By Philip Wells - 8 Nov 2011
Recently Neil McKegg, one of the men who lent his name to the firm, died. Philip Wells remembers his longtime colleague and friend in an article here.
Neil McKegg was a man of many parts, golfer, lawyer, Island
trader, diplomat, businessman, husband and father. His was
not an ordinary life.
Neil's father, Robert McKegg (or Boss as he was universally
called), had purchased the Cook Islands Trading Company (CITC) in
1916. Boss met Neil's mother, Irene Pearson, in 1920 on board
ship. The ship was bringing Boss back to Rarotonga from
San Francisco where he had just purchased the schooner SS Tagua and
Irene (known as Bessie) was returning to New Zealand after an
overseas holiday. They married within a year. Neil's
mother was credited as the source of Neil's sporting prowess,
particularly his golf. Boss and Irene had their first son,
Henley, in 1921 and in 1931 Neil was born. As brother Henley
had been sent off to boarding school in NZ at age five the young
Neil spent an idyllic childhood in Rarotonga trailing his father
around and enjoying life on the plantation as an only child.
Neil did get some schooling at Nikau Side School but the
difficult economic times of the 30s compelled the McKeggs to put
CITC under management. In 1939 the McKeggs moved back,
initially to Auckland and then to Christchurch where Robert was
employed as General Manager of AM Satterthwaite. Neil's real
schooling started with a stint at Kings Prep then boarding at Scots
College and finally as a day pupil at St Andrews College in
Christchurch.
After finishing his schooling in 1948 Neil went on to university
at Auckland studying law where in 1952 he was fortunate to have
Sandra (Craig) Wigglesworth introduce him to fellow student Diane
Henderson, who was studying French, German and Latin. Diane
was the only daughter of Hubert Henderson, a noted educationalist,
and a French woman, Louise Henderson. Louise, later Dame
Louise Henderson, was one of New Zealand's most influential
artists. Within six months Neil and Diane were married.
Both were still students, though Neil had a job as a law clerk at
Hesketh & Richmond. In 1954 their first daughter, Adriane, was
born followed a year later by Ashleigh. Neil was admitted to
the bar on 11 February 1955.
In December 1955, Neil and Diane moved to Rarotonga with their
two young daughters to spend a couple of years learning what the
CITC was all about just in case, as Boss had told Neil, he had to
run the company one day. In those days, Rarotonga could only
be accessed by sea and cargo had to be loaded into lighters and
brought in over the reef. There would have been few
facilities compared to New Zealand, tourism was unknown and medical
facilities were relatively primitive. It was a challenging place to
move to with two young babies.
On his return to Auckland, Neil acquired the law practice of EM
Powell in approximately 1957 or 1958 and commenced business as a
lawyer on his own account. The couple's third daughter Simone
was born in 1959 and a year later Neil was joined in practice by
Robert Alexander Adams-Smith, another Christchurch lad, and the
firm became known as McKegg and Adams-Smith.
This would have been a difficult period in Neil's life.
His father Robert had died in 1958 and only three years later
Neil's brother Henley, a director of CITC and expected to take over
the running of the family business, died suddenly at the age of
39. With the deaths of Neil's father and brother CITC was
again put under management.
The law practice of McKegg & Adams-Smith flourished during
the early 60s and by 1963 the firm was already well known around
the city. Neil in his inimitable way had got to know people
as far apart as Bob Law then the Auckland Manager of National
Mutual and Bill Crozier who was the building janitor. The
firm of course did work for both. Bob Adams-Smith, meanwhile,
who specialised in personal injury and other insurance work was
doing a huge amount of work for NZI.
The 1960s was a time of sweeping change. In 1965 the Cook
Islands became independent with Albert Henry becoming its first
premier.
With the coming of independence to the Cooks, Neil could foresee
that there would be many opportunities for a company like
CITC. An international airport had already been mooted and in
1968 Neil with then Minister of Finance Rob Muldoon flew to
Rarotonga in an Air New Zealand DC6 to discuss the building of an
international airport. 1968 also sparked a change in Neil's
law practice. With all that was happening in the world of
commerce, Neil had determined that he needed to spend a lot more of
his time in the Cook Islands if he was to take advantage of the
opportunities then arising. CITC also needed a firm hand
following a period of local management.
That gave Noel Anderson, now a member of the Supreme Court, and
me our opportunity and we were both admitted to partnership on 1
April 1968. Neil from that date stepped back quite
significantly from his legal commitments.
