Legal Opinions

The Secretary, Prime Minister’s Department, has forwarded me the following memorandum for advice:

The Board is in receipt of a communication from the Acting Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Department, advising that the Cabinet on 20th August considered the question of retirement allowance to female officers on marriage (including the Chairman’s memorandum of 3rd August to the Attorney-General) and a minute was recorded that–

Cabinet is of opinion that the previous allowance to female employees resigning on the ground of marriage should be continued.

The Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Department has forwarded me the following minute for advice:

I hand you herewith this Department’s file S.C.496 relating to the boundaries of Queensland and of the Commonwealth in the Coral Sea.

The Minister for Trade & Customs desires my opinion on the points raised in the following memorandum:

By direction of the Minister I am submitting for advice the question of whether dumping duty has been legally imposed and correctly collected on maize imported from South Africa.

Papers relative to the matter, including reports by the Tariff Board, are forwarded herewith as per schedule attached.

The Acting Comptroller-General, Department of Trade and Customs, forwards the following memorandum for advice:

The Secretary, Department of Home and Territories, has forwarded me the following letter from the Australian Investment Agency with a request for advice:

Referring to our conversation on 21st instant when the question of Darwin being a free port was touched upon, I have enquired further into the matter, and I am informed that duties of customs may be completely abolished so far as relates to the Northern Territory under the Constitution as at present existing, by means of an appropriate law under section 122. That section reads as follows:

I am in receipt of your memorandum of 7th December, 1923, forwarding for advice papers relating to the decision of the Cabinet to vary the basis of the allowances paid to members of certain Royal Commissions consisting of members of Parliament.

I understand that at present the allowances which are paid are for travelling expenses while members are absent from their homes, the rates being:

For the Chairman £3 per day;

For each other member £1/10/- per day;

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

A communication has been received from the Director of Immigration, Palestine, seeking advice as to the nationality of a native of Palestine, born in 1904, whose father was naturalised in Victoria in 1894.

In connection with Opinion No. 15 of 1923,⁽¹⁾ dated the 18th January, 1923, the Secretary, Home and Territories Department, has forwarded for consideration a copy of a communication from the Judge of the Northern Territory, which reads as follows:

While I was away from Darwin on recreation leave, between December 6, 1922, and March 14, 1923, certain deductions from my salary were made.

The Public Trustee has forwarded me the following minute for advice:

In reply to your letter of 7th February, relative to the Canned Fruits Bounty 1923-4 Season, I desire to inform you that in my opinion the Commonwealth cannot constitutionally control the price at which canned fruit is sold after it has left the hands of the canner who receives the Bounty.

I think also that it is extremely doubtful whether, in a measure granting a bounty on the production of goods, the Commonwealth can impose a condition operating subsequently to production.

[Vol. 20, p. 410A]