In 1956 Small graduated Bachelor of Laws from Victoria University College.
[1] In 1963 he was acting head of the legal division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From 1969 to 1976 he was New Zealand's deputy permanent representative at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.
[2] From 19 December 1977 to 1982 he was ambassador in Vienna with accreditation in Warsaw, East Berlin and Budapest.
[3] Small died on 24 February 2015, and was buried at Clareville Cemetery, Carterton.