The Battle of Manners Street

The Battle of Manners Street, Wellington, 1943
An encyclopaedia of New Zealand

This riot, which has passed into Wellington legend as "the Battle of Manners Street", took place on the evening of Saturday, 3 April 1943. It began at the Allied Services' Club in Manners Street (now the Manners Street Post Office) when, it is alleged, servicemen from the southern United States refused to let some Maori servicemen drink in the club. When the Americans removed their Army service belts to emphasise their point of view, New Zealand servicemen joined in and the "battle" spread into the streets. American military police, who arrived to restore order, took sides and used their batons. The fighting spread to the A.N.A. Club in Willis Street, where belts and knives were used, and into Cuba Street. It has been estimated that over 1,000 American and New Zealand, troops were involved, as well as several hundreds of civilians. The battle lasted for about four hours before order was restored by the civil police. Many American soldiers were injured during this affray and at least two were killed.
The "Battle of Manners Street" was the ugliest riot in New Zealand's history.

The "Battle of Manners Street" was not the only clash between American and New Zealand troops in New Zealand cities. About the same time there were two similar riots in Auckland, and a further clash occurred outside the Mayfair Cabaret, in Cuba Street, Wellington, on 12 May 1945. There was also a clash between a small party of American servicemen and Maori civilians at Otaki in October 1943.

In no case has the result of any of the ensuing inquiries been published; and, owing to the strictures of wartime censorship, no reference to the riots appeared at the time in local newspapers.

Hold on a Minute!
The story that appears above was taken from "An encyclopaedia of New Zealand" published in 1966, edited by A.H. McLintock. He was a prolific writer in his time and obviously, held his works in high esteem. "An encyclopaedia of New Zealand" is a pretentious name for anyone to self-assign. Of course if you do wear this mantle of 'authority' there should be a certain amount of responsibility that goes with it.

The entry carries a caveat, added later, that says, "This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated." The fact remains that the story, to this day, is a representation of rumour, innuendo, gossip and prejudice masquerading as fact.

The Government Printer printed the original publication in 1966, in three volumes. The print run of 30,000 sold out in three months. At some point, the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage took over the entire project and used it as a stopgap while more information was acquired and put into print as the 'official' Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.

As a matter of fact, New Zealand author Harry Bioletti, in his book titled, "The Yanks are Coming" has written: "... The New Zealand Encyclopaedia has exacerbated the situation with its entry under 'Riots', which describes the incident as the ugliest riot in New Zealand history. Disturbance or fracas it was, riot it was not."

Bioletti continues, "... A claim in the New Zealand Encyclopaedia that 'many American soldiers were injured during the affray and two were killed' is not supported by the facts. A statement on the affair in the file says that 'this disturbance was caused in the first place by three or four merchant seaman who had been drinking and made no secret to their intention to 'clean up the visiting servicemen'. This led to a series of fights in which US Marines and sailors, New Zealand merchant seamen and servicemen became entangled." He continues that a police report said, "... Police blame a rough civilian element which frequents the above localities and is always causing trouble."

From Wikipedia:
" ... Other versions are that three or four merchant seaman who had been drinking made no secret of their intention to clean up the visiting servicemen, or that Māori in a steak house objected to some "Yanks" being served first."

From Stuff.co.nz - Last updated 12:07 03/04/2008
"Conflicting reports exist on what triggered the violent fighting, but Maori serviceman at the time said that "the Yanks" had sought and received preferential treatment.

The battle" waged for four hours, finally being halted by the combination of military police, fatigue and the worrying threat for American serviceman of missing the last train back to their barracks near Paekakariki.

Wartime censorship meant that state approval was required to report any military news, and that included the haphazard "battle" of Manners Street.
No reference to the riots appeared at the time in local newspapers or on the radio."

The original publication and, most assuredly, today's official expression of An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, is a wonderful work, full of information on the country's history, culture and peoples. This story, however, touches a sore spot with me; in that it describes, in the worst light, a sequence of events that may have happened, probably didn't and in some cases, is outright fictitious.

It paints a segment of the US military as bigoted and racist without one iota of proof. It sensationalises an incident by reporting "many injuries" and "deaths" that just did not happen.

It seems to me, when someone just wants to present their personal opinion, it can fly almost any banner they can think of … even something like Wilderness-Wally! However, if you wish to publish, in any medium, unsubstantiated folklore, it should be identified as such.
W-W