IMPORT CONTROL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 80, 5 April 1939, Page 15

IMPORT CONTROL.

RESULT OF PETITION. CONSTITUTIONAL PRACTICE. GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S REPLY. Acting in accordance with constitutional precedent, the Governor-General, Viscount Galway, has declined to take any action to suspend the Import Control Regulations, as requested in a tion submitted by the Bureau of Importers. A letter received by the bureau from the official secretary to the GovernorGeneral states: "I am now directed by the Governor-General to inform you that hie Excellency has consulted the Prime Minister in regard to tho suggestion made in the petition that the regulations are not intra vires, and that

his Excellency has been informed by the Prime Minister that the Attorney - General, who had considered the legal aspect of the matter before the regulations were submitted to the Governor - General in Executive Council, adheres to the opinion which he previously expressed that the regulations are intra vires. "Hie Excellency directs me to add, for your information, that in matters of this kind the Governor-General acte according to constitutional precedent, and that the constitutional practice is that the Governor-General acts on the advice of the Prime Minister. In this case, hiiviii" for confirmation of the legal o| Inn, the Governor-General lias no intention of acting contrary to the advice of the Prime Minister."

The petition asked that the Governor - General should suspend the operation of the Import Control Regulations pending their validity being determined by a Court of law. The bureau states that the matter now resolves itself into a question as to whether the GovernorGeneral has been rightly or wrongly advised by hi« responsible Ministers. This point will be determined when a test case is heard in the Supreme Court in Auckland on April 24.