NEW GOVERNOR OF FIJI

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 45, 17 November 1936, Page 8

NEW GOVERNOR OF FIJI

Sir A. Richards at Auckland Dominion Special Service. Auckland, November 16. On his way to take up the position of Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, Sir Arthur Richards arrived from Sydney by the Awatea. Sir Arthur, who is accompanied by Lady Richards and their three children, and his aide-de-camp, Captain P. Jeffs, will leave for Fiji by the Matua ou Thursday. Although he has not previously been in Fiji, Sir Arthur has a long and distinguished record of service in various outposts of the Empire. He was for 22 years in the Malay States and Singapore, occupying many official positions, and was subsequently Governor of British North Borneo, which is still controlled by the last of the chartered companies. For the last two years ho has been Governor and Comma nder-in-Chief of Gambia, on the West Coast of Africa. Captain Jeffs, who has left the Colonial Service to take his present appointment, was engaged under Sir Arthur in Gambia. This territory, Sir Arthur said, was now in a fairly flourishing condition. Ground nuts was almost the only export of any importance and the market for them was satisfactory at present. Ono of the chief sides of the work there of late years had been the attempt to improve the health of the natives. ( The thing to bo done before anything else, he thought, was to try to make the natives healthy. Various diseases, from yellow fever to leprosy, existed In Gambia, but progress was being made. Sir Arthur hopes to see a little of the Dominion before he leaves, and is anxious to visit Rotorua. He was met on his arrival by Mr. W. S. G. Paton, shipping manager of L. D. Nathan and, Co.. Ltd., Crown agents for Fiji. His appointment at Fiji is for a term of six years.