per cent of fishermen in 192 1 and 19.76 per cent in 1936.135 They were

Graph 1 4 shows that a relatively high proportion of Catholics, especially men, never married 114 In 1 926, 32.83 per cent of New Zealand women aged sixteen or over

15.92 per cent of fishermen in 192 1 and 19.76 per cent in 1936.135 They were

markedly over-represented among bush sawmillers

( 1 7.54 per cent in 1 92 1 and 1 5.97

per cent in

1936).

The extremely high proportion of kauri-gum gatherers who were Catholics

(463 or 45. 1 3 per cent out of 1 ,026 in 1921) reflects the large number of

Dalmatians in this occupation. In

192 1 , a very high proportion of bushfellers and

scrub cutters

(2 1 .54 per cent) were Catholics and among male workers in government

nurseries and plantations in 1936, 1 8.9 1 per cent were Catholics.

There was a consistent pattern of Catholic over-representation among gold-miners in

1 92 1

and

1936 ( 1 8.9 1

per cent and

1 8.55

per cent for quartz;

2 1 .9 1

per cent and

19.04

per cent for alluvial gold). Similarly there was a high proportion

(1 8.66

per cent) of CatHolics extracting road-metal, gravel and sand in

1921.

Catholic men were not over-represented among coal-miners

( 1 2.32

per cent in

192 1

and

1 1 .46

per cent in

1 936),

but their under-representation was not significant. Although coal-mines on the West Coast no doubt employed a large proportion of Catholics, the Coast's population was itself small and the coal-mines of Westland employed only a very small proportion of the country's miners

(2.20

per cent in

192 1

and

4.55

per cent in

1936).136

Moreover, coal-mining drew immigrants from parts of the United Kingdom where there were comparatively few Catholics.

A

similar explanation may account in part for the under-representation of Catholics

among sheep farmers

( 1 0.89

per cent in

192 1

and

10.66

per cent in

1936).

Catholics

were not necessarily ,under-represented among workers on sheep farms but they were

undoubtedly under-represented among the owners, given their under-representation among primary sector employers. By contrast, Catholics were notably over

represented in agricultural farming

(14.97

per cent in

192 1

and

14.01

per cent in

1936,

no doubt because this occupation offered work to large numbers of low-skilled employees.137 Catholic men were slightly under-represented among dairy farmers

( 1 2. 1 6

per cent in

192 1

and

1 1.57

per cent in

1936).

Among the occupational categories used in the interwar census reports, dairy farming included the largest

number of men:

5 1 ,229

192 1

and

7 1 ,480

1936,

of whom

6,228

and

8,270

were

1 35 A number of Italian Catholics living in Island Bay were engaged in fishing as indicaled in the discussion of Catholic ethnic groups at the beginning of this chapter.

1 36 _In_1921._{there were only}₁₀₅_{Westland men employed in coal-mining out of a national total of}

4.780 (NZ Census. 1921. part VIII. p. 24). The comparable figures for 1936 were 239 and 5.255

(NZ Census. 1936. vol.

?C.

p. 23).

1 37 The 1921 and 1936 figures in this calegory were probably compiled differently. as noted in the appendix.

Employment Patterns 37

Catholics. If Catholic men had been represented among dairy farmers in the same proportions as they were in the total male workforce, there would have been

6,603

of them in

1921

and

8,835

1936:

an under-representation of only

375

and

565.138

Among mixed farmers, too, Catholics were quite close to the proportion of Catholic men in the total m ale workforce

( 13.46

per cent in

192 1

and

1 1 .23

per cent in

1 936).

Dairy and mixed farms were relatively small and often economically marginal family businesses: when Catholics did own their own farms, it must often have been farms of this kind. Indeed, this is precisely the milieu described in Dan Davin's short stories and novels set in rural Southland.139 By

1930,

the growth of dairying in the Auckland province led to an urgent need for Catholic schools in Matamata, Te Aroha and

Morrinsville. 140 In other types of small-scale farming and horticulture, Catholics were markedly under-represented. They accounted for only

5.84

per cent of orchardists in

1 92 1

and

9.42

per cent of fruit and nut growers in

1936.

Only

5. 1 6

per cent of market gardeners were Catholics in

192 1 ,

a proportion which rose somewhat to

8.86

per cent in

1936.

