Power Alcohol Bounty Act 1926 (Cth)

 

POWER ALCOHOL BOUNTY.

No. 11 of 1926.

An Act to provide for the Payment of Bounty on the Manufacture of Power Alcohol.

[Assented to 22nd March, 1926.]

Preamble.

BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, for the purpose of appropriating the grant originated in the House of Representatives, as follows:—

Short title.

1.This Act may be cited as the Power Alcohol Bounty Act 1926.

Definition.

2.In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—

“power alcohol” means spirit which complies with the standard for the time being prescribed under the Spirits Act 1906–1923 for mineralized spirits.

Appropriation.

3.There shall be payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is hereby appropriated accordingly, the bounty specified in this Act.

Specification of bounty.

4.Bounty under this Act shall be payable in respect of power alcohol manufactured in Australia and delivered from the control of the Customs during the period commencing on the first day of January One thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven and ending on the thirty-first day of December One thousand nine hundred and thirty-one.

Rate of bounty.

5.The rate of bounty payable under this Act shall be Fourpence per gallon.

 

Specification of materials.

6.No bounty shall be authorized to be paid under this Act on any power alcohol unless it has been manufactured from the following products grown in Australia:—

Cassava, sweet potatoes, arrowroot or such other cultivated starch-bearing plants as the Minister approves.

Limitation of amount of bounty.

7.—(1.) The total amount of bounty authorized to be paid under this Act in any one financial year shall not exceed Five thousand pounds.

(2.) When the maximum amount of bounty which may be paid in any financial year has not been paid in that year, the unpaid balance, or any part of that balance, may be paid in any subsequent financial year in addition to the maximum amount for that year.

Proof of good quality and of compliance with the Act to be furnished.

8.No bounty shall be paid to any person other than the manufacturer of the power alcohol, nor unless the manufacturer furnishes proof to the satisfaction of the Minister that the power alcohol in respect of which bounty is claimed is of good and merchantable quality and that the requirements of this Act and the Regulations have been complied with.

Condition of payment of bounty.

9.—(1.) Every claimant for bounty under this Act shall supply with his claim a certificate showing—

(a) the material from which the power alcohol was produced;

(b) the name of each supplier of that material; and

(c) the quantity of that material purchased from, and the price paid therefor to, each supplier.

(2.) Before any claim for bounty is paid the Minister may require the claimant to furnish, and the claimant shall thereupon furnish, such information as to the correctness or otherwise of the certificate supplied in accordance with the last preceding sub-section as the Minister deems necessary.

Price of materials used in production.

10.The Minister may withhold the whole or any part of the bounty unless he is satisfied that a reasonable price was paid for the materials used in the manufacture of the power alcohol in respect of which bounty is claimed and that the price includes an amount which is the equivalent of not less than one-half of the bounty payable.

Accounts to be kept.

11.A claimant for bounty under this Act shall keep proper and separate books of account showing in detail—

(a)the quantity and kind of materials purchased by him from each supplier for use in the manufacture of power alcohol;

(b) the amount paid to each supplier;

(c) the name and address of each supplier; and

(d) such other particulars as the Minister from time to time requires.

Audit of accounts, &c., of claimant for bounty.

12.The accounts, books and documents of any claimant for bounty under this Act shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection and audit by any person authorized in that behalf by the Minister and that person may, upon inspection or audit, make and take away extracts from those books of account and documents.

Conditions of employment and rates of wages.

13.—(1.) The Minister may make application to the President of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration for a declaration as to what wages and conditions of employment are fair and reasonable for labour employed in the manufacture of power alcohol.

(2.) On the hearing and determination of the application, the President shall have all the powers which under the Excise Procedure Act 1907 belong to the President of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, and all witnesses and persons summoned to appear or appearing before him shall be entitled to the same privileges and protection, and be subject to the same liabilities and penalties, as witnesses or persons summoned to appear or appearing before the President on an application within the meaning of that Act, and the provisions of that Act shall, so far as they are applicable; apply accordingly, mutatis mutandis, as if the application were an application within the meaning of that Act.

(3.) Every person who claims the bounty payable under this Act shall, in making his claim, certify to the Minister the conditions of employment and the rates of wages paid to any labour employed by him other than the labour of members of his family.

(4.) If the Minister finds that the rates of wages and conditions of employment or any of them—

(a) are below the rates and conditions declared, as in the first sub-section of this section mentioned, to be fair and reasonable; or

(b) are below the standard rates and conditions of employment prescribed by the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, or the determination of any State industrial authority,

the Minister may withhold the whole or any part of the bounty payable.

Offences against Act.

14.No person shall—

(a) obtain any bounty which is not payable;

(b) obtain payment of the bounty by means of any false or misleading statement; or

(c) present to any officer doing duty in relation to this Act or the Regulations, any document, or make to any such officer any statement, which is false in any particular.

Penalty: One hundred pounds or imprisonment for twelve months.

Return to be laid before Parliament.

15.A return setting forth—

(a) the names of all persons to whom bounty was paid during the preceding financial year;

(b) the amounts of all such bounty;

(c) the names of the places and States in which the goods were produced; and

(d) the number of persons employed in each of the works, wages paid, and hours of labour observed in the production of the goods,

shall be prepared in the month of July in each year and shall be laid before both Houses of the Parliament within thirty days after its preparation if the Parliament is then sitting, and, if not, then within thirty days after the next meeting thereof.

Regulations.

16.The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for giving effect to this Act and in particular for any of the following purposes:—

(a) For prescribing the minimum quantity of power alcohol to be manufactured and delivered to entitle the manufacturer to claim the bounty;

(b) For prescribing the proportion in which bounty shall be payable to claimants who have complied with the prescribed conditions, in cases where there is not sufficient money available to pay the full bounty in respect of all the claims; and

(c