New Governor General

The Empire's youngest fighting field marshal was appointed Governor General of Canada last week. From London and Ottawa came simultaneous announcements of the appointment of 53-year-old Sir Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, K.C.B., C.B., C.S.I., D.S.O., M.C., one of Britain's ablest soldiers.

Canadians who fought under him knew Irish-born Field Marshal Alexander as a good soldier, a crack commander and a "simple, sensible type of fellow" to boot. He had been at Dunkirk, had commanded the British retreat in Burma, and the victorious campaigns in North Africa, Tunisia, Sicily, Italy.

But in their guesses about a successor to the tall, soldierly Earl of Athlone, 71, few Canadians had included the onetime director of the grim Italian campaign (and of the U.S. Eighth Army). Some, particularly French Canadians, wanted to break with tradition and have a Canadian named for the job. They thought that Canada's sovereignty would thus be more clearly demonstrated. Some of the British-born appointees, they thought, had been oppressively overstuffed. Others, particularly the more Anglophile Canadians, felt that another of royal blood should succeed Athlone, who is King George VI's uncle. Such a selection would not weaken the link with the British Crown.

The appointment of Alexander was a neat solution. Said the Ottawa Evening Journal: "[He] is peculiarly qualified to give this country service far beyond his ritualistic duties." But many French Canadians were unsoothed. Cried the nationalist Le Droit: "Once more Mr. King has gone to Great Britain for Canada's Governor General. The diehard imperialists once more have gained their ends."

Next spring, the 17th Governor General of Canada since Confederation, his wife (the former Lady Margaret Diana Bingham) and three children will move into Rideau Hall, the spacious Governor General's residence at Rockcliffe, a suburb of Ottawa. He will represent King George VI in Canada, and like the King, will act only on the advice of the Government. He will be expected to remain aloof from politics. Quiet, self-effacing Field Marshal Alexander was reported to be the choice of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

His salary ($48,666,63 a year) will be paid by Canada. He will also receive a $69,000 allowance for traveling and maintaining his household; $103,000 for secretarial staff, plus an allowance for keeping up Rideau Hall.

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