It appears that certain senior cadets in Adelaide and Port Pirie were convicted and fined for failure to render personal service, and on refusal to pay the fines were com-mitted by the Magistrate to detention for a period in Adelaide Reformatory-which appears to be under the control of the State Children's Department.

The Department has sent in a claim for their maintenance, and the Defence De-partment asks to be advised as to the liability of the Commonwealth to pay the claim.

Section 120 of the Constitution provides that:

Every State shall make provision for the detention in its prisons of persons accused or con-victed of offences against the laws of the Commonwealth . . .

In my opinion detention in the Reformatory under a warrant of committal by a magistrate for non-payment of a fine imposed for an offence, is detention in a prison of the State within the meaning of that section; and the maintenance of the boys during detention is a constitutional obligation of the State for which-in the absence of any arrangement to that effect-the Commonwealth is not liable to pay.

[Vol. 11, p. 92]