Of all the men in industrial occupations (that is, manufacturing and construction) in

192 1 , 1 2.07

per cent were Catholics, somewhat less than the Catholic proportion of the -

male workforce. The proportion of Catholic industrial employers was quite low

(8.09

per cent) and the proportion of Catholic men who were self-employed was not much

greater

( 1 0.45

per cent). Conversely, Catholic men were over-represented among

wage and salary earners

(12.62

per cent), given their proportion in industrial

occupations.

There were relatively low proportions of Catholics in industrial categories where high levels of technical skill were required. Only

9.58

per cent of those employed in founding and engineering in

192 1

were Catholics and in

1936

only

9.7 i

per cent were Catholics. Among motor engineers,

9.42

per cent were Catholics in

192 1

and

8.34

per cent in

1936.

Joinery works employed a small proportion of Catholics

(6.25

per cent in

1 92 1

and

7. 1 4

1 936)

and Catholics were also somewhat under-represented among cabinet-makers

( 10. 1 7

per cent and

10. 16

per cent). In

1 92 1 ,

few Catholics were employed in the manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles

(9.6 1

per cent) or motor cars

1 38 These figures were calculated by multiplying the total number of men by the percentage of Catholics in the workforce.

1 39 See especially "The Vigil", "Milk Round" and "Growing Up" in Dan Davin, The Gorse Blooms Pale (London: Nicholson & Watson, 1947). .

38

Chapter One: A People Apart?

(9.42

per cent) but as assembly-line production of cars expanded, creating new,

unskilled jobs, the proportion of Catholics increased (to

1 1.74

per cent in

1936).

Catholic men were also under-represented in butter and cheese production

(7.96

per

cent in

192 1 ,

increasing to

9.91

per cent in

1936

as dairy factories increased in size and

became more mechanized) and in bread making

(10.53

per cent and

10.05

per cent).

They were somewhat under-represented in printing and publication

( 10.64

per cent in

192 1

and

1 1 .29

per cent in

1936)

and in job and general printing

(10.66

and

1 0. 1 1

per cent), presumably because these occupations employed a large proportion of skilled

men. Catholics were not under-represented among blacksmiths

(13.99

per cent in

1 92 1

and

1 2.67

per cent in

1936),

but, unlike the other skilled industries just mentioned, blacksmithing was a rural occupation which could be learnt without a formal apprenticeship and which would have been widely practised among Irish immigrants and their immediate descendants. Catholics were over-represented in grain-threshing

( 17.77

per cent in

1 92 1 ,

declining to

15.42

per cent in

1936),

which was a labour-intensive, unskilled occupation. They were also somewhat over

represented among freezing workers and others involved in food preserving

(14.64

per

cent and

13.28

per cent).

Drink production required large numbers of unskilled workers and

17.97

per cent of men employed in breweries in

192 1

were Catholics, while

15.47

per cent of those involved in manufacturing cordials and aerated waters were Catholics. No comparable figures were published for

1936

but the overall proportion of Catholic men employed in drink production in

192 1

was

17.33

per cent, declining to

16. 1 8

per cent in

1926

and to

14.81

per cent in

1936.

Protestants were more likely than Catholics to consider alcohol production an uncongenial form of employment. 141

The same pattern of Catholic under-representation among skilled tradesmen and over-representation among the unskilled prevailed in the building and construction industries. In

192 1 ,

only

9.88

per cent of painters, paperhangers and glazers were Catholics and in

1936

only

10.08

per cent. The under-representation of Catholic men in carpentry, building and construction

(9.60

per cent in

1921

and

9.35

per cent in

1936)

presumably reflects the high levels of skill involved in such work. 142 Higher

141 _{See the discussions of leisure}_in_{chapter four and of Prohibition}_in_{chapter five.}

142 According to the published statistics, the number of general carpenters in 1936 was 7,061 fewer than in 1921 while, at the same time, the number of men engaged in building and construction

increased by 8,840. Evidently, the two categories were not distinguished in a consistent manner and it is necessary to combine them in order to obtain comparable figures for the two census years.

__ .. _ . ... --._ �_� _. __

�-_�::...e-.�_ _____ _ �_�-_ . _ -- -

EmploymenJ Patterns

39

proportions of Catholics were found among bricklayers

(1 1 .35 per cent in 1921 ) and

plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers ( 1 1 .20 per cent in

1921 and 10.28 per cent in

1936), no doubt because these trades, especially the latter, included more unskilled

In document More a part than apart, the Catholic community in New Zealand society, 1918 1940 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History and Religious Studies at Massey University (Page 49-52)