Years of Morton Sash, Door and Timber Company Limited,

Keeling and Mundy, Palmerston North, 1957 14 Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR), 1909, C4, ρ 34 15 e g R A Wilson, 'Story of ζ GzllzntFzihire', New Zealand Manufacturers, 4,8 (1953),

pp 65-69 M Wright and M M Roche, The Egmont Box Company A Study of Company Evolution in the Context of the White Pine Trade, Working Paper 8 7 / 3 New Zealand Forest Service, 1987

W A I R A R A P A C O M M U N I T Y P O L Y T E C H N I C

FULL TIME T U T O R I A L P O S I T I O N

IN

C E R T I F I C A T E IN A R C H I V E S M A N A G E M E N T

W a i r a r a p a C o m m u n i t y P o l y t e c h n i c is s i t u a t e d in M a s t e r t o n a t o w n o f

a p p r o x i m a t e l y 2 0 0 0 0 p e o p l e c e n t r e d in a r u r a l a r e a

W e a r e a s m a l l b u t r a p i d l y g r o w i n g p o l y t e c h n i c w h i c h is c o m m i t t e d t o

o f f e r i n g e q u i t a b l e a c c e s s t o q u a l i t y l i f e l o n g l e a r n i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s b o t h

f o r m a l a n d i n f o r m a l in a c a r i n g r e s p o n s i v e e n v i r o n m e n t In 1 9 9 0 it is

i n t e n d e d t o o f f e r o u r first C e r t i f i c a t e In A r c h i v e s M a n a g e m e n t a n d t h a t t h i s

c o u r s e will b e t o t h e l e v e l o f first y e a r U n i v e r s i t y

W e a r e s e e k i n g a p e r s o n t o t u t o r t h i s c o u r s e w h o is q u a l i f i e d in t h e a r e a o f

A r c h i v e s a n d R e c o r d k e e p i n g a n d w h o h a s t h e a b i l i t y t o r e l a t e w e l l t o

p e o p l e a n d t o b e f l e x i b l e T h e p o s i t i o n will c o m m e n c e in J a n u a r y 1 9 9 0

a n d will i n c l u d e p l a n n i n g t h e c o u r s e in c o - o p e r a t i o n w i t h a p r o f e s s i o n a l

A d v i s o r y c o m m i t t e e t e a c h i n g a n d e v a l u a t i n g t h e s t u d e n t s a n d t h e

c o u r s e

P o l y t e c h n i c C o n d i t i o n s o f S e r v i c e will a p p l y a n d t h e s e p r e s e n t l y I n c l u d e 1 2

w e e k s l e a v e p r o v i s i o n w i t h 6 w e e k s T e a c h e r R e f r e s h e r L e a v e a f t e r t h r e e

y e a r s s e r v i c e S a l a r y will b e d e p e n d e n t o n e x p e r i e n c e a n d q u a l i f i c a t i o n s

u p t o $ 4 5 7 8 7 p e r a n n u m A s s i s t a n c e In r e m o v a l e x p e n s e s will b e a v a i l a b l e

t o a s u i t a b l y q u a l i f i e d a p p l i c a n t

A p p l i c a t i o n s w h i c h c l o s e o n 1 s t N o v e m b e r a n d s h o u l d i n c l u d e t h e n a m e s

o f t w o r e f e r e e s s h o u l d b e a d d r e s s e d t o

T h e D i r e c t o r

W a i r a r a p a C o m m u n i t y P o l y t e c h n i c

Ρ O B o x 6 9 8

M A S T E R T O N

16 Cyclopaedia of New Zealand 1897,1, ρ 1189 17 Cyclopaedia of New Zealand 1907, 6, ρ 687 18 Anon, 'From "Family Business" to Industrial Giant' Forestry Industry Reviews, 4, 5

(1973), pp 17-21 19 Co-W, 1905/40 , Taumauranui Timber Company, National Archives Lower Hutt 20 AJHR, 1907, C4 ρ 20 21 Co-W, 1905/40 , Taumauranui Timber Company, National Archives Lower Hutt

Archivists and Their Users Jeff Kirkus-Lamont

University of Otago Library

This paper is a general discussion of some of the issues involved in the area of reference work with archives I have consciously limited myself to discussion at a generalized, philosophical level and I am sure that many of the points I raise will be discussed in greater detail and in practical terms in subsequent sessions

To begin I would like to outline my own experience and philosophy of information work My professional experience has been in the area of reference work in academic libraries, and this included work with the archives collections of the University of Canterbury Library, where responsibility for most aspects of archives was carried by the general reference staff I believe that the same basic principles of reference work apply in both the library and archives contexts

I am unashamedly a user advocate I believe that all aspects of infor-mation work should aim at the same goal of assisting the user to find the appropriate information to satisfy their information need If we set up procedures and systems which hinder or prevent the user from finding what they want then we should consider changing the procedures and systems The methods of control and organisation of information should be dictated by the goal of providing the quickest and most straightforward retrieval of that information

In my background reading for preparing this paper, two major points became clear The first is that historically the emphasis in the literature relating to archives has been on the acquisition, appraisal, and arrange-ment and description of the material It is possible to read some discussions of archives work which contain few if any references to actual use of the material Michael Cook in his book The Management of Information From Archives suggests that traditionally archivists concen-trated on the collecting of records 1 If users came along who were interested in the material, so much the better, if not, posterity was assumed to have needs Cook suggests that this emphasis has altered Archives are now chosen from an ever growing mass of records, using increasingly stringent processes of appraisal Appraisal entena are influenced by the perceptions of user needs In addition the numbers

This is the edited text of an address given at the ARANZ Seminar "Reference Archivist the human interface", University of Otago, 26-7 August 1988

Archivists and Their Users

and variety of users have increased dramatically The second point I noted from my reading is that the day of the

archives user is arriving and there have been a number of excellent articles written m the recent past presenting a service viewpoint of archives work This seminar today is evidence that as a profession archivists are acknowledging the importance of the study of the use of archives, in addition to the study of the selection and organization of archives This in part has developed from the recent view of archives as a public resource and a fundamental element in a cultural sense The challenge is now to set in place structures which will make this cultural resource available to everyone In a paper 'Everyman and archives', pre-sented at the 9th International Congress on Archives, Dr L S Principe reported that on a world-wide basis non-specialist users constitute 70% of visitors to archives, and suggested that many of these users are unsuccessful in using archives 2 Major reasons cited for this lack of success include inconvenient hours of opening and research aids which are either insufficient or too complicated Principe sees this as a challenge to the traditional role of the archivist The archivist cannot continue to be a scholarly technician preserving and organising docu-ments for a very restricted group of intellectual users Principe reports the findings of an international study conducted in 1978 For Aus-tralasia and Oceania this showed a 50% increase over ten years in the use of archives by the 'common man', which reflected the general finding worldwide that the increase in use has come mainly from the non-speciahst public

These two points illustrate a fundamental tension in archives management between collection and preservation on one hand and use on the other One method of easing this tension is to attempt to make archives available to the fullest extent that is consistent with a reasonable regard for their preservation, achieving a balance between present-day users and the demands of the future At the opposite extreme the attitude would be to preserve above all else and to view use as basically an aberration which is tolerated only if the user is of the 'right sort' and has sufficient power or expertise to argue a strong case for use of the material I would suggest that m the past the balance has been decidedly in favour of preservation and that this imbalance needs to be addressed

I want now to focus in more detail on the service aspects of archives work, which have been addressed by several authors Bordin and Warner in The Modern Manuscript Library state that archivists 'should never forget that their primary function is not the collection and preservation of artifacts as such, but the service of scholarship ' 3 Sue Holbert in Archives & Manuscripts Reference & Access, part of the Basic manual senes of the Society of American Archivists, puts it this way, 'The preservation of archives, records and papers has httíe value per se The pnmary value is in the use of the material A repository is obliged to

provide access and reference services The existence of archives must be made known and policies and methods devised to meet the needs of inquirers ' 4

In a thought-provoking article in American Archivist titled 'In the view of the beholder archives administration from the user's point of view' Elsie Freeman says we must begin to think of archives administration as being centred on clients not materials She believes that ' the identity and research habits of users - who they are, how they think, how they learn, how they assemble information, and the uses they put the information to - must become as familiar to archivists as the rules governing acquisition, processing and description of records ' 5 Free-man suggests several reasons for the need for emphasizing the users She suggests that advanced technologies may make archives a backwater in the larger world of information retrieval, not because the material is irrelevant but because of the difficulty users have in reaching the information hidden in the records Freeman argues that current ar-chives reference work is based on the following false assumptions 1 Archivists are oriented toward users 2 Archivists know who the users are 3 Archivists understand the research process, and 4 Archivists provide adequate help These false assumptions alienate archives from their users This alienation makes the archivists profession vulnerable, not only to budget cuts but to, the dangers of being regarded as out of touch and irrelevant

I support the basic thrust of these statements, that the reference archivist must be service-onented and that the basic responsibility is to meet the needs of the users of archives, whether they are professional researchers, scholars, genealogists, employees of the organisation generating the records or interested members of the public

Freeman elaborates on the alienation between archivists and their users She states that archivists have an adversarial relationship with genealogists, one of the largest groups of users of archives, yet surely the need to find out about one's ancestors is as valid as the need to research a thesis' Freeman suggests that the idea that one can do research for fun is not accepted by archivists Archivists tend to be cool to the user who is not professionally trained and favour the user who understands and does not question the way archivists organise their records Archivists tend to see the proper user as someone who has some form of historical training, who is willing to do labour-intensive work, who speaks the same jargon as archivists and who has unlimited time to browse through ma-terial Freeman suggests that this conception does not equate with many real users who have minimal historical training, who are interested in information about the past rather than formal historical investigation, who expect to find that information without excessive browsing and who do not understand the way the materials are organised or the jargon of archivists

It is important that archivists address these kind of questions The

Archivists and Their Users

reference archivist is essential to the process of the user obtaining the information they require Unlike libraries, where it should be possible for the user to use the system on their own, in the archives situation every inquiry, no matter how straightforward, has to pass through the hands of the archivist, simply because the material is not immediately available to the user This means the role of the reference archivist is crucial No matter how good the printed finding aids and catalogues are, it is still necessary for the archivist to be involved

Reference archivists must be guides and translators to the user They must interpret the user's need, translate it into the jargon used in the description and organisation of the records and retrieve the items which will answer the need The basis of the reference process is the ability to find out exactly what it is that the user requires Central to this role are listening and communication skills of the highest level The manual on archives and manuscripts reference work produced by the Society of American Archivists lists some of the qualities required by staff engaged m archives reference work They include an interest m helping others, a positive attitude to the public, courtesy, tact, helpfulness, an outgoing personality, good communication skills, a willingness to learn, a com-mitment to archives, familiarity with research techniques, interest in new trends, and archival training and subject knowledge 6

Reference work with archives may take several forms Two basic categories are the provision of information about the collection and information from the collection Providing information about the hold-ings of an institution can include activities such as reporting to national guides and catalogues, publishing guides to the collection, producing various finding aids such as catalogues, inventories, calendars and indexes, and supplying copies of finding aids to individuals and other institutions Although rules and standards for description and arrange-ment are essential to maintain consistency they are not ends in them-selves and should accommodate the needs of the user Those working m the field of information retrieval should resist viewing the processing and organization of information as being of paramount importance We should always be aware that in some instances the processing and organization creates a barrier to access rather than facilitating use

As well as striving to provide the best possible service to your users I think archivists as a professional group should be considering ways in which the reputation and public image of archivists can be enhanced Bruce W Deartyne in an article m the American Archivist, suggests that the role of the reference archivist has been seen too narrowly, as a passive reactive one He sees a need for greater promotion of the use of archives and suggests that reference archivists should be writing articles for non-archivaljournals and newsletters describing the nature, content and research potential of holdings In addition Deartyne believes that archivists should be speaking at meetings of non-archivists, holding workshops and producing publications on how to do research with

archival material, as well as as reporting through the media and elsewhere on the impact and significance of the use of archives As individuals and through your association you should be looking for and exploiting every opportunity to promote archives 7

With more users of archives and new categories of users, archivists must increase their efforts to fully understand their user's needs Policies and practices relating to reference work with archives should reflect this understanding of user needs, in order to satisfy the needs In this way the importance of archives to the community will be enhanced

REFERENCES

1 M Cook, The Management of Information From Archives, Aldershot, 1986, ρ 181 2 L S Pnncipe, 'Everyman and archives' Archivum, 29 (1982) pp 135 142 3 R Β Bordm and R Η Warner, The Modern Manuscript Library, New York, 1966,

ρ 110 4 S Holbert, Archives & Manuscripts Reference and Access, Chicago, 1977, ρ 2 5 Ε Freeman, 'In the eye of the beholder', American Archivist, 47 (1984), ρ 111 6 S Holbert, Archives & Manuscripts Reference and Access, Chicago, 1977, ρ 27 7 Β Dearstyne, 'What is the use of archives'A challenge for the profession', American

Archivist, 50 (1987), pp 76-87

Sampling — The Much Maligned Archival Choice — A New Zealand View

M Stoddart

National Archives, Auckland

The scope of this article does not permit an m-depth examination of sampling in archives, consequendy, such details as selection entena and considerations such as sample size, degree of reliability, vanation factors, confidence limits and considerations as to when to sample are not considered in detail The archival literature on appraisal documents fairly extensively various types of selection entena and to a lesser degree provides answers (or guidelines) to the question as to when to sample, whilst the literature on statistics (and archival sampling) extensively details factors to consider when determining sample size, degree of reliability etc Nor does the article attempt to address the problems scholars have encountered in the use of archival samples, except in a very superficial way when discussing the applicability of vanous sam-pling techniques in relation to two types of research methodologies

The article attempts to positively address some of the cnticisms and difficulties levelled against sampling An overnding concern for object-ivity and impartiality, for example, appears to spell the death knell of 'purposive' sampling techniques Yet archivists, such as Karen Benedict, admit 'records appraisal requires subjectivejudgement on the archivists part' 1 and Leonard Rapport suggests 'Appraisal is at the best an inexact science perhaps more an art form' 2 1 do not wish to question the need for objectivity and impartiality in appraisal and sampling, however, I do feel that an obsessive urge by archivists to have archives recognized as a scientific discipline has resulted in an over-zealous desire to apply statistical theones of sampling to archives In the process they have ignored the unique qualities of the records they deal with Often the intrinsic qualities are more easily identified with an art, than a science, and tend to defy the totally objective entena of statistical techniques in favour of 'purposive' methods

The article highlights the fact that, faced with limited resources, the rapid explosive expansion of records and ever increasing demands for access, the cunent archival choice available to many archivists to meet these demands is the technique of 'sampling', as it reduces the bulk of

This article was originally submitted in 1986

19

records yet preserves the research value of homogenous record series such as case records

Having accepted sampling as the only viable archival choice, failure to sample and to come to terms with difficulties arising from sampling, such as 'privacy issues' is a negation of an appraisal archivist's respons-ibilities That records have to be destroyed when sampling should not deter the use of sampling Appraisal has to accept'the impossibility of knowing what kind of questions would be asked of archives at some distant future d a t e ' 3 1 would agree with David Kepley's comment that 'The archival literature on sampling and how it relates to the appraisal of archives is thin' 4 Significantly, a literature search on AUSINET for articles on 'archives and sampling' came up with only two sources

In light of the above considerations, the main purpose of this essay is to examine some of the difficulties the literature on sampling reveals, both in the general use of sampling and in the use of particular sampling techniques, and suggest that failure to employ sampling (irrespective of the techniques employed) may often involve greater dangers to the records and greater loss of information than the risks involved in using sampling techniques I have wherever possible, tried to draw on New Zealand examples, but the dearth of New Zealand literature on appraisal and absence of any literature on sampling (and guidelines) has meant that I have had to draw on my recollection of the experiences of myself and others in New Zealand Archives I make no apologies for the optimistic view expressed on sampling as I feel the overly cautious attitude of Felix Hull and others writing about sampling may have prejudiced many against the use of it as an appraisal technique thereby exposing the records to greater risks than sampling has ever done

Frank Evans et al 5 does not have an entry for 'sampling' In the absence of concensus I have accepted two definitions Firstly, 'Sampling of Government archives consists m the selection of some part of a body of homogenous records, so that some aspect of the Government's work or the information received or developed by the Government may be represented or illustrated thereby' 6

Secondly, and more broadly, sampling 'has usually meant one of two things to cull from a large record series the most significant files or documents for retention, or to select statistically a small portion from a large universe of information that will accurately reflect all important characteristics of the larger universe' 7

Because most of the examples, or case studies used concern sampling of New Zealand government records, Lewinson's narrower definition has been accepted as applicable for the purposes of the article, but this should not exclude the fact that a sample may combine both elements of Kepley's broader definition

