National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations (Amendment) (Cth)

STATUTORY RULES.

1942. No. 316.

REGULATIONS UNDER THE NATIONAL SECURITY ACT 1939-1940.*

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the National Security Act 1939-1940.

Dated this eighteenth day of July, 1942.

(SGD.) GOWRIE

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

for and on behalf of the Minister of State for Defence.

 

Amendments of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations. 

Official visitors.

1. Regulation 9 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended by omitting from sub-regulation (4.) the words “Commandant of the Military District” and inserting in their stead the words “Commander of the Lines of Communication Area”.

Outward letters and communications.

2. Regulation 31 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended—

(a) by omitting from sub-regulation (3.) the words “or telegrams” and inserting in their stead the words “, or telegrams to places in Australia,”;

(b) by omitting the proviso to that sub-regulation and inserting in its stead the following proviso:—

“Provided that the Adjutant-General or a Commander of a Lines of Communication Area may, in the case of an internee who has been sent to Australia for internment in accordance with arrangements entered into by the Government of the Commonwealth and the Government of the United Kingdom or any other part of His

 

* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on , 1942.

  Statutory Rules 1941, No. 7, as amended by Statutory Rules 1941, Nos. 76, 113, 172, 203, 223, 225 and 250.

3635.—Price 3d. 25/7.7.1942.

Majesty’s dominions, permit the internee, or a representative approved in writing by the Adjutant-General or Commander of a Lines of Communication Area, to send a telegram by cable or wireless overseas making application for, or representations regarding, the release of the internee or any matter in relation thereto, and may permit any internee to send a telegram by cable or wireless regarding urgent private affairs, subject to the following conditions:—

(i) The telegram shall commence with the words ‘Internee’s Telegram’, shall be written in English and in plain language and shall be subject to censorship;

(ii) The telegram shall be lodged for despatch by a person thereto authorized by the Adjutant-General, or Commander of a Lines of Communication Area, as the case may be, and shall be sent at the expense of the internee or his representative.”;

(c) by omitting from sub-regulation (3a.) the words “the District Commandant” and inserting in their stead the words “a Commander of a Lines of Communication Area”; and

(d) by adding at the end of sub-regulation (4.) the words “, and, in case of need, for the legalization of the signatures of internees”.

3. Regulations 33 and 34 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations are repealed and the following regulations inserted in their stead:—

Censorship of letters and parcels.

“33.—(1.) All outward letters and postcards, except letters or postcards addressed to an Official Visitor, and all parcels shall be sent for censorship to the Post and Telegraph censorship Authority at the capital or principal city or town of the State or Territory in which the internment camp is situated.

“(2.) All letters, postcards and parcels sent from an internment camp shall be clearly stamped with a rubber stamp showing the number of the camp.”.

Local examination of letters, &c.

“34.—(1.) In addition to censorship by the Post and Telegraph Censorship Authority, the Camp Commandant may institute such local examination of letters, postcards and parcels despatched by, or addressed to, internees as he considers necessary, but care shall be taken to ensure that communications are not delayed unduly.

“(2.) Letters and postcards addressed by an internee to an Official Visitor shall not be subject to the examination provided for in the last preceding sub-regulation.”.

Inward letters.

4. Regulation 35 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended by omitting from sub-regulation (2.) the word “shall” (first occurring) and inserting in its stead the word “may”.

Inward parcels.

5. Regulation 36 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended—

(a) by omitting from sub-regulation (1.) the word “money,”; and

(b) by inserting in sub-regulation (3.), before the words “The examination”, the words “Parcels addressed to internees shall not be delivered until they have been examined by the Camp Commandant or an officer authorized by the Camp Commandant for the purposes of this regulation.”.

6. Regulation 37 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is repealed and the following regulation inserted in its stead:—

Books and music.

“37.—(1.) Internees shall be allowed to receive books (other than books containing hostile sentiments or propaganda), music and small musical instruments, but consignments received by the post shall be examined by the Camp Commandant or an officer authorized by him for the purposes of this regulation, who may, at his discretion, withhold any book or piece of music from delivery to the addressee.

