Legal Opinions

The Secretary to the Treasury has forwarded me the following minute for advice:

In connection with a loan which is shortly to be raised in London, the following letter was addressed to the Auditor-General on 25 May:

I have to advise that the Treasurer has approved the issue in London of Treasury Bills for £2,000,000. The Bills will have a currency of six months, and will be issued under the authority of Act No. 18 of 1920, for the purposes of repatriation and other expenses arising out of the war.

The Secretary to the Department of Defence has forwarded for advice the following memorandum:

I am requested to inform you that during the war, certain firearms, ammunition, cameras, electrical plant etc. were seized or voluntarily surrendered by alien subjects in Australia under the operation of the War Precautions Regulations.

The Controller of the Clearing Office (Enemy Debts) has forwarded me the following memorandum for advice:

Forwarded herewith is one copy each of claims lodged by A.H.W. Peick and J.B. Tadsen, naturalized British subjects resident in New South Wales, against the German Australian Steamship Company Limited, Hamburg, for £3120 and £3430 respectively, under the circumstances set out in the 'Notice of Debt due by a German National' annexed to each claim.

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

Section 15 of the Navigation Act 1912-1920 provides, inter alia, as follows:

(1) Certificates of competency (in this Division referred to as certificates) shall be granted in accordance with this Act for each of the following grades of officers (that is to say):-

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Limited coast-trade ship (steam sail or other motive power)-

Master,
First Mate
Second Mate

The Secretary, Ship Construction Branch, has forwarded me the following memorandum for advice:

The following matter in connection with the building of vessels for the Commonwealth is submitted for favour of opinion:

Men on piecework are remunerated at fixed rates, but they receive not less than the minimum wage fixed by Wages Boards or Arbitration Courts.

The Auditor-General has forwarded the following memorandum for advice:

I shall be glad if you will kindly furnish advice on the following matter.

On 8 July 1920, the Acting Comptroller-General of Customs approved of delivery of 569 bags of dressed Burma rice free of duty from Parsons Bond to Parsons Excise Warehouse for converting into starch under Customs supervision, subject to payment of excise duty on clearance for home consumption.

The following letter from the President of the French Chamber of Commerce, Sydney, has been forwarded to me by the Comptroller-General of Customs for advice:

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

The Secretary to the Treasury has forwarded me the following minute for advice:

Under the Statutory Rules of the Inscribed Stock Act in the case of death of one of the holders of Commonwealth Government Inscribed Stock in a joint account, the amount vests in the survivor or survivors. They are thus joint tenants. By section 13 of Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911-1918, stock is personal property.

Under the Conveyancing Act of 1919 No. 6 of New South Wales, section 26, sub-section (1) reads:

The Chief Electoral Officer has forwarded for advice the following memorandum:

Section 39 (1) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918-1919 provides that: ' ... all persons . . . (b) who are natural-born or naturalized subjects of the King, shall be entitled to enrolment . . . '

The Naturalization Act 1903-1917 defined a 'British subject' as 'a natural-born British subject or a naturalized person'.