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GOVERNMENT HOUSE
TORTOLA
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
11 December 1981
The Rt Hon The Lord Carrington KCMG MC Secretary of State for Foreign and ..
Commonwealth Affairs.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office LONDON SW1
My Lord
A pretty dotty
valedictory!
rom
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: 1978-81
VALEDICTORY AND TURNOVER ·
COMING AND GOING
1.
The Department has requested a Valedictory despatch.
༣
I therefore submit what follows. I deeply acknowledge the
honour and the interest (and enjoyment) of serving as Governor
of the British Virgin Islands.
But a valedictory from a
Governor is more difficult than one from an Ambassador.
Self-report is less easily distanced.
In a small Dependency,
a Governor is liable to leave some prints. My emphasis in the
Islands was towards tolerance, understanding and harmony. It
must sound too good to be true! Likewise, although the files
may suggest incomplete success, I also sought to soften some of
exchanges (both ways) between the Department and the BVI
Government. Anyway, I trust the record will show I observed
my sworn Constitutional duty.
2.
My wife and I arrived here late in 1978; and, in parenthesis,
may I use this moment to pay tribute to her constant good humour.
Our initial reception from Legislature and community was hardly
friendly. In fact, to use the local term, we were well "scorched".
/The