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The Castle
St Helena
No dro
HKA 430/5
REGIVAD M MAS DINT
3 Q MAY 1979
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
No My
The Right Honourable David Owen MP
LAST
30 April 1979
2
12
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Sir
I have the honour to address you on the subject of the length
of tour of Governors serving in Dependent territories.
2. Whilst I appreciate that as three years is a normal period for
a posting in the Diplomatic Service and as future Governors will be
drawn increasingly from that service, it appears desirable that
Governors tours be tailored to fit the same uniform pattern, in fact
this length of tour is not in the interests of the Dependent territories
themselves.
3. A Governors post is necessarily different from those of HM
Diplomatic Service. Whereas an Ambassador or High Commissioner represents
HMGS interests and policies and reports on local reactions, a Governor
is involved to a far greater extent with the people of the territory
he administers. Traditionally a good Governor has been one who can
identify himself largely with the mood, the aspirations and desires
of the people: to do his work properly he needs their trust and
confidence which he can only obtain by the exchange of his sympathy.
As well as representing the policies and needs of HMG to those in his
he must in turn represent them to HMG and explain why policies
need to be tempered or modified. The dual interests he represents
cannot always be ridden in tandem: they must frequently be in conflict
and he must not hesitate to express local feelings, for his people may
have no other representative but him, or at least none so well placed.
The very fact that Dependent territory is dependant is crucial to the
care,
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