The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1974. Norman Eric Kirk

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33628, 2 September 1974, Page 12

The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1974. Norman Eric Kirk

Mr Kirk’s death, before he had done more than begin to show his ability in the country’s highest office, is a tragedy which has grieved New Zealanders of all political persuasions. Since he was first elected to public office as Mayor of Kaiapoi 21 years ago, Mr Kirk's most profound concern has been for the quality of the life of the people he represented. What began as a passionate defence of the security of family life gradually broadened, as he gained experience in national politics, to become a concern for the security and well-being of peoples and nations. In less than two years as Prime Minister one of his most rapid and remarkable achievements was the respect he won for himself and his country among New Zealand’s neighbours and in the councils of the Commonwealth and the United Nations. He has had critics, including this newspaper, for the speed and assurance with which he acted in, for example, his recognition of China, the particular form of his opposition to French nuclear tests, and the way in which he stopped the Springbok Rugby tour; none could deny that in these and many other questions of foreign policy he acted consistently in the pursuit of what he believed to be the well-being of New Zealand and the betterment of the lives of peoples in many parts of the world. The tributes which have come, on his death, from around the world, are testimony to his influence. Mr Kirk combined natural dignity with a Christian compassion. The range and detail pf his knowledge became a by-word among those who opposed him as well as those who worked with him. If he sometimes seemed less patient or less assured when dealing with theorists, or with economic matters, he balanced this with a restless determination to act in the light of what he perceived to be the best interests of those in need, without undue disruption of other sections of the community, and without being bound by doctrine. Under his guidance the Labour Party emerged finally from the language and ideas of the Great Depression and the “ class war ” to become a broadly representative group resolved to eliminate the remaining pockets of hardship in the community. Yet he did not elaborate a total philosophy; he drew instead on his experience as an ordinary New Zealander and was always ready to modify his policies in the light of that experience. He will be doubly missed by his political colleagues, not only as the chief executive of the policies of party and Government, but as the man whose judgment and sense of the possible was very often responsible for formulating those policies.

The decline in his health was due less to the inherent burdens of the office of Prime Minister than to the wide vision he brought to that office and, therefore, to the extra burdens he took on himself as a tribune of the people who was determined to remain accessible to them. He attempted too much; many of his dearest projects — whether the further improvement of Parliament’s manner of working or the development of new trading relationships which would secure New Zealand its economic future — remain incomplete. Yet the record of his personal achievements and of the progress of the policies he espoused is probably more impressive than that achieved by any New Zealand Prime Minister of this century in his first 21 months of office.

In Christchurch Mr Kirk is being mourned with an intense sense of personal loss. The Lyttelton electorate, especially, was the proving ground for his political acumen and of his desire to be truly the advocate of the people he represented. Something of the grief of his wife and family is being felt by the very many people who knew him well in the city he regarded as home. If the man has been lost to the city and to the country, the energy’, the compassion, and the determination which he evinced so ably, in whatever office he held, should continue to inspire and benefit New Zealanders for many years. Without him, New Zealand might not have had its third Labour Government; without him now, that Government will need to continue to draw heavily on the methods and the perceptions he brought to it