1956 Birthday Honours (New Zealand)

Knight Bachelor

• Robert Lachlan Macalister – mayor of the City of Wellington.

  Order of Saint Michael and Saint George

Companion (CMG)

• Clarence Edward Beeby – Director of Education.
• Edward George Sayers – a prominent physician, of Auckland. For public services.

  Order of the British Empire

Knight Commander (KBE)

• Bernard Carl Ashwin – formerly Secretary to the Treasury.

  Commander (CBE)

• Arnold Fielder Downer – engineer in charge of various public works.
• James Peter Speid Jamieson – of Nelson; a prominent medical practitioner.
• The Honourable Makea Nui Teremoana Ariki – a member of the Legislative Council of the Cook Islands.
• Arnold Wall – professor emeritus, Canterbury University College. For services to education.

• Captain John George Nicholson Hilliard – Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve.

  Officer (OBE)

• Ernest Cook Bathurst – mayor of Ashburton since 1944.
• Winifred Delugar – matron-in-chief, Auckland Hospital Boards' Institution.
• Douglas Ralph Auckland Eden – general manager, New Zealand Reparation Estates, Western Samoa.
• William Grieve – chairman of the Southland Centennial Association.
• Albert Victor Hartley – of Invercargill. For services to the farming community of New Zealand, especially in Southland.
• Albert John Orchard – a medical practitioner in Christchurch for over 50 years.
• Basil Otto Peterson. For services to the City of Wellington, especially as town clerk.
• Hugh Thomas Speight – of Dunedin. For social welfare services, especially to the Crippled Children's Society.
• Clement George Trotter. For services to the Farmers' Co-operative Organisation Society and other bodies.

• Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Wilfred Robertshaw – Royal New Zealand Infantry Corps.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Geoffrey Wooller – Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps.
• Wing Commander William Dale Abernethy – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  Member (MBE)

• Harold Iver Austad – chairman of the management committee, New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, for many years.
• Marian Eva Baxter – matron of the Rhodes Convalescent Home, Cashmere Hills, Christchurch.
• Henry Reginald Billing – chairman of the New Plymouth High School Board for many years.
• Cora Louisa Burrell – of Christchurch. For social welfare services.
• Arthur Hellyer Collins – chairman of the Wanganui County Council.
• Viva Donaldson – of Whangarei. For public services.
• Peter Graham – of Franz Josef Glacier; a mountaineer and alpine guide.
• Sydney Jefcoate Harbutt – of Auckland. For services to various local and public organisations.
• Vera Annie Hayward – of Dunedin. For services rendered in connection with educational and women's organisations.
• Robert Telford Kinaston – of Roxburgh. For services to the farming community.
• Charles Gordon Macauley. For services rendered in connection with the tourist movement in Southland.
• Margaret Emma Magill – of Eastbourne. For social welfare services.
• Bridget Ellen Moran – of the Māori Girls' College, Greenmeadows, Hastings.
• Mary Anne Reidy – of Kawhia. For services to nursing.
• Robert John Smith – president of the Bush Rugby Football Union for many years.
• Arthur William Taff – of Napier; an inventor and manufacturer of appliances for disabled persons.
• James Frederick Thompson – president of the Greytown Chamber of Commerce.
• Charles Morgan Williams – of Kaiapoi. For public services.

• First Officer Lorelle Henderson Corbin – Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service.
• Captain Frederic Rex Bartley – Royal New Zealand Artillery.
• Major Robert Maynard Gurr – New Zealand Regiment.
• Major Robert Bruce Reed – Royal New Zealand Infantry Corps.
• Major John William Rolleston – Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps.
• Flight Lieutenant Peter Harry Lumley – Royal New Zealand Air Force.
• Warrant Officer John Niven – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  Companion of the Imperial Service Order (ISO)

• Francis Bernard Dwyer – Army Secretary.
• George Ernest Francis Wood – government statistician.

  British Empire Medal (BEM)

• Thomas James Cotter – constable, New Zealand Police Force, Putaruru.
• Theodore Royden Heighway – station officer, Auckland Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

• Chief Petty Officer Writer William Douglas Dinmore – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Chief Engineering Mechanic Ernest Benjamin Gascoigne – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Chief Electrician Robert Brian Harvey – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Ordnance Artificer 1st Class Charles Hepburn – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Stores Chief Petty Officer Richard Allan Jefferies – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Staff-Sergeant Dorothy Kendall Baxter – New Zealand Women's Royal Army Corps.
• Sergeant William Aubrey Biber – Royal New Zealand Air Force.
• Sergeant Ernest Frederick Fraser – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  Air Force Cross (AFC)

• Flying Officer Ian Albert Hutchins – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air

• Flight Lieutenant Helge Hall Torgersen – Royal New Zealand Air Force.