“Highest Jobs With held

held from Trained Men”

Letter to the Editor.

IN your journal, in October, there ap peared a letter with the heading, “Highest Jobs Withheld From Trained Men”. The writer expressed his dis satisfaction with the appointment of administrators to Islands Governments, from sources outside the Islands ser vices.

This, according to your correspondent, appears to be the settled policy of the Commonwealth; and it may be of in terest to quote from a recently pub lished work of Sir Reginald St. Johnston, K.C.M.G., “From a Colonial Governor’s Note-book”, in which the author touches on much the same grievance, in relation to an appointment in the Colonial Ser vice some years back:— “I had made an application for the governorship of the Seychelles,” writes Sir Reginald St. Johnston, in referring to the time when, in May, 1922, he went on leave to England after three strenu ous years’ work in the tropics, as Colonial Secretary and Acting-Governor in the West Indies, “but I gathered on reaching England that a selection had already been made for this; and, soon afterwards, Sir Joseph Byrne’s appoint ment was gazetted. He had done good work as the head of the Royal Irish Constabulary, in a difficult period, and one could not grudge him this prompt governorship, though in principle it was very disheartening to the men in the Colonial Service, who had—to use a much worn expression—‘borne the bur den and the heat of the day’, to have outsiders put over their heads when ap proaching the time when they might justly expect a reward for their labours.

“In late years, however, there has been a change for the better, and a de finite pronouncement, satisfactory to the Colonial Service, was made on the sub ject at the Colonial Conference of 1930 in London.”

In view of this question in the Islands services to : day, it would per haps be helpful to discover what definite pronouncement, satisfactory to the Colonial Service, was made at the Colonial Conference in 1930.

At present, as your correspondent justly remarks, “there is no great in ducement for highly qualified young men to enter the service of either terri tory”. It certainly seems, as he adds, ‘ unwise to render thes.e services more unattractive by withholding the highest positions from the trained men”.

I am, etc.,

Fair Play.

Rabaul, New Guinea.

Editorial Note: The circumstances to which our correspondent refers are tnese. Within the last three years, the

Commonwealth Government has ap pointed three administrators to fill highly paid jobs in the Pacific—Sir W.

R. McNicoll, to New Guinea; Mr. Abbott, to the Northern Territory; and Sir Charles Rosenthal, to Norfolk Island.

Each of these men was either a member of Parliament, or an ex-member, and not one had had any special training in

tropical administration. On the other hand, there are several men in the Islands services who, apart from train ing, are qualified by character and per sonality to occupy the major positions.

Pastor S. W. Carr, of the S.D.A.

Mission in Fiji, arrived in Sydney from Suva by the “Niagara” on December 18.