Commissioner

New Solomons

Mr. W. S. Merchant, Tanganyika

MR. W. s. MARCHANT, 0.8. E., Deputy Provincial Commissioner in Tan ganyika, East Africa, has been ap pointed Resident Commissioner of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in succession to Mr. F. N. Ashley, C.B.E.

Mr. Marchant entered the African Pro tectorate service in 1919 as Assistant District Commissioner in East Africa. He was appointed District Officer, Kenya, in 1926; Deputy Provincial Commissioner and Assistant Secretary in Zanzibar in October, 1935; and transferred to Tan-

ganyika, as Deputy Provincial Commis sioner, in 1937.

Mr. Marchant will visit England be fore proceeding to the Solomon Islands.

Mr. F. N. Ashley will proceed on leave, prior to retirement, by the M.V. “Malaita”, on April 29, and will arrive in Sydney on May 6.

Mr. Ashley, after service in Nigeria, became Resident Commissioner in the Solomons in May, 1929. He is 54 years old. Critics of his administration have sometimes been heard; but the Solomons Protectorate, in an administrative sense, is a poverty-stricken territory, and the Resident Commissioner, subject to Suva (with which there is no community of interest) can do very little. Mr. Ashley made many good friends during his 10 years in the Solomons, who will wish him happiness in his retirement.

Mr. F. N. Ashley.