Legal Opinions

The Secretary to the Treasury asks to be advised whether maternity allowances may be paid in the following cases:

1. The mother was born in Spain. Her parents were born in Asia and were of Asia-tic descent.
2. The mother was born in Australia. Her father was a Chinese and her mother a European.

Section 6 of the Act⁽¹⁾ provides that 'women who are Asiatics' shall not be paid a maternity allowance.

Proceedings are pending in the Supreme Court of Victoria for a grant of letters of administration in the estate of A. B.C., deceased. The application for the grant is opposed.

Mr A.B.C., of Eaglehawk, writes to the Minister for Home Affairs with reference to the phrase in the Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta Railway Agreement⁽¹⁾ 'a strip of Crown Land one-eighth of a mile in width on either side of the said Railway'. He suggests that 'either' means one of two, but not both, and presumes that that is not the intention.

The primary meaning of 'either' is 'each of two'; see the Oxford Dictionary. In Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, when Horatius Codes called for two volunteers to help him, he said:

The following memorandum by the Chief Electoral Officer has been referred by the Secretary, Department of Home Affairs to me for advice:

Section 2 of the Referendum (Constitution Alteration) Act 1912 No. 2 provides inter alia that-

'(1) If within eight weeks after the passage of the proposed law through both Houses there is forwarded to the Chief Electoral Officer-

A deputation of interstate representatives at a Conference for the Advancement of the Blind waited on the Minister for External Affairs and amongst other things brought under the notice of the Minister that blind persons travelling from one State to another State by sea were compelled to give bonds and undertakings for their return although nothing of the kind was attempted when they travelled by train.

The Minister, in reply to the deputation on this point, said as follows:

In forwarding the attached opinion⁽¹⁾, I desire to say that a case, Ex parte Benson⁽²⁾, was recently decided in the High Court which when properly reported may throw a good deal of light on the question raised in these papers. So far no authoritative report of the judgments has appeared, and the newspaper reports I have seen are not very satisfactory.

The Secretary to the Department of Home Affairs has forwarded the following memorandum from the Chief Electoral Officer for advice:

Inquiry has been made as to the enrolment of men employed on British and Australian warships.

It is understood that the men employed on British warships in Australian waters, and who are in the pay of the Imperial Government, are not qualified for enrolment.

The Secretary to the Department of External Affairs has asked for advice as to whether the Commonwealth has power to relieve a Justice of the Peace of his office.

The advice is required in connection with a complaint received in relation to a Jus-tice of the Peace in the Northern Territory.

Messrs Simmons, Crisp and Simmons, Solicitors, of Hobart, have written to Messrs Allen, Allen and Hemsley, Sydney, Solicitors to the Commonwealth Bank, drawing attention to the provisions of section 5 of The Trustee Act 1898 of Tasmania as amended by section 2 of the amending Act passed in 1907⁽²⁾, by which it is provided that a trustee (unless expressly forbidden by the instrument creating the trust) may in-vest trust funds on fixed deposit at interest in any incorporated bank after the passing of the last-mentioned Act proclaimed by the Governor in Council as

The Associated Chambers of Commerce have written to His Excellency the Governor-General asking him to forward to the Colonial Office a cable in the following terms: