NEW GOVERNOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22578, 17 November 1936, Page 11

NEW GOVERNOR

FIJI ADMINISTRATION SIR ARTHUR RICHARDS ARRIVAL IN AUCKLAND On his way to take up the position of Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, Sir Arthur Hichards arrived from Sydney by the Awatea yesterday. Sir Arthur, who is accompanied by Lady Hichards and their three children and his aide-de-camp, Captain I'. Jeffs, will leave for Fiji by the Mutua on Thursday. Sir Arthur has a long and distinguished record of serv ice in various outposts of the Knipirc. He was for years in the Malay States and Singapore, occupying many official positions, and was subsequently Governor of Brtish North Borneo, which is still controlled by the last of the chartered companies. For the last two yor;rs he has been Governor and Commander-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. Work in Gambia This territory, Sir Arthur said, was now in a fairly flourishing condition. Ground nuts provided almost the only export of any importance and the market for tliein was satisfactory at present. One 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 be done, before anything else, he thought, was to try and make the natives healthy. Various diseases, from yellow fever to leprosy, existed in Gambia, but progress was being made. The system of rule there was largely indirect through the tribal chiefs. The method followed was to advise rather than give orders and to try to guide the chiefs into doing as much as possible of their own accord. Transatlantic Air Service

Gambia has acquired prominence recoiitly through tiro granting of nil aerodrome and seaplane base at Jiatliurst to a German concern for its transatlantic service to South America. Mails only are carried at present, arriving bv aeroplane weekly from Europe, then being transferred to a seaplane for the ocean crossing to Port Natal, in Brazil. A similar procedure is followed on the return .journey. Sir Arthur hopes to see a little of the Dominion before he leaves and is anxious to visit Rotorua. He was met on' arrival by Mr. \Y. S. G. Paton, shipping manager of E. I). Nathan and Comuanv, Limited, Grown agents lor Fiji. His appointment at Fiji is f° r six years.