The twentieth century has seen a vast expansion in the functions and complexity of government, but even more dramatic has been the proliferation of records or 'paper explosion' New Zealand institutions

for example, have been accessioning over 1,000 linear metres of ar-chives per annum since 1981 To meet this deluge of records, archivists have accepted Τ R Schellenberg's view that they should involve them-selves in the selection of modern records For unless records are carefully appraised and those of no further usefulness destroyed, the quantity of records will reach astronomical proportions Consequendy, the archivist cannot avoid weighing the expense of preserving records against the possible use Also, unless the archivist aids the researcher by removing material of ephemeral use the researcher will be confronted with such vast quantities of material that it will be impossible to cope with While recognising the need for appraisal, few archivists would disagree with Margaret Norton's comment that 'It is comparatively easy to select records of permanent value, relatively easy to decide on those of no value The great bulk are borderline' 8 It is these borderline records and, more particularly, those senes of records in which the volume is very high compared with the importance of their content and degree of potential research interest which pose the greatest concern and challenge to archivists We must consider action as a profession to keep our stacks form being glutted with records of questionable value and our resources from being wasted on preserving records of little or no value

Microfilm, while reducing the bulk of records merely duplicates the quantity of information and has the disadvantage of lack of perman-ence Admittedly the lack of permanence can be overcome by creating a duplicate secunty master, and copies Nonetheless conversion of existing paper records to microfilm (or a machine-readable format) must assume a low storage pnonty for New Zealand archives (and for most archives) because of the high costs involved 9

What then is the solution5 Sampling would appear to be one method for reducing bulk, without significantly impainng the research value of selected records Why then is the reader of archival literature on sampling unable to ignore the cries of concern over its use — a concern that is echoed in the almost despainng plea by R M Reynolds that 'Archivists should be able to sample without undue anguish 5 ' 1 0 Wornes over the validity of sampling as an appraisal technique have refocused attention on Jenkinson's concept that 'The Archivist to destroy a document because he thinks it is useless is to impart into the collection under his charge what we have been most anxious to keep out of it an element of his personal judgement' 1 1 For Jenkinson the integrity of archives depends on the quality of impartiality, including their freedom from subjective decisions by the archivist Only in this way can they retain their impartiality as evidence In particular, Jenkinson's concern for impartiality and objectivity has been given new significance by statisticians and researchers using statistical (or random) sampling techniques For a sample to be effective they argue the need for randomness This implies every unit in a senes has an equal chance of

representing that senes Any special features which favour the selection of particular units must be eliminated from the sample which must be as ideal in an objective sense as is possible

Have archivists been blinded by the statisticians concern for objectiv-ity and impartiality to such an extent that their own objectivity towards sampling as a technique has been blunted' Despite the need for objectivity some personal judgement must enter into all kinds of sampling, not the least being the selection method employed and the size of the sample selected Furthermore, to condemn sampling on the basis of lack of objectivity and impartiality is to condemn appraisal per se 'Because appraisal requires an archivist to make judgements about future trends of knowledge, it is a very subjective exercise and mistakes are inevitable The aim can only be to make as few mistakes as possible' 1 2

This aim would seem to be equally valid when considenng sampling as a means of selection

Concern with the destruction of records and the resulting loss of information should not eliminate the use of sampling techniques as 'practically any paper may conceivably be of some use to someone at some time'13 and it is essential that 'the archivist must be wise enough and bold enough to take a calculated risk and the histonan and biographer must recognise the difficulties — and finally accept the situation Ultimately, it must be the responsibility of each would-be-user to run his own tests of significance to see whether the specific investiga-tion which he wishes to pursue from the sample has sufficient statistical validity and must be prepared to accept that m some cases his test will show that his investigation cannot produce valid results' 1 4 On the other hand, the archivist does have a responsibility to the user to document his use of sampling Information recorded should include the size of the universe being sampled, the size of the sample, the order and makeup of the records prior to sampling, the sampling method and the reasons behind the basis of selection, and the various sub-groups (or vanables) identified

Changing research interests from the study of elites and organiz-ations to reconstructing the everyday expenence of ordinary, often illiterate, individuals has not only given a new dimension to Jenkmson's moral "defence of archives with its emphasis on impartiality of records, but has also resulted in two radically different research strategies One concentrating on spectacular events and noteworthy individuals, the other interested m portraying everyday events and the life of non-elites Rollo Arnold outlined the basic differences m these approaches when he wrote 'What distinguishes the historian from other collectors of information about the past is that the histonan is looking for significant material My own researches have been largely in the area of social history where one's matenal tends to be typical rather than influen-tial For the story of New Zealand is very much the story of the common man' 1 5

How well does sampling meet the needs of these two research schools' In general terms a sample can attempt to preserve what appears on subjective grounds to be the most important or significant elements in a senes Paul Lewinson descnbed this as 'archival sampling' where the aim is to illustrate some aspect of an agency or persons work rather than represent i t 1 6 David Kepley descnbed this form of sampling as subjec-tive and suggests selection emphasises evidential values whereas statis-tical sampling in Kepley's view concentrates on the selection of groups and individuals with whom the agency dealt i e informational values' Felix Hull in contrast calls this method of sampling 'purposive' 1 7

Because selection is made on a preconceived set of entena, whether it be notable cases — records relating to famous or infamous persons, notable events or precedents or, specimens,1 8 — records that illustrate the subject matter, form of documentation or procedure, or some other entena, the sample will have a certain subjective validity By ensunng that records containing information of some special or peculiar interest or value are retained from a large and particularly homogenous senes, the sampling method meets the needs of the 'traditional' historian who wishes to supply colour or interest or illustrate a point already docu-mented through other matenal However, this sampling approach usually results in a biased or skewed picture of the senes in question and has little worth m terms of statistical analysis except within very circum-senbed limits

The statistical sample, the other major sampling technique, reflects the archivist's desire to develop tools which ensure a more objective approach and has the aim of capturing a mathematically small portion of typical cases from a large senes There are two main types of statistical sampling, systematic (or senal) and random

The systematic sample depends upon the establishment of a particular pattern of selection in that every η Λ file is preserved or else all papers for a particular month, year or other chronological unit The systematic sample is easy to extract and therefore is less costly m terms of staff, time and funds than a random sample Occasionally the systematic sample has been cnticised as being unrepresentative because the systematic selection process results in a biased sample However, if care is taken m the selection process, the mathematical difference between a systematic and random sample can be negligible 1 9 Particular care should be taken to ensure that the arrangement of records randomizes the placement of documents, thereby ensunng each has an equal chance of being selected Alphabetical or chronological arrangements for instance tend to randomize the arrangements of documents,2 0 whereas subject arrangements tend to regulanze document distribution thereby increasing the nsk of biased or skewed samples Systematic trends which regulanze document distnbution, thereby reducing the likelihood of randomized selection, may often be overcome by varying the pattern of selection at intervals thereby making the nsks m systematic sampling

minimal and acceptable Random sampling relies on the use of a random number chart to

determine the units to be retained It has rarely been used in archives because the use of random number tables requires each unit of the universe to be sampled to have a unique identification number This often necessitates numbering each file pnor to selection Furthermore, random number tables are difficult to use as the numbers have no pattern making it impossible to systematically work through the records being sampled For these reasons administering the selection process is time-consuming and cosdy

While 'purposive' and statistical sampling both require the archivist to determine the degree of homogeneity and decide how much material to retain in order to represent or illustrate an entire senes or record group, statistical sampling also requires that an attempt be made to specify the homogeneity in a mathematical measure of vanance 'Then the exact degree of accuracy is specified as well as the degree of certainty that this degree of accuracy will be obtained Armed with these three numbers vanance, the specified degree of accuracy, and the level of confidence that the specified degree of accuracy will be achieved algebraic formulas designed to yield specific sample size may be used to calculate how much matenal to retain ' 2 1 Because the statistical sample gives a mathematical measure of reliability, it gives users of the sample a clearer idea of what they are using and how much faith to put in it, whereas the 'purposive' methods fail to give a measure of reliability Such information is obviously vital to researchers using quantitative methods of research to examine 'non-elites' in society but researchers using qualitative methods to research prominent persons or events usually do not require this information In fact, because of their interest in spectacular cases, they are more concerned with the presence or absence of a smgle record in a sample than its measure of reliability

Statistical sampling has often been cnticised for failing to select for preservation individual cases of histonc value, however, taking a statis-tical sample does and should not preclude selecting such cases provided the latter is done after the statistical sample has been drawn and provided the two selections are clearly differentiated and documented

Stratification is a sampling method which may enable archivists to capture both spectacular and typical cases Stratification is a species of statistical sampling in which certain parts of the universe are weighted differently than others This differs from a straight random or systematic sample in which all parts of the universe theoretically have an equal chance to be selected in the sample Therefore by using stratification one could select a higher percentage of (even all) the more valuable portions of a senes 2 2 Difficulties in administering the sample are likely to limit its application to larger institutions

Recent archival literature has tended to focus on the needs of quantitative researchers highlighting statistical techniques almost to

the point of excluding all other methods of sampling 'however qualitat-ive considerations cannot be ignored in sampling The archivist may apply the "principle of special selection" to save the most interest-ing uses or files on prominent individuals or significant events' 2 3

Ultimately, the sampling technique employed will depend on what the sample hopes to achieve (either illustrate, represent or a combination of both) and this will depend on the archivist's perceived use of the records by scholars In the final analysis archivists when sampling must consider the needs of the 'tradiüonal' and 'social' histonan and m today's environment the needs of other users such as genealogists should not be ignored 2 4

To assume statistical sampling is always required is an incorrect assumption as David Klaassen highlighted when he wrote 'At least two analysts have noted that case records do not lend themselves to quantit-îve statistical analysis as readily as do, for example, census manuscnpts The population recorded is not nearly as broad, the arrangement not as systematic, the frequency and duration of contacts between agency and client more unpredictable, and the information recorded more vaned in form and content' 2 5 In addition, the researcher 'must take into account the selectivity and biases of the case workers who created the records ' 2 6 In sum, some senes may be unsuitable for statistical study, but withm these senes certain records may be vital to the 'traditional' histonan hence a 'purposive' sample should be used

Have archivists as a profession failed to bnng the practical difficulties of records preservation to the attention of scholars' As a consequence have scholars developed unrealistic expectations regarding archival resources and what we shall be able to archive in such areas as appraisal and sampling standards In discussing the role of the archivist, Τ R Schellenberg gave forewarning of the need to draw to the attention of scholars the problems associated with preserving records when he wrote

'In evaluating the large senes of records that are useful to social and economic studies, therefore the archivist must take into account the practical difficulties in the way of preservation and bnng these to the attention of scholars who are interested in preserving them He must show that a careful selection of the documentation produced by a modern government is necessary if he is not to glut his stacks with insignificant matenals that will literally submerge those that are valu-able He must call attention to the fact a government has but a limited amount of funds for the preservation of its documentary resources and that these funds must be applied judiciously for the preservation of the most important of these resources' 2 7

The current situation in New Zealand provides examples of a number of difficulties archivists mustfacewhen appraising and sampling records

It also reflects on the largely uninformed state of scholastic opinion regarding these problems Consequendy the appraisal archivist undertaking to sample records often finds himself being hindered rather than assisted by scholars

In 1982 the National Archives (New Zealand) appraisal and transfer function was alloted $84,346 out of a total budget of $861,361 Faced with such a limited funding, microfilming (or reproduction of records on alternative machine formats) was not a viable option A number of factors including a) limited storage, b) a total records storage budget of $88,167 in 1982, and c) storage costs ranging from $50 85 per square metre in Wellington to $32 36 per square metre in Lower Hutt (at the Record Centre) has meant the bulk storage of records is not a viable alternative to sampling Consequently, storing records on the assump-tion that new technologies such as video and optical disc may eventually prove more viable alternatives to appraisal and sampling is currendy not a practical solution for New Zealand 2 8 If finance and the absence of adequate storage space are two aspects of the difficulties facing New Zealand Archives, absence of staff is another Three archivists are expected to appraise some 170 institutions many of which have district offices, branches and semi-autonomous units, 'the calibre of staff recruited is high, but there is a sense of frustration at the inability to do what needs to be done The limited staff and resources permit only the basic tasks to be performed' 2 9

In spite of these obvious and overwhelming handicaps, a committee chaired by a professional historian when asked to report on appraisal noted 'the insufficient professional and historical background of the archivists making the initial appraisal' 3 0 and 'amongst the deficiencies that must be instanced uncertain sampling and use of example' 3 1

Significantíy the report made no mention of the difficulties facing appraisal archivists and its recommendations went little beyond suggesting 'a systematic revision of disposal schedules' 3 2 Their main solution to appraisal and sampling deficiencies being 'Appraisal archivists should whenever possible consult experts on technical and geographical areas, outside their personal knowledge before making destruction recommendations on records concerning them' 3 3 However, going by past experience consulting experts have often sigmficandy delayed appraisal decisions thereby increasing the dangers of unauthorised destructions by institutions overburdened with non-current records of little or no administrative value The Police schedule, for instance, was delayed for four years because historians and National Archives were unable to agree to a sampling method to cover minor offences In the absence of an agreement, major offences files were not covered by schedules due to that fact the Police correcdy insisted on a total sche-dule covering all offences Attempts to implement a probation disposal schedule revealed that experts are largely unaware of the problems of appraisal Their initial response was to retain all records When informed

of the volume involved they suggested a random sample which is not really practical because of the geographic distribution of the probation offices and the varying sizes and composition of offices which ranged from offices operated by policemen as part of their official duties to large regional offices m major centres manned by numbers of full-time staff To compound these difficulties, most offices had their records, nominally interfiled from 1945 on As probation staff were going to have to administer the sample, the National Archives appraisal staff had to adopt a method of sampling which could be easily used Probation staff immediately rejected the idea of a random sample, as we suggested a systematic alphabetical sample to be followed by a 'purposive' sample in which the records of persons committing major offences (and recidivists) would be retained A 'purposive' sample could be applied relatively easily because inside each case file was a summary history sheet which provided probationers a ready means of determining whether or not the file met the selection entena It was also suggested that all personal history sheets be retained The schedule is still m limbo simply because the experts cannot agree as to whether or not the sample has a sufficient degree of mathematical reliability In the meanwhile the absence of an appraisal decision is almost certainly damaging National Archives relations with the Justice Department

In the light of these difficulties I feel archivists must publicize the difficulties associated with sampling more vigorously by emphasising their resource limitations and the problems which invanably anse as a consequence of the individual pecuhanties of diffenng record systems Failure to publicize these difficulties only compounds the problems of the appraisal archivist Blissfully unaware of these difficulties, scholars attempt to impose what often amounts to unrealistic sampling entena on archival institutions, and when the institution fails to respond, they brand archivists 'insensitive' or 'unprofessional' which in turn evokes an equally emotional response from archivists, not to mention damages the archives in the mind of the public

The sampling of case records invanably forces the archivist to address the issues and problems of defining valid research needs, balancing these needs against the privacy nghts of individuals and the need to devise procedures for controlling access to confidential information Despite numerous wntings and debate on these issues, there exists a danger that the difficulty m finding a suitable solution may lead institutions to abandon both the sampling of records and all acquisition of case files Comments by David Klaassen suggest this danger is very real 'Archivists in recent years have generally, if uncritically, accepted the idea that case records represent a potentially valuable course of information on an otherwise undocumented segment of the popula-tion, although problems associated with bulk and confidentiality have limited archival acquisition of such records For example, according to a 1977 survey of state archivists, 76 percent of them perceived public

welfare records as having value but only 15 percent had accessioned any' 3 4

Difficulties arising from the need to balance 'the right to know' and the 'right to privacy' may not only have had the effort of minimizing the use of sampling as a method of selection, but at times may have resulted in archivists rejecting 'outside' advice when sampling 'sensitive' record series

Maynard Bnchford shares Leonard Rapport's view that the frequency of use is a measure for determining the value of records 'The value of archives is wholly dependent upon the existence of persons attaching value to them Rates of activity may vary depending on the clientele of the archives, the research popularity of the research matter, trends to methodologies, and the availability of other resources, but one of the best indicators of research value is research statistics As archival re-sources increase and budgeting, appropriation, and accounting con-trols are tightened, the citation of research use becomes increasingly important ' 3 5 Rapport suggests the archivist should analyse use of the records every twenty, twenty-five or thirty years and argues 'where samples or selections are periodically accessioned, this analysis would be particularly useful in determining whether the archival use of these samples and selections were those on which the sampling or selection schemes and percentages were predicted ' 3 6 The criteria of research use is particularly valid when applied to records sampled because of their potential research or informational value However, in New Zealand where quantitative (statistical) research in archives has had limited application, the archivist may find that an analysis of research use is more likely to justify a purposive sample than a statistical one If this were the case, should we not change the emphasis of our selection entena ' The answer is probably yes which in effect contradicts the view of current archival literature that purposive sampling has little validity as a selec-tion method

Faced with the increasing proliferation of records, the expansion in researcher numbers, 3 7 and the growing tendency for public access for research purposes to be speeded up as a result of greater acceptance of the concept of open government (as testified m the Official Informa-tion and Freedom of Information Acts), archivists must become more mvolved m current records control Due to the mcreasmg volume of records being created that have long retention penods, particularly case files, archivists must do something Possible alternatives are to sample retrospectively or persuade record managers to store case files (and similar homogenous record types) on machine readable formats The latter would certainly reduce the problem of bulk, and if properly designed would assist retrieval However, the problem of maintaining machinery to decipher the vanous automatic storage formats needs to be considered

