Obituary

Press, 22 August 1989, Page 6

Obituary

Mr A. A. Macfarlane

Mr Alexander Arthur Macfarlane died at his home in Christchurch last Thursday, aged 78. Until his retirement to Christchurch three years ago, Mr Macfarlane worked his sheep farming property, Ngawiro, at Rotherham, but devoted a great part of his life to local authority work. He was chairman of the Amuri County Council for 33 years, a member of the Lyttelton Harbour Board for 31 years and chairman of the board from 1959 to 1965. In 1966 he was awarded the 0.8. E. for his local government service.

He is recalled by officers, councillors and board members as a selfeffacing man, but one who did not beat about the bush when a decision had to be made. As a chairman he was distinguished by his ability to perceive critical issues, to hear all sides of a question but to ensure that discussion came to the pqjnts that mattered.

Mr Macfarlane was born in Christchurch, son of Mr Duncan David Macfarlane, in 1910. He attended Christ’s College from 1925 to 1929 and later went to Lincoln Col-

lege. In 1934 he married Janice Overton. From 1941 to 1945 he served as a flight lieutenant in the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the European theatre of World War II and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1943 for "exemplary service in the air.” He was flying in Wellington and Lancaster bombers of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command. A year after he was elected a member of the Amuri County Council in 1946, he became county chairman, a position that had been held by his father for 17 years. He retired from the council in 1980, having overseen more than three decades of roading and other developments in the county. His unassuming manner, combined with his ability to get things done and his knack of keeping meetings fairly but firmly focused on their business led to his being successively re-elected to the chairmanship unopposed. In 1955, Mr Macfarlane was elected to the Lyttelton Harbour Board. He was the board’s chairman from 1959 to 1965 and chairman of its finance committee from 1969 until He did not seek re-

election to the board in 1986. Under his chairmanship, the board, using its own resources, established Cashin Quay to provide extra berths. This extension later became the port’s container terminal.

A subsequent chairman, Mr John Mannering, recalled yesterday that he had always been grateful for the help he had from Mr Macfarlane as finance committee chairman.

"He was always kindly, always helpful, and had a firm grip of everything he took on,” said Mr Mannering. In 1960 Mr Macfarlane became a director of The Christchurch Press Company, Ltd, and was chairman of the board of directors from 1974 to 1983, a period in which he supervised extensive reequipment of the newspaper’s plant.

Mr Macfarlane was for many years a member of the North Canterbury Nassella Tussock Board and active in local affairs in the Rotherham and Waiau districts, in Federated Farmers and in the Amuri Agricultural and Pastoral Association.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and two -