(1845–1924).

Baptist minister.

Alfred North was born in 1845 at London, England, the son of Charles North, a draper. He trained at Rawdon Baptist College and, in July 1869, was ordained to the pastorate of Harborne near Birmingham. He was called upon to succeed the Rev. J. Upton Davis at Hanover Street Baptist Church, Dunedin, and arrived in New Zealand in 1882. A competent and energetic organiser, North played an active part in the formation of the Baptist Union of New Zealand, being its president in 1884, 1886, and 1890. In 1885 he suggested a scheme for training Baptist ministers and, from 1890 to 1900, supervised this. In 1885, also, he was principally responsible for founding the Baptist Foreign Mission Society. He relinquished his work in Dunedin in August 1900 to assume oversight of the Baptist Church in Circular Road, Calcutta. After a few years there, however, he returned to New Zealand where he took charge of the church at Ponsonby and, later, that at Epsom, Auckland. About this time he rendered one of his greatest services to his denomination: this was the scheme he devised for providing annuities for aged and disabled ministers. North was deeply interested in the welfare of youth and was one of the founders of the Sunday School Union. In addition to his church duties he organised the Young People's Industrial Exhibition, held in Dunedin in 1898. Alfred North possessed marked literary gifts and produced several primers on religious subjects. He wrote in trenchant style, with a good command of vigorous English, and was founder and, for many years, editor of the New Zealand Baptist.

In 1869, in Wiltshire, England, North married Emma, daughter of the Rev. James Heritage. He had three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, John James North, followed him into the ministry, while his second son, Dr Charles North (1872–1955), was the first Baptist medical missionary to be sent from New Zealand to India – being stationed at Chandpur, in Eastern Bengal, where he founded a mission hospital.

After his retirement from the ministry in 1917, Alfred North returned to Dunedin where he died on 3 December 1924.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Road to Tomorrow, Beilby, G. T. (1957)
• Otago Daily Times, 4 Dec 1924 (Obit)
• Evening Star (Dunedin), 4 Dec 1924 (Obit).

(1893– ).

Eighth Governor-General of New Zealand

Charles Willoughby Moke Norrie was born on 26 September 1893, the eldest son of Major George Edward Moke Norrie and of Beatrice, daughter of Andrew Stephen. He was educated at Eton and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1913 he joined the 11th Hussars and served in the First World War where he was awarded the D.S.O., the M.C. and Bar, was twice mentioned in dispatches, and was wounded four times. He became, successively, a Staff Captain in the 73rd Infantry Brigade; third General Staff Officer in the XVIIIth Army Corps; Brigade Major in the 90th Infantry Brigade, and in the 2nd Tank Brigade; and second General Staff Officer in the 2nd Tank Corps.

After the war Lord Norrie attended Staff College. From 1926 to 1930 he was Brigade Major of the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot and commanded the 10th Royal Hussars (1931–35) before being appointed to command, with the substantive rank of Colonel, the 1st Cavalry Brigade (1936–38). He commanded the 1st Armoured Brigade from 1938 to 1940 and, in the latter year, was appointed Inspector of the Royal Armoured Corps. Later in the same year he became General Officer Commanding the 1st Armoured Division and, in 1941, was promoted to a similar position with the 30th Corps in the Middle East. In 1943 he commanded the Royal Armoured Corps and was Colonel of the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales Own) from 1943 to 1949.

As Sir Willoughby Norrie, K.C.M.G., he became Governor of South Australia and held office from 1944 until 1952. At the end of his term he was appointed to succeed Lord Freyberg as Governor-General of New Zealand and assumed office on 2 December 1952. To mark the Royal Visit in 1954 he was created G.C.V.O. and, at the close of his term on 25 July 1957, he was elevated to the peerage, when he adopted the style “Baron Norrie of Wellington, New Zealand, and Upton, Co. Gloucester”.

Lord Norrie has many interests. He has been a member of the National Hunt Committee since 1935, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts since 1948, President of the Combined Cavalry Old Comrades since 1959, and, since 1960, Chancellor of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He is a Knight in the Order of St. John, a keen amateur magician, and owns a racing stud farm.

Lord Norrie married, first, on 9 June 1922, Jocelyn Helen (who died 7 March 1938), daughter of Richard Henry Gosling; and, secondly, on 28 November 1938, Patricia Merryweather, D.St.J., daughter of Emerson Bainbridge, M.P. He has one son and one daughter by his first marriage and, by his second, one son and two daughters.

(1819–90).

Ninth Governor of New Zealand.

Lord Normanby was born on 23 July 1819 at Portland Place, only son of the First Marquess (1797–1863), who himself had a distinguished political career, being successively Governor of Jamaica, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Colonial Secretary, and Home Secretary. His mother was Maria, eldest daughter of the First Lord Ravenworth.

