Mr Kirk felt for months that his death was imminent

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33634, 9 September 1974, Page 1

Mr Kirk felt for months that his death was imminent

Norman Kirk knew that he was dying. Months ago he told a close friend and political associate that something was “radically and fundamentally” wrong with his health.

In May, just after the Labour Party conference, Mr Kirk told Mr J. Mathison —a former Cabinet Minister, and now president of the Sydenham branch of the Labour Party—that he did not think he could possibly recover from his illness.

Mr Mathison, who looked after Mr Kirk’s electorate for him during his 21 months, in office, put the remarks down to the Prime Minister’s depressed condition as a result of his illness. But Mr Kirk was to repeat his premonition — both to Mr Mathison and to Mrs Ruth Kirk — several times in the months ahead.

On three subsequent occasions he discussed his health

with Mr Mathison. Early in August, during a visit to Christchurch, Mr Kirk told

Mr Mathison that he had experienced great difficulty evqn ascending a gentle slope to a mutual friend’s home, and he again said he felt that his illness was more serious than he had been told, and that he was not going to recover. Last function

Then on the Sunday before his death, when travelling from Wellington to Palmerston North by car for an opening ceremony, Mr Kirk told Mrs Kirk—who later related the story to Mr Mathison—that “this will be my last public function.” Mrs Kirk remonstrated with him, but he remained

convinced that the end was not far off. On the Wednesday when Mr Kirk entered the Home of Compassion in Wellington for what was intended to be a brief rest he told Mrs Kirk that he would not leave the hospital alive. “I am dying. Please do not tell anyone.” Mr Kirk-also spoke to both his wife and Mr Mathison about the future of his electorate. Son to follow? He initially expressed the hope that Mrs Kirk would stand for his seat if he died, but later decided that after 17 years in the political world she needed a long rest, and that standing for the seat would impose too great a strain upon her. He did express the hope that John Kirk, his second eldest son, aged 27 (his full name is, in fact, Norman John Kirk, but he has never been known as Norman), would follow in his footsteps and stand for the Sydenham seat. The general-secretary of the Labour Party, Mr John Wybrow, has confirmed that Mr John Kirk had indicated that he would seek the nomination for Sydenham. The by-election is expected to be held some time next month. Mr John Kirk, who is now secretary of the Hotel Workers’ Union at Hastings, originally worked in the printing trade. He started with “The Press,” where he won a New Zealand Printers Federation scholarship, worked for a time with the Christchurch “Star,” and then returned to “The Press.” Sickness The scholarship allowed him to travel to Australia and work in several printing houses there, learning advanced printing techniques. His baby daughter Tania, became seriously ill, and he moved his family to Hamilton to be closer to Green Lane Hospital, in Auckland. At this time, he worked with the “Waikato Times.”

Mr and Mrs John Kirk’s daughter later died, and they now have one young son, Jason.

Mr Mathison said yesterday that he did not feel it would be correct to put all the blame for Mr Kirk’s early death on New Zealand’s political system, although the system did indeed impose very great strains on the top men, “And I definitely feel that steps should be taken to relieve the pressures on these men.”

But in Mr Kirk’s case, he said, the nature of the man, with his enormous drive and vision, was such that in any circumstances he would have tended to make too great a demand on his own constitution.