A History of Statistics in New Zealand Edited and written by HS Roberts Published by the New Zealand Statistical Association (Inc) PO Box 1731 Wellington ISBN 0 9597632 7 9 This book is copyright under the Berne convention. All rights reserved, no reproduction without permission © New Zealand Statistical Association (Inc) Production by Bateson Publishing Limited Design and layout by Unicorn Design & Pre Press Printed by Hutcheson, Bowman and Stewart DEDICATION This history is dedicated to Ian Douglas Dick who, more than anyone else, was responsible for bringing the applications of statistical methods into experimental scientific work in New Zealand. PREFACE The genesis for the publication of this book was the New Zealand Statistical Association’s Conference on the History of Statistics in New Zealand which was held at Victoria University on 1 July 1987. Attendees at the conference included a number of our elder statisticians such as Professors Jim Campbell and Geoff Jowett along with Stan Roberts. Some, but not all of the papers presented during the day were subsequently published in The New Zealand Statistician, and a sub committee of the New Zealand Statistical Association was established to investigate how we could best retain the knowledge of the past, and ensure that it was readily available to our younger new members. This book is the result. In 1996 Stan Roberts was asked by the Association to edit and to do the substantive writing of this text. His dedication and tenacity, particularly in tracking down old material, is apparent in the volume and quality of material presented. The Association would like to put on record its sincere thanks to Stan for all his work. A number of other members of the association have also made major contributions including Frances Krsinich, Jean Thompson and Mike Camden and I would like to express my appreciation to them also. It is the hope of the New Zealand Statistical Association that this book will be a valuable resource for present and future generations of statisticians. Sharleen Forbes President 1997 to 1999 New Zealand Statistical Association vii viii ABOUT THE EDITOR HS (Stanley) Roberts was born in 1920. He worked for the Applied Mathematics Division of the DSIR for 30 years, from 1951 to 1981. He was made a life member of the New Zealand Statistical Association in 1981, and received the first Campbell Award in 1999. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 STATISTICAL INSTITUTIONS 3 Early Official Statistics in New Zealand: Statistics New Zealand up to 1960, Frances Krsinich ...........................................................................................3 Department of Agriculture, Jean Heywood ................................................................ 20 Applied Mathematics Division, Editor ........................................................................... 28 A Tribute to the Applied Maths Division, DSIR (1952–1986), Ken Seal .............. 39 The first four years of the Applied Mathematics Laboratory,I D Dick ................ 46 Personal reminiscences (1953–1962), Bob Williams ................................................. 49 How to be ‘usefully vulgar’ – the example of AMD, John Darwin ........................ 51 Reminiscences about AML, Peter Whittle ..................................................................... 53 Computing at AMD: 1949–1965, Garry Dickinson .................................................... 67 Computing at AMD, 1965-1982: the ELLIOTT 503, Brian Gibson ......................... 70 CHAPTER 2 SOME NEW ZEALAND STATISTICIANS 73 Alexander Craig Aitken (1895–1967), P C Fenton ...................................................... 73 Sir George Ernest Francis Wood (1900–1978) Government Statistician (1946–1958), Kristeene Parkes ................................... 76 James Towers Campbell (1906–1994), R M Williams ................................................ 83 Harold Silverstone (1915–1974), Editor ......................................................................... 88 Ian Douglas Dick: (1918–1999), Editor ........................................................................... 91 Peter Whittle (1927–) – an autobiography ................................................................... 97 Steve Kuzmicich (1931–) – Government Statistician (1984–1992), Frances Krsinich ..............................................................................................................103 Geoff Jowett (1922–), Editor ............................................................................................112 CHAPTER 3 EDUCATION 116 Primary Schools, Editor .....................................................................................................116 Post Primary Schools, Editor............................................................................................119 Polytechnic, Hans (John) Offenberger .........................................................................123 Universities, Editor ..............................................................................................................131 CHAPTER 4 EARLY SURVEYS, TRIALS, AND FIELD EXPERIMENTS 146 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................146 1923 Forestry, P J McKelvey, Graham Whyte .............................................................147 1930 The Appleby experiments, Editor .......................................................................152 1931 The Hudson-Gosset Correspondence, G.C. Arnold ......................................154 1932 Fisheries, K. Radway Allen ....................................................................................160 1936 Changes in mental ability in New Zealand school children 1936–1968, Editor .......................................................................164 1940 Notes on the State of NZ Climatological Statistics in the 1940s, N. G. Robertson ....................................................................................167 1947 Dental caries and soil types, Editor ....................................................................171 1947 Foot Measurements of New Zealand Children, Editor ................................174 1949 Aerial top-dressing measurement trials, Editor ............................................175 1951 Identical twin experiments, I D Dick ..................................................................177 1952 Experimentation in industry, L F Jackson, Ken Seal .....................................181 1953 Early work on the econometrics of wool prices, Bryan Philpott .............184 1953 A survey of wheat cropping and diseases, G M Wright ..............................190 1957 Airline queueing, Hamish Thompson ...............................................................193 1960 Actuarial, Athol Tills .................................................................................................196 1961 The sheep population of Campbell Island, Editor ........................................201 1965 Criminology, S W Slater ..........................................................................................203 1966 Soil fertility in Niue Island soils, John P Widdowson ...................................206 1968 Birds at Auckland International Airport, Editor .............................................209 1974 Alcohol in the blood of New Zealand drivers, Editor ..................................211 1974 Libraries, Editor .........................................................................................................213 CHAPTER 5 THE NEW ZEALAND STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION 215 Formation and early beginnings ...................................................................................215 The Genesis and Activities of the New Zealand Statistical Association, K J A Revfeim ....................................................................................................................217 The New Zealand Statistician (Volume 1, March 1966, Number 1) ...................231 The NZSA (1966–1970), Greg Arnold ...........................................................................235 The Survey Appraisal and Public Questions Committee, Stephen Haslett ..............................................................................................................237 The Education Committee, Mike Camden .................................................................241 The NZSA (1990–1993), Jean Thompson ....................................................................245 CHAPTER 6 GENERAL 250 Florence Mary Harding (1910–1977), Editor..............................................................250 Frank A Haight, Editor ........................................................................................................251 Dr Michael Cullen (1945–), Editor ..................................................................................252 A note on the ‘Cold War’ period in New Zealand, Editor .......................................253 Gleanings from the New Zealand Statistician ..........................................................255 INDEX OF NAMES 262 INTRODUCTION “Statistics”, like most words, is continually changing its meaning. In order to find the meaning of a word we tend to reach for a dictionary, but dictionaries do not so much “define” the meanings of words, but rather give their current usages, together with examples. Following are examples relating to statistics taken from the 1933 Oxford English Dictionary (13