Knight Commander (KCB)

Military division

• Lieutenant-General Leonard Whitmore Thornton CB CBE – Chief of Defence Staff, New Zealand Armed Forces.

• Sir Leonard Thornton

Companion (CMG)

• Albert William Liley PhD MB – of Auckland. For valuable services to medicine.
• Denzil Anthony Seaver Ward – of Wellington. For services as Law Draftsman and Compiler of Statutes.

Knight Commander (KCVO)

• John Valentine Meech CVO – of Wellington.

Knight Commander (KBE)

Civil division

• Edward Denis Blundell OBE – of Wellington. For services to the legal profession.

• Sir Denis Blundell

Commander (CBE)

Civil division

• James Thomas Andrews – of Wellington. For valuable services in the fields of banking and economic research.
• John Sims Meadowcroft – of Paraparaumu. For services to commerce and the textile trade.
• Allan Meredith Satterthwaite – of Christchurch. For services to tourism, commercial and financial affairs.
• Leonard George Herston Sinclair JP – of Auckland; stipendiary magistrate.

Military division

• Brigadier Bertrand Reidhaar Bullot – Brigadiers' List (Regular Force).

Officer (OBE)

Civil division

• Hilda Kathleen Birks JP – of Lower Hutt. For valuable services in the field of social and local affairs.
• Captain Alexander Royle Champion JP – harbourmaster of Lyttelton.
• Lawson Lysnar Copland Field JP – of Gisborne. For valuable services to farming.
• Albert Hugh Flay – of Christchurch. For services to farming and teaching.
• David Forsyth – of Dunedin. For services to education.
• Alfred George Honnor JP – mayor of New Plymouth.
• Arthur Leigh Hunt – of Wellington. For valuable services to the community.
• Frederick Campbell Johnstons JP – of Whatawhata. For services to the pastoral industry.
• Hēnare Kōhere Ngata – of Gisborne. For services to the Māori people.
• John Addis Redwood – of Auckland. For services to the community, especially in connection with the care of old people.
• The Reverend William Morton Ryburn – of Auckland. For outstanding services as Presbyterian missionary and educationist.

Military division

• Commander Neil Dudley Anderson – Royal New Zealand Navy.
• Colonel Tristan Freitas Hegglun ED – Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (Territorial Force).
• Wing Commander David Ewan Jamieson – Royal New Zealand Air Force.

• Hēnare Ngata
• Tristan Hegglun

Member (MBE)

Civil division

• James Herries Beattie – of Waimate. For services to historical research in New Zealand.
• Edward Coventry Bydder MB ChB – of Tākaka. For services to the community.
• Jessie Duggan Dalgleish – of Raetihi. For services to nursing.
• Grace Farrell – of Westport. For services to the community.
• Frederick Christoph Jurgens – of Bulls. For services to the farming community.
• Irene May Casemore Lassen – of Christchurch. For services to music.
• William Douglas Lattimore – mayor of Balclutha.
• Lionel Deacon Lees – of Tauranga. For services to the community and local government.
• Florence Mary Morton Low – of Wellington. For services to the community in welfare and local-body work.
• Sabira Agnes Martin. For services to the community, especially as supervisor of the Nelson Occupation Centre, and in the field of education of intellectually handicapped children.
• Eric Joseph Naylor JP – of Oamaru. For services to the community especially as chairman of the Vincent Hospital Board.
• Allan North MB ChB – of Te Whaiti. For services to medicine and to the Māori people.
• Ellen Elizabeth Pickering – of Masterton. For services to the community.
• Leslie Bowden Quartermain – of Wellington. For services to the community, especially to youth and to the New Zealand Antarctic Society.
• Hubert Arthur Toneycliffe – of Timaru. For services to education and local affairs.
• Rose Evelyn Townshend – of Picton. For services to the community and local government.
• Ellen Margaret Uttley – of Wanganui. For services to the community in welfare and local affairs.
• Alice May Walton – of Auckland. For services to nursing.
• Edward Wellesley Wise JP – of Levin. For services to local government, particularly as mayor of Eastbourne Borough Council.

Military division

• Lieutenant Commander Neil Laurence Merrick – Royal Navy.
• Major Douglas Jo Dunn – Royal New Zealand Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Territorial Force).
• Captain Lenard Donald Grant – Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (Regular Force).
• Captain Maurice David Stanley – Royal New Zealand Artillery (Regular Force).
• Flight Lieutenant Martin David Burns – Royal New Zealand Air Force (Air Training Corps).
• Warrant Officer Collis Litchfield Anderson – Royal New Zealand Air Force.
• Warrant Officer Roy Edward Spencer – Royal New Zealand Air Force.