“IRREPARABLE LOSS”

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 266, 6 August 1931, Page 6

“IRREPARABLE LOSS”

Late Mr. R. A. Armstrong TRIBUTES TO HIS WORK The great loss which the Wellington Trotting Club had received by the death of its president, Mr. R. A. Armstrong, was stressed in several tributes paid to his memory at the annual meeting held in Petone last night. “By his death,” said the chairman, Mr. J. Sharpe, “the club has suffered an irreparable loss, the loss of a man who for years had devoted himself to the task of elevating the character and status not only of the club but of the sport aa a whole. “To us his services have proved of inestimable value. To his administrative ability and foresight does the club owe the wonderful improvement that is evidenced in it. He it was who visioned the improvements that have been carried out at Hutt Park. He it was who fought long and arduously to obtain the three extra permits the club now enjoys. He it was who raised it from a struggling country club to the status of the other metropolitan clubs.” “In the death of the late Mr. Armstrong,” said Mr. M. J. Reardon, “I deeply regret the departure of a very old friend, and one who served not alone this club, but the community well. He was a man of unerring judgment, and cool, in calculation, but once he made up his mind he set out with a definite purpose to achieve.” „ , . , Air. M. A. Carr, who was associated with the late Mr. Armstrong for a number of years, said their late president had endeared himself to everyone for his interest in liberty and sport. The .words, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friend,” he thought truly summed up the life work of their late president. He gave his life to the cause of emancipation and freedom in every walk of life. ■■• “A man gifted with a wonderful brain and wonderful organising ability, he so applied himself that at a very early age he came to the end of his career,” Xie concluded. “We here will find it difficult to fill the gap caused by his loss.”