DURATION OF WAR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 239, 20 July 1945, Page 3

DURATION OF WAR.

TERM DEFINED IN BILL. (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 19. An official interpretation of the expression “duration and termination of the war” is given in a clause in the Finance Bill, introduced and read a first time in the House of Representatives to-day. The clause states that wherever in any Act or regulations passed or made since September 3, 1939, reference is made to the war, the present war, the war with Germany, or the war with Germany and any other State or States, the duration or termination thereof or any equivalent expression, it shall be interpreted by the following rules: — . _ (a) The war is the war with Germany that commenced on September 3, 1939, and includes the war with Japan. (b) The war shall be deemed to be existent until a date to be named as the date of the termination of the war by proclamation by the GovernorGeneral published in the Gazette. (c) The date to be named in that proclamation as the date of the termination of the war shall be the date of such termination for the purposes of every such enactment, and the war shall for such purposes be deemed to continue and to be existent until that date.

Judicial cognisance by the Courts, required by* any enactment, of the existence or the termination of the state of war shall be governed by the clause.

Section 24 of the War Legislation and Statute Law Amendments Acts, 1918, is to be read subject to the provisions in the clause.