“(2.) All purchases of books and music by an internee shall be made through the Camp Commandant or an officer so authorized.”.

Letters, &c., where internees are in civil or military hospitals.

7. Regulation 38 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended—

(a) by omitting paragraph (b) and inserting in its stead the following paragraph:—

“(b) all letters or postcards despatched by an internee are sent for censorship to the Post and Telegraph Censorship Authority at the capital or principal city or town in the State or Territory in which the hospital or institution is situated; and”; and

(b) by omitting from paragraph (c) the word “censorship” and inserting in its stead the word “examination”.

Internees to comply with regulations, orders, &c.

8. Regulation 41 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended by inserting after paragraph (g) of sub-regulation (2.) the following paragraph:—

“(ga) have in his quarters or possession any money other than money which he is permitted to retain in his possession by virtue of the provisions of the Internment Camp Orders or the Camp Rules;”.

9. After regulation 41 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations the following regulation is inserted:—

Unauthorized possession of money.

“41a.—(1.) If an internee is found to have in his quarters or possession any money in suspected contravention of paragraph (ga) of sub-regulation (2.) of the last preceding regulation, he shall be taken immediately before the Camp Commandant or, in the absence of the Camp Commandant, before the officer for the time being in charge of the Internment Camp, to which Camp Commandant or officer, as the case may be, the contravention shall be reported, and that money shall thereupon be taken from the internee by the Camp Commandant or that officer, as the case may be, and delivered to the Camp Paymaster, and particulars thereof shall be recorded.

“(2.) A receipt shall be given to the internee in respect of any money taken from him pursuant to sub-regulation (1.) of this regulation, and he shall then be charged with the contravention referred to in that sub-regulation.

“(3.) Pending the hearing and determination of that charge, the money taken from the internee in pursuance of sub-regulation (1.) of this regulation shall be placed to the credit of the internee in a separate cash account to be opened in his name by the Camp Paymaster and dealt with in accordance with sub-regulation (3.) of regulation 15 of these regulations.

“(4.) If the charge against the internee is dismissed, the money taken from him shall be retained in the cash account opened pursuant to sub-regulation (3.) of this regulation, and the internee may be permitted to operate on that account in accordance with the provisions of regulation 15 of these Regulations.

“(5.) Accounts kept in pursuance of this regulation shall be subject to audit by the Auditor-General for the Commonwealth.”.

Power of Camp Commandant to deal with certain offences.

10. Regulation 42 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended by adding at the end thereof the following sub-regulation:—

“(7.) Notwithstanding anything contained in these Regulations or the Internment Camp Orders, where an internee is charged with having in his quarters or possession any money in contravention of paragraph (ga) of sub-regulation (2.) of regulation 41 of these Regulations, and the internee admits his guilt, or the Camp Commandant finds the charge proved, in addition to any penalty that may be imposed under the provisions of this regulation, the money which has been taken from the internee and placed to his credit in a separate cash account in pursuance of sub-regulation (3.) of regulation 41a of these Regulations shall be retained in that cash account, and the internee shall not be permitted to withdraw or use that money or any portion thereof for any purpose without the consent of a person authorized in writing by the Adjutant-General to give consent in such cases.”.

Offences against criminal law.

11. Regulation 44 of the National Security (Internment Camps) Regulations is amended by omitting sub-regulation (10.) and inserting in its stead the following sub-regulation:—

“(10.) If sentence of death is passed on an enemy alien internee, a communication setting forth in detail the nature and the circumstances of the offence shall, unless the internee otherwise requests, be addressed as soon as possible by the Commander of the Lines of Communication Area in which the Internment Camp is situated to the representative of the protecting Power for transmission to the Power in the country the nationality of which the internee possesses, and the sentence shall not be carried out before the expiration of a period of at least three months from the date of the receipt of this communication by the protecting Power.”.

 

By Authority: L. F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.