John McAlpine

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1946}}

|end = 1949

|term = 28th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Selwyn}}

|party = New Zealand National Party

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1949}}

|end = 1951

|term = 29th

|electorate = Selwyn

|party = New Zealand National Party

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1951}}

|end = 1954

|term = 30th

|electorate = Selwyn

|party = New Zealand National Party

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1954}}

|end = 1957

|term = 31st

|electorate = Selwyn

|party = New Zealand National Party

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1957}}

|end = 1960

|term = 32nd

|electorate = Selwyn

|party = New Zealand National Party

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{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1960}}

|end = 1963

|term = 33rd

|electorate = Selwyn

|party = New Zealand National Party

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1963}}

|end = 1966

|term = 34th

|electorate = Selwyn

|party = New Zealand National Party

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McAlpine was born in Christchurch in 1906, the son of a sheepfarmer – Walter Kenneth McAlpine. He received his education at Christ's College in Christchurch. After school, he worked at his father's high-country station at Craigieburn, New Zealand in the Southern Alps east of Arthur's Pass. He became the manager of that station in 1929 and later lived at Spye, a locality in North Canterbury near Omihi, where his father had farmed.{{DNZB|last=Gardner|first=W. J. |id=5m3 |title=McAlpine, John Kenneth |access-date=30 November 2019}} McAlpine married Lesley Hay in 1935; she was a descendant of Ebenezer Hay of Pigeon Bay who was the earliest white settler in Canterbury.{{cite news |title=Personal items |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA19350215.2.14 |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser |volume=LVI |issue=5970 |date=15 February 1935 |page=2}}

McAlpine Sr was chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board when he died in July 1937.{{cite news |title=Obituary: Mr W. K. McAlpine |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19370712.2.86 |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=The Press |volume=LXXIII |issue=22142 |date=12 July 1937 |page=12}} Another member of the harbour board, James Leslie, died in September 1937.{{cite news |title=Obituary: Mr James Leslie |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19370913.2.74 |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=The Press |volume=LXXIII |issue=22196 |date=13 September 1937 |page=10}} McAlpine Jr was one of two government-appointees to fill those vacancies{{cite news |title=Personal items |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19371030.2.64 |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=The Press |volume=LXXIII |issue=22237 |date=30 October 1937 |page=14}} and he attended his first meeting on 1 November 1937.{{cite news |title=Port statistices: Lyttelton revenue for October |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19371102.2.114 |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=The Press |volume=LXXIII |issue=22239 |date=2 November 1937 |page=13}} On 2 June 1943, McAlpine Jr was voted chairman of the harbour board. He served two one-year terms and was succeeded by his deputy, Bill MacGibbon, on 6 June 1945.{{cite news |title=Personal |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19430603.2.5 |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=Ashburton Guardian |volume=63 |issue=199 |date=3 June 1943 |page=2}}{{cite news |title=Harbour Board: Mr W. S. MacGibbon elected chairman |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19450607.2.67 |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=The Press |volume=LXXXI |issue=24586 |date=7 June 1945 |page=6}}

He was Minister of Railways in the First National Government from 1954 to 1957. In the Second National Government from 1960 to 1966 he was Minister of Railways and Minister of Transport. In the 1970 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for services to politics,{{London Gazette |issue=45119 |date=13 June 1970 |page=6405 |supp=3}} and in the 1977 New Year Honours he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, for public services, especially as chairman of the New Zealand Ports Authority since 1969.{{London Gazette |issue=47104 |date=31 December 1976 |page=41 |supp=3}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year=First published in 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103 }}

{{S-start}}

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef | before = Stan Goosman}}

{{s-ttl | rows = 2 | title = Minister of Railways|years=1954–1957
1960–1966}}

{{s-aft | after = Mick Moohan}}

{{s-bef | before = Mick Moohan}}

{{s-aft | after = Peter Gordon}}

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{{S-par | nz}}

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{{S-vac | abeyance | last = William Dickie}}

{{S-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Selwyn|years=1946–1966}}

{{S-aft | after = Colin McLachlan}}

|-

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef | before = Humphrey Holderness }}

{{s-ttl | title = Chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board |years = 1943–1945}}

{{s-aft | after = Bill MacGibbon }}

{{end}}

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Category:1906 births

Category:1984 deaths

Category:New Zealand National Party MPs

Category:Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand

Category:New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:New Zealand people of Scottish descent

Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives

Category:New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates

Category:20th-century New Zealand politicians

Category:People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch

Category:Lyttelton Harbour Board members

Category:Chancellors of Lincoln University (New Zealand)