The following lists events that happened during 1962 in New Zealand. Population Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,515,800 Increase since 31 December 1961: 54,500 (2.21%) Males per 100 females: 101.0 Incumbents Regal and viceregal Head of State – Elizabeth II Governor-General – The Viscount Cobham GCMG TD, followed by Brigadier Sir Bernard Fergusson GCMG GCVO DSO OBE. Government Speaker of the House – Ronald Algie. Prime Minister – Keith Holyoake Deputy Prime Minister – Jack Marshall. Minister of Finance – Harry Lake. Minister of Foreign Affairs – Keith Holyoake. Attorney-General – Ralph Hanan. Chief Justice — Sir Harold Barrowclough Parliamentary opposition Leader of the Opposition – Walter Nash (Labour) Main centre leaders Mayor of Auckland – Dove-Myer Robinson Mayor of Hamilton – Denis Rogers Mayor of Wellington – Frank Kitts Mayor of Christchurch – George Manning Mayor of Dunedin – Stuart Sidey Events The Office of the Ombudsman was established January 1 January: Samoa (then called Western Samoa) attains full independence, becoming the first independent Polynesian territory. February 5 February: Dunedin lawyer James Patrick Ward was killed by a letter bomb sent to his office in what police described as "one of the most callous murders in the history of New Zealand crime". March April June July August 11 August: New Zealand Railways's Cook Strait ferry service began, using the . September October November December Arts and literature R.A.K. Mason wins the Robert Burns Fellowship. See 1962 in art, 1962 in literature, :Category:1962 books Music See: 1962 in music Radio and television New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS) is restructured on 1 April to form New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. An outside broadcast van is in use in Auckland, and similar vans are ordered for Wellington and Christchurch. Dunedin gets television service with the launch of DNTV2 on 31 July. There are 23,343 licensed television sets in New Zealand. See: 1962 in New Zealand television, 1962 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, :Category:Television in New Zealand, Public broadcasting in New Zealand Film See: :Category:1962 film awards, 1962 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, :Category:1962 films Sport Athletics 27 January: Peter Snell sets a new world record for the mile of 3m 54.4s, running at Cook's Gardens, Wanganui. Barry Magee wins his second national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:24:55.4 in Auckland. British Empire and Commonwealth Games Chess The 69th National Chess Championship was