Another alternative is the storage of records currently on paper on

machine readable formats with built in schedules or sampling entena This would ensure records are not kept longer than necessary and thereby minimize the problems associated with volume Creating mate-nal in the most compact form (íe machine-readable) then dumping it onto Computer Output Microfilm (COM) is another alternative to retrospective sampling, but the problems of resources and staff to implement this obviously must be considered Regardless of the solu-tion adopted to cope with the explosion of records, particularly case records, the need for archivists to become involved m record control has been heightened by shnnkmg resources — due to staff ceilings, dimin-ishing vacant storage space and limited funds combined with the high cost of accommodation and equipment These factors make it essential that the storage of documents be kept at an absolute minimum while allowing for legal, administrative, financial and research requirements It is unfortunate that whilst the astronomical growth in records has given impetus to developments in microfilm and other machine formats designed to reduce bulk and speed up access, shnnking resources have retarded their use in many small archives such as National Archives in New Zealand

In light of these considerations, sampling must receive greater atten-tion by archivists as a means of reducing the quantity whilst maintaining the important elements of a record senes Archivists should not exclude the use of sampling because it is too 'subjective' or 'too difficult' to be 'totally representative' Nor should archivists abandon the use of sam-pling because of difficulties associated with its implementation Con-cern with the need to destroy records or issues ansmg from the accessioning of sampled records, such as 'pnvacy' should not be used as excuses to forsake its use In many instances, I suspect, these excuses are used by archivists to disguise the fact that they do not understand sampling as an appraisal technique and are not prepared to learn how to use it

Particular sampling methods appear to suit different research meth-odologies Purposive sampling is more likely to assist the traditional histonan while statistical techniques aid the social researcher Conse-quently, when adopting a sampling technique the archivist must not only determine whether a senes is suitable for sampling, but must give serious consideration as to the type of research use it is likely to be put to The use of stratification or combination of statistical and purposive techniques would appear to answer most of the cnticisms of both methodologies so long as care is taken in the selection process (for example concerning the amount of mathematical reliability required) and so long as the archivist's decisions and selection processes are clearly and logically documented

Failure to sample is often tantamount to the absence of a well planned records disposal system 3 8 The result where space permits is records of marginal value are accessioned, thereby glutting stacks and diverting

staff time from more valuable material Alternatively, if space is a limiting factor, the decision not to sample means records remain m agencies either m the forlorn hope the problem mil solve itself or pending the invention of some wonderfully new cheap technology The likely result is quite suddenly space within the agency to store the records is found to be of a premium The usual solution is either to direct records to some substandard storage area where they mould away or, if such space is not available, the agency decides to dispose of its older records Soon all concerned are busily engaged in getting rid of files and with space a major consideration, destruction is apt to become the chief end view Only later, when the immediate pressure exercised by the space problem has disappeared, does the agency indulge in some careful thinking about its records problems

Unfortunately, the damage done m the meanwhile is irrecoverable But it could have been avoided by careful records sampling Such a scenario could equally apply to an archival institution that allows itself to be overburdened with records of marginal value hence archivists and scholars must be made aware that the possible risks and difficulties foreshadowed by waters on archival sampling are miniscule m compari-son with the likely consequences of failing to sample

REFERENCES

1 K. Benedict, 'Invitation to a Bonfire Reappraisal and Deacessionmg of Records on Collection Management Tools m an Archive — A Reply to Leonard Rapport', American Archivist, 4 7 , 1 (Winter 1984), ρ 44

2 L Rapport,'No Grandfather Clause Reappraising Accessioned Records', American Archivist, 44, 2 (Spring 1981), ρ 149

3 Harrison, 'Records Preservation Section Problems of Sampling as Related to Records Preservation — A Meeting Discussion', Archives, 10, April 1970, ρ 157

4 D Kepley, 'Sampling m Archives A Review', American Archivist, 47, 3 (Summer 1984), ρ 238

5 F Evans et al A Basic Glossary for Archivists, Manuscript Curators and Record Managers', American Archivist, 37, 3 (July 1974), pp 415-433

6 Ρ Lewmson, 'Archival Sampling', American Archivist, 20, 4 (October 1957), ρ 292 7 D Kepley, Sampling m Archives A Review', American Archivist, 47, 3 (Summer

1984), ρ 238 8 Ε McKay, Random Sampling Techniques A Method of Reducing Large H o m o -

genous Senes in Congressional Papers', American Archivist, 41 ,3 (July 1978), ρ 289 9 For a discussion of the high costs of microfilming in comparison with conventional

storage s e e j McDonald 'The Case Against Microfilming', American Archivist, 20, 4 (October 1957)

10 F Hull, The Use of Sampling Techniques in the Retention of Records A RAMP Study with Guidelines, UNESCO, Pans 1981, ρ 1

11 H Jenkmson, A Manual of Archive Administration, London, 1965, ρ 148 12 National Archives (New Zealand) Management Audit Report, ρ 25 (often cited as

the 'Wards Report') 13 F Boles, 'Sampling in Archives', American Archivist, 44, 2 (Spnng 1981 ) , ρ 1 14 Ε McKay, 'Random Sampling Techniques A Method of Reducing Large Homo-

genous Senes m Congressional Papers', American Archivist, 41 ,3 (July 1978), ρ 286

15 R Arnold, 'Using Archives and Manuscripts The Historians View', Archives and Manuscripts, A New Zealand Seminar, New Zealand Library Association, Wellington 1977, ρ 91

16 Ρ Lewinson, 'Archival Sampling', American Archivist 20,4 (October 1957), ρ 292 17 F Hull, The Use of Sampling Techniques in the Retention ofRecords A RAMP Study with

Guidelines, UNESCO, Pans 1981, pp 11-13 18 R. A D Occasional Paper Number 4, New Perspectives on the Sampling of Documents for

Preservation, Public Record Office, London 1975 R.A.D Occasional Paper Number 5, The Sampling of Documents for Statistical Use, Public Record Office, London 1975

19 F Hull, The Use of Sampling Techniques in the Retention ofRecords A RAMP Study with Guidelines, UNESCO, Pans 1981, ρ 13 cites the case of systematic sampling of 200 summary convictions to suggest the unsatisfactory results obtained by using this method The sample selected 100 percent female offenders whereas the bundle didn't suggest this F Boles, Sampling m Archives , American Archivist, 44, 2 (Spring 1981) ρ 129 in contrast used systematic sampling techniques on the sales records of the Steams Soft and Plumber Company, of Ludington, Michigan to show that systematic sampling was as effective m choosing a representative sample as random sampling Significantly, Boles does suggest that there are difficulties in applying systematic sampling techniques but suggests careful analysis of the records and use of proper systematic sampling techniques (eg varying the intervals can overcome most of these problems) Hull m turn admits to a vast range of systematic techniques ranging from Numerical or Serial, Chronological or Time-Senes Sampling, repre-sentative topographical sample, the Turnus system and regional sampling and according to his guidelines each may be acceptable for statistical study if they met certain guidelines which m effect is to agree with Boles view and Kepley's station

20 Care must be taken when using alphabencal sampling of surnames m New Zealand as the letters 'B' and 'S' are not used in Maori

21 F Boles 'Sampling in Archives', American Archivist, 44, 2 (Spring 1981) ρ 125 22 D Kepley, 'Sampling in Archives A Review', American Archivist, 47, 3 (Summer

1984), pp 241-242 uses the Hindus case and FBI study to demonstrate the use of a combination of several techniques and stratification

23 M J Bnchford, Archives and Manuscript Appraisal and Accessioning, Society of American Archivists, Chicago 1979, ρ 20 G F Ham, 'Archival Choices Managing the Historical Records in an Age of Abundance', American Archivist, 4 7 , 1 (Winter 1984) ρ 20

24 The needs of genealogists have been ignored by archival literature on appraisal and sampling In sampling, the needs of the genealogist can be compared to the 'traditional histonan in the sense both are interested m researching individual cases but unlike the 'traditional' histonan, the genealogist is not pnmanly con-cerned with spectacular cases The genealogist is also interest m 'non-elites' m this sense genealogists and social histonans have identical needs Whilst the social histonans' conclusions are denved from aggregated data about individuals, gene-alogists in contrast, denve their conclusions from individual records and as a result information about particular individuals is not removed Genealogical research as a consequence tends to increase the likelihood of charges of 'invasion of pnvacy' than research by social histonans, where the aggregating of data has the effect of de-personalizing individual elements Archivists aware of the number of genealogists and their needs for personal details about individuals could with some justification argue that almost every case file relating to person has value to genealogists, consequently, sampling does not meet their needs This defeatist viewpoint ignores the needs of our major clients and political ally Whether we are appraising (or sampling) records the archivist must consider the genealogists' needs and formulate guidelines and selection methods

1982/83 1983 /84 1984 /85 3106 3450 4207 9754 11686 15477 1799 2505 2885 1481 1704 1603

which meet the particular requirements of genealogists For example, in New Zealand police personnel records are sampled by selecting for permanent preser-vation the records of police above a certain rank, those who have received particular awards and those who have had to appear before the Police Disciplinary Commit-tee The remaining records are destroyed except for a personal history sheet which is extracted from each file assigned to be destroyed The personal history sheet contains details of promotion, reprimands, station transfers Whether or not the retention of this sheet is viewed as appraising, weeding, purging or sampling in-dividual records is questionable, the point I wish to convey is the purposive sample of spectacular cases given the needs of traditional historians, whereas, the selection of the personal history sheet meets the needs of the 'social' historian and basic requirements of the genealogist

25 D Klaassen, "The Provenance of Social Work Case, Records Implications for Archival Appraisal and Access', Provenance, 1,1 (Spring 1983) pp 18-19

26 ibid pp 18-19 27 Τ R. Schellenberg, Modern Archives Principles and Technique, Melbourne 1956

pp 152-153 28 D Ν C Bui, 'TheVideodisk Technology, Application, and Some Implications for

Archives', American Archives, 47, 4 (Fall 1984) 29 W I Smith Archives m New Zealand, a Report, Wellington 1978 ρ 20 30 National Archives (New Zealand) Management Audit Report ρ 26 31 ibid , ρ 26 32 National Archives (New Zealand) Management Audit Report ρ 27 33 ib id , ρ 27 34 D Klaassen, "The Provenance of Social Case Records Implications for Archival

Appraisal and Access', Provenance, 1,1 (Spring 1983) ρ 18 35 M Bnchford, Archives and Manuscripts Appraisal and Accessioning, Society of Amen-

can Archivists, Chicago 1979, ρ 9 36 L Rapport,'No Grandfather Clause ReappraisingAccessioned Records', American

Archivist 44, 2 (Spnng 1981), ρ 149 37 The growth m research numbers and the use of archives m New Zealand is reflected

m the following table 1980/81 1981 /2

Reader Visits 1933 2400 Document productions 6697 6937 Wntten Inquines 1054 1330 Loans to government 1226 1224 departments Source C Campbell 'Miracles Takes a Little Longer Balancing the Budget at National Archives', Archifacts 1985,1 ρ 19

38 The failure to implement the New Zealand Police Offences sampling recommen-dations, for example, has resulted in the continued absence of a planned disposal programme The result, in Auckland where space is available has meant un-a p p r i s e d records are being transferred to the Archives Elsewhere, I suspect un-authonsed destructions are occurnng as offences amount to over 400,000 per annum many of which generate a number of files (eg murder investigations)

Shorter Articles

National Archives Policy Concerning Storage of Local

Government Records or Archives

Bruce Symondson, Auckland City Council

I had written on behalf of ARANZ Council to National Archives con-cerning training of archivists and local government records and ar-chives issues Below is a clear and complete text of the letters in so far as they refer to the issue of National Archives policy concerning storage of local government records or archives The ARANZ Council meeting of 3 March thought this information might be of interest to members The rest of the letters discussed other issues in a less complete fashion and therefore were unlikely to be of the same interest and value

Bruce Symondson, ARANZ Council Member, to Director of National Archives, 8 December 1988

Dear Ray, I am writing on behalf of ARANZ about the National Archives policy concerning the storage of archives of ad-hoc authorities and local government territorial authorities The reason I ask is that as a result of a 1988 ARANZ Conference resolution I am preparing on behalf of ARANZ for the local government National Transition Committee a short paper on records management principles It is designed to state sound general ideas that would be of use to all local authorities One question that could arise is storage of archives of closed authorities My own recollection is that National Archives policy has not been to take the archives of territorial local authorities, though a very few exceptions may exist where the authority no longer exists and the volume is very small I'm less clear regarding ad-hoc authorities as I know National Archives holds Fire Services Boards, and Hospital and Education Boards It would help me if you could advise whether or not I am correct concerning territorial local authorities, and whether or not you expect the process of local government reform to cause a change in policy Also whether it is possible given the variety of ad-hoc authorities to state a simple policy, and again, whether or not you expect it to change

Ellen Ellis, Assistant Director, Records Management Branch National Archives, to Bruce Symondson, 23 December 1988

Dear Bruce, I am responding to your letter of 8 December to Ray Your question about National Archives policy on storage of local government records is a complex one We are very concerned about the possible loss of valuable records and archives We are also aware that neither National Archives or even the Records Management Branch Records Centres could cope with the influx of unappraised records from territorial and non-territorial authorities that could result from the restructuring before and after October 1989 Our Records Centre will obviously be able to accommodate and provide a retrieval service for a fair amount of material if say those authorities in the Auckland region cannot find any suitable storage for some time But this does not in itself adequately address the need for appraisal, arrange-ment and description and reference services to the records Theoretically and of course commercially we could undertake such work on a payment basis from any local authority, but as an archivist I believe that local government archives should ideally be housed, pre-served and maintained by the authority to which they refer, or in ajomtly funded regional archives centre In such a situation RMB would still be available in an advisory and training role on a cost-recovery basis The gist of this as you will realise is that National Archives does not see a way it could offer to take in as archives local authority records left "homeless" by the reform process (see below) But the RMB Records Centre could act as an intermediate repository until the full establish-ment of regional local government archive centres This must be qualified by excluding from this, Fire Service, Education and Hospital Board records and archives which as you correctly sus-pected come within the scope of the Archives Act Our guide to this scope is the Directory of Official Information, which is in turn based on the schedules of official organisations attached to the Official Informa-tion Act and its amendments I hope this gives a clear picture of our policy at this time

(Unless they fall under category of records referred to in the Local Government Act Section 251 (3) Documents of abolished Local Au-thorities if there is no such council (assuming responsibility and functions), the Chief Archivist shall assume responsibility for the docu-ments Β S )

ARANZ SUBMISSION ON7E KETEARONUI, A DISCUSSION PAPER FOR A PROPOSED MINISTRY OF

ARTS AND CULTURE, APRIL 1989

The Role of Archives Introduction I 0 The Report is primarily concerned with the existing lack of co-

ordination m policy formulation and administration of Arts and Culture As the Report makes clear just because responsibility is at present divided between the Department of Internal Affairs and a number of other agencies (12 and 1 3) there is no one point of responsibility for policy advice in a general way There would be undoubted benefits from the creation of a Ministry authorised to advise on cultural aspects and implications of, for example, broadcasting

I I It is also important, however, to understand what are the limits of the advantages The Report is clear that even if a Ministry is created, regardless of exacdy what its structure and role is, there will continue to be diversity of funding and delivery (15 2 and 19 1 )

1 2 One of the assumptions underlying the reform of government in New Zealand m die past five years has been that many depart-ments had vague, conflicting and/or overlapping objectives As a consequence administration was both inefficient and expensive Whether this assumption was true or not is irrelevant as it clearly does not apply to Arts and Culture Expenditure may be by a diverse and sometimes confusing structure both inside and out-side the Department of Internal Affairs Most if not all of the structure, however, is composed of units with fixed budgets and operating under detailed and specific objectives It is therefore unlikely that any of the options proposed for a Ministry of Arts and Culture could be expected to save significant sums of money Even the most efficient of organisations can be improved, but there is no evidence of general inefficiency in the use of resources in Arts and Culture m New Zealand It is therefore suggested that there can be no substitute for a clear-cut government commit-ment that involves the provision of additional resources

Archives in the Report

2 0 A manuscript collection such as that held by the Alexander Turnbull Library is entirely cultural in purpose As the report notes a National Archive has both a cultural role, and a concern with the administration of current records (4 5 1 ), if only because

the holdings of a National Archive once were current records It is also important to recognise that a National Archive m part serves an administrative function on behalf of government departments, and in some countries this was the original, primary purpose, and remains so today The New Zealand National Archives has both roles, though it is the wider cultural role that requires the greater resources Any nskfrom conflicting objectives has been reduced in recent years by the creation within National Archives of a Records Management Branch, and a self-funding advisory service

2 1 It is therefore surprising given that the cultural role of archives is recognised, and not seen as conflicting with the other important role of National Archives that for most of the Report there is no recognition of the relationship of archives with other aspects of Art and Culture in New Zealand, let alone the potential impor-tance of that relationship Archives are an integral part of New Zealand's cultural heritage, but one would not believe this from reading the Report as a whole This is so critical a point that it is detailed below with respect to a number of issues

