High Court of Australia
OF AUSTRALIA.
[HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.]
EDWARDS APPELLANT PLAINTIFF, AND THE COMMONWEALTH ResPonDENT.
DEFENDANT,
Public Service (Cth.)—Transferred department—Rights preserved to officer—xcess of officers—Abolition of office—Retirement from Public Service—The Con- stitution (63 & 64 Vict. c. 12), secs. 67, 69, 70, 84—Commonwealth Public Service Act 1922-1931 (No. 21 of 1 0. 21 of 1931), secs. 20, 29, 45—Civil Service Act 1874 (S.A.) (37 & 38 Vict. No. 3), sec. 14*.
E. was an officer of the Postal Department of South Australia when that department was transferred to the Commonwealth pursuant to sec. 69 of the Constitution, He remained in the Public Service of the Commonwealth until 1932. In March 1932 the office of telegraphist occupied by him at Adelaide was abolished, but he was retained in a temporary capacity as a telegraphist. In May 1932 the Board of Commissioners appointed under the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1922-1931 found that there was a greater number of officers classified as telegraphists employed in the telegraph branch in Adelaide than was necessary for the efficient working of that branch, found that E. was in excess, and, there being no position available for him in the Public Service of the Commonwealth, retired him from that service.
Held that the retirement was unlawful because it violated the rights under the Civil Service Acts (S.A.) which were preserved to E. by sec. 84 of the Constitution. His retirement was not the result of a diminution of the total
number of officers in a department in accordance with sec. 14 of the Civil
* See. 14 of the Civil Service Act 1874 (S.A.) provides: "The Governor may
require: Provided that in case of retrenchment, the Governor may appoint
from time to time diminish the total number and alter the distribution of the officers in the Civil Service in each department as cireumstances may
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