Poster, 'Navy Week'

item details

NamePoster, 'Navy Week'

ProductionN.Z. National Savings Committee; creating agency; June 1943; Wellington

Classificationpolitical posters

Materialspaper, printing ink

Materials SummaryFour colour block printed text with halftone lithographic image on paper

Techniqueslithography

DimensionsOverall: 482mm (width), 750mm (height)

Registration NumberGH014041

Credit lineLoan from Mr C.H. Andrews, 1967

Overview

This is a fund-raising poster designed and printed in World War II.

Design
This poster is an emotionally charged call for New Zealanders to give money to the war effort through loans - 'New Zealand expects that everyone this week will invest in the 3rd Liberty Loan'.

Loans
After 1940, the National Savings Committee raised substantial annual internal loans based on voluntary public subscription to pay for the war. Many New Zealanders lent their money to the government, to be repaid after the war at modest interest rates. Most of the loans were called 'Liberty Loans' (this particular poster advertised the '3rd Liberty Loan' of 1943).

Significance
Nearly half of the country's war spending was covered by internal borrowing. New Zealand had no outstanding overseas debt as a result of World War II. Posters such as this made intense appeals, often through guilt, to New Zealanders' sense of patriotism and sacrifice.