1955 New Year Honours (New Zealand)

Knight Bachelor

• The Honourable George Panton Finlay – senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court.

  Order of Saint Michael and Saint George

Knight Commander (KCMG)

• Leslie Knox Munro – ambassador to the United States of America.

  Order of the British Empire

Knight Commander (KBE)

• Major-General William Henry Cunningham – crown prosecutor in Wellington. For services to law.

  Commander (CBE)

• Ernest Hedley Roy Green – chief engineer, Post and Telegraph Department.
• Robert Alexander Crookston Laidlaw – of Auckland. For social welfare and philanthropic services.
• Stanley Logan Paterson – senior stipendiary magistrate.

• Captain Frank Edward Taylor – Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve.

  Officer (OBE)

• William David Campbell – of Timaru. For services to law, education and journalism.
• Mason Te Rama Apakura Durie – leading chief of the Rangitāne tribe. For services to the Māori people.
• Frank William Gilligan – headmaster of the Wanganui Collegiate School. For services to education.
• Charles Kirkpatrick Grierson – president of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors.
• Marie Emerentia Little – matron of the Sunnyside Mental Hospital, Christchurch.
• John Murray – of Wellington. For patriotic and social welfare services, particularly in connection with the Disabled Servicemen's Rehabilitation League.
• George John Park – of Auckland. For services to education, and in connection with the work of the Crippled Children's Society.
• Arthur Gentry Pitts – a medical practitioner at Waimate. For services to the community.
• Henry Charles Withell – of Ashburton. For services to local government.

• Acting Commander John David Keay – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Lieutenant-Colonel William Denzil Philp – Royal New Zealand Artillery, Territorial Force.
• Squadron Leader Cecil David Melville Kingsford – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  Member (MBE)

• Susan Amy Barnicoat – of Wellington. For services to the community, especially in connection with women's organisations.
• John Bruorton – of Christchurch. For social welfare services.
• Jenny Henderson Campbell – of Auckland. For social welfare services.
• Avalin Sutherland Carran – commissioner of the Warkworth Town Board. For services to the community.
• John Ira Fraser. For services to local government in the Maniototo County.
• Sidney George – of Auckland. For services to the Boys' Brigade.
• Albert Percy Greenfield – of Dunedin. For social welfare services.
• Edgar Harding – of Woodville. For services to the community, especially in connection with local government and the dairy industry.
• James David Howitt – chairman of the management committee of the Wellington Boys' Institute.
• Frederick Hainsworth Hudson – of Levin. For services to local government.
• Maud Marian Kelly – of Nelson. For social welfare services.
• Thomas Daniel Lennie – of Christchurch. For services to horticulture.
• Ema Te Toroa Tangiariki Otene. For services to the Māori people in Hawke's Bay, especially in the field of women's welfare.
• Arthur Henry Sivewright – chairman of the Hawke's Bay Education Board.
• Henry Joseph Stage. For services to local government and to agriculture in Marlborough.
• William Stapleton – curator of the botanical gardens in Invercargill. For services to horticulture.
• Henry Sweney – of Christchurch. For social welfare services.
• Mabel Sinclair Walden – of Riverton. For social welfare services.
• Constance Lilian Weston. For services to the community in New Plymouth.
• Ernest Summers Wilson – of Dunedin. For services to the community in connection with charitable and patriotic organisations.

• Lieutenant Arthur Beevor Wilkinson – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• The Reverend Francis John Green – chaplain, Royal New Zealand Chaplains Department.
• Major Leslie Rexnold Musgrave – New Zealand Regiment.
• Captain Hugh Bannatyne Fraser-Tytler – Royal New Zealand Infantry, Territorial Force.
• Warrant Officer Class I Carl Alexander Walter – Royal New Zealand Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
• Flight Lieutenant Noel Alexander Spring-Rice – Royal New Zealand Air Force.
• Warrant Officer Leslie William Thompson – Royal New Zealand Air Force.
• Warrant Officer Clifford Huia Perrett – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  British Empire Medal (BEM)

• Petty Officer Edward Maurice Hancock – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Chief Engine Room Artificer James Nathan Rothwell – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Chief Petty Officer Mervyn Leslie St. Clare – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Chief Petty Officer Claude Wilfred Mason-Riseborough – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Staff-Sergeant Joseph Matthew Lowe – Royal New Zealand Signals, Territorial Force.
• Flight Sergeant James Hugh Watts – Royal New Zealand Air Force.
• Flight Sergeant William Harrison Staniland – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  Air Force Cross (AFC)

• Flight Lieutenant Raymond Arthur Mackinder – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

  Air Force Medal (AFM)

• Sergeant Ivan Noel Moran – Royal New Zealand Air Force.