D & W Murray & Co Ltd v Collector of Customs [1903] HCA 3

1C.L.R.] OF AUSTRALIA.

{HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA].

D. & W. MURRAY & Co. Lop. e F . APPELLANTS; PLAINTIFFS, AND THE COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS . RESPONDENT. DEFENDANT.

ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (63 & 64 Viet. c. 12)—The Con- stitution, secs, 92, 95—Customs Tarif' (No. 14 of 1902), sees. 4, 5—Customs Duties Act (W.A.) (1 Edw, VIL., No. 3) see. 1.

Western Australian Parliament—Power to impose Duties—Goods of Australian Origin—Imposition of Duties on Foreign Goods—Duties imposed by Parliament of Western Australia on goods of Australian origin higher than vate prescribed on like goods of Foreign origin by Federal Parliament—Rate of Duty on Foreign Goods to be computed according to Western Australian tari'—" Like Goods,"

meaning of.

The power of the Parliament of Western Australia under sec. 95 of the Constitution to tax goods by way of customs duties is as unfettered, so far as regards the description of goods to be taxed, as it was before the establishment of the Commonwealth ; but the duties, as prescribed by that Parliament, do not attach, by virtue of the Western Australian Tariff Act, to goods which are imported from beyond the limits of the Commonwealth.

'The imposition of duties on foreign goods is within the exclusive authority of the Parliament of the Commonwealth. 'he 3rd paragraph of sec. 95 of the Constitution is to be read as a governing enactment qualifying the construction of every Federal tariff. Its effect is, that if the rates imposed by the Western Aus. tralian tariff on any goods of Australian origin are higher than the rates prescribed by the Federal tariff upon the importation of like goods, that tariff is to be read in Western Australia as if the higher rate were prescribed by it. 'The taxation of foreign goods is therefore the act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, and not of the Parliament of Western Australia.