2 2 The large volume of archives concerned with Maori history held by the National Archives, not by any means restricted to archives of the Maori Affairs Department, provides a significant record of Maori culture Though to a considerably reduced extent, the same general point is true for Pacific Islands Culture Even with respect to other Ethnic-Minonty Cultures it is National Archives that holds the documentation of immigration policies, granting of citizenship etc

2 3 The 'Links Between Education/Training and Arts/Culture' (section 2 6) involves archives Increasingly education at all levels has m recent years become more concerned with recognising the need for greater New Zealand content, in particular New Zea-land's heritage Ordinary secondary school students can have access to New Zealand archival material by the provision of professionally developed kits Architectural students can include local building studies provided local authorities have developed archives

2 4 The omission of any mention of archives în'Local Government Support of Arts and Culture' (section 2 8) is particularly surpris-ing when one realises that local authorities have an explicit statutory responsibility for their archives Additionally the cur-rent reform of local government will result in many more units of sufficient size to justify professional archival staff

Local Archives

3 0 So far our comments have been primarily concerned with National

Archives This should not be taken as a slight on the archives and manuscript collections, large and small, of libraries, museums, and other institutions Together these collections are a vital cultural record In some countries overseas, e g America, these collections, and those of local government, get considerable financial support for specific projects In New Zealand financial support for archive and manuscript projects from agencies with a responsibility to assist the arts and culture in general is very rare, and primarily for conservation projects

Conclusion

4 0 It is probably in general true that most people, while quite clear that archival manuscript collections were part of New Zealand's historical heritage, would be less sure that they were 'culture'

4 1 This uncertainty appears also to exist in the Report It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that those responsible for the Report mentioned archives primarily because National Archives was part of the Department of Internal Affairs The wider cultural value, actual and potential, is virtually completely ignored

4 2 A good case is made for the creation of a Ministry of Arts and Culture that brings greater coherence to policy development and advocacy, and reduces the existing confusion respecting funding, while recognising the inevitability and value of diverse servicing

4 3 None of this will however be of any use to the archives and manuscript heritage of New Zealand unless the people respon-sible see that heritage as an important part of New Zealand's cultural heritage, and fund accordingly This would need to be done not only through the budgets of the institutions direcdy responsible for the collections It requires either that existing sources widen their concepts, or the creation of a new source of funding, modelled on for example the National Historical and Records Commission m America

Prepared on behalf of ARANZ Council by Bruce Symondson

PROTECTING OUR PAST FOR THE FUTURE —

THE ANTIQUITIES ACT

Jane Kominik

Department of Internal Affairs

A document received for sale by the major London auction house, Sotheby's, was the subject of court proceedings in Gisborne m March this year The document, known as the 'Captain Cook Instruction', is a letter from Cook to Captain Charles Clerke, written on 10 July 1776, containing instructions relating to Cook's third voyage to New Zealand

Clerke was Cook's appointed second-in-command of the second vessel, the sloop HMS Discovery At the time of writing, Cook was on board HMS Resolution at Plymouth Sound, waiting for a favourable wind He was anxious about Clerke, who was confined in King's Bench Prison for debts guaranteed for his brother In the letter, Cook instructs Clerke to 'put to sea and follow me to the Cape of Good Hope without a moments loss of time'

In April 1988, the Department of Internal Affairs was alerted that the Poverty Bay Club of Gisborne had exported the document for sale in England The Department administers the Antiquities Act 1975, which is designed to protect our cultural heritage by controlling the export of movable cultural property The Act aims to ensure that future genera-tions of New Zealanders have continued access to their heritage Under the Antiquities Act it is an offence to export an antiquity without the permission of the Secretary of Internal Affairs

The Department sought expert advice and it was determined that the letter was an antiquity in terms of the Act The Department made several approaches to the Poverty Bay Club, asking that it consider returning the document to New Zealand The Club was not prepared to do this, and was charged with contravening the Antiquities Act The case was heard on 9 February and 21 and 23 March in the Gisborne District Court

In defence, the Club argued that the letter did not relate to New Zealand in such away as to make it an antiquity However Judge Thomas ruled that there was no reason to depart from the usual meaning of 'relates' in determining what was an antiquity He noted that 'relates' means 'to have a connection with or establish a relationship with'

Judge Thomas stated that 'There is no doubt that Captain James Cook is the pre-eminent figure in New Zealand history, its development, exploration and discovery' He ruled that the document was an antiq-uity under the New Zealand Antiquities Act 1975, and the Club was con-victed of the charge

Judge Thomas's written decision has been most helpful to the Depart-ment in interpreting the Antiquities Act Museums and other public

M I C R O F I C H E P U B L I C A T I O N S F O R S A L E

Out-of-print publications available on microfiche are -

New Zealand Electoral Rolls NZ Registered Ships 1869-70 S42 1840-1950 $28 1870-71 $65 Early New Zealand 1871-72 $42 by Sherrm & Wallace $24 1873-74 $46 Settlement of Otago 1874-75 $50 by Τ M Hocken $13 1875-76 $58 Datus by George Finn $8 1893 $190 NZ Expeditionary Force 1894 $173 1914-1918 War $130

Canterbury Provincial Rolls NZEF Nominal Rolls 1872-73 $14 1939-1948 $75 1873-74 $18 Cyclopedia of New Zealand

Wise s NZ Directories Vol 1 Wellington Province $44 1878-79 $28 Vol 2 Auckland Province $32 1883-84 $40 Vol 3 Canterbury Province $34 1885-86 $40 Vol 4 Otago & Southland $34

Stone s Dunedin & Vol 5 Nelson Marib Westl $19 Invercargill Directory 1886 $20 Vol 6 Taranaki Hawkes Bay $24

Stone s Otago & Southland Aliens Naturalised In NZ Directories 1907 $32 1843-1916 $9

1909 $36 Maori Land Claims in the 1915 $28 A J H R s & L C 1855-1985 $27

Prices include GST and postage A detailed brochure is available on request Except for libraries cash is required with your order

BAB MICROFILMING 4 Kathyrn Ave Mt Roskill Auckland 1004 NZ (Ph 659-778)

institutions may be the first contact point for enquiries regarding the export of antiquities It is important that all institutions with responsi-bilities for cultural property are familiar with the provisions of the Antiquities Act, and that these enquiries are directed on to the Arts and Cultural Heritage Division of the Department of Internal Affairs

Despite the outcome of the court case, the Cook Instruction was sold at Sotheby's m July 1989 Unfortunately it was not possible to take legal action to have the letter returned to New Zealand as English courts will not uphold the statutes of another country However, the UK 1990 Committee has arranged for the Instruction to be purchased and returned to New Zealand, as a gift from the people of London

The Department of Internal Affairs is currenüy reviewing the Antiqui-ties Act The new legislation will enable New Zealand to accede to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of cultural property The Convention pre-vents material which has been illegally exported from one signatory country from being imported into another signatory country

In case you are wondering, Clerke set sail from Plymouth on 1 August 1776, arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on 10 November, just three weeks after Cook

A CERTIFICATE IN ARCHIVES MANAGEMENT

Wairarapa Community Polytechnic will mount a one year Certificate course in Archives Management in 1990 The course will provide a nationally recognised first professional qualification for working archi-vists and interested people who want to enter the profession

The Polytechnic is entenng the field because it sees archivists as a growing need to preserve the growing number of records of our past Local bodies, regional health boards and many businesses have been restructured This makes considered appraisal of records urgent In ever larger numbers people want to identify their roots They need help in discovering and keeping family records

The Certificate in Archives Management will be a very flexible course It will be arranged in a senes of modules which can be studied part-time or full-time

Each module will fall into two parts One will deal with theoretical issues and will be taught in Masterton The other will involve students in a practical project This may be completed at a student's workplace or m any other archive

Programme standards will be at undergraduate university level While not yet tied down, it is hoped to reach agreement with universities and Teachers' Colleges about cross-crediting similar courses

Course content will not be finalised until a professional advisory committee has been assembled and teaching staff appointed, action is targeted for October, 1989 The course is likely to cover all main aspects of an archivist's work * ACQUIRING AND COLLECTING ARCHIVAL RECORDS

How to research records, appraise their significance and legally acquire them

* ARRANGING AND DESCRIBING RECORDS How to classify, descnbe and house records once they have been acquired

* CONSERVING ARCHIVAL RECORDS How to appraise the state of preservation of records and then plan, carry out and evaluate conservation programmes

* REFERENCING ARCHIVAL MATERIAL How to develop, maintain and manage retrieval systems

* PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR ARCHIVISTS How to communicate effectively with clients, researchers, col-leagues and the general public

* SPECIAL APPLICATIONS How to meet the spécial archival needs of groups like researchers,

genealogy societies, iwi authonties, local bodies and health boards

FOURTH PARBICA TRAINING SEMINAR AND

CONFERENCE, 10-21 APRIL 1989

Ken Scadden, National Archives

Arrangement and description of archives were the themes of the fourth PARBICA training Seminar and Conference held in Wellington from 10-21 April Twenty-seven delegates from eighteen Pacific countries (covenng Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia) attended, making it the largest international archives seminar held in New Zealand to date

PARBICA (the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives) was founded in Suva in 1981, and since then there have been two seminars in Sydney (1985) and Port Moresby (1987)

Planning for the Seminar was undertaken by a team of archivists from National Archives aided by a professional organiser (funded by the Minister of Internal Affairs) Funding for the Seminar was obtained from, among others, the ICA, Australian International Development Assistance Bureau, Commonwealth Foundation/Commonwealth Archi-vists Association, British Council, Ministry of External Relations and Trade, and the South Pacific Forum

Like storm-battered sea-birds the delegates arrived over a five day period proceeding the Seminar Unforeseen travel problems meant that several delegates did not arrive, one frustrated visa-less archivist made it to Auckland and was sent back to the Solomon Islands

Ngati Poneke welcomed the delegates with a meal and cultural evening on the Sunday preceeding the Seminar Ray Grover welcomed the delegates to New Zealand, and Peter Boag, Secretary of Internal Affairs, opened the Seminar

Acknowledgement of the tangata whenua was made by devoting the first day to aspects of Maori archives with papers by Huía Hemara, Jane McRae, Tama Rei and Sharon Dell being well received Each delegate then reported on archivai developments m their own country, includ-ing New Zealand (Penny Feltham - ARANZ, David Retter - Turnbull Library, and Ken Scadden - National Archives) A valuable paper on the role and progress of PARBICA was given by Judith Hornibrook during the Seminar This was followed by a paper given by Judith's former colleague, Jacob Hevelana from the National Archives of Papua New

The Polytechnic is currently canvassing interest in such a course with a questionnaire If you want more information about this or the course, please contact the Polytechnic's Liaison Tutor at Ρ O Box 698, Master-ton or by phone on (059) 85-029 or by Fax on (059) 88-526

Guinea, on problems of archival development in the Pacific, using Papua New Guinea as a case study

Training visits were conducted by Dr Peter Orlovich (University of New South Wales), Michael Roper (Keeper of Public Records, England) and Mrs Habibah Yahaya (National Archives of Malaysia) Sessions focussed on a variety of arrangement and description techniques and processes The breadth of archival experience of the delegates meant more debate and exchange of opinions than at previous PARBICA seminars

Delegates made visits to the Government Printing Office and Na-tional Library Micrographics Section, and optical disk and microgra-phie equipment were demonstrated for them by Wang and Kodak

The segmentation among keepers of cultural heritage material which exists in New Zealand does not occur m the same degree in the Pacific islands, and delegates made maximum use of the opportunities offered m Wellington to visit the National Archives, National Library, National Museum, Parliamentary Library, BNZ Archives, Maritime Museum, Par-liament Buildings, and the Office Technology Show

In honour of the delegates the Wellington Cook Islands Community, ARANZ Wellington Branch, National Library and the Minister of Internal Affairs/National Archives all hosted functions during their two week stay Even though it was a PARBICA Seminar efforts were made to encourage non-member archivists and manuscripts librarians from Wellington to participate Many local archivists participated in the formal training sessions and in the social events which had been organised Apart from a number of restaurant evenings, the highlight of the social programme was a weekend fieldtnp through Wairarapa, Manawatu and Horowhenua, which included visits to two marae, a colonial museum, the National Wildlife Reserve, a farm demonstration, a vineyard, a brewery, and a steam train excursion through the Mana-watu Gorge (organised by Sheryl Morgan)

Overall delegates thought it was the most successful PARBICA Semi-nar to date More countries were present than ever before, with dele-gates from four countries — Tokelau, American Samoa, Tonga and French Polynesia being present for the first time After an intensive two weeks of training, professional development and socialising, and with a new bureau and board at the helm, PARBICA is on the threshold of some exciting new initiatives for archives in the Pacific region

For further information on PARBICA please contact the author of this report

ARANZ 13TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The Thirteenth Annual Conference of the Association will be held from 26-29 October 1989 at the Royal New Zealand Police College, Papakow-hai, Ponrua

There are two main themes for the Conference, both of which are topical, they are issues of records management and archives and the Treaty of Waitangi

This ARANZ Conference is the first to concentrate on records man-agement as one major theme The records management section has been organised by Alison Fraser and includes lectures and seminars from prominent international records managers concerning the im-pact of technology and the changing face of records management, finding the right person for the job, and examining the integrated approach to information management in institutions

Penelope Feltham has organised the archives section which features sessions on ethics in archives (including the re-drafting of the Antiqui-ties Act), user-pays m archives, and records at risk One workshop will address the theme of copyright, especially with regard to spiritual ownership among indigenous people in New Zealand and North Amer-ica Another workshop will consider security and the growing incidence of theft of cultural property

Graham Butterworth has organised lectures and workshops concern-ing the Treaty of Waitangi There will be lectures by Ian Wards, John Owens and Wira Gardner, on the documentary evidence, history and interpretations of the Treaty Mira Szazy is to chair a panel discussion on recovering the Maori past, and John Luxton is offering a paper on the National Party's perspective on the Treaty

NOHANZ will be offering training sessions in oral archives, a major trade exhibitors' fair is planned and, on Sunday morning, a tour of the Wellington Botanical Gardens will be led by garden historian Walter Cook

Dr Michael Hoare, who is Conference Chairman, Dr Brad Patterson and Mr Llew Kemeys, who is Conference organiser, have been respon-sible for Conference planning

Registration kits have been sent to all members, enquiries about the Conference should be directed to the Conference Organiser, Ρ O Box 11-553, Manners St, Wellington

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given to all members of ARANZ that the Annual General Meeting of the Association will take place at 7 ρ m on Friday 27 October 1989, in the Royal New Zealand Police College, Ponrua

Michael Hoare Sheryl Morgan President Secretary

NATIONAL REGISTER OF ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS IN NEW ZEALAND

Penelope Feltham

Editor, NRAM

The publication of the Β series of the National Register of Archives and Manuscripts in New Zealand (NRAM), scheduled for early 1990, is intended to be the final issue m the present form

NRAM has been unable to provide a comprehensive guide to manu-script and archives holdings in New Zealand because many institutions have been unable to complete and submit entries

The Alexander Turnbull Library is at present investigating alterna-tive ways of providing information about manuscripts and archives held in New Zealand We intend to keep people informed of the results of our investigations This information will be available at the time of the publication of the Β senes

Tomorrow's History In this new section of Archifacts-we intend to invite comments on issues

of interest to ARANZ The idea was adapted from a symposium in a recent Times Literary Supplement (23-29June, ρ 690) in which historians descnbed books or projects they would like to see undertaken For this issue we invited some Auckland users and custodians of archives to comment on what projects they would most like to see undertaken re-lating to the manuscnpt and archival collections in our public institutions

Anne Bromell Family Historian

The celebration of New Zealand's sesquicentennial in 1990 will focus at-tention on the history of the European settlement of our country and, I hope, on our Maori hentage too As well as the much publicised national projects such as the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, histones of localities, schools, churches, commercial businesses and organisa-tions will also be produced In my opinion, however, some of the most valuable histoncal research will be done by family histonans and the results of their work will provide a firm footing on which tomorrow's history can be built

Family histonans need access to archives in the course of their research Although the custodians of archives provide access where possible, more could be done to produce multiple copies of archival matenal on microfiche The benefits would be that the onginals would not be damaged by handling and, in the event of a disaster at the archival repository, the information would not be completely lost Income from sales of the microfiche copies could be offset against the initial filming costs Afurther benefitwould be that the information would be available in a number of locations both in New Zealand and overseas

An archival source that needs to be more widely available is the Parliamentary electoral rolls The rolls provide an official list of people eligible to vote in the Parliamentary election at a given date Each entry in the roll provides a full name, address and occupation From 1893 everyone over the age of twenty-one who fulfilled the residential quali-fications was entitled to vote The rolls therefore serve as a census of the adult population Unlike England, Wales and Scotland, New Zealand census records (pre-1976) have not been retained, making the electoral

rolls of major importance I would like the Registrar of Electors to implement a programme to

microfiche the post-1927 Parliamentary electoral rolls and to make sets of those fiche available to libraries and others for purchase at an affordable price Bound volumes of the rolls from 1928, held at the Registrar General's Office at Lower Hutt, are accessible to the general public The books are in good condition, and the quality of print, the page format and binding is such that quality microfiche copies could be produced Copies of electorate maps and, where available, street indexes to the electorates should be included in the microfiche publication Because of the large quantity of pages in each set of rolls a step-and-repeat camera should be used to film the master copies More pages per fiche means fewer fiche per set of rolls and cheaper duplicate publications

