Sir Brian Freeston

To be Secretary-General of South Pacific Commission

11HE Governor of Fiji and High Com missioner for the Western Pacific, Sir Brian Freeston, in May, formally accepted the post of Secretary-General of the South Pacific Commission, which was offered to him by the Commission when it met in Noumea at the end of April.

Sir Brian’s term of appointment to his present post expires in January, 1952, and it had been arranged that he should leave Fiji on long leave in September, and retire from the British Colonial Service in the following January. That arrangement will be adhered to; but Sir Brian, about November, after the close of the Eighth Session of the Commission, will take up his permanent residence in Noumea (headquarters of the Commission).

The present Secretary-General of the Commission, Mr. W. D. Forsyth, will leave Noumea this month, to rejoin the Commonwealth Australian Federal Ser vice, and probably will be appointed to a high post overseas, under the Department of External Affairs.

The Deputy Secretary-General, Mr.

John Ryan, will carry on the chief secretarial duties at Noumea until Sir Brian takes over.

Sir Brian Freeston, of course, is thoroughly familiar with the activities of the Commission: he has been, since its inception, Senior Commissioner for the United Kingdom, and has taken a keen interest in the organisation.