[7] In November 1866 Neild successfully applied to the Municipality of Cook at Camperdown, an inner western suburb of Sydney, for the use of a room in the council chambers for the purpose of holding divine worship by the FCE.

On this occasion he was successful, finishing on top of the poll and elected to serve in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly alongside with William J. Trickett and Robert Butcher, who had been the members for Paddington in the previous parliament.

[5] On 18 June 1886 the leader of the opposition in the New South Wales parliament, Sir John Robertson, retired from public life on medical advice, in the process resigning from his seat for the Mudgee electorate.

[34][35][33] In January 1887 Henry Parkes became Premier of New South Wales following the resignation of the protectionist Patrick Jennings, brought about by political and personal differences with the Colonial Secretary George Dibbs.

[37] In February 1887 Neild was described in the following terms: "Celebrated for the length of his oratory and of his moustache, although his vanity is more extensive than either; a man of great expectations, and probably the greatest disappointment of his life was that he was not asked by Sir Henry Parkes to take office".

Neild had made a speech in parliament, sharply criticising the government's financial management, and Parkes reacted by relating an anecdote about a pig-farmer: "One day hearing a considerable amount of squalling, and seeking to discover the cause for the noise, he found one little pig (a little porker) crying because he had not a teat to suck".

[42] In the New South Wales general election of February 1889 Neild was defeated for a seat to represent the four-member Paddington electorate, finishing seventh from a field of nine candidates.

[47] Neild's financial problems were related to his engagement in "a large amount of litigation" over a ten-year period with various persons and the Lion Fire Insurance Company, including at least one appeal to the Privy Council in Britain.

Efforts to introduce these measures in New South Wales had begun in 1886 when Sir Alfred Stephen, then a member of the Legislative Council, championed the Divorce Extension Act, which passed both houses of parliament but was refused royal assent.

[57] During an address on the occasion of the annual Orangemens' Day celebration on 12 July 1894 at the Loyal Orange lodge, Grand Master Neild referred to the illness and expected death of Pope Leo XIII and called upon Protestants to "unite with their brethren of the Roman Catholic Church in praying... that the physical sufferings of his Holiness might be few".

[63][64] In the book's preface Neild claimed the contents "were not written with a view to publication", but that "the composition of the Songs afforded occupation to an active mind, in what might otherwise have been idle moments – in train, tram and omnibus, and at other odd times", adding: "The only opportunity for anything approaching sustained effort was during occasional illness".

[65] A review in the Sydney Morning Herald was luke-warm, describing Neild's professed effort "to reproduce the vernacular and incidents of bush life" as "praiseworthy", but "where performance falls short in this respect, something must be set down to the credit of a good intention".

[63][66] Neild's frequent employment of anachronistic words and phrases seemed to be at odds with his claim in the 'Preface': "In this volume it is sought to interest by incident and action, and by a faithful portrayal of human passions, rather than to excite astonishment by dexterity of verbal manipulation".

[67][65] A review of Songs 'Neath the Southern Cross in The Bulletin was more critical, describing Neild as a "mechanically accurate person" and "obviously not a poet", with "no fire within him, no energy, nothing that anyone will ever want to remember".

[68] The reviewer in Sydney's Evening News noted the author's claim that his verse was not written "with a view to publication" and comments: "The obvious query then is why on earth did Mr. Neild publish?".

The writer of an article about the event in The Australian Star, described Neild in the following terms: "He is tall and rather stalwart, with a military aspect, a moist mouth and a limpid eye, and might be a militia major in full practice if he were not a poet and a politician".

His trip was on private business, but in addition he had been given a "roving commission" by the premier George Reid to inquire into and report upon systems of old-age pensions in Britain and Europe.

[82] Upon his arrival in Sydney Neild initiated a libel action against the Freeman's Journal, claiming damages of two thousand pounds relating to the November 1896 article, which he contended "did him serious injury in England".

[85] Neild's voluminous report (of over 500 pages), detailing the systems of old-age pensions charitable relief and State insurance in Britain and Europe, was published in November 1898.

[87] In reply to a question shortly after its publication, parliament was assured "that no payments had been made in connection with the pension report", though Reid later claimed that he planned to place an amount of £600 on the Estimates for Neild's out-of-pocket expenses and personal labour (which would have required parliamentary approval).

The New South Wales cabinet met about the matter, but decided no further punishment was warranted, though "in order to preserve discipline and prevent insubordination, any future case will be dealt with more severely".

[96][5][97] Legislation to introduce the old-age pension in New South Wales was eventually passed in late 1900 by William Lyne's liberal government, which included Edward O'Sullivan as a minister.

[99] Senator Neild wore the scarlet dress uniform of the St. George's Rifles at the opening of the first Australian parliament, in a ceremony on 9 May 1901 in the western annexe of the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

He criticised the Deakin government for its efforts to deport Kanakas "who had become naturalised British subjects, who had sworn fealty to the Crown" and denounced the catch-cry of 'white Australia' as a "fraud and a sham".

[108] In January 1905 it was reported that Lieutenant-Colonel Neild, having "been on leave for several months consequent on ill health and Parliamentary engagements", has resumed active duty as commanding officer of the St. George's English Rifles.

He continued to speak out on civil rights issues, defending army officers and Muslim camel drivers and expessing opposition to compulsory military training for boys.

One writer commented: "Once he took up a cause, or set himself to attain a desired end, he could always be relied upon to fight and argue until he had achieved his object – or if he did not do that, it was safe to bet that he would have the last word, even though it was only one with which to open a possible track for further argument with tongue or pen in the future".

[67] George Reid, a political ally, described Neild as "a man of great ability, zeal, and thoroughness, but had a very sensitive nature, was quick in attack, and most caustic in defence".

[5][119] John Neild's high public profile, extravagant gestures and elaborate facial hair (with a moustache curled like the "dashing militaire") were fully exploited by cartoonists and satirists.

[121] Neild's poetry, described as "an awkward combination of the mannered and the vernacular", was also a source of satire, in particular the much-quoted and parodied line: "Eftsoons a nocent watersprout would rise".