FEDERAL POWERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22578, 17 November 1936, Page 8

FEDERAL POWERS

Because a Sydney airman was ' convicted two years ago of having been the unlicensed pilot of an aeroplane which flew at Mascot aerodrome, and was fined £l, the whole power of the Commonwealth Government to control civil aviation in Australia was challenged. In a recent judgment, the High Court i upheld an appeal by the airman. It ruled that the Commonwealth had power to enforce the International Air Convention, but not to regulate aviation within the States. But two members of the High Court, Mr. Justice McTiernan and Mr. Justice Evatt, went further in their discussion of Federal powers, and gave an opinion on the authority of the Government to impose on the whole Commonwealth the substance of international agreements into which it might enter. A London message, published to-day, shows that the Times has not missed the significance of this finding. A paragraph in the joint judgment of these two members of the Court says: "The Commonwealth has power both to enter into international agreements, and to pass legislation to secure the carrying out of such agreements according to their tenor, even although the subject matter of the agreement is not otherwise within the C'ommoni wealth legislative jurisdiction." The two Judges added that in view of the | setting up of the International Labour Organisation, it must be recognised that "the maintenance or improvement of conditions of labour can, as it does, form a proper subject of international agreement." This is significant, because it was previously thought that if the Federal Government accepted a convention to impose a 40-hour week, it would not have power to enforce it. This minority judgment suggests that it would ; also that it would be given legislative authority, not provided in the Constitution, to deal with almost any question that might become the subject of an international agreement. j