[2] He then attended Lincoln College and the Nuffield School in farming in Crookston, Minnesota.
[3] In World War II, he was a flight lieutenant and pilot for the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
[3] After the war, he was a farmer and joined many organisations, where he had leading roles with the West Otago A & P Association (president), Farmers' Mutual Insurance (director, 1952–1960), and Shaw, Savill & Company (member of the New Zealand Advisory Board, 1956–1960).
[3][4] With Robert Muldoon and Duncan MacIntyre he was one of the three 'Young Turks' of the National Party, a "ginger group" who entered Parliament in 1960.
[8] He maintained the transport and railways portfolios under Jack Marshall in 1972, and was made Minister of Marine and Fisheries.