New Zealand Post Office
| Government department | |
| Fate | Split-up |
| Successor |
New Zealand Post Limited Telecom New Zealand Limited Post Office Bank Limited |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Defunct | April 1, 1987 |
| Headquarters | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Products |
|
The New Zealand Post Office was a New Zealand government department.
As a Government Department, the New Zealand Post Office or N.Z.P.O., previously the Post and Telegraph Department or P & T, had as the political head the Postmaster General who was a member of Cabinet, and, when it was a separate department the Minister of Telegraphs.
The N.Z.P.O. was similar to the British Post Office or GPO, and so was similar to European PTT or postal, telegraph and telephone services, which were government monopolies.
Official postal services started in New Zealand when Captain William Hobson arrived in the Bay of Islands and took up his role as Lieutenant-Governor. Hobson appointed William Clayton Hayes as Clerk to the Bench of Magistrates and Postmaster. Hayes holds the distinction of New Zealand's first civil servant to be dismissed as he neglected his duty and was continually inebriated.
The establishment of settlements across North and South Islands meant the need for an internal postal service was becoming more and more important, however New Zealand's geography, and ongoing wars between Maori and Europeans and intertribal fighting hindered communication. At the time, shipping mail coast-to-coast, although inefficient, was the most reliable means of transporting mail around the country. A monthly shipping service to Sydney, where mail was exchanged with outbound and inbound London ships saw the first regular overseas mail service established.
The Local Posts Act of 1856 and the Post Office Act of 1858 signalled a period of growth for the New Zealand Post Office. The Local Posts Act gave provincial councils the authority to create their own mail services and local Post Offices, while the Government continued to maintain the overland trunk postal routes and the head Post Office in each province. The Post Office Act repealed the Local Posts Act, establishing the Post Office as a separate government department, reporting to the Postmaster General, and providing for its administration.
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