Henry May (New Zealand politician)

The Honourable Henry May QSO
20th Minister of Internal Affairs
In office 25 November 1972 – 29 November 1975
Prime Minister	Norman Kirk Bill Rowling
Preceded by	Allan Highet
Succeeded by	Allan Highet
2nd Minister of Local Government
In office 25 November 1972 – 29 November 1975
Prime Minister	Norman Kirk Bill Rowling
Preceded by	Allan Highet
Succeeded by	Allan Highet
28h Minister of Civil Defence
In office 10 September 1974 – 29 November 1975
Prime Minister	Bill Rowling
Preceded by	Tom McGuigan
Succeeded by	Allan Highet
Personal details
Born	13 April 1912 Petone, New Zealand
Died	22 April 1995 (1995-04-23) (aged 83) Waikanae, New Zealand
Political party	Labour Party
Spouse(s)	Annie (1940-1967†) Doreen Langton
Children	4
Profession	Engineer

Henry Leonard James May QSO (13 April 1912 – 22 April 1995) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was a cabinet minister from 1972 to 1975.

Biography

Early life and career

May was born in Petone in 1912. He attended Petone convent school. He left school at 13 and found employment with Lever Brothers, later studying engineering part-time at Wellington Technical College. He then gained a job at the New Zealand Railways Department in the late 1920s, where soon after his wages were cut by 10% as part of the retrenchment policies of the United–Reform coalition government. He was also member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. At the outbreak of World War II his position with the railways was classified as a reserved occupation and he was ineligible to serve overseas. He subsequently served in the volunteer fire brigade to help fill the void of men that were overseas. After the war he left the railways and became the caretaker of the Petone waterworks.

His family were active in the Trade union movement and he was involved in politics from his days at school. His first political involvement was when he was aged only 7 years old when he held oil lamps to light a street-corner stump speech for Labour MP Bob Semple on the corner of Jackson Street and Richmond Street during the 1919 election. Throughout the 1920s he delivered Labour Party leaflets and attended party meetings with his grandfather Chip Oakley, a local baker. By the 1930s he was a local organiser and electorate secretary.

In 1940 he married his first wife Annie and built their own home in Korokoro. They had four children and were married for 27 years before she died in a road accident in May 1967 on Hutt Road.

Political career

New Zealand Parliament

Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1954	30th	Onslow			Labour
1954–1957	31st	Onslow			Labour
1957–1960	32nd	Onslow			Labour
1960–1963	33rd	Onslow			Labour
1963–1966	34th	Porirua			Labour
1966–1969	35th	Porirua			Labour
1969–1972	36th	Western Hutt			Labour
1972–1975	37th	Western Hutt			Labour

From 1947 to 1956 he was a member of the Petone Borough Council. As a councillor he was opposed to the proposed amalgamation of Petone with Lower Hutt. He was also a member of the Hutt River Board and Hutt Power and Gas Board.

He represented the Wellington area electorates of Onslow from a 1954 by-election to 1963, then Porirua from 1963 to 1969, then Western Hutt from 1969 to 1975, when he was unexpectedly defeated by Bill Lambert. He served as Labour's senior whip from 1958 to 1972. As senior whip during the Second Labour Government, which had a working majority of one, May became the "numbers man" and was tasked with ensuring that whenever the house divided the government had a majority present in the house. He was chairman of Parliament's Local Bills Committee which in 1960 produced the "May Report" recommending New Zealand adopt regional councils and fewer borough councils and local authorities.

In 1951 he was elected a member of the Labour Party executive. In 1963 he stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party vice-presidency but was beaten by Norman Kirk. He stood again in 1966 and was successful, holding the office for three years until 1969 when he was defeated by Bill Rowling.

During the Third Labour Government he was Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Local Government from 1972 to 1975. In 1974 he gained additional responsibility as Minister of Civil Defence. As Minister of Internal Affairs he was a patron of the arts. He increased the funding for the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council 127% and boosted the Historic Places Trust funding by an extra $63,000 as well. His main accomplishment as a minister was restructuring New Zealand's local government setup in 1974, largely inspired by the "May Report" over a decade earlier.

Following Norman Kirk's death he was responsible for organising his state funeral. May also created the New Zealand Fire Service in 1975, merging the 26 permanent and 251 volunteer fire brigades in co-operation with Sir Jack Hunn.

Later life and death

Following his defeat, May moved to Waikanae with his second wife, Doreen, and became a gardener in his retirement. He was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services in the 1976 Queen's Birthday Honours.

May died on 22 April 1995, aged 83 years. He was survived by his second wife Doreen, who died in 2010.

References

• Freer, Warren (2004). A Lifetime in Politics: the memoirs of Warren Freer. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0-86473-478-6.
• Grant, David (2014). The Mighty Totara: The life and times of Norman Kirk. Auckland: Random House. ISBN 9781775535799. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)