I felt strongly enough about the importance of the electoral rolls being made more readily available to seek approval from the Parliamentary Librarian to film the rolls for the period from 1865 to 1925 Copies of rolls for this time period are not held by the Registrar of Electorates My company has funded the venture and to date BAB Microfilming has published rolls for the period from 1869-1876 plus 1893 and 1894 Publication of additional sets are planned but have been delayed as efforts are made to obtain copies of rolls missing from libraries' volumes

Representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) have previously filmed the electoral rolls and made them available through their Family History Centres, and many libraries have purchased copies of the films However, the volumes were filmed as they stood, with all their errors and omissions In many of the rolls I have checked there have been pages missing, rolls missing and rolls bound in other than the correct year's volume I am not criticising the work of the Church representatives, the fruits of which I have found to be extremely valuable during my own research, but rather pointing out that there is a need for the custodian of the archive to check the material to be filmed and to provide adequate finding aids and comments when publishing copies of archival material

To archivists — You have the custody and care of our historical documents You also have a responsibility to share our national trea-sures with the general public and not just with 'privileged academics' It is by sharing these treasures that you will increase the public awareness of the value m preserving archives and using the information they contain Get the family historians on your side as they can provide valuable assistance to you

Janet Foster Anglican Diocese of Auckland

As some of our readers will know I am the Archivist for the Anglican Diocese of Auckland In this very interesting work I keep 'meeting' many fascinating people of the past Some of them have become really alive and living people to me and I am sure that other archivists working in other denominational archives have similar people who have never been 'written up' or their stories told Many of these characters of our pastwill gam some recognition in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography but what I would like would be for some to be given even more recognition and perhaps a book or publication with an essay featuring two or three from each of the religious groups who hold archives or repositories

I would like to suggest three people who come to mmd from our Archives My two priests, both of whom we hold material on, are Archdeacon G A. Kisshng and Archdeacon Philip Walsh

Archdeacon G A Kisshng was an early C M S (Church Missionary Society) priest who worked in the Diocese of New Zealand with Bishop Selwyn He was of Lutheran extraction He and his wife began the 'Native Girl's School' at Kohimarama which later moved to Parnell He was the first incumbent of St Mary's Church, Parnell m 1860 We have recently accessioned a large collection of his letters and also hold one of his letter books His is a fascinating story and one waiting to be told

The other pnest is Archdeacon Philip Walsh He was an Irishman who came to New Zealand to be a farmer and was pnested in 1876 He was the most amazing man as he had so many accomplishments I couldn't list them all here, but will entice you with some As well as being a busy clergyman, he was a prolific writer for the Church Gazette and the New Zealand Herald, he was a member of the Royal Society and wrote articles on conservation for their fournal, he was a talented artist, he wrote and illustrated children's books (there is an unpublished example in the Alexander Turnbull Library), he illustrated other books, he designed the Marsden Cross, he designed battle hatchments, examples are m St Mary's, New Plymouth and the Church of St John the Baptist, Waimate North, he planned and designed many of the Anglican churches in the North and many stained glass windows (a good example is St Mary's Cathedral, Parnell) We hold very little original material but do have copies of many published articles and information on all of the topics I have mentioned above To me he is like a modern Michelangelo

My other candidate for inclusion in my list is Sister Kathleen North of the Church Army Sister North is living in her retirement in Selwyn Village She has had a varied and fascinating career in many spheres of New Zealand church life I keep 'meeting' her as she was very involved m both the Children's Home at Richmond Road and in working m the

North of our Diocese especially with the Maori Section of the Mother's Union, and we hold a very full account of her time and work there

These are three of my 'friends' whose work and lives I would like to have wider recognition for — any takers'

Peter Hughes University of Auckland Library

I'd like to see a history of the twentieth century book trade m New Zealand that would cover the vicissitudes of our publishing houses, and evaluate the achievement of our designers and printers I've a host of questions Which were our important printing houses' How exactly did they operate' What were their methods and standards of production' Why did they publish what they did, and what did they decline to publish' How importantwas the role of the State in publishing, and what did this mean for the industry and the reading public' How much of a force was the Government Printing Office' Who were our leading designers and printers'

I'd also like to know how much the book was, in the words of Febvre and Martin, 'a force for change' — that is, whether it is possible to assess the impact of local printing and publishing on our cultural scene

I'd like especially to see justice done to Denis Glover and Leo Bensemann, the Caxton Press from 1935 set typographical standards by which the work of all other printers and designers, with the exception of J C Beaglehole, can be judged Before World War II, Caxton had published some 60 books, 40 of which were poetry These included Curnow, Fairburn, Brasch, Mason and Bethell, as well as five antholo-gies By the end of the War their hstincluded Baxter's Beyond thePahsade, Sargeson's edition Speaking for Ourselves, Curnow's edition A Book of New Zealand Verse, Holcroft's The Deepening Stream, even Milton's Areopagitica It would be hard to imagine a New Zealand printing scene without Caxton As a small outfit, the Caxton Press concentrated on poetry and shorter prose works Novels were published by others and in the ten years 1935-44, some 80 novels by New Zealand writers appeared Fifty-five of those earned a London impnnt, 16 were published m New Zealand, and of those 16, Reeds published ten What does this say about the economics of the industry and about the role of Reeds' What does it say about Reeds' competitors, in particular, Whitcombe & Tombs who, by 1940, had the country covered' A W & Τ employee said m 1945 'Over the years we have published a number of [novels], the results have been patchy and this has taught us caution For novels our London publishing House has two other services by which it renders aid to the New Zealand novelists, who send their manusenpts to London and have

them published there' What were those services' And what did the W & Τ attitude mean to writers with unpublished manuscripts'

There are other tantalising figures that have stones to tell In 1942 John Hams analysed the Copynght lists 1936-41, and found that on average 223 books and pamphlets appeared each year Only 24 (11%) were 'literature and fine arts' What were the other 199 and what impact did they have'

I am sure such questions can be answered The Alexander Turnbull Library holds a wide and representative body of material relating to the book trade There are the records of Harry Η Tombs Ltd, 1910-57, Blackwood andjanet Paul's business, the Associated Booksellers of New Zealand, 1920-69, the Wellington Cooperative Book Society (one of three partners in the Progressive Publishing Society which, wrote Dennis McEldowney, 'went up like a rocket m the early 1940's and then came down like a rocket too'), the ex Libns Society, a Chnstchurch Whitcombe & Tombs pnnting record book, 1941-56, the A H & AW Reed records accessioned this year, and, perhaps the jewel of them all, Glover's own papers, including much about Caxton The Turnbull Library also has the manuscripts of many people involved in all aspects of the book trade, Johannes Andersen, Pat Lawlor, Leo Bensemann

I'd like too an assessment of the publishing programme for the 1940 Centennial It was a momentous undertaking for the government of the day, and was co-ordinated by the Department of Internal Affairs under the leadership of Heenan Were the resultant publications simply an exercise m national self-congratulation as some have claimed' What were the contributions of his advisers and employees, Oliver Duff (till 1939), Enc McCormick and J C Beaglehole' As records in National Archives show, the programme was beyond the resources of the Govern-ment Pnnting Office, and, once tendered, stretched even the commer-cial printers Beaglehole publicly agreed with cnticism about the design of the Surveys but said that what was wanted was not available 'though it has been on order for more than three months' This speaks volumes about the realities of the industry at the time, as do the LA Senes 1/62 and Senes 3/54 files at National Archives The file of the Pnnting and Production Sub-Committee of the Standing Committee of the National Histoncal Committee which contains minutes and conespondence survives (IA1 /62 /9 /9 ) Other files have details of the individual Survey publications (IA 1/62), down to the galley proofs (Beaglehole's The Discovery of New Zealand, marked up by Beaglehole, is IA 1/62/110) Beaglehole, of course, had a great deal of influence m things typo-graphical, from the early publications of NZCER to the output of the New Zealand University Press — he was a member of their Board of Management from 1947 until 1961 But his talents in this sphere remain largely unrecorded

Because book production involves plant, the technological changes in the industry need recording By 1940 there were between 550-700

Jane McRae University of Auckland Library

A project which I would like to see undertaken, and co-ordinated by ARANZ, would be a major survey of the use of our manuscript and archival collections The survey would aim to discover the frequency of use of collections and the extent of satisfaction with access to and management of them As part of the survey a participant institution would define its role and seek comment on whether or not it fulfilled that role It seems to me that such a survey would help to give the archive profession a measure of its worth and success, and also give guidance on the need for work in specific areas It might, for example, give an indication of the emphases of future training programmes for archivists by pinpointing the sort of work they are most likely to be doing In addition it could highlight priorities for work on particular collections — I am sure, for example, that if we were to survey the Maori population and researchers of Maori topics we would find that there is a shortage of trained staff, a lack of good management of and access to Maori materials, and htüe planning for future access to them

Archivists, I know, value highly the resources of their repositories But, equally, if not more, important resources for them are their users For the material archivists collect and preserve is only valuable if used The task of acquisition sometimes leads to what I would call the black hole of archiving — acquiring material at any cost and leaving it somewhere on the chance that an archivist might get time to deal with it later I am not questioning the validity of the skills of informed collecting and appraising done by custodians, but I would suggest that the application of those skills should not go untested by the users they are intended for It is always important to balance the collection and preservation of material against its use, and so archivists should always be alert to the voice of the user, it is after all the user to whom they are accountable

typesetting machines in the country (most, I suppose, were used for newspapers), including eleven Monotype Supercasters What matrices were available for these' For the smaller printer, how much jobbing work was needed to keep the business solvent' How did the industry cope with the changes in printing illustrations photogravure, offset' Where were the pnntenes, and what can we deduce, if anything, from their location and size'

Who could undertake such a history' I'd ask the writer who called the 1941 Caxton Catalogue his "typographical Bible"

A policy statement about access to archives appeared in the last issue of Archifacts (p 7) It came from an Annual General Meeting of ARANZ and it was no doubt prompted by the spectre of 'user pays' It advocated that access to publicly funded institutions should be without financial charge to members of the public The principle is a kind one — but I wonder who it came from — archivists or users or both' Are the archivists advocating on behalf of their users and, if so, do the users know that this advocacy has been taken on for them' Although that aim for access is admirable, is it realistic, and how will those who have to pay for the realisation of that aim be convinced that it is realistic'

I am concerned about future funding for archives, which may not allow the free service and quality of service we are used to or would like to expect, and I am prompted to ask 'Who makes the decisions about the quality of access to and management of collections in our public institutions'' It seems to me that users and custodians should make those decisions in concert Assumptions about the quality of services that we ought to provide have possibly cost archivists dearly in the past, in terms of both finance and their own energy Users have to knowwhich of their expectations can be met, just as custodians have to know what their users' priorities are Dialogue between the two occurs to a limited extent on a day-to-day basis, a survey would extend and assist it

Better communication between users and custodians will lead to better services, that is, better in human and monetary terms, because from that communication we can define what our institutions can and cannot offer A definition of service which is based on user expectation and what an institution can provide, will offer a more acceptable work environment for staff, a clearer statement of services to users, and a chance to set realistic and achievable goals

A useful result of the threat of user pays and a tightening of budgets, is that it has forced us to look carefully at what we do, why we do it and who it is for Market research techniques like surveys, may for some archivists seem to be at vanance with a belief that their work, the custody of recorded human knowledge, is for the public good and above the whims of market place opinion Yet the public good is surely what is defined by the public as good The market place offers two practices which I think are important for archivists to apply, and which I feel would result m support for their advocacy of free access and make their argument for it more convincing One practice is surveying the market to ascertain demand for or suitability of a product, and the other is an attunement to the market statements

I think that a survey of user opinion is likely to support the archivist's role, if it doesn't then we should be asking ourselves what the point of our occupation is For example, it is evident to keeper and user alike that the manuscript and archival collections in this country are poorly served in terms of funding for buildings and staff But it is also evident that many collections have considerable usage It seems to me that a neces-

Keith Sinclair Historian

My favourite project to assist future historians is the compilation of a complete index of nineteenth century Maori letters held in our archives and libraries and museums Large collections of these exist, for instance in the National Archives, the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Auckland Public Library There are literally thousands of these letters, some accompanied by translations, some published, for instance in the Appendices to theJournals of the House ofRepresentatives, but mostly unpub-lished and untranslated They include letters from many, if not most, of the well-known Maori of the time, including Te Ua, Potatau, Tawhiao, Wiremu Kingi and the leading kupapa, like Major Ropata and Major Te Wheoro, as well as innumerable other people

These letters form a resource unique to New Zealand So far as I am aware there is no parallel m another country of an illiterate people becoming literate so rapidly in their own language, nor do similar collections exist m Australia or other former European colonies It is possible for historians to study Maori history from documentary sources in a way impossible in other former colonies

Of course the missionaries assisted the development of Maori literacy They arranged for Professor Samuel Lee to produce a written form of Maori, with a sensible orthography, which made it easy for Maori to master They arranged for the publication, m Maori, of the Bible, which was for a long time the only material for Maori to read In the mission

sary way to advance the cause of archives is to have on record the voice of those that use them, the surprise and delight of those who have never heard of them, the concerns of those who have been frustrated in their attempts to use them, or the complaints of those who couldn't find them at all This sort of evidence will help to promote a greater appreciation of their value, and help those who are responsible for their funding assess the level of resources which should be put into them To espouse the social good of archives and free access to them is honourable rhetoric, to check with users about what we are doing for them is to justify the role of the archivist-guardian of the social good, and to exchange autocratic for democratic behaviour It is important to heed user opinion in the provision of archival services, and more so to be ready to question our own assumptions and change our practices An assessment of how our public institutions should manage manuscript and archival collections which is made m conjunction with our users, will stimulate our thinking, nudge our complacency and move us towards more dynamic and successful work as archivists

R C J Stone Historian

Inevitably the changed emphasis m archival collections that I would like to see is coloured by my own research interests, which must be first declared For thirty years I have been working in regional history, more precisely Auckland history with particular reference to nineteenth-century business élites In more recent times I have concentrated on the history of business and professions m Auckland, and have shifted the main area of my enquiry more to the twentieth century Currenüy I am engaged upon, and almost finished the history of what is probably the largest legal practice in Auckland Russell McVeagh McKenzie & Bart-leet, a firm 126 years old

To be sure there is a certain unfashionableness about my research field Since the 1960s the vogue among histonans has been to concen-trate on 'history from below', the disadvantaged in modern industrial capitalist society in New Zealand terms, women, Maon, the working class, deviant groups, recipients of welfare and so forth And this development is wholly to be applauded Too often the authorized version of the past we have had, has been that of the victors in the histoncal process Yet even if these neglected groups are to be seen in the round we must also know something of the activities of the business-men and the professions, especially lawyers and accountants who were

schools Maori were taught mainly in Maori, not English Moreover, many Maori taught one another how to read, which is how Te Ua learned to read the Bible

There has been discussion about how rapidly the Maori became literate, but there can be no dispute that a high proportion were literate in Maori during the period, say, 1850-90 During the wars of 1860-72 this literacy declined, partly because most of the mission schools closed The Hauhau would not send their children to school Partly in response to Maori petitions requesting that their children should be taught English, the 1867 Native Schools Act introduced Maori education m the English language, where English-speaking teachers were available The next generation of educated Maori, like Apirana Ngata and Te Rangihi-roa (Peter Buck), were literate m both languages Their correspon-dence is well-known but, having confined my own study of our race relations to the nineteenth century, I do not know how many twentieth century Maori letters are m libraries I have seen few, and suspect that the great period of Maori letter-writing was over Certainly few Maoris wrote to Governors or Native Ministers as so many had done in earlier times No doubt they continued to write to one another

the 'facilitators' of economic enterprise There have been attempts made in recent years in Auckland to

prevent records going to the tip, and to encourage business concerns, if they do not have the wish to keep records under conditions where deterioration will not take place, to hand them over to recognized repositories The Northern Archives and Records Trust (N A R Τ ), of which I am a member, has attempted to encourage this development in the 1980s Our great problem has been 'how can we alert businesses m Auckland to Ν A.RT 's advisory role p '

Often businessmen have been people of great enterprise As an overseas publication has recendy pointed out 'It often took ability, strong nerves and staying power to mobilise capital, to develop markets, and to organize the interrelated parts of a business' If this be so, your businessman or entrepreneur could be regarded as a kind of a hero Yet we have the stereotype of the 'crass businessman', and m standard histories he is often depicted as the villain of the piece For this, to some extent, businessmen, lawyers and other professional men have only themselves to blame They have had a tradition of privacy, of confiden-tiality m their business affairs (on which they have often fiercely prided themselves) which appeared to outsiders less than meritorious As Professor Ashton once said of the businessmen ' His taciturnity is one of the counts against him, evidendy he has a great deal to be silent about '

