I skimmed through the latest issue of North and South at a local Christchurch café in February 2019 (not a magazine that I see in any other circumstances) when I happened upon a profile of veteran activist, Deirdre Kent. I learned from it that her husband, Malcolm Murchie, had died in 2017. I promptly contacted her and asked her to write the below obituary. As Deirdre says, Malcolm was a CAFCA member from 1996 until 2017, and he always included a donation with his sub (plus he made the odd donation to the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account, which provides my income).

More than that, he was an active member. When CAFCA was planning my 1999 national speaking tour, he volunteered to organise my Whanganui visit. He wrote me a three-page handwritten letter, which I still have, introducing himself thus: "I am Co-Chair of the Whanganui Alliance (also Chair of the Democrat branch)". The letter concluded: "Congratulations on your unremitting fight against the erosion of our sovereignty" (23/11/98).

Malcolm suggested that Alliance branches organise and host my visit in Whanganui, Hawkes Bay and across the central North Island, which they did. This was no small deal. The Alliance was at its zenith in 1999 and was in Government within a few months, as Labour's junior coalition partner, following Helen Clark's election victory that year (it was all over by 2002. I refer you to my obituary of Jim Anderton in Watchdog 147, April 2018).

Here's an extract from my 1999 Organiser's Report: "Predictably I got no media coverage in the big cities, but it was a very different story in the provincial cities and towns. My best coverage was in Whanganui, where the Wanganui Chronicle featured a story and photo on its front page (once again our scroll of OIC [Overseas Investment Commission] approvals proved irresistible to newspaper photographers". That was the result of Malcolm's excellent work (and it is definitely strange to be reminded by 20-year-old newspaper photos that I had long hair and a beard in those days).

Not only did Malcolm organise my Whanganui visit, he put me up for the night. Several years older than I am now, he was a widower at that stage, so had this beautiful big house to himself. During the day he took me for a tiki tour all around Whanganui. I particularly remember him taking me on my only ever visit to Cooks Gardens. I was an athletics mad kid during the 1960s' golden age of New Zealand middle distance runners and Cooks Gardens was where the legendary Peter Snell broke the world record for the mile.

I last saw Malcolm, and Deirdre, at the final meeting of my 2014 national speaking tour, which was the biggest meeting of that whole tour, and which was held in the Otaki barn of Waihopai Domebuster Adi Leason. It was a highly memorable night for all sorts of reasons and seeing Malcolm one last time was part of it. He was very old and frail by then. My memory of Malcolm is that he was a consummate gentleman and the kind of member that is absolutely indispensable to an organisation like CAFCA. Rest in peace.

OBITUARY

MALCOLM MURCHIE

- Deirdre Kent

Malcolm McGregor Murchie, 1925-2017, was a long-time member of CAFCA and made sure that he read every edition of Foreign Control Watchdog as it arrived. A member from 1996-2017, he was passionately devoted to social justice. He met Erihapeti Rehu Murchie at training college and married her in 1946. Recognising her innate intelligence, he encouraged her education and activism for social justice. She became a prominent activist in the field of Maori welfare, human rights and health till her death in 1997. He became a fluent Māori speaker and worked with her to improve the wellbeing of Māori. He also encouraged a bicultural atmosphere wherever he taught. He taught many to pronounce te reo correctly.

He taught in primary and secondary schools in Dunedin and Palmerston, but spent most of his working career in polytechnic education, working in Wellington for the Education Department and becoming the first principal of Waiariki Institute of Technology at Rotorua. He completed an MA in History at 76. He was a lifelong learner and his knowledge of New Zealand history was widely respected. He greatly valued education and was always encouraging friends and family to gain more qualifications.

His political views were formed early, probably as a teenager at Whanganui Technical College under the influence of a good teacher and a friend of the family. He was fully supportive of retaining public ownership of land and infrastructure, but when the Democrats* were in the Alliance, was disappointed they didn't take up the idea of monetary reform. *The Democrats have now reverted to their original name, Social Credit. Ed.

He became a vegetarian at 16 (later a pescatarian) and a lifelong committed advocate of healthy lifestyles. His kids were the only ones to have sandwiches made of brown bread. His diet included lots of kale, two brazil nuts a day for his selenium and avoiding silver beet because of its oxalates. Visits from old work colleagues would yield stories of him eating raw carrots and peanuts for lunch. He ran 17 marathons and went to the gym till his late eighties. He was a member of the Soil and Health Association for 50 years and advocated organic food grown using permaculture principles.

During his retirement at Whanganui he joined many organisations. These included membership of New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Friends of the Whanganui River, Chamber Music Society, Friends of the Wellington Botanic Gardens, and the Bason Botanic Gardens. When I met him, he was on six committees, so by 1999 was in a good position to organise Murray Horton's visit there. He chaired the Museum committee and was active in heritage issues. He was very keen on classical music and enjoyed his top of the line equipment to listen to it every evening.

During his time with me we lived in Wellington, Waikanae, a lifestyle block outside Otaki and a half acre property in Otaki. He was an active member of the Government Superannuitants' Association, a member of Transition Towns Otaki, Levin Soil and Health, the Tree Crops Association, the Otaki Museum Committee and the Otaki Historical Association.

Social Credit

When it came to Social Credit policies Malcolm was passionately loyal. He even stood as a candidate once. As an Alliance member he was bitterly disappointed Jim Anderton never spoke publicly of monetary reform or adopted any major Social Credit policies. When he was with me from 2000, he was open to the new ideas of decentralisation and radical tax reform. He read Henry George, thus becoming an advocate of taxing land rather than labour.

He loved books on land like "Owning The Land" by André Linklater. He supported me fully when I wrote "Healthy Money Healthy Planet - Developing Sustainability Through New Money Systems", and when I co-founded a small political party called the New Economics Party from 2011-15 trying to integrate green monetary reform with tax reform.

He carefully nurtured and maintained his friendships throughout his life and used to ring one of them every day at 4pm. Malcolm, who had about 100 descendants at the time of his death, was cultured, kind and generous. He was buried according to his wishes in a natural burial without a coffin on whanau trust land at Arowhenua, Temuka alongside Erihapeti.