The Postmaster-General

The Deputy Postmaster-General has submitted to the Postmaster-General a number of publications in respect of which applications for registration as newspapers under the Post and Telegraph Act 1901 have been received, together with the following minute, dated 13 August 1902:

Submitted. Under the State Act certain publications were registered as newspapers and nearly all such registrations have been renewed under the Commonwealth statute.

In connection with the attached application to register the New Idea I beg to point out that it scarcely comes under the definition of a newspaper as contained in section 28, inasmuch as it is not a newspaper 'in the generally accepted sense of the word' and still less so are some of the publications which I forward herewith.

I beg leave to ask for instructions as to whether the section referred to has to be interpreted as liberally as the section of the Victorian Act under which the Postmaster-General of the State admitted to registration as a newspaper Bradshaw's Guide.

The Postmaster-General asks to be advised on the matter.

An answer to Mr Outtrim's question involves the general interpretation of section 28 of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901, the application of which to particular publications involves much difficulty.

In order to come within the definition of a 'newspaper' under that section, a publication must-

1. be known and recognised as a newspaper in the generally accepted sense of the word;
2. be printed and published within the Commonwealth for sale;
3. consist in substantial part of-
1. news and articles relating to current topics, or
2. religious, technical or practical information;
4. be published in numbers at intervals of not more than one month;
5. have the title and date of publication printed at the top of each page.

The difficulty of application arises chiefly in connection with requirements (1) and (3). The question what is a 'newspaper in the generally accepted sense of the word' is somewhat complicated by the alternative requirements in (3)-which seems to contemplate that a publication which does not 'consist in substantial part of news and
articles relating to current topics' may under certain circumstances be a newspaper; and also by the requirement of monthly publication, which seems to contemplate that certain monthly publications may be newspapers-though a monthly publication would hardly be spoken of, in ordinary language, as a newspaper.

In my opinion the proper view of the section is that emphasis should be given to the words 'known and recognised as a newspaper in the ordinary [sic] sense of the word'; that the words 'if it consists in substantial part of news or articles relating to current topics' are an explanatory definition of the word 'newspaper'; and that the words 'or of religious, technical or practical information' are intended to concede some degree of extension of this definition in the case of journals which consist substantially of information of that character. But this extension does not relieve such journals from the requirement of having the general characteristics of a newspaper: e.g. the Argus Law Reports (with file), though they consist wholly of technical information, are not a newspaper in the ordinary sense.

[Mr Deakin then applied the above principles to the publications submitted.]

[Vol. 2, p. 296]