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From: HJ S Pearce
Date:
17 February 1989
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Mr Janua
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WIAD
1.
Thank you for your minute of 14 February enclosing the paper by Mr Scott, Governor of the Cayman Islands. You asked for my comments.
2. I would not necessarily disagree with the general tenor: of Mr Scott's views. He does, of course, offer a fairly traditional and perhaps rather old-fashioned view of the Governor and his responsibilities. It is not one which, I guess, accords entirely with Ministers' views these days.
I wonder, for example, whether we would accept that a Governor should identify as closely with the territory that he governs as Mr Scott suggests. The paper also struck me as containing a certain amount of special pleading for example about the appropriate grading for Governor posts. I have no doubt that, when measured against our overall priorities, Grade 4 is right for most of these jobs.
3. I do, however, very much agree that the qualities and skills expected of a Governor and the demands made on him are significantly different from those required in most DS jobs. The problem is that, because more junior experience of Dependent Territory administration is rarely available, there is no source of candidates for Governorships which provides the full spectrum of experience which a Governor requires. Some aspects can be learnt in the DS. Others are available to people with a military background, policemen, Home Civil Servants, Hong Kong Civil Servants and that small cadre of people who have served in subordinate posts in the remaining Dependent Territories. All of these categories should potentially offer a fruitful pool. But, inevitably, we will know more about potential DS candidates and my own view is that it is to the DS to which we should look first,
In parallel. X followed closely by those who have served in the Dependent
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Territories on contract in the past.
4.
When I was in the Caribbean last November I took the opportunity to ask Mr Herdman (Tortola) and Mr Bradley (Grand Turk) for their views of the qualities which we should be looking for in potential Governors. Their replies may be of interest. Mr Herdman mentioned patience, a sense of humour, a happy marriage (the wife plays a key role and she must be prepared to involve herself in the community, with local wives etc) and a readiness to take difficult decisions. Dependent Territory experience was valuable, but not essential if very good back-up was available. In some islands it was important to be a church-goer. A Governor should be prepared to listen more than he talks (and should avoid expressing his own point of view too soon), should be ready to admit that he
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