Transfer time, and on the pension or retiring allowance, which would be permitted by the law of the State if his service with the Commonwealth were a continuation of his service with the State. Such pension or retiring allowance shall be paid to him by the Commonwealth; but the State shall pay to the Commonwealth a part thereof, to be calculated on the proportion which his term of service with the State bears to his whole term of service, and for the purpose of the calculation his salary shall be taken to be that paid to him by the State at the time of the transfer. Any officer who is, at the establishment of the Commonwealth, in the public service of a State, and who is, by consent of the Governor of the State with the advice of the Executive Council thereof, transferred to the public service of the Commonwealth, shall have the same rights as if he had been an officer of a department transferred to the Commonwealth and were retained in the service of the Commonwealth. 85. When any department of the public service of a of property State is transferred to the Commonwealth of State. (i.) All property of the State of any kind, used exclusively in connexion with the department, shall become vested in the Commonwealth; but, in the case of the departments controlling customs and excise and bounties, for such time only as the Governor-General in Council may declare to be necessary: (ii.) The Commonwealth may acquire any property of the State, of any kind used, but not exclusively used in connexion with the department; the value thereof shall, if no agreement can be made, be ascertained in, as nearly as may be, the manner in which the value of land, or of an interest in land, taken by the State for public purposes is ascertained under the law of the State in force at the establishment of the Commonwealth: (iii.) The Commonwealth shall compensate the State for the value of any property passing to the Commonwealth (iv.) The Commonwealth shall, at the date of the transfer, 86. On the establishment of the Commonwealth, the collection and control of duties of customs and of excise, and the control of the payment of bounties, shall pass to the Executive Government of the Commonwealth. 87. During a period of ten years after the establishment of the Commonwealth and thereafter until the Parliament otherwise provides, of the net revenue of the Commonwealth from duties of customs and of excise not more than onefourth shall be applied annually by the Commonwealth towards its expenditure.1 The balance shall, in accordance with this Constitution, be paid to the several States, or applied towards the payment of interest on debts of the several States taken over by the Commonwealth. 88. Uniform duties of customs shall be imposed within Uniform two years after the establishment of the Commonwealth.2 1 For the history of 'the Braddon clause' see Introduction, pp. 59, 63 and 64. The clause, without the limit of time, was adopted at the Melbourne Session on March 11th by a majority of three; Sir Edward Braddon having affirmed that unless this provision was made he saw no hope whatever of recommending the Bill to the people of Tasmania. As at first drafted, the clause limited expenditure on the part of the Commonwealth, in the exercise of its original powers to one-twentieth, and to four-twentieths in making good the net loss on the services taken over. But Sir E. Braddon afterwards amended his own clause in the interests of elasticity. As amended after the meeting of Premiers in 1899, the arrangement came to an end in 1910. A proposed Bill of 1909 for the alteration of the Constitution so as to secure a permanent payment of 25s. to the States for every head of their respective populations was rejected at a referendum of the electors on April 13 of that year, but an Act making such payment for a period of ten years afterwards became law. Since the expiration of this period the existing arrangement has been extended provisionally. At the same referendum the proposal to give the Commonwealth power to take over the debts of the States, whenever incurred, was accepted by a substantial majority. 2 Such duties were imposed by Act No. 14 of 1902. duties of customs. Payment to States before uniform duties. Exclusive power over 89. Until the imposition of uniform duties of customs— (a) The expenditure therein of the Commonwealth in- (b) The proportion of the State, according to the number of its people, in the other expenditure of the Commonwealth. (iii.) The Commonwealth shall pay to each State month by month the balance (if any) in favour of the State. 90. On the imposition of uniform duties of customs the customs, power of the Parliament to impose duties of customs and of excise, and to grant bounties1 on the production or export of goods, shall become exclusive. excise, and bounties. Excep tions as to bounties. Trade On the imposition of uniform duties of customs all laws of the several States imposing duties of customs or of excise, or offering bounties on the production or export of goods, shall cease to have effect, but any grant of or agreement for any such bounty lawfully made by or under the authority of the Government of any State shall be taken to be good if made before the thirtieth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and not otherwise. 91. Nothing in this Constitution prohibits a State from granting any aid to or bounty on mining for gold, silver, or other metals, nor from granting, with the consent of both Houses of the Parliament of the Commonwealth expressed by resolution, any aid to or bounty on the production or export of goods. 92. On the imposition of uniform duties of customs, within the trade, commerce, and intercourse among the States, whether Common 1 This power was exercised by The Preservation of Australian Industries Act', No. 9 of 1906. by means of internal carriage or ocean navigation, shall be wealth to absolutely free.1 But notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, goods imported before the imposition of uniform duties of customs into any State, or into any Colony which, whilst the goods remain therein, becomes a State, shall, on thence passing into another State within two years after the imposition of such duties, be liable to any duty chargeable on the importation of such goods into the Commonwealth, less any duty paid in respect of the goods on their importation. be free. for five years after uniform 93. During the first five years after the imposition of Payment uniform duties of customs, and thereafter until the Parlia- to States ment otherwise provides— (i.) The duties of customs chargeable on goods imported tariffs. into a State and afterwards passing into another State for consumption, and the duties of excise paid on goods produced or manufactured in a State and afterwards passing into another State for consumption, shall be taken to have been collected not in the former but in the latter State: (ii.) Subject to the last subsection, the Commonwealth shall credit revenue, debit expenditure, and pay balances to the several States as prescribed for the period preceding the imposition of uniform duties of customs. 94. After five years from the imposition of uniform Distribuduties of customs, the Parliament may provide, on such basis as it deems fair, for the monthly payment to the several States of all surplus revenue of the Commonwealth. tion of surplus. Western 95. Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the Customs Parliament of the State of Western Australia, if that State duties of be an Original State, may, during the first five years after Australia. the imposition of uniform duties of customs, impose duties of customs on goods passing into that State and not 1 Compare Section 121 of British North America Act. ' See Introduction, p. 66. Sir John Forrest, the Western Australia representative, was not in favour of making a special case of his Colony; but, Financial assistance to States. Audit. originally imported from beyond the limits of the Commonwealth; and such duties shall be collected by the Commonwealth.1 But any duty so imposed on any goods shall not exceed during the first of such years the duty chargeable on the goods under the law of Western Australia in force at the imposition of uniform duties, and shall not exceed during the second, third, fourth, and fifth of such years respectively, four-fifths, three-fifths, two-fifths, and one-fifth of such latter duty, and all duties imposed under this section shall cease at the expiration of the fifth year after the imposition of uniform duties. If at any time during the five years the duty on any goods under this section is higher than the duty imposed by the Commonwealth on the importation of the like goods, then such higher duty shall be collected on the goods when imported into Western Australia from beyond the limits of the Commonwealth. 96. During a period of ten years after the establishment of the Commonwealth and thereafter until the Parliament otherwise provides, the Parliament may grant financial assistance to any State on such terms and conditions as the Parliament thinks fit. 97. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the laws in force in any Colony which has become or becomes a State with respect to the receipt of revenue and the expenditure of money on account of the Government of the Colony, and the review and audit of such receipt and expenditure, shall apply to the receipt of revenue and the expenditure of money on account of the Commonwealth in the State in the same manner as if the Commonwealth, or the Government or an officer of the Commonwealth, were mentioned whenever the Colony, or the Government or an officer of the Colony, is mentioned. as its circumstances were special, it proved impossible to protect its interests by any general provision applying to the States equally. 1 The meaning of Sec. 95 was considered in Murray & Co. v. The Collector of Customs, C. L. R. i, p. 25. |