External Territories
p. 10 · Read in the full issue
Secretary Visits Papua
New Guinea
Prom Our Own Correspondent
Port Moresby, Oct. 5.
MR. J. R. HALLIGAN, Secretary of the Department of External Territories, has returned to Australia after spending almost a month in Port Moresby and other parts of the Territory.
The principal purpose of Mr. Halligan’s visit was to represent the Department at a conference on shipping and port facilities held in Port Moresby in Sep tember. Others who attended the con ference included officials of the Directorate of Shipping, led by the Commonwealth Superintendent, Mr. McKay, and officers of the Queensland section of the Com monwealth Department of Works and Housing.
No announcement has been made of the results of the conference, but it is understood that new wharf facilities for Port Moresby were on the agenda.
Mr. Halligan also met various sections of the community and discussed their problems. Many people who have been waiting for over a year to gain the ear of the Minister, Mr. Ward, took their cases to Mr. Halligan instead.
In Port Moresby. Mr. Halligan met members of the Public Service Associa tion, promising to submit their arguments to the Minister. The subjects covered were: • Anomolies in the payment of fares for officers proceeding on leave. • The newly announced superannua tion scheme for pre-war officers who have returned to the Provisional Administra tion. • The question of permanent pro motions. Officers are only acting in jobs senior to those they held before the war. • Provision for the secondary school ing of Territories’ children in Australia.