The Secretary of the Audit Office has forwarded the following memorandum asking for advice:

Enclosed herewith is correspondence which has taken place with respect to the following:

1. The Department of Repatriation in South Australia buys from D. & W. Murray Ltd over 200 individual purchases of blankets @ 24s 6d per pair.
2. The same Department also purchases from Colton Palmer and Preston Ltd tools of trade at a cost of £455.13.1.

These purchases are distributed to returned soldiers by way of gift and are obtained by the soldier on order in accordance with the provisions of regulation 74, Statutory Rules 1919 No. 123.

Will you please advise whether the above transactions are subject to the provisions of Treasury Regulations Nos 67 and 68, Statutory Rules 1919 No. 159.

Reference is made to an opinion given by you on 11 April 1919, to the Comptroller, Department of Repatriation, on the subject of advances by way of loan to returned soldiers being subject to Treasury Regulation 61 (now 67).

Regulation 74 of Statutory Rules 1919 No. 123 reads as follows:

A Deputy Comptroller or the Executive of a Country Local Committee may, subject to the provisions of regulation 76, grant to the soldier or the widow of a soldier an order for the supply, by way of gift, of such tools of trade, professional instruments or other articles of personal equipment, to a value not exceeding the sum of £10, as the Deputy Comptroller or the Executive deems necessary for the purpose of the calling of the soldier or the widow.

Provided that no such order shall be granted to a settler under a Soldiers' Land Settlement scheme of a State. Regulations 67 and 68 of Statutory Rules 1919 No. 159 are as follows:

67. Tenders shall be publicly invited and contracts taken for all works, supplies, and services the estimated cost of which exceeds £100, unless the expenditure be authorized by the Governor-General in Council. This regulation shall not apply to-

1. Works, supplies, and services for the Department of Works and Railways;
2. Works, supplies, and services for the Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers;
3. Works and supplies in connexion with War Service Homes;
4. Silver nickel and bronze bullion purchased for the manufacture of Australian coinage;
5. Works executed at and supplies issued from Commonwealth or State Government Printing Offices, Commonwealth factories, Commonwealth workshops, Commonwealth stores, and Commonwealth dockyards.

68. All such contracts and all Orders in Council authorizing such expenditure shall be published in abstract in the Commonwealth Gazette as early as practicable. Where the contract for supplies has been entered into by a State Government and such contract has been published in a State Government Gazette, or by the Administration of the Northern Territory and published in the Northern Territory Times and Gazette, Commonwealth Departments may purchase under such contract without publication in the Commonwealth Gazette.

In an opinion dated 11 April 1919⁽¹⁾, the Acting Secretary of this Department advised that Treasury Regulation 61-which except for minor differences is similar to the present Regulation 67-related to works and supplies for Commonwealth Departments, and therefore an advance made under regulation 60 of the then existing Australian Soldiers' Repatriation Regulations-which provided that a State Board might make advances by way of loan for the purchase of approved businesses, plant, stock, and livestock, not exceeding £150 in each case-was not a 'work or supply' within the meaning of Treasury Regulation 61.

It will be noted that the particular regulation upon which advice was given in that case was a regulation authorising advances by way of loan for the purchase of approved businesses, plant etc. Presumably what was intended by the regulation was that the applicant for the advance would select the business or plant which he proposed to purchase, and then apply to the Board for an advance. The Board might make the advance on approving (i.e. being satisfied with) the business or plant, but the purchase would be a purchase by the applicant, and the negotiations for the purchase would presumably be conducted by the applicant or on his behalf. In such a case, clearly, the provisions of Treasury Regulation 61 would not apply.

The Repatriation Regulation under which the transactions in relation to which advice is now asked took place, is a Regulation empowering the Department to grant to soldiers or their widows, orders for the supply, by way of gift, of tools of trade and articles of personal equipment to a value not exceeding £10 in each case.

In my opinion each of these orders should for the purposes of Treasury Regulation 67 be treated as separate. If the Department issues orders, say of £10 each on the one firm to twenty different soldiers for the supply of blankets, the issue of the orders would not bring the transactions within the purview of Treasury Regulation 67 even though the total value of the orders exceeded £100. In that case, instead of there being one contract for £200, there would be twenty contracts for £10 each. Of course, if the Department, recognising that there were certain articles as to which there was a common demand among soldiers or their widows, were of opinion that it would be more profitable for it to purchase supplies in bulk, and then issue them to the soldiers or their widows, the question whether Treasury

Regulation 67 applied to the bulk purchase would depend on whether the purchase exceeded the sum of £100.

My opinion, therefore, on the questions raised in the case for opinion, is that if none of the orders issued for the purchase of blankets and tools of trade exceeded £100, the transactions are not within Treasury Regulation 67.

[Vol. 17, p. 36]

(1)Opinion not found.