R
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.
885
2
General of the Transvaal, to the effect that once the capital sum allocated to either Colonial Government had been spent the purpose for which it was allocated was legally exhausted, and that any repayments of monies advanced out of that sum. or any revenue derived from an investment of that sum, whether by way of interest or by repayments of instalments by settlers of the purchase price of land allotted to them and bought out of that sum, cannot be appropriated by the Government without a vote of the legislature of the Transvaal or Orange River Colony respectively. That it would no doubt be usual in any Ordinance authorising a loan for the purpose of making advances to settlers to make provision for the repayment of such advances and for the disposal of the sums so repaid, but that this provision did not appear in the Guaranteed Loan Ordinance of the Transvaal, the fact having apparently been overlooked that some portion of the loan would be devoted to advances and be repayable.
That he was to request us to take these matters into our consideration, and to report:-
(1) Whether, in the absence of such a provision, were the purposes of the Ordinance fulfilled by the first issue of the funds advanced to settlers, or did the Ordinance extend further to the sums received in repayment?
(2) If the Ordinance extended to these sums were the moneys repaid repayable to the Lieutenant-Governor or to the Inter-Colonial Council, and must they be devoted, to land settlement, or might they be devoted to other purposes mentioned in the schedule to the Ordinance?
(3) If the purposes of the Ordinance were fulfilled by the first issue of the funds advanced to settlers to whom were the monies repaid, repayable, and were they free from any obligation to be applied to any special purpose, or must they be applied for the purpose of the extinguishment of the Guaranteed Loan?
(4) Generally.
We have taken the matter into our consideration, and in obedience to your Lordship's commands have the honour to
Report-
That (1) in our opinion the purposes of the Ordinance, so far as land settle- ment is concerned, are not fulfilled by the first issue, of the funds advanced to settlers, and that they extend further to the sums received in repayment.
(2) We think that the monies are repayable to the Lieutenant-Governor to whom they were allocated and paid over by the Inter-Colonial Council, but that they must be devoted solely to the purpose of land settlement for which alone he received them.
(3) And, generally, although we think the Transvaal Government cannot pro- perly apply the repayments to any purpose mentioned in the schedule other than that of land settlement, we see nothing to compel a Transvaal Legislature and Governor-acting as a fully responsible Government to continue the policy of land settlement if they should happen to disapprove of it. The money now being administered by the Inter-Colonial Council was borrowed by the Transvaal Govern- ment, who are primarily liable for its repayment. It was obtained by the help of an Imperial Guarantee, and therefore can be devoted only to the agreed purpose, but there is nothing in the Ordinances or Statutes to show that the Transvaal was to be deprived of the ordinary right of a borrower to rid himself of his liability by repayment. A disability of that sort would require to be stated in very explicit language, and it is not suggested in any of the documents creating the liability.
We have, &c.,
JOHN L. WALTON. W. S. ROBSON.
22046
No. 34.
(QUEENSLAND.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Judges' Salaries and the Income Tax: Petition of Judges respecting “The Income Tax Declaratory Act of 1905."]
Royal Courts of Justice, MY LORD,
London, W.C., June 19, 1906. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified to us by Mr. Bertram Cox in his letter of the 25th April last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the despatch from the Governor of Queensland forwarding a petition to His Majesty from the Judges of the Supreme Court of that State, respecting the Queensland Act No. 34 of 1905, shortly entitled "The Income Tax Declaratory Act of 1905."
That it would appear that the opinion given by our predecessors on the 14th September, 1901,* in regard to the salary of a Judge acting as Governor of Queens- land, was against the contention of the Judges in the present case, that the provi- sion of Section 17 of the Constitution Act of 1867 could not possibly be affected by subsequent legislation.
That he was to request that we would take the matter into our consideration and report (a) whether the Queensland Income Tax Amendment Act of 1904 imposed any tax on the official salaries of the Judges of the State Supreme Court?
(b) If so, whether the imposition of such a tax was, in principle, a reduction
of their salaries and a violation of the terms on which they held office?
(c) Generally.
We have taken the matter into our consideration and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to
Report-
on
That (a) in our opinion, both the statutes referred to imposed income tax on
the official salaries of the Judges of the State Supreme Court.
(b) The imposition of such a tax-which is a mere personal tax-is not, in our opinion, in principle a reduction of the salaries of the Judges nor in any sense a violation of the terms on which they hold office.
(c) It may be proper to inform the Judges that the English Judges never claimed exemption from income tax upon their official salaries, notwithstanding the provision that was contained in I. Geo. III., c. 23, Section 3, similar in terms to the section of the Queensland Constitution Act upon which the Judges rely. The case of re the School for Indigent Blind of Liverpool, 1898, 2 Ch. 669, which is founded upon reasoning adverse to the contention upon which the Judges' petition is based, may also be referred to.
The Right Honourable
The Earl of Elgin, K.G.,
&c., &c..
&c.
No. 102 in Vol. VI,
We have, &c.,
JOHN L. WALTON. W. S. ROBSON.
The Right Honourable
The Earl of Elgin, K.G.,
&c.. &c., &c.
25 Wt 1649 706 D & S
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25240
16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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