Fortunately businessmen have begun to relax their traditional reti-cence Perhaps they have realized at last that the best defence against lll-mformed critics is to counterattack, to reveal the whole story Business people are beginning to appreciate, moreover, that when they know about and take pride m their past they can give their firms a sense of identity, which is not unlike the magnet which draws people to family history, curiosity about one's roots

Salvaging records m Auckland, and one suspects equally m Welling-ton, has been especially difficult in the past, and is particularly so now The business heart of Auckland has been built, rebuilt, and is even today in the process of rebuilding (The firm I am now studying has had seven shifts of offices over the years ) A consequence for most firms of this constant transience has been a wholesale jettisoning of records, on a scale unthinkable in more static towns of New Zealand This wastage of records has been accentuated by takeovers and mergers which became marked in the late 1960s and have continued without remission since The result has been, on the part of the proprietors of the new concerns, a depreciation (not always consciously so) of the past performance of the constituents of the merger All too often there is no anxiety to hold on to 'outdated' records which are not thought to impart any real or relevant sense of identity to an essentially 'new' enlarged firm

As historians, archivists and librarians, we have a heavy and urgent responsibility laid upon us We must alert business and professional people to the value that posterity will place on their old records, even if

Jane Wild Auckland Public Library

Auckland Public Library's nineteenth century manuscript collections represent a wealth of potential for research projects The Grey Maori Autograph Letters Collection (GNZMA), named for Sir George Grey who left his library to the people of Auckland, is the subject of a major conservation, arrangement and description exercise — presendy in slow motion

The Library can only estimate the research potential offered by these letters, the writers, their language and the content of their letters will probably all be studied The Library's first responsibilities are to ensure the long life of the collection through adequate housing, to provide a retrieval system for the information contained in it, and to provide a place to encourage research on the letters Meeting these responsibili-ties should be a priority

The 780 letters were all directed to Sir George Grey from Maori people throughout Aotearoa These papers survived Grey's censorship and remain an eloquent testament to the men and women who com-posed them, and who attempted dialogue about their land and welfare with the then Governor The letters were gathered and bound for Grey in three volumes As they have been consulted and copied, the bindings have broken With each opening hundreds of letters have been at risk

The three volumes were unsatisfactory on every level A reader asking for a specific item or series of letters would be presented with hundreds of distracting and disparate letters bound with no regard to format, or more importantly to iwi This presented an unsatisfactory noise factor for the reader and for the librarians The volumes, cumbersome and fragile, were a security hazard, small letters or pieces of letters could fall out, even in transit from the Rare Books Room to the New Zealand and Pacific Department

The conservation and preservation exercise, begun in December 1986, involved moving the letters from their fragile bindings to individ-ual acid-free folders The number sequence originally assigned to these

they at the moment imperfectly perceive this Parallel to this task is the need to interview older business people The

true story can only be gathered by reminiscence when the documents have gone The special skills required to do this, as also to carry out disposal and retention of documentary business records in repositories, will obviously require preliminary training on the part of interviewers and archivists Drawing attention to this further problem is the note on which I will close my appeal

letters has been retained Each letter is being given an individual folder filed with a photocopy on archive paper which can then be handled and re-copied The catalogue 'Nga reta Maori', completed by the Head Cataloguer, Ted Stewart, in the late 1970s has provided limited access to the wealth of information m this collection Accessibility will be improved considerably by transferring these card descriptions to the Department's INMAGIC data management system In addition to signa-tures, the date, place and text can then be searched Many of the letters are signed by more than one person The computer system can easily accommodate many names and full text searching, which conventional catalogue cards with limited room for subject headings cannot Transfer to INMAGIC will also allow the Department to note further conserva-tion needed, translations available and other details There is other work to be done, like comparing hand writing in the letters, for some have been transcribed by Sir George Grey or an unknown hand, and many were originally dictated Translations also need to be checked against the original letters to establish the true meaning m the letters

Many Maori people are visiting the Library and discovering the words of their own tupuna in this collection Through time these letters have gained increased value, and work to ensure accessibility should increase accordingly

Examples of letters in the GNZ Maori Autograph Letters Collection at Auckland Public

Library before conservation.

t I. I

M Í * , » . '

91.4...

A .

I M,i...

•i. C. 1

News & Notes LIBRARY TO SPEND $1M TO HOUSE CITY

ARCHIVES An archive for valuable Auckland City Council and library records is being plan-ned for the basement of the Auckland Public Library The development, expected to cost about $940,000, is to consolidate records and allow easier public access Council records and archives manager Bruce Symondson said the council has a considerable volume of records of archi-val value

"But they are scattered — m the public li-brary, the town hall and the administra-tion bui lding—in some cases m imperfect order and often mixed with records not of permanent value, ' he said The present accommodation was a major hindrance to progress on the council's records management programme The council had been planning the ar-chive area for 18 months and it was ex-pected to take another 18 months to de-velop once full approval was given In-cluded in the archives would be all council and committee minute books A library committee meeting has recom-mended to the resources and organisation committee that a loan of $1 million be ob-tained for the work, providing for a contin-gency sum

Mr Symondson said the archives would be used more extensively if they were more accessible There was a growing interest in family history and the Local Government Offi-cial Information and Meetings Act was ex-pected to bring more inquiries Mr Symondson has begun the process of combing through records and deciding what has historical value "Archives are lit-erally records that are judged worthy of permanent retention, hence the need for a carefully controlled environment and shelving that will last a long time and cany considerable weight " The library shelving currently used for archive material was required for the

development of the rare books collection The new archives are to have about 1000m of shelving Auckland Star 14 March 1989

[It should be noted that the $940,000 is for the development of an area to be used jointly by the Council archives and Public Library manuscnpt collections ]

NGAI TABU CLAIM DOCUMENTS PRESENTED TO LIBRARY

The University Library now holds a com-plete set of the evidence and submissions made in the Ngai Tahu Claim to the Waitangi Tnbunal The bound set of documents — totalling about 10,000 pages and standing more than a metre tall—was formally placed in the University's care during a two-hour ceremony on Tuesday The presentation confirms the University Library's role as the prime repository for Ngai Tahu archives

Ngai Tahu guests were welcomed with a powhin performed by members of the Maori community on campus and with a senes of speeches In accepting the documents the Chancel-lor Mr Richard Bowron, said it was "a great pnvilege to accept this most magnifi-cent gift a wonderful treasure trove of the history of the Ngai Tahu people " The collection would be of tremendous value to staff and students Mr Bowron said It was fitting that staff and graduates of the University of Canterbury had con-tnbuted their skills to researching and presenting the case Mr Bowron said the University had long treasured the links with the Ngai Tahu people, the tangata whenua of Te Wai Pounamu 'We welcome the association between our University and the Ngai Tahu people and long may it continue,"he said On behalf of the Ngai Tahu Maon Trust Board Mr Tipene O'Regan thanked the University community "for the welcome and the expression of the continuing rela-

tionship between us and the University " The idea of making the University the formal archive for the Ngai Tahu people started with himself and former Maori Department lecturer Bill Nepia The idea had grown slowly among the Ngai Tahu people and now the physical archive was also growing Tribal committee minutes, records of runanga, records of hui held since the first Waitangi Tribunal hearing atTuahiwi in September 198V and aphoto-graphic record of these heanngs have all been deposited with the Library Mr O'Regan said the University of Canter-bury was chosen as the official archive be-cause it "was the safest place in Te Wai Pounamu that we could put the taonga We regard this as the base, this is where the originals come "

The Librarian, Mr Dick Hlavac, said the Li-brary was honoured by the presentation The trust shown in handing over records held in veneration was appreciated The Library was committed to building up its resources of material for the study of Maori culture, he said A thorough and conscientious effort was being made to acquire material relating to Maon studies In addition to books, documents and archival material the Library was building up its stock of recordings of Maon music and of videos and pnnts relating to Maon culture

Mr Hlavac said the archival role was a major responsibility which should remain a "live resource To that end it should be used by scholars and by Ngai Tahu people and it should be extended and enlarged The Head of the History Department, Pro-fessor David Mclntyre, outlined the his tory of Ngai Tahu claims back to 1849 and emphasised the significance of the cur-rent Waitangi Tnbunal heanngs— "people all over the world are watching," he said The History Department regarded deposit of the documents as being of very great sig-nificance They would be especially useful m History because of the populanty of courses on New Zealand history, Professor Mclntyre said

Speeches were given in Maon by Ngai Tahu kaumatua Waha Stirling, by Selwyn Parata, cultural advisor to the Ngai Tahu people and by Te Rangianiwaniwa Rakuraku, l ec turer in the Maori

Department The ceremony ended with food and dnnk in the Lower Common Room of the Students' Association building University of Canterbury Chronicle, Volume 24 Number 9, 7June 1989

Valuable Archives Papers Retrieved Histoncal documents valued at$5000 have been recovered by police from a Welling-ton auctioneer The documents had been offered for sale when spotted by staff of the National Ar-chives Ten documents were recovered, includ-ing some found dunng the search of a 72-year-old man s home No charges have been laid against the man, though Senior Sergeant Murray Lewis said the case was being treated as a theft inquiry The documents recovered included agree-ments between the New Zealand Com-pany and shipping firms on the transpor-tation of early settlers Also among them was an early sketch map of the North Island and Marlborough Sounds, and of the onginal Canterbury settlement drawn m 1849 Archives staff were working with police to identify exactly where the documents came from New Zealand Herald 30 June 1989

Archives Job Rivals Domesday Book One of the largest copying jobs in the world is about to be undertaken by the National Archives, Internal Affairs Depart-ment secretary Peter Boag says "Archives is to make facsimiles of Maon Land Court records, many of which are more than 100 years old and are falling into disrepair " Maon Land Courts were established in 1865, so some of the documents date to that time, although many of today's court proceedings only involve documents that go back one or two generations, to the 1920s The older documents tend to be used by histonans or other people establishing family histones "The copying is being undertaken so the onginals, now housed in the seven Maon Land Courts throughout the country, can

go to National Archives for permanent preservation A facsimile edition will go to the land courts, other copies will be made for distri-bution and a complete unbound master copy will be held for future copying Special archival paper ordered from America has a minimum life of 300-400 years Mr Boag said 2 5 million sheets would arrive m Wellington by ship for the copy-ing, which is to start in early September The Lottery Board, as part of its contribu-tion to the 1990 celebrations, has made funds available for the project, which the 1990 Commission has adopted "The copying of the Domesday Book is the only equivalent exercise that has been undertaken internationally, " Mr Boag said The documents represented a valuable record of New Zealand's history, reflect-ing the changes that took place in Maori culture, as well as changes in Pakeha atti-tudes and culture over time — NZPA Evening Post 18July 1989

Days of Our Lives on the Move Thirty years in the history of recording Wellington's births, deaths and marriages ended on Friday with the closure of the Anvil House office But registrar Yvonne Wilson wasn't sorry to say goodbye to the old base, least of all the less-than-beautiful wallpaper "It was terrible We would have these couples coming in to get manned, all romantic with their little faces lit up, then they d see the wallpaper in the marriage room it really took the shine off things," she said It s amazing how many people are upset

that we are leaving though, particularly the older people Just about everybody at some time has come into the place" Thousands of records dating back to 1860 were being moved to Seabndge House, 110 Featherston Street, where, among other things, the decor was much more suitable for marriage ceremonies ' It will take about a week to sort out the 400 bins of records though People will just have to be patient," she said Dominion 24 July 1989

Mystery Buyers of Document Identified Sir Alan Trail, a chairman of the UK/NZ 1990 Committee, has been identified as the mystery buyer of a histonc document signed by Captain James Cook before his third and last round-the-world voyage The document, a sailing order from Cook, to his second in command Captain Clerke, was the property of the Poverty Bay Club in Gisbome until being sold pnvately through Sotheby's last month However, it has now been revealed that Sir Alan, a former Lord Mayor of London, bought the document on behalf of the Corporation of London It will be presented back to the people of New Zealand in 1990 to mark the 150fh an-niversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi The sailing order sets out instructions to Captain Clerke of the Discovery on what to do m the event of anything happening to his commanding officer on the voyage NZ Herald 9 August 1989

Unique Dance Manuscript Found A unique 300-year-old dance and music manuscnpt has been discovered m New Zealand The manuscnpt contains previously un-known dances by a famous English danc-ing master of the early 18th century, and its discovery will attract wide international interest, says John M Thomson, founding editor of the Bnush journal, Early Music, who is now resident in Wellington The manuscnpt came to light recently in the papers of a New Zealand family, among a collection of rare books and manuscnpts which they have owned for several genera-tions

The members of Sonnerlie, a Wellington baroque music and dance ensemble, have researched the manuscnpt and confirm that it is the work of Kellom Tomhnson (cl693-1754) , dancing master of London and the author of an important treatise, The Art of Dancing (1735) T h e autograph manuscr ipt , da ted 1708-1721, contains choreographies no-tated in the French baroque dance scnpt of the day (known as Feuillet notauon) , together with their music It was never published, though other publications by Tomhnson are well known Of the 12

News & Notes dances inscribed, six are unique to the manuscript The owners of the manuscript placed it on long-term loan m the Alexander Turnbull Library of New Zealand m Wellington There are plans to publish a facsimile edition of the manuscript, as well as de-tailed articles about it m specialistjournals of music and dance Mr Thomson said "New Zealand has proved a remarkable source of unique musical material In 1978 Robert Petre (harpsichordistwith Sonnerie), discovered an unknown Purcell publication in the Auckland Public Library Now he and Jennifer Shennan (dancer with Sonnerie) have had the knowledge and the wit to recognise an equally valuable manuscript in the realm of dance It will undoubtedly prove of immense international interest " Post dance critic and Sonnene member Jennifer Shennan said "It is remarkable enough that beautiful 300-year-old dances survive in a state of suspended animation, waiting to be danced out again But what is truly exciting is the fact that six of these dances are not known to exist anywhere else in the world outside the pages of this manuscript It has been a rare privilege to reconstruct these dances in rehearsal, knowing that they have been lost to the world for so long We hope we can convey some of that sense of discovery and excitement when they are performed m public m our Son-n e n e concerts m September Baroque dance has a noble style and the virtuosity m its technique is subtly disguised, yet it can evoke moods and emotions that speak to today's audience with as much rele-vance as many of today's dances do " Evening Post 9 August 1989

Public Library History Jobs Auckland Public Library is committed to two major 1990projects—an Oral History and a Photographic project The Oral History Programme has the fol-lowing bnef 1 To encourage the recording of oral

history of th e Ngati Whatua, their lan-guage, waiata, kawa and knowledge of Auckland

2 To encourage the recording of oral history of other members of the Auck-

land community, being European, Asian, Pacific Island and others

It ishopedthat community involvement in this project will enhance an understand-ing and appreciation of diffenng cultural perceptions within our society For the Photographic Project it is pro-posed that a black and white survey of the Auckland City Council area will be under-taken which will build on AP's existing collection and provide a strong base for the continued promotion and documen-tation of Auckland s histoncal records Anyone keen to contribute ideas or to find out more about the two schemes may contact Jane Wild or Theresa Graham, NZ and Pacific Department, Auckland Public Library

Tian An Men Archives Sir, — In the light of recent events m China and their "official" re-telling by the mainland government, the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago, and the Center for Psychosocial Studies of Chicago, Illinois, have jointly created the "Tian An Men Archives" to provide an accurate account of the democracy move-ment We are therefore collecting all rele-vant information, including interviews, photographs, videos, pamphlets, circulars, recordings, official and unofficial publica-tions, and Chinese and international press coverage We are especially m need of re-cordings of Chinese television and radio coverage, including the government dia-logues with the students and official speeches The matenals will be compiled m the form of an annotated, chronologi-cal, computenzed data bank which will be available to qualified researchers All matenals will be kept in strictest confi-dence, and, if requested, sources will be identified only by number Please send any matenals to Tian An Men Archives, 111 East Wacker Dnve, Suite 1317, Chi-cago, IL 60601, USA (Fax 312 819-4768, telephone 312 819-4770) LEO OU-FAN LEE Center for East Asian Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

BENJAMIN LEE Center for Psychosocial Studies, 111 East Wacker Dnve, Suite 1317, Chicago, Illinois 60601 Letters, Times Literary Supplement 21-27July 1989

DYKESHIRE New Zealand Ltd (In Receivership)

Te Roto Drive Te Roto Industrial Area Ρ O Box 79 Paraparaumu New Zealand Tel (085) 87-038

ARCHIVAL BOARD & BOXES FOR CONSERVATION & PRESERVATION

ACID & LIGNIN FREE BOARD

1 Ply Thickness - 450 Microns 813x1016mm 2 Ply Thickness - 900 Microns 813x1016mm 3 Ply Thickness - 1300 Microns 813x1016mm

1016x1270 mm 5 Ply Thickness - 2250 Microns 813x1016mm

Each Per 10 Per 25 Per 50

$4 40 $4 OOea $3 80ea $3 60ea 5 00 4 80ea 4 40ea 3 95ea 8 00 7 20ea 5 90ea 5 80ea 15 00 12 OOea 10 20ea 9 80ea 1500 9 95ea 9 70ea 9 50ea

