Legal Opinions

The Prime Minister has received a letter from the Premier of New South Wales, dated 5 August 1904, in the following terms:

The following is an extract from a minute of 17 August 1904 by the late Minister for Defence (Senator Dawson):

I am strongly of opinion that all officers of the Commonwealth Defence Forces, no matter what their rank, should immediately on becoming members of Parliament, be seconded in their regiment or corps, as I consider it subversive to discipline and an impropriety that officers on the Active List should be placed in the position of criticising their superior officers.

The Treasurer refers to me, for advice, the following minute by the Secretary to the Treasury:

The Treasurer asks for my opinion on the following case:

Does a Parliamentary Vote confer a right on an officer (not in the Administrative Division) to receive the salary voted?

For instance, it is proposed to insert in the Estimates of Expenditure for 1904-5, under 'Post and Telegraph Department, New South Wales'-

It appears that in November 1902, an arrangement was entered into between the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage (Sydney) and the Commonwealth, whereby the Board undertook to render water and sewerage services at a sum specified for each building, which sum was equivalent to the rates which the Board claimed was payable in respect of the building.

The Comptroller-General of Customs asks for advice on the question what is the minimum strength permitted for bottled colonial gin.

Section 76 (i) of the Distillation Act 1901 enacts that no person shall sell spirits under twenty-five degrees under proof.

The word spirits in the Distillation Act 1901 includes all liquor upon which under the name of any spirits any excise is imposed by the Parliament and whether distilled or made or in any stage of distillation or making. The definition clearly includes all gin which is subject to excise duty.

It appears that a Commonwealth officer in New South Wales has been joined as co-respondent in a divorce suit, and that a charge of adultery has been found against him.

The Public Service Commissioner asks to be advised on the following questions:

According to a paragraph in the Melbourne Age of 20 October 1904, a Food Adulteration Bill before the Victorian Parliament contains a provision that the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Board of Health, may make regulations-

to prohibit or restrict the importation of any substance the use of which is likely to be injurious to health or which is likely to afford facilities for fraud.

The Comptroller-General of Customs asks whether I consider that a State Parliament can pass an Act with this provision.

The Commissioner of Patents has raised the question whether, under section 32(3) of the Patents Act 1903, a corporation may be a 'person' competent to make application for a patent.

Section 22 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 provides that 'In any Act, unless the contrary intention appears, "person" . . . shall include a body . . . corporate as well as an individual'.

The Minister for Trade and Customs asks to be advised on the following question:

Is it within the powers of the Commonwealth Parliament to adopt legislation to prevent the sale, within the several States of the Commonwealth, of the class of goods which are referred to in Fraudulent Trade Marks Bill, now before Parliament?