Lord Normanby joined the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1838, later serving with the regiment in Canada. On 17 August 1844 he married at Burneston, County York, Laura (1816–85), daughter of Captain Robert Russell, RN, and niece of Elizabeth, Dowager Duchess of Cleveland. Normanby resigned his commission in 1847 when he became Liberal member for Scarborough in the House of Commons. He held this seat, sitting as the Earl of Mulgrave, from 1847 to 1851 and from 1853 to 1858, and served as party whip under three administrations. He became a Privy Councillor on 7 August 1851. In 1851–52 he acted as Comptroller, and from 1853–58, Treasurer, of the Royal Household. Normanby then served as Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia from 1858 until his return to England in 1863 to succeed to his father's titles. He spent the next seven years about Court, as Lord-in-Waiting, and as Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms, before serving as Governor of Queensland (1871–74) and of New Zealand (1874–78).

Normanby's administration in New Zealand coincided with the abolition of the provinces, and with a long struggle with his Ministers on constitutional questions. His adversary in the latter was Sir George Grey, a former Governor, with a wide personal experience in such matters. This struggle involved the Governor's prerogative powers of dissolution, appointment, and his discretion to take action without reference to, or against, ministerial advice. In the ensuing “memoranda” battle, Normanby proved that his political acumen and grasp of constitutional principle were probably unrivalled in the colonies. He resisted successfully Grey's demands for a dissolution, as well as his assertion that under responsible government the Governor was bound to accept ministerial advice without question. He also established a Governor's right to consult with fellow Governors on constitutional matters if he had reason to believe his own advisers were mis-stating a precedent. Normanby's controversy with Grey ended in 1878, when the Premier refused to attend further Executive Councils. When the House of Representatives (1877), with ministerial connivance, censured him for his refusal to appoint a new Legislative Councillor on Ministers' advice while a want of confidence motion was pending, Normanby referred the resolution to his Ministers, who refused to tender any advice. The Governor thereupon solved the problem neatly by forwarding this refusal as his reply to the House.

Lord Normanby left New Zealand to assume the Governorship of Victoria (1879–84) where he faced similar ministerial difficulties. In 1884 the Colonial Office proposed to appoint him Governor of South Australia but were dissuaded by a strong protest from the colony. He returned to England in 1885, and thereafter sat in the House of Lords as a Liberal-Unionist. He died at 6 Brunswick Terrace, Brighton, on 3 April 1890.

Normanby's pose of good-natured indolence belied his strength of character and inflexibility of purpose. He was never disposed to seek the line of least resistance, while by his proved ability, his grasp of constitutional essentials, and his shrewd political sense, he is revealed as one of the most formidable colonial administrators to serve Britain in the nineteenth century.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Governors' Papers (MSS), National Archives, Wellington.

(1901– ).

Leader, parliamentary Labour Party.

A new biography of Nordmeyer, Arnold Henry appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Arnold Henry Nordmeyer was born at Hope Street, Dunedin, on 5 January 1901, the son of Arnold Nordmeyer, a seaman from Elsfleth, Germany, and Martha, née Walker. He was educated at Waitaki Boys' High School, Otago University, and Knox Theological Hall, Dunedin, gaining the degree of B.A. and a diploma in social science. He was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church in 1925 and was stationed at Kurow church, North Otago, for the next 10 years. In 1935 he resigned from this position to contest the Oamaru seat in the interests of the Labour Party at the general elections. He was successful and represented this electorate until 1949, when he was defeated. Two years later he was returned to fill the vacancy in the electorate of Brooklyn, Wellington (subsequently absorbed in Island Bay), caused by the death of Peter Fraser. Arnold Nordmeyer has held various portfolios during the Labour terms of office, including that of Minister of Health (1941–47), Industries and Commerce (1947–49), and Finance (1957–60). From 1940 to 1950 he was vice-president and, in 1950–55, president of the Labour Party. In 1963 he became leader of the parliamentary Labour Party in succession to Sir Walter Nash.

(1855–1923).

Auctioneer, racing administrator, and patriotic worker.

Robert Howard Nolan was born at Bathurst, New South Wales, in 1855, the second son of David McCool Nolan (1828–1901) of the firm of Hunter and Nolan, Auctioneers, Auckland. He came to New Zealand with his parents in 1863 and was educated at Wesley College, Auckland, and at Auckland College and Grammar School. After a period on the Thames goldfields, Nolan set up an auctioneering business at Hawera, which he and his brother-in-law, A. S. Tonks, ran from 1880 to 1914. He entered local public life, becoming a lieutenant in the Volunteers, chairman of the Mokoia Domain Board, a director of the Hawera Permanent Building Society, and chairman of the Hawera Gas Co. He devoted much of his energy to horse racing, being president of the Egmont, Opunake, and Eltham Racing Clubs, a judge for the Patea, Waverley, and Waitotara Racing Clubs, and secretary of the Egmont Hunt Club. Nolan was also a freemason, and a past master of the Hawera Lodge.

