STATUTORY
RULES.
1905. No. 44.
REGULATIONS UNDER THE “POST AND TELEGRAPH ACT
1901.”
———
(Issued
provisionally as Statutory Rule No. 33 of
1904).
I, THE Governor-General in and over the Commonwealth of Australia,
acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the
attached Regulations under the Post and
Telegraph Act 1901, namely:—
Erection of Public
Telegraph or Telephone Lines under Guarantee.
To come into operation on the twenty-second day
of July, 1905.
Dated this fourth day of July, One thousand
nine hundred and five.
NORTHCOTE,
Governor-General.
S. SMITH,
By
His Excellency’s Command.
————
REGULATIONS
TO PROVIDE FOR THE ERECTION OF PUBLIC TELEGRAPH OR TELEPHONE LINES UNDER
GUARANTEE.
1. Any person may apply in writing to the
Postmaster-General for the construction of a telegraph or telephone line under
these Regulations.
2. Each application will be dealt with on its
merits, but no application will be granted unless the Postmaster-General is
satisfied that the line applied for is required in the public interest.
3. No application shall be granted for the
construction of a line not likely to yield a minimum revenue within a period of
eight years after the construction of the line, unless the Postmaster-General
is satisfied that there are special circumstances rendering its construction
desirable.
4. If the line is not likely to yield, annually,
an amount sufficient to provide
(a) For the cost of operating the line; and
(b)Ten per centum on the cost of constructing the line and supplying the
instruments (to cover maintenance, renewals, &c.)
(which amount is referred to in these Regulations as a minimum
revenue), the applicants shall, for the purpose of guaranteeing the receipt of
that amount, comply with the following conditions, namely:—
(a)The applicants shall deposit with the Postmaster-General a sum of money
equal, to the difference between the estimated revenue from the line for two
years and the minimum revenue for two years.
(b)The applicants shall enter into a joint and several bond, in a sum to be
fixed by the Postmaster-General, conditioned to make good, to an extent not,
exceeding the difference between the estimated revenue and the minimum revenue,
any sum by which the receipts from the line in any year, during a period of
seven years after the completion of the line, fall short of a minimum revenue.
5. The sum deposited with the Postmaster-General shall be placed to
his credit in a Savings Bank, and such sum and any interest thereon shall be
available for the purpose of making good in any year any amount by which the
yearly receipts from the line fall short of a minimum revenue, and the sums
required for that purpose may be withdrawn from the bank and paid to the
Consolidated Revenue Fund at such times as the Postmaster-General thinks
proper.
6. The bond shall be in a form approved by the Postmaster-General, and
payments under it shall be made within one month after demand by the
Postmaster-General; but no such demand shall be made so long as the sum
deposited, or any balance thereof, is sufficient to make good the amount
required.
7. After the expiration of seven years from the completion of the
line, the bond may be renewed or a new bond executed for such further period as
the Postmaster-General directs, and if the bond is not so renewed, or a new
bond executed, the Postmaster-General may, unless he is satisfied that the line
will yield a minimum revenue, remove it and the instruments.
8. Any balance of the sum deposited or interest thereon may after the
expiration of seven years from the completion of the line, be returned to the
applicants.
9. The line and instruments shall remain the property of the
Postmaster-General.
By Authority: Robt.
S. Brain, Government Printer,
Melbourne.