[1] At the 1938, 1941 and 1944 local-body elections he was a Labour candidate for seats on the One Tree Hill Borough Council and Auckland Hospital Board.

Macdonald and National's Gordon Grieve were scheduled to make an official trip to Antarctica but their flight was turned back to land in Christchurch due to bad weather.

The same day cabinet minister Hugh Watt was unexpectedly hospitalised and unable to attend a sitting, meaning the government was in danger of losing a vote.

Prime Minister Walter Nash authorised an immediate Air Force transport craft to fly to Christchurch to bring Macdonald back to Wellington (and leave Grieve there) to make sure the government had the numbers.

[8] Macdonald was skilled at engaging with labourers and factory workers more effectively than most of his more intellectual caucus colleagues who considered him a lightweight, but Warren Freer said that he possessed a "common touch".