Obituary: Duncan MacIntyre

It might have had something to do with the surroundings. Duncan MacIntyre was appearing in a series of lunchtime chats in Wellington Cathedral in 1981 in which prominent people talked about what mattered most to them.

By then he was in the final stages of a political career spanning 25 years, without ever seeming to be fired by the usual cliched political ambitions.

It was as though this Hawkes Bay soldier-farmer had come to Wellington out of some old-fashioned sense of duty to serve.

He talked about being alone with the hills, the sky, the rain, the trees, the sea, the animals and the birds. "Rain on the roof, the surf on the beach, the wind - all these things are important to me."

While this was one of the few times he talked freely about what motivated him, there was always something homespun, folksy and unsophisticated about the way he did his job.

Former colleagues on both sides of the House say that although a natural reserve made him at times seem stand-offish, he was easy to deal with and made few enemies.

Not even what became known as the Marginal Lands Board affair put much of a dent in his reputation as a straight shooter.

He had an impressive Army career, finishing with the rank of major with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, serving in the Middle East and Italy in the Second World War, and commanded the force sent to Japan after the war. Later he continued to serve in the territorials, and became colonel commandant of the Armoured Corps.

He entered Parliament in 1960 as MP for Hastings when Walter Nash's Labour Government was thrown out, mostly because of widespread voter antagonism to Arnold Nordmeyer's Black Budget two years earlier.

He and other novice National MPs Rob Muldoon and Peter Gordon formed the Young Turks, who got together in their adjacent offices to come up with reforms of outmoded parliamentary procedures and acted as a ginger group within the National caucus.

MacIntyre cut his teeth in the minor portfolios of lands, forests and valuation from 1966-69, did well, and was appointed Minister of Maori Affairs when long-serving Ralph Hannan died in 1969.

He threw himself into the role, doing his best to bridge the gap he acknowledged existed between Maori and Pakeha attitudes to Maori issues, the most important of them being Maori land alienation.

Pipe-smoking MacIntyre, almost a caricature of the well-off run holder, stayed on marae around the country and impressed Maori leaders by his sincere attempts to understand their grievances.

He lost his Hastings seat in the Labour landslide of 1972, returning three years later as MP for Bay of Plenty, and then serving two terms in East Cape. When National regained power in 1975, he regained Maori Affairs and took on other posts, including agriculture.

The Marginal Lands Board affair flared in 1980. A commission of inquiry was set up to investigate allegations that MacIntyre and National's Venn Young had applied political pressure to get the board to approve a $140,000 loan for MacIntyre's daughter and son-in-law, Audrey and Jim Fitzgerald, to develop a 994ha farm on Wellington's south coast. Fitzgerald was then a Wellington city councillor.

The commission found that neither minister had acted improperly, but Young's action was described as unwise and MacIntyre's as most unwise. MacIntyre went on to serve as Muldoon's deputy before he retired in 1984, surviving a serious heart problem in 1982.

His break with politics was complete. He seldom returned to Wellington for the get-togethers enjoyed by former MPs. He had done the job and closed the door behind him.

Such was the regard in which the Ngati Kahungunu hapu of Hawkes Bay held him that MacIntyre's body was placed at Porangahau Marae for a night. He was buried in a private ceremony the next day. He is survived by his second wife and his daughters and son.

- NZPA