The Commissioner of Maternity Allowances:

A.B.C. who has lived in Australia for nearly three years has made a claim for a maternity allowance.

Mrs C. is an unnaturalized German, and the Commissioner of Maternity Allowances desires to be advised whether a maternity allowance can be granted to her.

Section 6 of the Maternity Allowance Act 1912 provides that the maternity allowance is only payable to women who are inhabitants of the Commonwealth or who intend to settle therein, but women 'who are Asiatics, or are aboriginal natives of Australia, Papua, or the islands of the Pacific' are not entitled to the allowance.

As Mrs C. has been in Australia nearly three years, I think she is an inhabitant of the Commonwealth within the meaning of section 6 of the Act.

The fact that she is an enemy subject does not, I think, deprive her of the right to an allowance.

The Maternity Allowance Act does not contain any provision which would deprive an enemy subject resident in Australia of the right to receive a maternity allowance, nor do I know of any other law of the Commonwealth which would prevent the Commissioner from paying the allowance.

Although Mrs C. is an enemy subject, as she is resident in Australia, the payment of money to her would not be trading with the enemy within the meaning of the Trading with the Enemy Acts and Proclamations.

In my opinion, Mrs C. is entitled to a maternity allowance.

[Vol. 14, p. 123]