Review by Gordon McLauchlan
If you define Sir Dover-Myer Robinson by the
nature of his enemies, he emerges from this biography as heroic -- a
long-sighted politician and strategist who fought to develop a big, competently
managed city for people to live in comfortably and well; but he was almost
always thwarted by opponents who were myopic political tacticians, protecting
their bailiwick boroughs against the nasty prospect of progress.
Most long-time
Aucklanders will find their recollections confirmed by this book: the Citizens
and Ratepayers organisation was for decades a shelter for stodgy,
self-satisfied Establishment figures for whom progress was best impeded and the
future was foreseen as an extension of the present.
However, if
you consider “Robbie” -- his nickname for most of his record six terms as
Auckland mayor – for the quality of his social life then he fails as a man of caring
and decency.
Let us
dispose of this first and then get on with his contribution to Auckland as a
city and region. His treatment of women was awful and of his family appalling. Their
need for a loving husband and father remained unrequited. In the end, justly, he became a lonely old
man, a condition he had inflicted on himself by disregarding their emotional
needs as he pursued his political ambitions and sought out those who would
pander to his considerable ego. Lonely
and bereft, he even tried to lure back his fourth wife who had left him some
years before, feeling a side-show to his main act.
Robinson
came to power in Auckland as he fought almost single-handedly against a council
plan to fix the effluent problem in the Waitemata by simply moving the outflow
further out, to Browns Island. The plan was supported by council members,and
their engineers who should have known better. The common sense of the public
gradually understood that Robinson’s plan for a sewage treatment plant was
visionary and sensible. He thus won and saved our beaches.
Next, he
tried to build a regional government, something Arthur Myers, the mayor of more
than a century before, had attempted but failed. Robinson, too, failed in the
face of opposition by the parish pumpers of tiny boroughs. He was instrumental
in getting the Auckland RegionalCouncil set up but it was a pale organisation
compared with the one he thought necessary.
His final
big strategy was to put a rapid rail system in place. He quite accurately
predicted Auckland would need superior public transport to avoid the jammed up
raids we have today. He was eventually worn down by borough, city and regional
councillors– including Tom Pearce, chairman of the regional authority, a man so archly conservative he was opposed to
a civic reception for The Beatles because they were long-haired larrikins. This,
despite the fact that “the people” returned Robinson to office six times.
Pearce and
others prevailed on Rob Muldoon and then Norman Kirk to oppose the scheme -- which
had the sort of foresight that planned wide-gauge rail to provide for
bullet-train speeds .
To underline
how bitter had been the exchanges between Robinson and his opponents over the
years, his implacable foe, Reg Savoury, one-time city councillor and later
chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board, was grossly unsavoury enough to more
than once refer to him behind his back as “Jew boy”.
Whatever
Robinson’s failings as a person, Aucklanders can be grateful to him for
fighting beyond the call of duty to keep our city healthy and our beaches clean
for recreation, and we can only lament that his vision of a well run Greater
Auckland with a highly developed public transport system was frustrated by some
pretty mean-minded fellow politicians.
This
biography is very readable and mostly even-handed.
Footnote:
Gordon McLauchlan is an Auckland-based writer and commentator, and occasional reviewer on this blog.
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