As a consequence of the post-war economic boom there was increasing demand for consumer goods. The 1956 census revealed that more than half of New Zealand homes possessed washing machines, refrigerators and electric ovens.
The Mazengarb report into 'juvenile delinquency' blamed the perceived promiscuity of the nation's youth on the absence from home of working mothers, the easy availability of contraceptives, and on young women who enticed men into having sex.
To tackle the housing crisis in the late 1930s the Labour government created the Department of Housing Construction. With the help of Fletcher Construction, 3445 state houses were constructed in three years.
