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

Section 119 of the Defence Act reads as follows:

No member of the Defence Force shall, except as prescribed, receive any pay or allowances while under any charge of which he is afterwards convicted by any Court or by his Commanding Officer, or while under sentence of penal servitude, imprisonment, detention or field punishment by any Court or by his Commanding Officer, or during absence from duty without leave.

It will be noted that the section provides that a member of the Defence Force is disentitled from receiving pay etc. while under 'any charge' of which he is afterwards convicted by 'any Court'.

The favour of advice is desired as to whether the expression 'any charge' includes charges other than against the Defence Act, the Army Act and Regulations made under the Defence Act, i.e. charges of a 'naval or military offence', or whether the application of the expression is limited to a 'naval or military offence'.

In connection with this question it is pointed out that a member of the Defence Force may commit a minor offence against a municipal by-law and be convicted and fined say an amount of 5s. In such an instance the member may have been under a charge for seven days during which time he may have remained on military duty. On the other hand a member may be convicted of a serious offence against the Commonwealth Crimes Act and be sentenced to imprisonment or penal servitude.

In my opinion the expression 'any charge' does not include charges other than those for naval or military offences.

The context appears to show that the section refers only to charges against him as a member of the Defence Force-not to civil charges which have nothing to do with the Defence Act or his position as a member of the Force.

[Vol. 18, p. 126]