Fred Betham
Gustav Frederick Dertag Betham , also known by the Samoan name Fereti Misipita, was a Western Samoan politician and diplomat. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1948 to 1971 and as Minister of Finance from 1961 to 1970. In 1971 he was appointed Secretary General of the South Pacific Commission, a role he held for four years.Biography
Born in Apia in 1915 to Bertha and Montgomery Betham, Betham attended Newton West School in Auckland and then Seddon Memorial Technical College. He returned to Western Samoa to join the civil service, leaving after eight years to work in business, joining O.F. Nelson. An excellent tennis player, in 1939 he won the men's singles, the men's doubles and the mixed doubles with Olive Nelson, who he married in 1942. He later became president of the local tennis association. In World War II he was part of the Western Samoa Defence Force.
Betham was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the European constituency in 1948, and re-elected in 1951, 1954 and 1957. As a member of the Assembly, he was part of the 1960 Constitutional Assembly that drew up the independence constitution, of which he was a signatory. After being re-elected again in 1961, Betham was appointed Minister of Finance. He was awarded an OBE in the 1962 New Year Honours and remained in the cabinet until the 1970 elections, when Tupua Tamasese replaced Fiame Mata'afa as Prime Minister.
In 1971 he was a candidate to become Secretary-General of the South Pacific Commission. After a tie in the first round of voting, his opponent Oala Oala-Rarua withdrew from the contest, allowing Betham to win. He served as Secretary General until 1975, and in 1976 was appointed Western Samoan high commissioner in New Zealand, a role he held until 1980.
He died in March 1984 at the age of 68.
