After the war he was a senior officer in passenger lines between New York and Bermuda. He gave this up due to ill health, and subsequently worked for the City Council of Palmerston North. He argued that the and Rent Acts had deliberately reduced the availability of privately rented accommodation, obliging tenants increasingly to take what was offered by local authorities and housing associations, yet with no security of tenure. In December , having previously defused 16 mines, a mine fell on the fire-float Firefly in the Manchester Ship Canal, landing inside the deck locker alongside the engine-room. He was wounded on a patrol in Normandy and was evacuated to England.