Personal Responses to the Slump and Riots
Immediately after the riots, the personal responses of the people to the slump were just as varied as the political ones, with some seeing no more hope and others seeing that violence is not the answer.
One reaction,
hopeless despair, was graphically expressed in the suicide rate, which leapt
from 1.2 per 10,000 people in the mid 1920s to 1.65 in 1932, before declining again
until the 1960s. The Riots could be to partly blame for this as the temporary
relief it caused some people as they vented their anger and then realising the
hopelessness of the situation again made them increasingly despair. The government’s
inability to act in the peoples’ favour even after such violence was exhibited
took a toll on the confidence levels of the people on the government and made
them question if there would ever be a way out of this dire situation. In contrast
to the modern trends, those most prone to suicide were middle-aged and elderly
men as these were often whom the effects of being unemployed or having to find relief
work fell on the heaviest.
One positive outcome of it however was a reduction in alcohol consumption. People could not rush to drown their sorrows in drink, largely because they could not afford it and it wasn’t as easily accessible. Much of the alcohol supply was looted or damaged during the rioting and in the immediate years following, it was much harder to have access to it. Per capita consumption of alcohol actually fell to one of it lowest recorded levels (although homebrew and moonshine almost definitely helped fill the gap) and the conviction rate for drunkenness halved between 1929 and 1934.
Surprisingly however, people began to see that violence towards one another was not the way to resolve disputes, having had no real responses from the government following the riots. People became a lot more unified. Although convictions for crimes against property (including theft, fraud and wilful damage) jumped by 40% between 1929 and 1932, offences against people dropped by a quarter. There was increased sense of community amongst the people as they stood united, in some ways against the government. Te homicide rate continued on its state of decline from the 1850s, thorough the slump years and reached one of its lowest points in New Zealand history. Despite the intense personal pressures during this time, aside from the riots, most people managed to keep their concerns to themselves, as suggested by the increase in suicide rates. This helped contain large-scale violence in those desperate times.
In the immediate years after the 1932 Depression Riots, newspapers and magazines showed a reflection of the peoples’ fear of ‘red menace’. After the riots in Auckland, The Observer reported that “the real cause of last week’s turmoil can still be traced to those fomenters of discord, militant Communists and “Red” agitators.”The New Zealand Home Pictorial asked that the government “act vigorously and quickly to save this country from the deadly moral poison of Bolshevism.” This prompted the government to introduce regulations which had the purpose of preventing the arrival of anyone who had visited a Communist country in the three years before coming to New Zealand.
One positive outcome of it however was a reduction in alcohol consumption. People could not rush to drown their sorrows in drink, largely because they could not afford it and it wasn’t as easily accessible. Much of the alcohol supply was looted or damaged during the rioting and in the immediate years following, it was much harder to have access to it. Per capita consumption of alcohol actually fell to one of it lowest recorded levels (although homebrew and moonshine almost definitely helped fill the gap) and the conviction rate for drunkenness halved between 1929 and 1934.
Surprisingly however, people began to see that violence towards one another was not the way to resolve disputes, having had no real responses from the government following the riots. People became a lot more unified. Although convictions for crimes against property (including theft, fraud and wilful damage) jumped by 40% between 1929 and 1932, offences against people dropped by a quarter. There was increased sense of community amongst the people as they stood united, in some ways against the government. Te homicide rate continued on its state of decline from the 1850s, thorough the slump years and reached one of its lowest points in New Zealand history. Despite the intense personal pressures during this time, aside from the riots, most people managed to keep their concerns to themselves, as suggested by the increase in suicide rates. This helped contain large-scale violence in those desperate times.
In the immediate years after the 1932 Depression Riots, newspapers and magazines showed a reflection of the peoples’ fear of ‘red menace’. After the riots in Auckland, The Observer reported that “the real cause of last week’s turmoil can still be traced to those fomenters of discord, militant Communists and “Red” agitators.”The New Zealand Home Pictorial asked that the government “act vigorously and quickly to save this country from the deadly moral poison of Bolshevism.” This prompted the government to introduce regulations which had the purpose of preventing the arrival of anyone who had visited a Communist country in the three years before coming to New Zealand.