Mr Alfred John Gardener, CMG, CBE, a counsellor in the foreign office who has been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Kabul, Afghanistan, in succession to Sir Giles Squire. Mr Gardener who is 53 served in the first world war and passed an examination as a probationer vice-consul with the Levant Consular Service in 1920. Five years later he was appointed vice-consul at Bushire, then after being acting vice-consul and acting consul-general at Tangier, he was promoted to Consul there in 1934 and acting Consul-General in 1935. He was awarded the CBE in 1944 and the following year became Consul General in New York. Since 1946 he has been employed in the Foreign Office. 24th June 1949