DEFENCE.
No. 12 of 1904.
An Act to amend the Defence Act 1903.
[Assented to 9th December, 1904.]
BE it
enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of
Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—
Short title and incorporation.
1.This
Act may be cited as the Defence Act 1904,
and this Act and the Defence Act 1903
(in this Act referred to as the Principal Act) shall be read together and may
together be cited as the Defence Acts 1903–1904.
Amendment of definition.
2.Section
four of the Principal Act is hereby amended by omitting therefrom the
paragraphs defining “General Officer Commanding” and “Naval Officer Commanding,”
and by inserting in lieu thereof the following paragraphs:—
“Inspector-General”
means the Inspector-General of the Military Forces appointed under this Act.
“Naval
Commandant” means the officer in command of a State Division of the Naval
Forces.
Appointment of Inspector-General of
Military Forces and Director of Naval Forces.
3.Section
eight of the Principal Act is hereby amended by omitting therefrom paragraphs i. and ii.,
and by inserting in lieu thereof the following paragraphs:—
i. Appoint a Military Officer to be
Inspector-General of the Military Forces.
ii. Appoint a Naval Officer to be Director of the
Naval Forces.
and by adding the following paragraph:—
viii. Appoint an officer or officers of the Defence
Force to command the whole or any portion of the Defence Force in time of war.
Powers and duties of Inspector-General of
Military Forces and Director of Naval Forces.
4.Section
nine of the Principal Act is hereby repealed and the following section
substituted in lieu thereof:—
“9. The Inspector-General and the Director of the
Naval Forces shall have such seniority and powers and perform such duties as
are prescribed or as the Governor-General directs, and if there is no
Inspector-General, or no Director of the Naval Forces, or if these
officers, or either of them, is absent from the Commonwealth, or unable to
exercise their powers or perform their duties those powers or duties may be
exercised or performed by any person directed by the Governor-General to
exercise or perform them.”
Appointment of warrant and
non-commissioned officers.
5.Section
eighteen of the Principal Act is hereby repealed and the following section
substituted in lieu thereof:—
“18. Warrant officers, non-commissioned officers
and petty officers shall be appointed and shall hold their offices as
prescribed.”
Seniority of officers.
6.Section
nineteen of the Principal Act is hereby repealed and the following section
substituted in lieu thereof:—
“19.—(1) The seniority (other than the regimental
seniority) of officers in the Active Forces in their respective ranks shall be
regulated by the date of their appointments and when appointments are of the
same date by their seniority immediately prior to their appointments or in the
case of first appointments by the order in which their names appear in the Gazette or Government Gazette of a State or of a Colony which has become a
State in which their appointments are notified.
(2) The regimental seniority of officers shall be
as prescribed.”
Substitution of Council of Defence for
Board of Advice.
7.Section
twenty-eight of the Principal Act is hereby repealed, and the following section
substituted in lieu thereof:—
“28.—(1) The Governor-General may constitute a Council
of Defence, which shall have such powers and functions as are prescribed.
Boards of Administration for Naval and Military
Forces.
(2.) The
Governor-General may constitute a Board of Administration for the Military
Forces, to be called the Military Board, and a Board of Administration for the
Naval Forces, to be called the Naval Board.
(3) The
Military Board and the Naval Board shall respectively have such powers and
functions as are prescribed.”
Amendment of Section 64.
8.Section
sixty-four of the Principal Act is hereby amended by omitting therefrom the
words “the General Officer Commanding or.
Amendment of Section 99.
9.Section
ninety-nine of the Principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from sub-section
(1) the words “through the General Officer Commanding or the Naval Officer
Commanding as the case may be.”
Amendment of sections 110 and 111.
10.Sections
one hundred and ten and one hundred and eleven of the Principal Act are hereby
amended by omitting therefrom wherever they occur the words “Naval Officer
Commanding” and inserting in lieu thereof the words “Naval Commandant.”
Amendment of section 124.
11.Section
one hundred and twenty-four of the Principal Act is hereby amended by omitting
therefrom paragraph (a).
Principal Act, when reprinted to be
altered as amended.
12.