Legal Opinions

The Comptroller-General has submitted to me for advice the following letter from the Deputy Chairman of the Australasian Steamship Owners Federation:

For the purposes of an opinion given by me on 1 December 1922⁽¹⁾ I stated that I understood certain officers of the Postmaster-General's Department, who were in Class A2 of the Professional Division and to whom the Professional Officers' Award made on 26 April 1918 applied, had been awarded increments in pursuance of clause 2 of that Award.

It now appears that the Treasury was asked verbally to make provision on the Estimates for increments to those officers. No provision, however, was made.

The Comptroller-General of Customs has forwarded me the following memorandum for advice:

The following is an extract from a memorandum received from the Deputy Director of Navigation, Hobart, in which he reported that a seaman landed ex the s.s. Westralia had subsequently died in hospital:

The Secretary to the Prime Minister's Department has forwarded a copy of Regulations dated 4 November 1922, made by the Administrator of New Guinea under the Fisheries Ordinance 1922 of the Territory, and has requested advice as to-

The President of the Superannuation Fund Management Board has forwarded for advice the following memorandum received by him from the Secretary to the Department of Defence:

I desire to inform you that the question has arisen regarding the applicability to officers of the Naval Forces (Sea-going) of the provisions of the Superannuation Act 1922.

With reference to the opinion given by me on 13 December 1922⁽¹⁾ the President of the Superannuation Fund Management Board has asked for advice upon the further question raised in the following memorandum:

I return herewith the opinions of the Judge Advocate General and the Deputy Judge Advocate General dated 28 January 1922, and 25 January 1922, respectively, forwarded with your memorandum of 26 March 1922.

I am unable to agree with the opinions of the Deputy Judge Advocate General that 'a person who has altogether evaded training and has never attended a parade cannot be said to be undergoing training, and consequently would not be a member of the Defence Forces . . . ' and that 'all persons who are liable to training are not members of the Defence Force . . . '

The Commissioner of Pensions has forwarded me the following memorandum for advice:

A.B.C. of Latrobe, Tasmania, a claimant for an old-age pension, was born in the United States of America on 3 June 1854, and resided there until 1882, when he came to Australia as a member of the crew of the Harvard, apparently an American vessel. He has resided in Australia continuously since November 1882, with the exception of a period of 16 months during 1900-1901, when he served in the South African War as a member of an Australian contingent.

The Secretary, Home and Territories Department, has forwarded me the following minute for advice:

A request has been made to this Department by Messrs Fleming Boucaut Ashton & Hunter, Solicitors of Adelaide, acting on behalf of a local syndicate, for permission to dispatch a prospecting party, the members of which are holders of miners' rights, into an area set apart as an aboriginal reserve under the provisions of section 10 of the Aboriginals Ordinance No. 9 of 1918.

The Secretary, Prime Minister's Department, has forwarded me for advice the following communication from the Local Auditor for Victoria:

During an audit of the accounts of the Commonwealth Shipping Line a voucher for £641 16s 2d paid to the Revenue Officer, Suva, Fiji, on 11 September 1922, as income tax on freight earned by the Bulla and Australford, vessels of the Commonwealth Government Line, which loaded at Fiji during 1921, came under notice.