Neville Pickering

Neville George Pickering MBE JP (18 November 1923 – 25 June 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Biography

Early life

Pickering was born in Hāwera in 1923. He was educated at Hamilton Technical College where he was also keen sportsman. In his youth he represented both Hamilton and Bay of Plenty at cricket. He married Alexia Pickering, who would become a notable disability advocate. They adopted three children before she had another child of her own.

Political career

In 1948 he began his first posting in the Labour Party as their Southland party organiser, leading to him standing in the 1949 and 1951 elections, in the Awarua electorate, but lost against the incumbent, George Richard Herron of the National Party. From 1950 to 1952 Pickering was the business manager of the Grey River Argus, a Labour newspaper in Greymouth before leaving for Wellington to become an assistant research officer at Labour's head office. In 1953 he took up position as Labour's South Island organiser.

In the 1954 election, he lost against Alfred James Davey in the Waimate electorate. He settled in the electorate nonetheless to work for the Prudential life insurance company in Timaru.

After initially refusing nomination, Pickering stood in the 1957 election in the St Albans electorate (Labour's initial candidate Desmond J. Scott withdrew). This time he was successful and became one of six new Labour MPs. He was defeated in the 1960 election by Bert Walker.

Following his defeat, he gained employment as manager of the Atlas Rubber Company. In 1962, Pickering was elected a member of the Christchurch City Council. He served for nine years as a councillor before he was elected Mayor of Christchurch in 1971. Upon his election as mayor he resigned his job at Atlas Rubber to be Mayor full-time which he saw the role of as bringing the people closer to the council. As one of his first acts as mayor he reinstituted the wearing of full mayoral robes and regalia, which many saw as a contradiction to his status as a Labour mayor.

His time as mayor was marked by stormy debates among councillors and disagreements with officials where Pickering's style of leadership drew contrary descriptions; some describing him as a vigorous and decisive leader with keen political acumen, others saw him as arrogant. In 1972, Pickering boycotted an Anzac Day wreath-laying at Cathedral Square, protesting against the Returned Services' Association's restrictions on who could lay wreaths.

The dominant issue during Pickering's time as mayor was Christchurch's hosting of the 1974 British Commonwealth Games. He fulfilled an election pledge to leave Hagley Park untouched and build a purpose built facility for the games athletic events, which resulted in the construction of Queen Elizabeth II Park. Pickering insisted on the construction of a permanent facility for the city to have after the games' completion. This caused some concern by the games organising committee, who worried that the facilities might not be built to meet the deadlines and/or quality standards, though they were both met comfortably. In recognition to his contribution to the games, Pickering was given the honorary title of "President of the Tenth Commonwealth Games".

In 1974 he was defeated for the mayoralty by Hamish Hay. Having lost the mayoralty, his wife insisted on moving back to Wellington. There, in early 1975, he was appointed by the Third Labour Government to a post with the Local Government Commission. The posting was short-lived however as the incoming Third National Government were to abolish the commission after winning power later that year. Following the commission's end he opened a cycle shop in Wellington.

In the 1978 election, he stood in the Wellington Central electorate but lost against Ken Comber. Two years later he stood for the Wellington City Council and narrowly missed out on election.

Later life and death

Pickering died on 25 June 1988 and is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch. His wife, who subsequently remarried, died in 2017.

Awards and commemoration

In the 1985 New Year Honours, PIckering was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to local government. Pickering Courts, a council housing project in St Albans designed for the elderly containing 25 units built in 1978 was named in his honour. At his death both his successor as mayor Sir Hamish Hay and the chairman of the organising committee for the 1974 games Sir Ronald Scott described Queen Elizabeth II Park as a memorial to Pickering and his vision.