26 July 1994 Obituary - Dr Ivan Wingate Weston 1895-1994

A pioneering figure in New Zealand agricultural economics, Dr Ivan Wingate Weston, died recently in Christchurch in his 99th year.

Dr Weston was farm economist at Canterbury Agricultural College (later Lincoln College and now Lincoln University) from 1928-59. As the sole specialist economist on the staff during those years he stamped his mark on both the institution and the study of agricultural economics in New Zealand.

An immensely popular lecturer, Dr Weston was a pioneer in economic farm analyses and his bright personality attracted numerous graduate students, several of whom went on to national and international prominence. These "Weston men" included Dr Mike Nelson who became prominent in international economic assignments associated with Stanford University, the Ford Foundation and World Bank, and Owen McCarthy who later became Professor of Marketing at Lincoln.

Dr Weston developed the subject of farm economics on a base of commodity price analyses, farm performance statistics and instruction in bookkeeping practice.

He wrote textbooks on taxation, farm bookkeeping and accounting and contributed to other books on beef production, arable farming and produce marketing.

Dr Weston joined the staff at Lincoln in December 1928 soon after the College had provided for a specialisation in farm economics. He succeeded the foundation economist, who had remained for only one year.

Described in Lincoln's centenary history as "distinctive in presence, personality and outlook", Dr Weston was a one-man unit throughout his career at the College. He never sought any assistance or assistant and needed no more than three feet of desk space on which to work.

As well as producing useful textbooks, Dr Weston accomplished economic survey work distinctive from his colleagues in that he had no outside funding whatsoever. He was regarded as a Lincoln "original" meaning that in his specialisation there was no one like him before, or since.

In the mid-1920s Dr Weston was honoured with a fellowship of the Royal Economic Society and in the early 1930s he was appointed by the Prime Minister of the day to a committee convened to recommend ways of improving the farming industry in New Zealand.

During study leave in Britain in 1953-54 Dr Weston actively supported the formation of the Commonwealth Bureau of Agricultural Economics.

Born in Alfredton in the Wairarapa in December 1895, Ivan Weston was educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School, where he was Dux in 1913.

He completed B.Sc and M.Sc degrees at Victoria University College, gaining First Class Honours in Economics in both degrees, and subsequently studied for his doctorate.

Before his Lincoln career he farmed for a time in the Wairarapa then worked as an economist, first for the New Zealand Department of Agriculture and then for the Tasmanian Department of Agriculture, Australia.

During the First World War he served with the NZ Cyclist Corps as a Lance-Sergeant of a Lewis Gun Section and was awarded the Military Medal for actions at the Somme.

In the Second World War he was a lieutenant and troop leader in a local Home Defence Force unit.

On the 75th Anniversary of Armistice Day, 11 November 1993, Dr Weston planted an ash tree in the soldiers' section of the Springston Cemetery.

In conjunction with his teaching career, Dr Weston farmed a property at Lincoln and he lived out his retirement there. He is survived by his wife Joan and son Nicholas.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.