1 Pound National Bank of New Zealand Limited

The National Bank of New Zealand Limited was a British-registered institution operating in New Zealand, which explains the London printing arrangement with Perkins, Bacon & Petch — this was never a colonial anomaly but a deliberate commercial relationship maintained well into the twentieth century. The bank itself was founded in 1872 and remained under heavy British ownership throughout this period.

New Zealand would not establish its own central bank until 1934, meaning commercial banks like this one retained full note-issuing rights through the late 1920s. The Reserve Bank Act that ended that privilege made surviving examples from this final window of private issue historically significant to the New Zealand series.