Legal Opinions

The Auditor-General has been in correspondence with the Treasury and the Customs with regard to the legality of paying to officers the amounts received from the public for overtime under section 29 of the Customs Act 1901.

The Minister for Trade and Customs asks:

Are refunds properly payable on account of sugar which on the 8 October was duty-paid or naturally free in a State and not in the possession or control etc. of a manufacturer brewer etc, but in respect of which duty was collected on interstate transfer?

Section 92 of the Constitution declares that on the imposition of uniform duties of customs, trade, commerce, and intercourse among the States shall be absolutely free.

The Minister for Trade and Customs asks:

In relation to the institution of a proposed prosecution against A.B. and Company of Adelaide for misdescription of goods specified in an entry the State Crown Solicitor expresses an opinion that the definition in the Customs Act of the word 'Collector' does not seem to confer any authority on Mr Frost (the officer before whom the declaration verifying the entry was made) to take a declaration as Collector.

The Minister for Trade and Customs forwards the papers to me.

The Minister for Trade and Customs:

Mr A., the owner of a sugar factory, at Yeppon Plantation near Rockhampton in Queensland, refuses to take out a licence under the Excise Act for the year 1902 on the ground that no sugar cane will be manufactured this year owing to the crop being ruined by drought.

The Customs Department contend that as 21 tons 12 cwt of raw sugar were made from jelly sugar from last season's boiling in the months of January, June and July of the present year the factory must be licensed.

The Minister for Trade and Customs:

The Collector of Customs for the State of Queensland in a letter to the Comptroller-General dated 5 September 1902 asks:

With reference to the attached file, I beg that you will advise me what action is to be taken in future when dutiable goods are found concealed on board vessels, and the identity of the offender cannot be established.

The Minister for Trade and Customs:

A.B. and Company Limited in a letter dated 14 July 1902 to the Collector of Customs at Port Adelaide writes as follows:

As the Customs Act provides only for individuals to act as Customs Agents, we have therefore to ask in the case of a joint stock company possessing the necessary authority from the importer, whether the employees of such company can act for the importer under this authority, provided they possess agents' licenses?

The Minister for Trade and Customs forwards the papers to me.

The Postmaster-General

The Deputy Postmaster-General has submitted to the Postmaster-General a number of publications in respect of which applications for registration as newspapers under the Post and Telegraph Act 1901 have been received, together with the following minute, dated 13 August 1902:

Submitted. Under the State Act certain publications were registered as newspapers and nearly all such registrations have been renewed under the Commonwealth statute.

The Minister for Trade and Customs has directed the Comptroller-General that the special exemption in the Tariff, 'Articles imported by and for the official use of the Governor-General or State Governors', is to be construed strictly, i.e. as not applying to Lieutenant-Governors and as applying only to goods imported by and for the official use of the Governor-General or State Governors.

The Acting Ministerfor Defence:

A Bill has been introduced in the Queensland Parliament to repeal section 67 of the Queensland Defence Act of 1884. That section provides that:

Every officer and man of the Defence Force being in uniform shall, on giving reasonable notice to the Commissioner for Railways, and on production of a pass signed by the commanding officer of the corps, be conveyed free over all the Queensland Government Railways, from his home or usual place of residence, to all musters, drills, parades, and rifle practices, and back again.

The Secretary, Postmaster-General's Department:

The Secretary, Postmaster-General's Department forwards the following minute to me for advice:

Clause 207 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902 provides as follows: 'All electoral papers provided for by this Act may be transmitted through the post free of charge, subject to any postal regulations . . .'

As the Act does not define the meaning of'electoral papers provided for by this Act', it is necessary to obtain an opinion as to the meaning of the words referred to.