After Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow had survived the first hour and the second new ball, Root, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann fell in quick succession to put New Zealand in control of the match.
Bairstow watched the carnage from the other end under the floodlights at the home of cricket and he reached the interval unbeaten on 29 with Steven Finn on two.
Root top-scored with 40 before flicking Tim Southee through to wicketkeeper BJ Watling and Prior was trapped lbw first ball by Southee.
Broad fell lbw to Neil Wagner for nought and Swann, on five, edged Wagner to Watling.
It was a dramatic collapse by England who had continued to bat with grim determination on the second morning after crawling to 160 for four on the opening day.
Bairstow edged left-armer Trent Boult just short of third slip and survived a confident shout for lbw in the same over but he and his Yorkshire team mate Root looked generally comfortable.
Runs were still hard to come by, however, and apart from two straight drives to the boundary by Bairstow and a clip through mid-wicket by Root the England batsmen were prepared to deal in singles and twos.
Root became the first England batsman to reach 40 but his 114-ball innings ended when he edged a ball from Southee going down leg-side through to Watling.
Prior, whose battling century secured a series draw for England on the final day of the recent third Test against New Zealand in Auckland, was deceived by Southee's line and although Broad survived the hat-trick ball he was beaten by a full-length delivery in Wagner's next over.
Swann drove loosely at Wagner to give Watling an easy catch, leaving England, the world's second-ranked team, in deep trouble against a side six places below them in the rankings.
Wagner was the most successful New Zealand bowler with figures of three for 70 from 28 overs.
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