A NEW GOVERNOR-GENERAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22192, 20 August 1935, Page 8

A NEW GOVERNOR-GENERAL

A new Governor-General has been appointed to succeed Sir Isaac Isaacs in Australia. Usually the chief interest of such an event lies in the I personality of the Throne's representative. Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven, at present Governor of New South Wales, who will fill the office, is a sufficiently striking personality, but there is more than usual interest in his selection. The precedent created in 1930 when "on the recommendation of Mr. Scullin" —then in London—Sir Isaac was appointed, has been reversed. After an Australianborn Governor-General, a citizen of the Commonwealth when selected for tho office, comes a successor who, though in Australia at the present time, represents the older tradition, the appointment of a distinguished figure in the life of Great Britain. When Sir Isaac Isaacs was appointed at tho instance of the last Federal Labour Government, there was considerable comment. Nobody doubted the correctness of the procedure constitutionally. It was recognised as a logical development from that clarification of Empire and Dominion relations which marked the Imperial Conference of 1926. There was no need t-o be surprised about the selection, moreover. Its likelihood had been well discussed long before Mr. Scullin left for London. The comment centred upon the wisdom of the move, the risks and possible drawbacks if the precedent so created were followed. It was not suggested that Sir Isaac Isaacs would not fill the office worthily. The fact that, as Chief Justice of the High Court, he was already dissociated from everything which might tend to hamper him in it was recognised. The point made, and justly made, was that if from the principle that an Australian might be appointed came the convention that an Australian must be, for lack of suitable candidates the office might lose caste, the representation of His Majesty might become less worthy than it should be. The new appointment almost certainly means that such views now rule, and certainly not that there has been any dissatisfaction with Sir Isaac Isaacs as Governor-General.