An officer of the Postmaster-General's Department, Mr A.B., Chief Electrical Engineer, has been granted by the Minister the full period of leave of absence which may be granted under regulation 77, and, as he has not so far recovered as to be able to resume his duties, he has made application for a further extension of leave under regulation 78.

Section 68 (1) of the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1902-1916 is as follows: 68 (1) Unless otherwise directed by the Minister of his Department the Chief Officer may grant to every officer of his Department leave of absence for recreation for any period or periods not exceeding in the whole eighteen days in each year exclusive of Sundays and holidays and such Minister in cases of illness or other pressing necessity may grant such extended leave not exceeding three months and the Governor-General may grant leave not exceeding twelve months on such terms as may be prescribed.

Public Service regulation 78 is as follows:

78. Where in case of illness any officer who has received leave of absence for three months is not so far recovered as to be able to resume his duties, further extensions of leave may be provisionally granted by the Inspector in accordance with the following schedule; provided that on each extension of leave the applicant shall be subjected to an examination by a medical officer approved by the Inspector. A schedule of all such leave granted by the Inspector shall be forwarded monthly to the Commissioner for submission to the Governor-General, and such leave, or any part thereof, shall be subject to disallowance by the Commissioner.

The regulation then specifies the amount of sick leave which may be granted to officers, the amount being based on the length of service of the officer. In the case of an officer of Mr B. 's length of service, the period for which leave may be granted under that regulation is: 6 months on half pay; 3 months on one-third pay; and 6 months without pay.

The regulation further provides that:

In exceptional cases, special circumstances may be taken into consideration, e.g., where an officer in discharge of his duty sustains injuries of such a nature as to incapacitate him for all duty this scale may be varied; provided that in no case shall full pay be allowed for a period exceeding nine months in addition to leave granted by the Minister on full pay.

The Secretary to the Postmaster-General's Department, as Permanent Head of the Department, has recommended to the Public Service Commissioner that, in pursuance of this regulation, a further period of leave on full pay be granted to the Chief Electrical Engineer.

The Acting Secretary to the Public Service Commissioner has replied, by direction, that the circumstances of the case are not, in the Acting Commissioner's opinion, so exceptional as to justify special treatment, and he therefore declines to endorse the recommendation made by the Permanent Head.

The Secretary, Postmaster-General's Department, now forwards the file to me with an intimation that the Postmaster-General desires to know if the action recommended can be taken without the recommendation of the Acting Public Service Commissioner.

Section 5(1) of the Commmonwealth Public Service Act 1902-1916 provides, inter alia, as follows:

The Commissioner shall submit for the consideration of the Governor-General reports as to any matters requiring to be dealt with by the Governor-General under this Act;

In view of this provision and the fact that the Governor-General's approval is required to all leave granted under regulation 78, I am of opinion that leave on full pay under that regulation cannot be granted unless there is submitted for the consideration of the Governor-General a report from the Commissioner. I think, however, that the report which the Commissioner has-through his Acting Secretary-already supplied amounts to a sufficient compliance with the provisions of section 5 (1) of the Act. That section does not require that before the Governor-General may deal with any matter requiring to be dealt with by him under the Act a report shall be obtained from the Commissioner recommending the course proposed to be adopted by the Governor-General, but merely that the Commissioner shall submit a report for the consideration of the Governor-General.

I do not think that regulation 78 prevents the Governor-General in Council, after a report from the Commissioner, dealing with the matter as he thinks fit. Such a construction would mean that the regulation, instead of prescribing the terms on which the Governor-General might grant extended leave, deprived the Governor-General of the power of granting leave where the Inspector or the Commissioner disallowed it-i.e. vested the decision in these cases in the Inspector or the Commissioner.

I think, therefore, that the provisions of the Act will be complied with by submitting to the Governor-General, with any recommendation made in the case, the report which has already been supplied by the Acting Commissioner.

In dealing with the matter the Governor-General in Council is of course bound by the terms contained in regulation 78, i.e. he cannot except in exceptional cases grant a greater amount of leave than: 6 months on half pay; 3 months on one-third

pay; and 6 months without pay, and cannot even in exceptional cases grant full pay for a period exceeding nine months in addition to leave granted by the Minister on full pay.

[Vol. 15, p. 228]