It was also a time of significant change within the legal
profession. In 1965 McKegg & Adams-Smith had moved to the
8th Floor of the new ANZ Bank building on the corner of
Queen and Victoria Streets. We shared that floor with two
other businesses, APA Discount Corporation, a company run by Hugh
Wilkinson, and the partnership of Price Waterhouse & Co.
It is amazing to think that in 1965 there were only four local
partners for Price Waterhouse & Co, Mac Luke, Geoff Todd,
Dinass Dass and Lloyd Edwards. But merger was in the wind
with Russell McVeagh merging with McKenzie & Bartleet in 1969
to create a specialised commercial law and company department. Then
on 1 April 1970, McKegg & Adams-Smith merged with Martelli
& Martelli to become Martelli McKegg & Adams-Smith.
On that date, Neil's interest in the partnership was bought out and
his legal career effectively ended, although he generously remained
as a consultant for many years after and was always a strong
supporter of the firm where he retained an office. Neil was also
instrumental in arranging for Dame Louise Henderson to hang a
collection of her works in our law firm offices and he continued to
refer friends and acquaintances to the firm. A collection of Dame
Louise's works are still here today.
So started a new episode in the McKegg household. The much
loved family bach at Leigh was sold; Neil spent the next three
years in Rarotonga running CITC on his own while Diane stayed in NZ
caring for their three girls and their schooling.
The forced separation put a lot of pressure on Neil who had
taken on wider responsibilities within his beloved Cook
Islands. When, in 1969, Neil went to the UK to raise money to
purchase a competitor he also took with him the contract to build
the new international airport to see if a contractor could be
found. Neil met William Keswick (known as Tony) taipan of
Jardine Mathieson, a governer of the Bank of England and a director
of BP. Jardine Mathieson agreed not only to provide the money
but to buy a 25% interest in the expanded CITC. Neil's skills
were also instrumental in persuading Jardines to agree to construct
the airport through their Hong Kong company Gammon. The
airport contract eventually let to a joint venture Gammon - Milne
Construction, and was signed by Ralph Hanan, Minister of Maori and
Island affairs, and Albert Henry in February 1969. The
airport, with Neil as its first director, was officially opened on
29 January 1974 by Her Majesty the Queen who had flown direct from
London to Rarotonga.
Neil was a keen and talented golfer, first winning the Club
Championship at the Auckland Golf Club in 1961. In 1966 Neil
won his second club championship at Middlemore, 36 holes on a wet
and windy day - a magnificent effort for a man who had to take off
and wipe his glasses before almost every shot. He was club
captain in 1970 and 1971 and president in 1979 and 1980.
The 20 year period from 1981 to 2001 was probably the most
stable and happiest time in the lives of Neil and Diane. Over
that period they lived and worked in Rarotonga. Diane became
a buyer for CITC and then started Alliance Francaise there.
She was appointed the French Consul in 1989 while Neil acted as the
British Consul.
Neil continued to oversee the Cook Islands Trading
Corporation. At the same time he passionately and single
mindedly espoused projects which would benefit the Cook Islands or
railed against policies which hindered them. As a stalwart of
the local golf course he encouraged local Cook Islanders to play
and become members. Neil then guided the company through its
centenary in 1991 and on 31 December 1991 Neil was awarded the
Order of the British Empire for his services to Rarotonga.
During those 20 years, Neil and Diane also found time to mind
the store in Aitutaki, spent time in France where Neil attended a
French language school in Villefranche sur Mer, and Diane became a
typical French housewife and voyaged around the Marquesas in a
little cargo vessel which carried just a few passengers
Neil who had a heart attack at 45 and a bypass operation in
1989, had continual problems with his health from the mid
1980s.
It never stopped him from extending the hospitality, for which
the McKeggs were renowned, to a constant stream of visitors to
Rarotonga.
Neil and Diane returned to New Zealand in 2001 to live a life
which by their standards must have been quite ordinary.
I have tried to give you a glimpse of Neil's extraordinary
life. He was a man of many parts and yet I have only given
you a peek at Neil's public persona, his life as a lawyer,
entrepreneur, island trader, and business man. Neil was a man
of immense charm, fair-minded, loyal, and constant. He was
intensely proud of his family and their achievements but his own
achievements would not have been possible without the constant
support of a close and loving family.
Neil is survived by his wife Diane, their three daughters, 11
grandchildren and one great grandson.
Philip Wells, November 2011