New Zealand Defence Stores Department

Governor Hobson established the position of Colonial Storekeeper in 1840 to manage the purchase of good on behalf of the new colonial Government, which included the purchase and distribution of arms and accoutrements to the locally raised militias.[1] The first Colonial Storekeeper was Henry Tucker, who by December 1842 had the following stocks for the local Militias in store:

• 46 bayonets,
• 53 Muskets,
• 2 Cannonades 18pr,
• 3 Cannons, and
• 3 Camp Ovens.

In late 1843 the Colonial Secretary of New Zealand deemed the position of Colonial Storekeeper as unnecessary and the position was to be cancelled.[2][3] Stocks were either handed back to the British Ordnance Office or to the Superintendent of Public Works, and all expenditure on the Militias was placed the control of the Colonial Secretary.

Records show that between 1844–56 the position of Colonial Storekeeper was intermittently filled, and not permanently filled until 11 October 1856 when John Mitchell was appointed as the Colonial Storekeeper by the Colonial Secretary.[4]

With the Colonial Defence Act of 1862 authorising the formation of the first Regular Force in New Zealand,[5] and by 1866 the Colonial Storekeepers office had a permanent staff of Eight:[6]

• Colonial Storekeeper – Captain John Mitchell
• Clerk Auckland- John Bloomfield
• Clerk Auckland – John Price
• Clerk Wellington – Sam Anderson
• Arms Cleaner and Labourer Auckland – W.C Rockley
• Arms Cleaner and Labourer Auckland – C Phillips
• Arms Cleaner and Labourer – J Peuligan

Captain Mitchel resigned his position on 5 July 1869 and was replaced by Major William St Clair Tisdall, who assumed the position as acting colonial Store Keeper.

The Colonial Defence Force ceased to exist on the passing of the Armed Constabulary Act of 1867,[7] Continuity was preserved because many members of the one transferred to the other and there was little change in the responsibilities of the Stores Department apart from a change in names. The new force, under a Commandant (equivalent to a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Militia), combined military with police functions but were still separated from the Volunteer forces who were still supported by the Stores Department.

To support Imperial Troops and attached colonial units whilst on operations in the early years of the New Zealand Colony, Military Stores Depots were established by the British Army, Military Stores Department[8] during 1856 at:

• Fort Britomart, Auckland[9]
• Mount Cook, Wellington[10]

In 1866 Military Establishments were moved from Auckland to Wellington, this included the Military Store Departments Depot at Fort Britomart.[11]

With the withdrawal of Imperial Forces completed by July 1870,[12] full responsibility for defence matters where handed over to the New Zealand Armed Constabulary[13] whose Stores Department assumed store-keeping responsibility for all Armed Constabulary unit and Volunteer units.[14]

On 23 April 1869 Lieutenant Colonel Edward Gorton,[15] took up the appointment of Inspector of Defence Stores and assuming control of the Colonial Storekeepers office's in Wellington and Auckland, effectively becoming the head of the Defence Stores.[16][17]

On the retirement of Colonel Gorton in 1878, Captain Sam Anderson, a Chief Clerk with the Defence Stores since 25 October 1868[18] with much experience, assumed the position of Defence Storekeeper, with Stores depots at;

• Wellington, Mt Cook Barracks
• Auckland, Albert Barracks until March 1883 when store was moved to O'Rorke Street,[19][20] Storekeeper Mr James Bloomfield
• Dunedin – Storekeeper Mr Peter Paxton

In 1886 with the passing of the Defence Act (1886) and division of the New Zealand Constabulary Force into separate military and police forces, the Defence Stores Department became the stores agency for New Zealand's Defence Forces under control of the Department of the Under Secretary of Defence, essentially a civilian organisation of the Defence Department.

In 1888, due to financial constraints, the Auckland[21] and Dunedin depots were abolished and their staff made redundant. Stocks necessary for the use of the volunteer units was placed under the charge of the local magazine keepers.[22] This left Mount Cook as the Main Stores Deport for New Zealand. By December 1888 the need for a Defence Storekeeper in Auckland was recognised and Major John William Gascoyne of the New Zealand Permanent Militia was appointed Defence Storekeeper for Auckland.[23] By 1894 the Staff of the Defence Stores Department at the Mount Cook Depot had grown, it was announced on 1 March 1894 that 18 staff were no longer required from 31 March 1894.[24]

On 28 September 1899, then New Zealand Government approved the proposal to send a New Zealand contingent to the Transvaal as part of the Imperial contribution to the South Africa war. At this time the Defence Stores were totally unprepared to equip an expeditionary force and did not stock a single article of mounted infantry equipment or uniforms. The Defence Store Department under Captain Anderson with only a small staff, would from 6 October for up to 16 hours daily, seven days a week, make the arrangements for the manufacture or purchase over 20,000 items of the equipment needed, uniforms, underclothing, horse equipment, saddlery, etc., which was received into stock, recorded, branded and then dispatched to Karori Camp for distribution to the assembled contingent prior to its departure, as the imperative orders were "the Waiwera must sail on the 21st." The deadlines were achieved and the 1st New Zealand Contingent sailed from Wellington in the SS Waiwera on 21 October 1899.

On 7 December 1899 the Defence Storekeeper Captain Sam Anderson passed away.[25] This was at a critical time as the Defence Stores Department after years of neglect was at breaking point due to the mobilisation.[26] J O'Sullivan also employed by the Defence Stores for a number of years, succeeded Anderson as acting Defence Storekeeper.[27] O'Sulllivan was confirmed as Defence Storekeeper on 29 November 1900.[28]

In 1900 a Joint Defence (Secret) Committee was convened to investigate and make recommendation on the state of New Zealand Defence, as a result the committee made several recommendations in regards to the Defence Stores Department, notable were changes to the methods of ordering, receipting and issuing of military stores be made and that Stores Depots be established at the four main volunteer centres.[29] Parliamentary Estimates for the same year provided for the erection of Stores Depots in each centre and finance allocated for;[30]

• A store in Wellington, Defence Stores Office, Buckle Street, Mount Cook, completed 1911[31]
• A store in Christchurch, King Edward Barracks, Christchurch completed 1905.[32]
• A store in Dunedin, Defence Mobilisation Store, St Andrews Street, completed 1907.[33]
• No finance was allocated for a store in Auckland because the existing Magazines constructed in 1872[34] at Mount Eden were seen as suitable.

On reviewing the work of the Defence Stores Department since the start of the war, a vast improvement was noticeable in the methods of accounting, care and custody of arms, equipment, and stores throughout New Zealand, and in 1917 the decision was made on 1 February 1917 the Department would be replaced with a New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps(NZAOC) and a New Zealand Army Ordnance Department(NZAOD).

The NZAOD and NZAOC were gazetted as of 1 February 1917. The effect placed the Defence Stores staff and those handling military equipment and stores in the districts and training camps on a straight-out military footing, the same as in the British Army. Regulations were gazetted in June 1917 and were modelled on British lines, and ended the anomaly of having civilians in the army who are really outside it and are not subject to military discipline and control. Defence stores staff and others doing the same work in the districts have been under the control of the Public Service, wore civilian clothes and now had purely military status, and would wear uniform.[45]

• New Zealand Army Ordnance Department
• New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps
• Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps
• Units of the RNZAOC

• To the Warrior his Arms A History of the RNZAOC and its predecessors