SIR ROBERT NOLAN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 8 September 1923, Page 7

SIR ROBERT NOLAN.

NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS' FRIEND.

f^nhe + v,Lo^ n ?imes of Ju]y 18 contains the following: We have recemfd from a correspondent the following tribute to Sir -Robert Nolan, whose death was briefly announced in The Times of yesterday • There must be few New Zeakuiders indeed who did not know Robert Howard Nolan. As for the soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force it is more than probable that h e was known to every man in it, for it was he who organised the.Soldiers' Club for them m .London and managed it from the day it opened until it was closed after tne war.

Past the age when he should have such a strenuous task, Bob Nolan threw himself heart and soul and body into the work, and, with the aid of other devoted New Zealand men and women, reproduced for the scKtiiers the atmosphere of their own homes so many thousand miles away. Who can appraise too highly the value of that work and that atmosphere created m every hospital, in every hut,' and in all places where New Zealanders were quartered? Most assuredly did it help the soldiers of the Dominion to keep up their standard of conduct and self-respect to that height which earned tor them such a good name in this country. And Nolan's name as the "Soldiers' Friend" will be always revered by them—and by their mothers, wives, and sisters more than all. He was honoured for his services by beincr made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Then, just as his toil was over, he was stricken suddenly, and his life was despaired of for many weeks. The strain had been too great. The King knowing of his condition, sent him a message expressed' in warmest terms, and he always said that this marked' the turning point of his illness. He rallied and it was at last possible for him to be put in the shin that bore him back to New Zealand, where he received a welcome that has seldom been excelled m the Dominion. But the shadow was upon him, and remained so for the few short years that were left to him. Never daunted, he interested himself in the lives of .others to the end-. Only the other day he wrote to a friend in London: "I have (perhaps foolishly) accepted a seat on the Royal Commission for the Welfare of the Blind." This work deeply interested him, and it was probably just about completed when he died. When the Birthday Honours were published last month his many friends were delighted to see that His Majesty had been pleased to promote him to K.8.E..

The varied* life Nolan had lived, as a young man in a trading schooner in the Pacific; then a successful stock and station agent, a farmer, and all his life keenly interested in sport of every kind, and especially in horse-racing—aM these experiences contributed -to make him the essentially human and lovable man he was, so that people of every class and age and denomination reckoned him as friend and adviser. He was pure white. "Aue! Haere ra. E'Koro!" (This phrase is of the nature of a benediction to a respected elder.)