The Chairman of the Repatriation Commission has forwarded for advice the following memorandum:

The Commission has some doubt as to the extent of the power conferred upon it by regulation 179 of the Australian Soldiers' Repatriation Regulations 1920. Regulation 179 reads:

The Commission may grant assistance and benefits including the payment of any allowances or sum of money purporting to be a pension under Part III of the Act to any person who is included in any of the classes of persons specified in section 60 of the Act, but in respect of whom provision is not made in these Regulations for the granting of assistance and benefits applied for. Regulation 192 states that any power or authority vested in a Deputy Commissioner by the regulations shall be exercisable by the Commission.

Under certain regulations there are definite time limits ranging from six months to five years after the soldier's discharge from the Forces, within which applications for assistance or benefits must be made. Whilst these time limitations prevent a Deputy Commissioner or a Repatriation Board, as the case may be, from granting the assistance to applicants who apply after the specified period has elapsed, the Commission desires to be advised as to whether it has the power under regulation 179 to grant the applications, treating them as special cases not covered by the regulation in which the time limit is imposed.

A case in point is that of an application received by a Board under regulation 116 for a free passage to the Commonwealth. The proviso to that regulation reads:

Provided that no assistance shall be granted under this regulation where the application is made after the expiration of two years after the date of the death or discharge of the soldier as the case may be.

Would the Commission be in order in granting the application as a special case under regulation 179? Another instance is that of an application for sustenance, under regulation 83, for a period after the first two years of the soldier's occupancy of the land.

The Commission would also be glad of your advice as to whether the following action was within its power under regulation 179:

Regulation 85 gives power to a Deputy Commissioner or the Executive of a Country Local Committee to grant vocational training to an applicant and also an allowance not exceeding 3s per week for travelling expenses. The Commission gave special approval under regulation 179 for the payment of increased travelling allowances to trainees in the States of West Australia and New South Wales in view of the cessation of travelling concessions in Perth and the increased railway fares operating in New South Wales. Approval was also given for the payment of actual fares of trainees in the Sydney painting class who were called upon to travel from job to job in order to receive practical training.

Your early advice on the points raised generally and in the specific instances mentioned would be appreciated.

In my opinion regulation 179 empowers the Commission to grant assistance and benefits in any case where the assistance and benefits, in the form applied for, cannot be granted under any other provision of the Regulations. Thus in a case where owing to lapse of time assistance cannot be granted under a particular regulation, such as regulation 116 or 83, there is not, I think, provision made in the Regulations for the granting of the assistance applied for, and the Commission may, therefore, grant assistance under regulation 179.

In the case, however, of the travelling allowance which may be granted under regulation 85, the Commission has not, I think, power to increase that allowance, as specific provision is made in regulation 85 for the granting of assistance in that particular form.

[Vol. 18, p. 215]