Mr. R. Halligan Steps Down

When he moved on from the Australian Department of Territories secretaryship, in 1951, Reg Halligan took over a group of posts connected with Pacific Islands affairs. He was Australia’s Senior Commissioner on the South Pacific Commission; Australian Member of the British Phosphate Commission, and Special Adviser to the Minister of Territories.

One by one he has given them up, as the years advanced; and in February, aged 67, he finally gave up all the strings and retired to his pleasant home in Canberra. He probably has been the best-known and one of the best-liked Australian official figures in the South Pacific Terri tories in the post-war period. Mr. Halligan was succeeded on the South Pacific Commission in 1959 by the very able Dudley McCarthy, of the Australian Territories Department; and in February it was announced that the vacancy on the Phosphate Commission (controlling the industry on Nauru and Ocean and Christmas Islands) goes to Sir William Dunk.

Sir William, now 64, was head of the Australian Public Service Board and held other important Commonwealth posts.