So from what I understand the earliest MPs were somewhat like the British (and Australian) in wearing what we think of as shoulder titles, - also as cap badges.
Your understanding is spot on the mark.
The British laid down the foundations in 1912 for a special corps of military police called the ‘provost staff,’ to be established under the Commonwealth Compulsory Training Act.
It is my understanding the Australians established a Provost Staff in Melbourne in early February 1913 to trace shirkers and to generally supervise those liable for compulsory service. (An MP badge was worn on the front of the slouch hat and as shoulder titles)
New Zealand being much smaller in size and population did not form a permanent Provost Staff, instead it relied on the local constabulary to bring in its defaulters.
Am I right in thinking then that the WW1 period cap badge as shown on Tinto's photo was also worn in WW2 ( my thinking being that as there was no GVR cypher to be updated to GVIR and the crown didn't change, there would be no need for a new badge ?).
I believe you are correct in your thinking. As yet I have been unable to find period photographs of these badges being worn to prove my theories.
The badges provided by Tinto (Collar badges are hat badges with the scroll removed) turn up regularly for sale here in New Zealand. Of the four different manufactures, the ones made by C. M. Bay of Wellington seem to be the rarest. As such I can only speculate that these were the first issued during WW1. The ones made by Mayer & Kean of Wellington seem to be the most common and going by the two types of lugs used by M&K, I suspect these were worn by the NZ military Police who went to Samoa in the 1930s and during WW2 in New Zealand. (NZ military Police that served overseas during WW2 wore the standard NZ onwards badge)
I just missed the early MP badge on EBay a couple of weeks back much to my disappointment and when I found one on a British dealers list what actually arrived was a collar dog. I kept it anyway as I'd have needed one of those too, so still looking for the badge.
Beware that very good copies of these badges turn up regularly for sale.
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