Charles Ernest Poynter (8 February 1939 – 20 August 2007) was the mayor of Wanganui from 1986 to 2004. He was prominent in opposing the Māori occupation of

Moutoa Gardens Moutoa Gardens, also known as Pākaitore, is a historically significant site and park in the city of Whanganui, New Zealand. In 1995 it was the site of a protest by local Māori people, Māori and a 79 day occupation which divided New Zealand ...

in 1995.

Early life

Poynter was born in 1939. As a boy, he was "inquisitive, totally mischievous" and "always the leader and organiser". He was a bookseller—a business he inherited from his father and located in Victoria Avenue, the main shopping area of

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

Political career

He was elected to the Wanganui City Council as a councillor in 1977, re-elected in 1980 and stood for the mayoralty in 1983 upon the retirement of Mayor Ron Russell. He polled as runner-up to Doug Turney and was made deputy mayor in 1983 as a consequence. In 1986, he challenged Turney and was successful, winning with a majority of 1529 votes. In 1989 he increased his majority, defeating challenger John Blaikie by almost 6,000 votes. This was the first election under the new local government boundaries with Wanganui City incorporating Wanganui County and some of Waitotara County. Blaikie was the chairman of the Wanganui County Council prior to the reorganisation. The new territorial authority was named 'Wanganui District Council'. In 1992, Poynter was challenged by Wanganui greengrocer Randhir Dahya, a popular Indian businessman. His majority was cut to just 939 votes (''Wanganui Chronicle'' of 20 October 1992). Dahya challenged him twice more, in 1995 and 1998, but Poynter easily resisted these challenges, assisted by his handling of the

occupation of 1995 and the death of his wife of 40 years, Joy, four months prior to the 1998 election. In the

1993 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1993 were appointments by most of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other count ...

, Poynter was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The King's Service Order () established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant of Queen regnant, Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to t ...

for public services. In 2001, he retained the mayoralty with just 27% of the vote, warding off four councillor challengers. In 2004, he stood again and was defeated, polling third behind media personality

Michael Laws Michael Laws (born 1957) is a New Zealand politician, broadcaster and writer. Laws was a Member of Parliament for six years, starting in 1990, initially for the National Party. In Parliament he voted against his party on multiple occasions a ...

and businessman John Martin with just 20% of the vote.

Personal life and death

Poynter was chairman of Wanganui Gas from its inception in 1992 until his retirement from the role on 14 December 2005. He died in 2007. He was survived by two daughters and a son. Consultation was carried out in 2009 by Wanganui District Council to rename Wikitoria Road, connecting State Highway 3 and Wanganui Airport, to Chas Poynter Drive. Wikitoria was a daughter of

Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (died 15 April 1898) was a Māori military commander and noted ally of the government forces during the New Zealand Wars. First known as Te Rangihiwinui, he was later known as Te Keepa, Meiha Keepa, Major Keepa or Maj ...

and was named after

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, and the Putiki

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

strongly objected to it. Poynter’s children also rejected this proposal believing their father would also object to the name change being disrespectful to the iwi. The proposal did not go ahead.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poynter, Chas 1939 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lung disease Mayors of Wanganui Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Companions of the Queen's Service Order 20th-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand justices of the peace