On 10 June 1882 he married Octavia Jane, daughter of David Starke Durie, a former Resident Magistrate, at Wanganui. He had one son and three daughters. Nolan visited England in 1914, and remained in London throughout the war, organising a New Zealand Soldiers' Club, of which he became honorary secretary. He was also a member of the New Zealand War Contingents Association's Executive Committee. Nolan returned to New Zealand in 1920 and lived in retirement at 21 St. George's Bay Road, Parnell, Auckland, until his death on 13 July 1923. Nolan, who received the C.B.E. in 1918, was nominated K.B.E. in the 1923 Birthday Honours but died before his investiture. Lady Nolan, however, was raised to the rank and style of a knight's widow in 1924.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• New Zealand Herald, 14 Jul 1923 (Obit)
• New Zealanders in Mufti, Raymond, I. W. (port.) (n.d.).

Ninety Mile Beach is on the western coast of the North Auckland Peninsula. It is terminated by rocky volcanic headlands, Scott Point to the north and Reef Point to the south. Between the two points is a beautiful arching beach of white sand facing the Tasman Sea. The origin of the name is uncertain, for the beach measures only 55 miles. It can be used as a motorway at low tide and, provided the sudden watercourses which seam the sand are crossed slowly and proximity to the waves avoided, the surface can be used with confidence. The beach is backed throughout its length by a belt of sand dunes up to 4 miles in width and up to 469 ft in height above sea level. The sandhills are highest in the north and gradually decrease in height to the south, where they are about 200 ft. In the far south they are fixed by lupins and marram grass, but for the rest they are moving and bare, except for a few isolated patches of scrub. On the eastern fringing of the dunes there is a series of lakes of which Rotokawau, the most elevated, is 130 ft above sea level. The most important of these lakes are Waiparera (115 ft), near Waiharara; Wahakari, near Te Kao, and Ngahu (118 ft), near Waipapakauri, where speedboat regattas are held. From the south the beach is approached by wooden ramp near Ahipara, and at a distance of about 11 miles a ramp provides access from the beach to the inland village of Waipapakauri. At a distance of 18 miles, near the mouth of the Waihi Stream, is an outcrop of lignite interbedded in the consolidated sand. At a distance of 22 miles is Hukatere, where a pack track across the sand dunes leads to Houhora, about 10 miles away. About 40 miles from the southern end is the Bluff, a patch of ellipsoidal-shaped submarine lava flows with bands of quartz, and connected to the mainland at low tide by a sand platform. Mauve-flowered ice plants are abundant here.

At a point 12 miles further up the beach the mouth of Te Paki Stream is reached. Its stream bed provides access to the hinterland, north to Cape Reinga, and south to Kaitaia.

The beach is well known for its snapper fishing and its shellfish, especially toheroas, which have now returned after an absence of several years. But the 100 sq. miles of sandhills that back the beach offer by far its greatest economic potential. Pine forests have already been established at Ngataki and it is proposed to develop progressively the whole area.

by Robert Findlay Hay, M.A., B.E.(MINING), Scientific Officer, New Zealand Geological Survey, Otahuhu.

(Rhopalostylis sapida).

The remarkable palm family, with over 1,100 species, is mainly a tropical and subtropical one. It contains some of the world's most useful plants, such as oil palms, banana, coconut, and sago palm. The southernmost palm of all is found in New Zealand; it is abundant in lowland forests of the North Island, and appears as far south as Banks Peninsula and Hokitika in the South Island, and in the Chatham Islands.

The nikau palm grows to heights of 30 ft. The single stem – it is very seldom branched – is ringed by the scars left by the sheathing bases of the fallen leaves. Leaves range from about 4 to 8 ft long. Each is made up of numerous, narrow leaflets 2 to 3 ft long. The leaves are gathered together in a large head at the top of the stem which is seldom more than 9 in. thick. Flowers are in a dense panicle known as a spadix, which is 1 to 2 ft long, and appears at the base of the leaves. The fruit is a small, elliptical, bright red drupe about half an inch long. The Maoris used the nikau leaves in their whares. The top of the stem is fleshy and juicy and is sometimes eaten.

There is only one other species in the genus Rhopalostylis, namely R. cheesemanii, which is found in the Kermadec Islands. It grows to heights of 60 ft.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(1886–1953).

Artist.

