R
No. 32.
(NEWFOUNDLAND.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Act 7, 1905, Telegraphs and Telephones Tax: Complaint of the Anglo-Americun Telegraph Company.]
MY LORD,
Royal Courts of Justice,
April 20, 1906.
We were honoured by your Lordship's commands, signified to us by Mr. Bertram Cox in his letter of the 12th March last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to lay before us an Act, passed by the Legislature of Newfound- land in the course of its last session, and entitled "An Act to increase the revenue by imposing taxes upon business transacted by Telegraph and Telephone Com- panies within and in transit through the Colony."
That exception had been taken to the provisions of this Act by the Anglo- American Telegraph Company, which was expressly referred to in the preamble, and that the Company had requested the Secretary of State to advise His Majesty
to disallow the Act.
That the views of the Company were set out in the memorandum which had been prepared and submitted to the Secretary of State by the Chairman, and that the reply of the Government of Newfoundland to an earlier letter from the Company setting forth the similar objections to the law was embodied in the accompanying letter from the Prime Minister of the Colony to the Governor, dated the 27th July last.
That of the various objections raised by the Company your Lordship proposed to trouble us with only one, viz., that the Act is "directly contrary to the charter of the Company, that is that it takes away from the Company certain rights secured to them by previous Acts of the Colonial Legislature.
That your Lordship's predecessor was advised by the late Postmaster-General that, so far as he was aware, the Company had no legal claim to special considera- tion in the matter of taxation, and that, in view of the expiration of its exclusive rights, it could not object to the competition proposed by the Newfoundland Government. That it was, however, the policy of the Imperial Government that objections taken to Acts of the Legislature of self-governing Colonies, on the ground that they involved breaches of faith or the confiscation of the rights of absent per- sons, should receive careful examination. That before, therefore, accepting the opinion expressed by the late Postmaster-General, your Lordship thought it desirable that the matter should be referred to the Law Officers of the Crown.
That he was, therefore, to request that we would take the documents enclosed in his letter into our consideration and favour your Lordship with our report as to the correctness of that opinion.
We have taken the matter into our consideration and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to
Report-
That we are of opinion that the provisions of the Acts described as constituting the charter of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, Limited, do not give the Company any claim to special consideration in the matter of taxation and that the Act No. 7 of 1905 of the Legislature of Newfoundland in imposing taxation on Telegraph Companies generally, including the Anglo-American Company, does not infringe the rights of that Company under its charter.
We have, &c.,
JOHN L. WALTON. W. S. ROBSON.
The Right Honourable
The Earl of Elgin, K.G.,
&c., &c.,
&c.
$15 Wt 1649 806 D & S 5 24709
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PELE C.O.885
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16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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