ARCHIVAL PRODUCTS Each Per 25

Manuscript Folder 360 x230 χ 20mm Deep $3 30 $3 23ea Cased Folder 4 Different Sizes 6 50 to 10 50ea Tabloid Folder 438 x298 χ 27mm Deep 3 60 3 50ea Clamshell Utility Box 383 x260 χ 80mm Deep 8 00 6 25ea Archive Box 390 χ 172 χ 254mm Deep 8 50 6 75ea Legal Document Box 390 χ 125 χ 260mm Deep 8 75 6 90ea Textile/Costume Box 711 X460 χ 160mm Deep 20 00 16 50ea Manuscript Box (hinged lid) 458 x356 χ 50mm Deep 9 00 7 95ea File Box (Separate lid) 380 x250 χ 230mm Deep 10 00 7 95ea Transcript Box With Lid 360 x215 χ 230mm Deep 10 00 7 95ea Coffin Box Lid 945 x458 χ 80mm Deep 30 00 21 50ea

Base 938 x450 χ 143mm Deep Standard Box Lid 466 x310 χ 37mm Deep 14 00 10 45ea

Base 458 x305 χ 103mm Deep Half Standard Box Lid 466 x310 χ 37mm Deep 11 00 8 95ea

Base 458 χ 305 χ 60mm Deep

WHY BUY EXPENSIVE IMPORTED

COLOURED BOARD FOR MOUNTS & MATTS

STANDARD COLOURED MATT /MOUNT BOARD

20 99 Sheets 100-249

3 Ply Thickness -1350 Microns 813x1016mm $3 25ea $2 80

The above Boards can be obtained in a large number of colours

LARGE quantity discounts may also be negotiated

ALL PRICES EXCLUDE GST AND FREIGHT SUBJECT TO ALTERATION WITHOUT NOTICE

250 plus

$2 60

Books and Book Reviews

David Hamer TheNewZeafondLiberah The Years of Power, 1891-1912 Auck land Auck land University Press 1988 418pp $45

It was a favourite quip o f that disünguished New Zealand scholar the late Graham Bagnall that ' no b o o k was worth a damn unless it had been at least 20 years in the making ' However debatable that viewpoint might be , something its progeni tor would wryly concede despite vigorous defence, there can be n o doubt that the dil igent preparaüons for David Hamer ' s The New Zealand Liberals would have won ' A G B ' s approval From the base o f a meritorious M A thesis on the political career o f Stout, p roceed ing through an interest m nineteenth century British Liberalism, cont inuing through edi ted reissues o f overseas commentar ies on the New Zealand Liberal exper ience , cu lminaüng in a grow-ing concern with the colonial urban frontier, Hamer ' s g roundwork for the present b o o k has occupied the better part o f 30 years A n d it shows Professor Hamer is clearly the master o f his topic and his materials, deftly disentangling myth from reality in a per iod o f New Zealand history decidedly more myth-n d d e n than most

Strangely, while past New Zealand historians have placed a h igh p remium on political history, there have been few major works on party government per se M u c h may be g leaned from the previous 'life and times' biographies o f leading politicians, but Professor Hamer almost uniquely confronts the reader with not only the major issues bu t also the political nuts and bolts o f the Liberal per iod H e introduces the lesser political figures, as well as the leading H e analyses actions and debat ing chamber vot ing patterns, searching for motives H e discusses political philosophies, locally fashioned and borrowed H e probes the changing nature o f the electorate Above all, he strips the outer casing from the evolving party machine , al lowing closer examinations o f the innermost work-ings T h e fragility o f that machinery, which nevertheless kept the Liberals in power for a record 20 years, surprises Yet, as Hamer demonstrates, it could scarcely have b e e n otherwise T h e very newness o f the p h e n o m e n o n o f parry government , together with the determination o f many within the movement to maintain their ' i ndependence ' , imposed restraints on the extent to which it could be developed M u c h cont inued to r ide on the forcefulness o f leading personalities But it is surely significant that the rise o f Reform almost exactly coincided with opposit ion decisions to more rigorously organise T h e Liberals had set a p recedent

Professor Hamer ' s p ioneer ing study is all the more praiseworthy given the difficulties under which he was compel led to work Few comprehensive sets o f private political papers have survived T h e fullest, the Fowlds papers, are those o f a second-rank Cabine t minister elevated late in the Liberal per iod, a member , moreover , w h o did no t enter Parl iament until the Liberal era was hal f over O f the leaders, only Ballance left m u c h m the way o f documents Yet Ballance d ied m 1893 Mere fragments o f Seddon ' s papers survive T h e Ward papers have

disappeared without trace Such losses are scarcely offset by broken caches emanating from such internal adversaries as Stout and Reeves The intimate evidence of intrigues, the consequent startling revelations, are simply not to be had In such a vacuum it has been necessary to reconstruct, and no less catch inferences, from the public record The baser motives of the pohücians may remain shrouded (at least the author considers so), but the loss is minor From his systematic delvmg m such sources as the Parliamentary Debates and leading contemporary newspapers Hamer has reconstructed skilfully, and, as his 'Bib-liographical Essay' indicates, there is little secondary literature that has escaped his attention

The nature of the political machine apart, The New Zealand Liberah is by no means encyclopaedic in its coverage Nor does it set out to be As Professor Hamer is at pains to explain, constraints of length forced a decision to touch but lightly on aspects of the Liberal period already extensively explored Hence the role of Reeves, and in particular his labour reforms, is neady summarised where appropriate, but the interested reader is directed to Sinclair's biography of Reeves for further discussion This is a perfecdy acceptable approach Hamer also exphcidy disclaims any attempt to provide a history of public administra-tion during the Liberal period That, he argues, would probably require a separate volume for each of the major government departments By choice then, his prime thematic emphasis lies elsewhere 'It was the land question that mattered most to the Liberals', he writes and this ' therefore deserves priority of attention in a work whose purpose is to discover the political world of New Zealand Liberalism' (p 12) Professor Hamer is very probably right, at least to the mind of this reviewer And, with his objective identified, he addresses 'the land question' comprehensively and well, even if a prior reviewer's claim that after Hamer there is little more to be said on the matter is far too sweeping Professor Hamer, one suspects, would be the first to disavow such a claim

The specialist student of New Zealand land history will find much of value m Hamer's discussions of 'the land question' While there is little that is totally new, much previously dispersed material is synthesised between the same covers for the first time Some of the syntheses are very good indeed Theouúmeof the 'freehold' versus 'leasehold' debate, for instance, is by far the best available, even if, arguably, the significance of the 1905 Royal Commission on Land Tenure is a little underestimated The extra dimension that The New Zealand Liberah imparts, however, is the clear linking of evolving land policy with the political trends giving rise to the policy Understanding of what was going on, of the pressures on policy makers, is thereby enhanced

Nonetheless, several caveats have to be lodged Central to Liberal lands policy was the placement of small settlers on the land The question of where that land came from is therefore critically important Hamer states at the outset that 'access to Maori land was a peripheral [issue] in the 1890s the focus was on large estates built by Europeans' (p 19) In short, the emphasis was on the'bursting up Of great estates Prima facie, this is attractive Certainly there were interminable debates m both Houses on the efficacy of 'lands for settle-ment' policies, and many column inches were devoted to the matter, particu-larly in major centre and South Island newspapers But public rhetoric should not obscure the fact that 'bursting up' of the great estates, at least through direct government acnon, was of limited importance m actually placing small men on the land Between 1891 and 1901 occupied farm holdings increased by nearly

17,500 Of this number fewer than one tenth can be accounted for through government purchase and subdivision of estates Indeed, it seems likely that such placements were more prevalent after 1900, around 3800 of the additional 11000 holdings created between 1901 and 1919 being traceable to this source It might well be argued that much of the apparent shortfall can be explained through the private subdivision of estates, owners having perhaps been moti-vated or mümidated by government acüons, and as Gould has demonstrated m several seminal papers there is something to be said for this Yet there is still a discrepancy to be noted Between 1891 and 1911 the actual occupied farm acreage also increased by some 8 5 million acres, by 3 2 million acres prior to 1901 and by 5 3 million acres after Not a single acre was added to the naüonal stock by state or private subdivision Where, then, did this land come from'

Almost certainly, a porùon came from the existing Crown estate, but a small portion only, for by 1891 the reservoir of Crown land suitable and immediately available for settlement was almost dry More important by far were the remaining North Island Maon lands, just under 11 million acres, to which European eyes inevitably began to turn The 1890s and later 1900s witnessed sustained and cynical acquisiüonal campaigns, in the course of which nearly 4 million acres were secured for European use, 2 6 million acres by 1901 It is therefore hard to accept that access to Maon land was a 'peripheral issue', even harder turning the pages of newpapers from the North Island bush districts In such districts the clamour for Maon land amounted almost to mania Moreover, purchasing was never the full story By 1911 upwards of 3 5 million acres süll formally in Maon ownership were leased to European farmers, sometimes compulsonly Herein, arguably, lies the major key to such success as the Liberals achieved m placing small farmers on the land The breaking up of large estates, pnncipally South Island estates, may have been the shibboleth, but the typical new small farmer was more likely the North Island 'bush cockie' setded on newly acquired Maon land It is a pity then, if understandable given the complexities, that Professor Hamer has chosen to largely leave the question of the Liberals and Maon lands to another pen Righdy, he contends that an additional volume would be required to do the topic anything like adequate justice Prospective authors and PhD students m search of a topic might take note

It is a characteristic of the glutton, confronted with afeast, to still cry for more There are a host of points missed m The New Zealand Liberals upon which the present reviewer would have devoured further discussion How, for instance, would Hamer assess the contradictions of Cheviot, the contradictions exposed by W J Gardner in an unpublished paper over 20years ago5 Was John McKenzie all that he seemed5 How much is truth and how much legend5 Perhaps these questions too will be answered by others Jim Gardner is rumoured to be working on an expanded study of Cheviot, while Tom Brooking has been labouring for some years on a biography of McKenzie What is certain, however, is that when these works finally appear they will be adjuncts to Hamer, not replacements The basic groundwork on the Liberals has now been done

It has become unfashionable in recent times, almost pejorative, to describe a book as worthy But this work is worthy, in the very best sense of the term Professor Hamer is to be congratulated

Brad Patterson Wellington

James Holt Compulsory Arbitration in New Zealand The FirstForty Years Auckland Auckland University Press, 1986 247pp $39 95

Almost inevitably the reader of James Holt's Compulsory Arbitration will think of contrasting it with Noel Woods's Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration in New Zealand, published in 1963, the first major retrospective account of the system As an analytical study which places arbitration withm a broad economic and political context, Holt's book has a wider scope and direct comparison is not entirely appropriate, but where the two works cover similar ground Holt's is much superior For the period it deals with, up to 1932, it is also more comprehensive Woods has just two paragraphs on the arbitration system during the 1914-18Warandabnef section deahngwith 1919-1925, Holtmakes two substantial chapters out of this period, and indeed provides the first significant general account of labour policies and economic conditions during the war But Woods's book will remain useful for an account of arbitration after 1932, for many details of legislative amendments, and of course as evidence of the way the arbitration system was viewed in more stable times

Compulsory Arbitration is much more than a correction and amplification of Woods's work Indeed, nearly everyone who has written on the origins and earlier years of the arbitration system is taken to task in Compulsory Arbitration, though very gendy Holt has subjected all the widely-acceptedjudgements to his tests of evidence and analysis and found many conventional views wanting either in accuracy or completeness Compulsory arbitration did not slip onto the statute books unnoticed (pp 17-18), it was not the intention of W Ρ Reeves to set up a general system of wage-fixmg, or to encourage the unionisation of non-umonised labour, though this is what happened as Holt first said m an article in 1976 (pp 34-5), the Arbitration Court in its earlyyears usually 'levelled up' low wages or poor conditions to general standards rather than improving standards dramatically (p 44), to say that the Court became less generous m its awards after 1900 'is an over-simplification at best' (p 67), the 1905 anti-strike amendmentwas a clarification of whatwas accepted, not a novel change (p 74), and so on

Received opinions on individuals are also recalculated Holt agrees with a view Woods put forward in 1974 thatj A Millar, often harshlyjudged for aspects ofhisl C &A Bills ofl907 and 1908 and his political defection m 1912, deserves credit for salvaging the system at a difficult tune (p 87) Justice W Sim 'has usually been seen as a liability to the arbitration system', but his decision to decline an award for agricultural labourers 'took much of the steam out of the movement to repeal' the Act (p 87) Moreover, Sim's awards were compara-tively generous and his practice on the 'preference' issue was less hostile to unionists than his rhetoric (pp 97-106) Justice F V Frazer certainly reduced wages by 10 percentin 1931, but, significantly, rejected the employers' demand for a 20 percent cut (p 187) Even George Forbes gets a tiny measure of revaluation

All this might suggest the book is iconoclastic, 'revisionist' is a better word Holt does not break old images so much as rearrange them so that we can see better what they really are There is a place given to the interplay of personalities (eg ρ 119), but within the operation of economic and political structures It is the author's skill in perceiving the interrelationships of the structures which

provides a fresh perspective on arbitration, unionism, wage movements, poli-nes, and (more generally) the nature of New Zealand's development Essen-tially the I C & A Act became law because ' the unions, bemg industrially weak, lacked the will to oppose it, while the employers, being politically weak, lacked the power to prevent it' (p 25) Arbitration was resorted to by small unions because they could thereby gain concessions from employers more easily and with less risk than through strikes Holt picks his way through the mythologies with characteristic logic 'The implications of a shift from compulsory arbitra-tion to collective bargaining were by no means revolutionary In signing agreements with capitalist employers, Red Fed leaders were implicidy recognis-ing the legitimacy of capitalist institutions (as their more radical followers com-plained)' (p 109)

Holt is particularly concerned to explore the way in which the Court first acquired the power to make general adjustments to wages, and how even after it lost that power at the end of 1923 the Court's responsibility for maintaining the value of wages was thenceforth 'broadly accepted' this development culminated in the general reduction in wages m 1931, justified on the grounds of the state of the economy, and foreshadowed the way the revived Court operated its general wage orders in the following fortyyears If there is a subplot to the story it is to be found in the attitudes and role of the farmers, initially indifferent, alarmed in 1900 at the first hints of unionising agricultural labour-ers, active m opposing registration in 1907-8, and finally crucial m attacking the Court in the later 1920s, attaching other employers to their cause, and gaining the doubtful satisfaction of seeing the Court emasculated m 1932

Holt lists a wide variety of source matenals m his bibliography In addition to contemporary articles and commentaries, he has consulted pnnted matenals from employers' and union organisations, and made considerable use of official publications For early awards and other decisions of the Court, espe-cially before the issue of the regular books of Awards, he has taken evidence from newspapers, and these also provided information on cases presented m Court, and on strike and disputes The statistical matenals are gathered from a variety of sources and used carefully but impressively Theses and research essays, several supervised by Holt himself, are sources for particular aspects of the study

The manusenpt sources provided evidence for the activities and attitudes of both employers and labour They include records of the Auckland and Otago Employers' Associations, and the Wellington-based New Zealand Employers' Federauon, the manusenpts of J Τ Paul, then a prominent union official in Dunedin, and the dianes and other papers of J A McCullough of Chnstchurch, the workers' assessor on the Court between 1908 and 1921 Differentviewpomts m the four mam centres are thus represented McCullough's dianes allow the author to trace the changing attitudes of vanous unions and also to understand the deliberations and relationships of members of the Court over a lengthy penod The book is carefully and thoroughly annotated The two major versions of the IC & A. Act, those of 1894 and 1908, are reproduced in facsimile form as appendices

Compulsory Arbitration finishes m 1932, when with minor exceptions the system ceased to operate Its revival m the later 1930s was under such different circumstances thatHolt's bookcan be regarded as a 'complete' work Neverthe-less, he had intended to continue his analysis into the later penod The larger

W David Mcln tyre New Zealand Prepares for War Defence policy 1919-39 Chnst-church University of Canterbury Press, 1988 287pp $44

New Zeahnd Prepares for War has appeared at a most opportune time, for, rather unusually in New Zealand, questions of defence policy and the structure of the armed forces are currenuy the subject of widespread public debate It is the second volume in a planned trilogy by Professor David Mcln tyre examining the strategic history of the Far East Pacific region from 1919 to the signing of the A.N Ζ U S Treaty in 1951 The subject of the first volume m the trilogy, the Singapore Naval Base, is also a significant feature of the new work The real importance of New Zealand Prepares for War, however, is its comprehensive discussion and analysis of New Zealand's defence policy and armed forces be-tween the World Wars, a subject which has received little scholarly attention m the past apart from I C McGibbon's excellent work, Blue-Water Rationale The NavalDefence of New Zealand 1914-1942

As one would expect from Mclntyre's earlier works, this new book is based on careful and comprehensive research m New Zealand and at archives in the United Kingdom and the United States of Amenca As a result of such meticulous research Mclnryre is able to shed new light on such issues as the 'Four Colonels' Revolt' of 1938, in this instance through his use of the papers of Colonel Ν L Macky, which are now held by the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memonal Museum at Waiouru