A new biography of Nicoll, Archibald Frank appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Archibald Frank Nicoll was the son of a Scots pioneer and was born on 14 June 1886 at Lincoln, Canterbury. After attending school at Springston and, later, at the Christchurch Boys' High School, he worked in a shipping office and attended evening classes at Canterbury College School of Fine Arts under Sydney Thompson. He exhibited at Canterbury Society of Arts while still in his teens and at this time was influenced by the work of Van der Velden. After five years in the shipping office, Nicoll decided to devote himself to art and was appointed art instructor in the Elam School of Art, Auckland, remaining there for three years. Among his students were F. McCracken, R. Johnson, and J. Weeks. Realising the need for advanced study, Nicoll left for England on his own savings. He spent a few months at the Westminster Art School, London, and then transferred to the Edinburgh College of Art and, later, to the Scottish Academy Life Class in Edinburgh, where he won prizes for his work. Subsequently, he exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Glasgow Institute, and other important exhibitions in Scotland and also at the Royal Academy, London. During the three years he remained in Edinburgh (1911–14), he was elected to the membership of the Society of Scottish Artists. He was becoming established as a painter when, in 1914, he returned to New Zealand on a visit just in time to join the Dominion forces at the outbreak of war. In the same year he married Ellen, the eldest daughter of G. Fearn.

Nicoll was wounded during the war, and on being demobilised in New Zealand in 1918 he found it impossible to return to England. He therefore resumed his art activities in New Zealand. After two years' residence in Wellington, he was appointed in 1920 director of the Canterbury College School of Fine Arts, remaining director for eight years, meanwhile painting portraits and landscapes in his own time and exhibiting in the New Zealand galleries. He also sent works to the Australian Painters and Etchers Society and the Society of Artists, Sydney (1928). He resigned from the School of Art in 1928 and devoted his whole time to painting. In 1930 he was represented in the Royal Academy, London. At this time he specialised in landscapes, mostly around Canterbury, and in 1932 was awarded the Bledisloe Medal.

Nicoll was a member of the council of the Canterbury Art Society, of which he was president for two years, and was on the advisory committee of the McDougall Art Gallery and the committee of management of the National Art Gallery and the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. In 1948 he was awarded the O.B.E. Nicoll died on 2 February 1953, survived by his wife and one son.

Nicoll was a man of strong personality and decided opinions. In his painting he worked mostly in oil, using a bold and sweeping brush. A sound draughtsman, he had a facility in portraiture in a style somewhat akin to Raeburn that won for him, towards the end of his career, the reputation of being one of the most important portrait painters in New Zealand. He completed more than 100 commissioned portraits. While his physical handicap prevented him from painting the more rugged and inaccessible parts of New Zealand, his seascape and pastoral landscapes around Christchurch, though strongly influenced at first by the academic discipline of his Scottish training, became sunlit scenes marked by a sureness of touch and a warmth and freshness of colour.

He is represented in the public galleries in Wanganui, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, the National Art Gallery, and in private collections in New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, and America.

by Thomas Esplin, D.A.(EDIN.), Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Home Science, University of Otago.

• Art in New Zealand, Vol. 4, 1931–32, Vol. 5, 1932–33.

(1901– ).

Rugby footballer.

A new biography of Nicholls, Marcus Frederick appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Mark Nicholls was born at Greytown on 13 July 1901. He was educated at Wellington College, playing for the school. He next played first five-eight for the Petone club and, in 1921, was selected for the New Zealand team to play South Africa at Auckland. In the following year he toured Australia with the All Blacks. He played for the All Blacks again in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, and 1930. During this period he represented New Zealand in 51 matches, scoring 284 points for his side. His best single score was for the North Island team in 1926, when he gained 20 points. He is rightly regarded as one of the great tacticians of the game. Mark Nicholls edited The All Blacks in Springbokland (1928).

Ngauruhoe (7,500 ft) has an almost perfect cone rising 3,000 ft above the southern slopes of Tongariro. In the recent past it has been the most continuously active of New Zealand volcanoes. Eruptions from this mountain were regarded by the Maori as a sign of war. Except on the east, young lava flows have reached its base on all sides and these have a loose, rugged, clinkery surface. Since 1839 considerable changes have occurred within the crater. The more notable eruptions were in 1841 with ash eruption which truncated the top, in 1855 when the west side of crater wall collapsed, in 1859 when the east wall of crater collapsed, in 1870 with ash eruption and lava flow, in 1949 with ash eruption and lava flow, and in 1954–55 again with ash eruption and lava flow.

The mountain was first climbed by J. C. Bidwill in March 1839, the ascent being from the north-west. He reported that “The crater was the most terrific abyss I ever looked into or imagined … it was not possible to see above 10 yards into it from the quantity of steam which it was continually discharging”.

Ngauruhoe, together with the other peaks of Tongariro National Park, was regarded as highly tapu by the Maori.

The name Ngauruhoe – the peak of Uruhoe –commemorates the slave whom Ngatoroirangi, archpriest of Arawa canoe, sacrificed in order to add mana to his plea for fire to be sent from Hawaiki. When this arrived, Uruhoe's body was flung into the crater that bears his name.

by Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.