Miles Staniforth Cater Smith, MBE (25 February 1869 – 14 January 1934) was an Australian politician, public servant and explorer.

[1] In 1896, Smith moved to the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia where he initially worked as a bookkeeper for C. R. Knight and Company in Coolgardie.

According to Brian De Garis, he sat "in opposition to the Barton and later Deakin governments, although he was sympathetic to much of the nation-building legislation, and indeed veered at times towards protectionist policies".

Rescued with much publicity, he was hailed as an explorer and in 1923 awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

[6] On his return to Australia he briefly served as acting Administrator of the Northern Territory for 1919–1921, before resuming his involvement with Papua as Commissioner for Crown Lands, Mines and Agriculture.