Mcln tyre examines the organisation and operation of the armed forces, and how the military related to the other government agencies with an interest m defence policy For example, the origins and work of the Organisation for

project was cut short by his unumely death in 1983, a few weeks after taking up his new post as Chief Historian of the Historical Publications Branch The editorial work on the manuscnpt was earned out by Enk Olssen, and Jill Holt acknowledges the assistance of other people in seeing the work through to publication Michael Bassett provides a short memoir which sketches Holt's family background, his academic and personal qualities, and his influence on contemporaries Anyonewho was taught byjim Holt, or who talked withhim (or listened while he talked), will recognise in this book his tolerance, his good humour, and his intellectual skills — particularly his ability to move beyond received opinions and construct a more complex and sophisticated version of the past Compuhory Arbitration displays these strengths very well Some readers may feel the loss of the rhetonc which informs (or misinforms) much 'labour history', but Holt's comment on one professor is lnstrucuve "Though Murphy clearly had a gift for nnging phrases, his analysis of the system seems rather shallow when read m cold print' (p 181) In cold print Compuhory Arbitration reads very well, and the analysis is likely to change some of our customary ways of looking at New Zealand history in the early twenneth century The book is m organisation, expression and annotation a model for histonans, and altogether a fine memonal to its author

Ρ J Gibbons University of Waikato

National Security are outlined One of the strengths of the book is the way in which the operations of the armed forces are linked to the policy-making process This is particularly evident in the discussion of how developments in air transport conferred considerable strategic importance on Pacific islands which had formerly been of little interest This development led to the Navy being used to assert British claims to various islands, in the face of a forceful United States policy of securing control of islands useful for a trans-Pacific air route New Zealand Prepares for War also deals with the armed forces' operations in aid of the civil power during the Queen Street riots of 1932, in Western Samoa and elsewhere m the Pacific

The analysis centres on the basic assumptions which shaped defence policy during the 1920s and 1930s During most of the inter-war period financial considerations were one of the main determinants of defence policy It is evident from New Zealand PreparesforWar that the differences between what New Zealand service chiefs and various overseas experts considered necessary for the nation's defence, and what politicians considered necessary and affordable, were as marked in this penod as they are today Throughout the penod dealt with in this work, the central tenet ofNew Zealand's defence policy was that of Impenal defence, the concept that New Zealand's national secunty interests were largely synonymous with those of the United Kingdom and the rest of the Bntish Empire New Zealand was generally prepared to play a full part m Impenal defence arrangements and commitments For instance, New Zealand was the most enthusiastic of the Dominions m its support of the United Kingdom dunng the Chanak cnsis of 1922 Nevertheless, as the author points out, this should not be allowed to obscure the fact that New Zealand's leaders were quite prepared to cnticise the United Kingdom on defence issues when they believed that New Zealand's interests were threatened New Zealand's attack on the Bntish Labour government's decision to suspend work on the Smgapore naval base in 1924 is the most notable example of New Zealand forcefully opposing Bntish actions

Mclntyre shows that dunng the early years of the first Labour government, Impenal defence and concern for national secunty went hand in hand with a strong commitment to collective secunty through the League of Nations By 1938, however, the New Zealand governmentwas disillusioned with the League, and the more traditional elements of its foreign and defence policies came to the fore Shortiy after entenng office the Labour government formed the view that the New Zealand armed forces should place more emphasis on their ability to protect New Zealand from attack, and that they should be reorganised so as to better play that role In keeping with this policy, the proportion of defence expenditure devoted to the Army was reduced while funding for the Air Force was gready increased Plans to form an expeditionary force m the event of a major war were dropped and, as Mclntyre puts it, the Army had by 1939 become the 'Cinderella of the services' This state of affairs was to have senous consequences dunng World War Π, when Labour's objections to the provision of an expeditionary force were set aside

Mclntyre could perhaps have devoted more space in this work to analysing the threats New Zealand was perceived to be faced with in this penod New Zealand'sviewofjapanmparücularisofgreatmterest In 1919Jellicoe'sreport on the Dominion's naval defences clearly identified Japan as the power most likely to threaten New Zealand Until the mid 1930s, however, the Bntish

Dave Welch The Lucifer Palmerston North Dunmore Press, 1988 195pp $24 95

For whatever reason, there has been a perception held by many people that relative to Auckland, Wellington and Dunedm, the Chnstchurch unemployed accepted the privations of the depression years of the 1930s with greater stoicism than did those m the other centres Dave Welch's timely book, The Lucifer, goes some way towards putting those beliefs in better perspective The book is also the first to come from the 'stable' of the Trade Union History Project, and it augurs well for the future of working class history if more works of similar quality are sponsored by the Project The TUHP has an important, indeed vital role to play

TheLuciferis not only an historical narrative of events surrounding a dispute involving Chnstchurch Tramway workers who went on strike in May 1932 against the dismissal of 12 fellow employees including their union president, JockMathison.itisalso 'a darn good yarn' Itisalsoverymuchabookaboutjock Mathison himself, who later became a Labour parliamentarian and cabinet minister Once these factors are recognised, it makes for absorbing reading, not easily put aside until finished

The wretched conditions of the depression years created a groundswell of explosive anger which culminated m nots, the worst of which took place m Auckland on 14 Apnl, 1932 The savagery of that night, and to a lesser degree the following night, shook a fearful establishment to its very roots The Chnstchurch 'trammies' action, commg so soon afterwards, only heightened the fear of Chnstchurch's city fathers Welch makes an important point in noting that whereas the City Council was Labour Party controlled, the Tramways Board was dominated by hard-nosed members from the Citizens' Association The sole Labour member, and only woman member, Mrs Elizabeth McCombs, was an extremely courageous person who had to withstand open contempt and harassment from the male Citizen Board members The fact that there was a Labour-dominated City Council (led by Dan Sullivan) which to some degree had attempted to ameliorate the plight of the unemployed in Chnstchurch, may have contributed to the perception that the Chnstchurch unemployed

defence authonües tended to downplay the Japanese threat In a paper drafted in early 1931, for instance, the Bnüsh Chief of Staff expressed the view that Japan 'was unlikely to disturb the peace' Within a few years this view of Japan had changed significan Üy, as is revealed by Major-General Mackesy's warning to the New Zealand government early in 1939 that it was 'trifling with the possibility of finding [itself] at the mercy of Mongoloid savages of the North Pacific'

Overall, New Zeahnd Prepares for War impresses as an authoritative and readable book which fills an important gap in New Zealand's military history Mcln tyre's analysis of the first Labour government's defence policy stands out as one of the most important parts of this work It also highlights the need for more study of New Zealand's armed forces and defence policy

J.AB Crawford Wellington

were more docile than those in the three other major cines The Chnstchurch 'trammies' may have been beaten by a combmaüon of

reacüonary Board members, Special Constables (including prominent rugby All Blacks), and scabbery, but 18 months later there was an ultimate irony when the Tramways Board came up for election The old guard of Citizens' Associa-tion members were rejected at the polls and replaced by Labour candidates — including Mathison — who won 7 of the 9 seats As Welch puts it 'It was a beautiful, if rare, expression of democracy that Mathison, the dismissed em-ployee, should now replace Andrews, Booth and Hayward in the employer's chair '

For some inexplicable reason book reviewers must nit-pick It seems that this is an additional cross for authors to bear And there are things in Welch's book which would probably gladden the heart of the most ardent nit-picker I do not believe I am an ardent one, but there are two points which I would like to pick away at—one minor and the other, in my view, more important The minor one concerns the use of abbreviations m the 'Notes' without any explanation Even with the best of guesswork it is sometimes difficult to be sure of the source being referred to Of greater consequence is the author's inclusion of a verbatim transcript of a taped interview with Jock Mathison as Appendix III Welch, a tramwayman himself, says Ί feel it is only fair I should let him "speak for himself' ' Mathison's role m the strrke is a dominant and controversial factor in the book, and leaving aside the question of the purpose of including the transcript, of greater importance is the matter of letting an interviewee 'speak for himself unchallenged

Oral history is now assuming increasing importance, and this calls for greater discipline Oral historians need to become more challenging m their work It is no longer sufficient to simply let interviewees' reflections and recollections go unchallenged if they are contrary to established fact or record Memory certainly deteriorates with age, but of greater concern is the fact that some people who have been leading players in events and disputes of the past are prone to colour their recollections to match their role Oral historians must be prepared to do the utmost homework before commencing an interview so as to challenge and question—with respect and with dignity—accounts that do not coincide with others or with the public record When this occurs an interviewee must be tested Welch acknowledges in this book that Mathison's recollections were often at variance with other sources, but the verbatim transcript indicates that Mathison was not tested on these points I for one would have dearly welcomed the chance to read how he responded to challenge where his account differed Asimple,'How would you respond to that'' (the other version), would have sufficed Nevertheless, all nit-picking aside, I reiterate TheLuciferis a. dam good yarn, one I enjoyed reading a second time It is well researched, written in an entertaining style, and a welcome addition to working class history

Doug Crosado Auckland

Books Received

Cathy Man* A Guide to the Archives of the New ZealandFederatton ofLabour, 1937-88 Palmerston North Dunmore Press/Trade Union History Project, 1988 148pp $20

A listing of the FOL archives, covenng the penod from 1937 to approximately 1978, which were deposited in the Alexander Turnbull Library m 1988 Includes a bnef administrative history, and a descnpüon of each senes Indis-pensable for anyone researching the trade union history of this penod

Presbyterian Church Archives Care and Conservation Guidelines for the Keeping, Care and Preservation of Church Records and Archives Dunedm Histoncal Records Committee of the Presbytenan Church of New Zealand, 1988 44pp $5 plus GST

An attractively produced booklet which gives advice on the creation as well as the storage and conservation of pansh archives Asks (and answers) the questions, 'Why keep parish records and archives'', and 'What should be kept'' Includes a list of suggested duties for pansh archivists, and an example of a list of pansh archives/records

A Visitor's Guide to the Museums of Otago and Southland Dunedm Otago Museum, 1988 40pp $4 40

Gives the location and opening hours, and a bnef descnpüon of the institution and the services ltprovides, for some 88'museums artgallenes histonc buildings, National Park visitor centres, archives, histonc sites and miscellane-ous collections' Provides similar information about 15 regional and national organisations

Accessions

Alexander Turnbull Library

ALLEY, RODERICK Papers, 1937-1977 [Further papers of Rewi Alley ] 9 folders ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS, WELLINGTON DISTRICT Records,

1872-1983 60cm BETT, ELVA Records of the Elva Bett Gallery, c 1960's-1980's 3m BLAND, PETER Papers, c 1960's-1980's [Prominentactor and writer ] 4 folders CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL Records, 1840-c 1982 7m FEDERATED FARMERS OF NEW ZEALAND WOMENS DIVISION Records,

c 1925-1982 7 3m c 1925-1983 15m GIRL GUIDES ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND Records, 1910-1985 15m

Restricted HENRY HUGHES LIMITED Patent Registers, 1874- [The first established

trade mark and patent company m New Zealand] 3m HOFMANN, FRANK Helen Shaw's collecüon relating to D'Arcy Cresswell lm

Restricted LEAGUE OF MOTHERS Records of Wellington South Branch, 1930-1957 8v

Records of Berhampore Branch, 1956-1963 2v LOVELOCK, JOHN EDWARD [JACK], 1910-1949 Diary, 1936 lv MALONE, WILLIAM GEORGE, 1859-1915 Diaries and letterbooks, 1914-

1915 15v and 1 folder [The Library already holds typescripts of the Malone Diaries ]

NEW ZEALAND FEDERATION OF LABOUR Records, 1937-1988 32m Restricted

NEW ZEALAND LABOUR PARTY Minute Books, c 1910-1980's 2m Restricted NEW ZEALAND NEWS Records, 1881-1980's 28m Partial Restriction PEARSON, WILLIAM [BILL] Papers [relating to Coal Flat and Frank Sarg-

eson], 1958-1988 lm Restricted PETERSON, MAJOR H WR Diaries and Company Reports [relating to war

experience], c 1950's-1970's 30cm STATIONERS' COMPANY Records [important source for the history of the

English book trade], 1554-1920 115 reels STUBBS, CHARLES Account of the Tarawera Eruption, 1886 1 folder WELLINGTON TRAMPING AND MOUNTAINEERING CLUB Reports and

Minutes, 1947-1987 6 folders WELLINGTON WOMEN'S CLUB Records, 1926-c 1980's 3m

Auckland University Library

AUCKLAND CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY Scrapbook, 1968-88 lv EL CERCO de Montgat, acto tercero 1825 lv [Transcript of part of play In

Spanish] FIRTH, Raymond Tikopia-English dictionary, 1985 lv HUNT, Jonathan Lucas Papers 13m Restricted

MASON, Ronald Allison Kells Strait is the gate, 1962 lv [Text of an unpub-lished verse play]

THOMAS, Algernon Phillips Withiel Further papers, c 1886-1938 7v [In-cludes field notebooks detailing the Tarawera erupüon, 1886]

UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND Public Service Association Subgroup Records, c 1974-88 lm Restricted

VICTORIA, Queen of England Hagar and Ishmael in the desert, 1853 [art original]

Massey University Library

CAPE EGMONT CO-OP DAIRY CO LTD Jubilee booklet, 1897-1972 KAIRANGA CO-OP DAIRY CO LTD Share register, 1907-1916 OPOTIKI DAIRY ASSOCIATION LTD Cash books, journals, and other rec-

ords (yet to be processed), c 1897-1986 WAIMANA DAIRY CO LTD Minute books, ledgers, journals, cash books,

letter books, memoranda and articles of association, annual reports and balance sheets (yet to be processed), c 1907-1978

NEW ZEALAND DAIRY BOARD Photographs - showing dairy faetones and production in New Zealand, also Dairy Board sites m London, Dairy Board promotion booklets, jubilee booklets from various dairy companies, Dairy Board committee newsletters (yet to be processed), c 1888-1974

ANGUS McCALLUM Photographs and other resource matenal for the book Tut Country (published 1988) giving the history of the Pahiatua area, 1895-1988

Taranaki Museum

DOVE, Jane c 1000 colour slides of Taranaki, 1982-86 24cm EGMONT NATIONAL PARK BOARD Minutes and records, 1900-81 2 86m GIRLS BRIGADE Records, 1955-75 24cm HAMMERTON, Gervase 6 Dianes, 1867-72 KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Records 1 2cm MT EGMONT LODGE Records Restricted 32cm NEW PLMOUTH NEW CALEDONIAN SOCIETY Mmutes 24cm PATUA COOP DAIRY COMPANY Records, 1968-78 16cm RAHOTU COOP DAIRY COMPANY Records, 1958-82 24cm SCOTTISH WOMENS CLUB Records, 1937-80 16cm VOULLAIRE, Marc Dianes, 1918-64 48v TE ATIAWA COLLECTION Reference material gathered by tribe for

environmental submissions 80cm TIKORANGI SCHOOL School Admission Register, c 1879 lv

Victona University of Welhngton Library

BERENDSEN, Sir Carl Reminiscences of an ambassador [c 1953-55, ed 1985-87] 5v typesenpt

NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ' ASSOCIATION Further records, c 1970-c 1985 20m Restricted

WELLINGTON TRADES COUNCIL Records, 1925-82 6 3m Restricted

MEMBERSHIP

M e m b e r s h i p o f t h e Assoc iat ion is o p e n to any individual or inst i tut ion

interes ted in fos ter ing the objects o f the Assoc iat ion . Subscript ion rates are:

With in N e w Zealand $30 .00 ( individuals)

$42 .00 ( institutions)

(For two individuals l iving at the s a m e address a j o i n t m e m b e r s h i p is available

at $ 3 4 . 0 0 w h i c h enti t les b o t h to full vo t ing rights at m e e t i n g s , b u t provides on ly

o n e c o p y o f Archifacts.)

Overseas $ N Z 36 .00 ( individuals)

$ N Z 47 .00 ( institutions)

Appl icat ions to j o i n the Assoc iat ion, m e m b e r s h i p renewals a n d

c o r r e s p o n d e n c e o n re lated matters s h o u l d b e addressed to:

T h e M e m b e r s h i p Secretary,

ARANZ,

P .O. B o x 11-553,

M a n n e r s St.,

W e l l i n g t o n ,

N e w Zealand.

B R A N C H CHAIRPERSONS

A u c k l a n d

C a n t e r b u r y / W e s d a n d

Central Districts

O t a g o / S o u t h l a n d

Wel l ing ton

J a n e t Foster,

c / - Ang l i can C h u r c h Office,

P O B o x 37-242, Parnel l ,

Auck land .

Carol ine Ether ing ton ,

c / - Nat iona l Archives,

P O B o x 1308 ,

Christchurch.

Ian M a t h e s o n ,

Pa lmers ton N o r t h City Counc i l ,

Private Bag,

Pa lmers ton N o r t h .

Peter Miller,

c / - H o c k e n Library,

P O B o x 56 ,

D u n e d i n .

Lou i se B u c k i n g h a m ,

8 L o c k e t St,

Lower Hutt ,

W e l l i n g t o n .