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

It is provided in section 7 of the Navigation Act that a ship shall not be deemed to be engaged in the coasting trade by reason of the fact that she carries-

(a) passengers who hold through tickets to or from a port beyond Australia and the Territories under the authority of the Commonwealth.

The Secretary advised on 22 July 1921⁽¹⁾, that a through ticket would include a ticket issued from a port outside Australia to a port within Australia and extended from that port to another port whether on payment of an additional fare or not, if the person had not finally left the ship at the port to which the ticket was originally issued.

The favour of advice is requested as to whether the Orient Company is in order in booking passengers from London (or other oversea port) to Brisbane and thence to New Zealand via Sydney (the portion of the journey between Sydney and Brisbane and return to be performed by Orient Line steamer).

It is assumed that a passenger who has booked to New Zealand via Sydney only may be permitted to extend his journey to Brisbane and back to Sydney provided he notifies his desire to do so prior to completing the section of the journey from Melbourne to Sydney.

It is not clear from the above memorandum what the exact circumstances are upon which advice is desired.

The carriage of a passenger holding a through ticket from London to New Zealand via Sydney and Brisbane would not amount to engaging in the coasting trade at any portion of the journey.

So long as he held a through ticket the passenger might trans-ship at any intermediate port.

If the original booking was to Sydney the ticket might be extended to cover the journey to Brisbane and thence to New Zealand via Sydney if the passenger had not, at the time the ticket was extended, finally left the ship on first arrival at Sydney.

[Vol. 19, p. 113]

(1) Opinion No.1113.