The Secretary to the Treasury asks to be advised whether maternity allowances may be paid in the following cases:

1. The mother was born in Spain. Her parents were born in Asia and were of Asia-tic descent.
2. The mother was born in Australia. Her father was a Chinese and her mother a European.

Section 6 of the Act⁽¹⁾ provides that 'women who are Asiatics' shall not be paid a maternity allowance.

In my opinion 'Asiatics' in this section means 'of Asiatic race'. I therefore think that a woman of wholly Asiatic blood is disqualified, wherever she may have been born.

In the case of mixed descent, I think that a woman should be considered as an Asia-tic or not, according as the Asiatic descent does or does not predominate; and that in the case of a woman of the half-blood (i.e. one of whose parents only was Asiatic) she should, as the Act is a beneficial one, be considered as not being an Asiatic. This is the rule that has been laid down with regard to section 127 of the Constitution and section 4 of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902.⁽²⁾

My answers to the specific questions asked are therefore-

1. No.
2. Yes.

[Vol. 10, p. 493]

(1) Maternity Allowance Act 1912.

(2) See Opinion No.13.