STATUTORY RULES.

1914. No. 154.

PROVISIONAL REGULATIONS UNDER THE WAR PRECAUTIONS ACT 1914.

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby certify that, on account of urgency, the following Regulations under the War Precautions Act 1914 should come into immediate operation, and make the Regulations to come into operation forthwith as Provisional Regulations.

Dated the thirtieth day of October, 1914.

R. M. FERGUSON,

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

G. F. PEARCE,

Minister of State for Defence.

THE WAR PRECAUTIONS REGULATIONS 1914.

Part I.—Introductory.

These Regulations may be cited as the War Precautions Regulations 1914.

2. (1) In these Regulations—

“Competent naval or military authority” means any commissioned officer of His Majesty’s Naval or Military Forces or of the Commonwealth Naval or Military Forces, not below the rank of Commander in the Navy or Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, appointed by the Admiralty or Army Council or the Naval or Military Board, as the case may be, to perform in any place the duties of such an authority:

“Proclaimed area” means any area which is for the time being proclaimed by the Naval Board or the Military Board to be an area which it is necessary to safeguard in the interests of the training or concentration of any of His Majesty’s Forces or the Commonwealth Forces.

“The Act” means the War Precautions Act 1914:

“The Minister” means the Minister of State for Defence.

(2) Any harbor declared by Order of the Naval Board or Military Board to be a defended harbor shall, for the purposes of these Regulations, be treated as such.

Part II.—General Regulations.

3. The competent naval or military authority and any person duly authorized by him shall have right of access to any land or buildings, or other property whatsoever.

4. No person shall obstruct or otherwise interfere with or impede, or withhold any information in his possession, which he may reasonably be required to furnish, from, any officer or other person who is carrying out the orders of the competent naval or military authority, or who is otherwise acting in accordance with his duty under these Regulations.

5. No person shall trespass on any railway, or loiter under or near any bridge, viaduct, or culvert, over which a railway passes.

6. The competent naval or military authority shall publish notice of any Order made by him in pursuance of these Regulations in such manner as he may consider best adapted for informing persons affected by the Order, and no person shall, without lawful authority, deface or otherwise tamper with any notice posted up in pursuance of these Regulations.

7. If the competent naval or military authority has reason to suspect that any house, building, land, ship, vessel, or other premises are being used for any purpose or in any way prejudicial to the public safety, or the defence of the Commonwealth, the authority, or any person duly authorized by him, may enter, if need be by force, the house, building, land, ship, vessel, or premises at any time of the day or night, and examine, search, and inspect the same or any part thereof, and may seize anything found there in which he has reason to suspect is being used or intended to be used for any such purpose as aforesaid.

8. Any officer of police or any person authorized for the purpose by the competent naval or military authority may stop any vehicle travelling along any public highway, and, if he has reason to suspect that the vehicle is being used for any purpose or in any way prejudicial to the public safety or the defence of the Commonwealth, may search the vehicle and seize anything found there in which he has reason to suspect is being used or intended to be used for any such purpose as aforesaid.

9. (1) Any officer of Customs or of police, or any person authorized for the purpose by the competent naval or military authority, may arrest, without warrant, any person whose behavior is of such a nature as to give reasonable ground for suspecting that he has acted or is acting or is about to act in a manner prejudicial to the public safety or the defence of the Commonwealth, or upon whom may be found any article, book, letter, or other document the possession of which gives grounds for such a suspicion, or who is suspected of having committed an offence against these Regulations.

(2) Any person so arrested shall, if he is to be tried by court martial, be handed over to or kept in military custody, and in other cases shall be detained until he can be dealt with in the ordinary course of law, and whilst so detained shall be deemed to be in legal custody.

(3) No person shall assist or connive at the escape of any person who may be in custody under this Regulation, or knowingly harbour or assist any person who has so escaped.

Part III.

Regulations specially designed for the Purposes mentioned in Sub-section (2) of Section Four of the Act.

10. No person shall, without lawful authority, publish or communicate any information with respect to the movement or disposition of any of the forces, ships, or war materials of His Majesty or the Commonwealth or any of His Majesty’s Allies, or with respect to the plans of any naval or military operations by any such forces or ships, or with respect to any works or measures undertaken for or connected with the fortification or defence of any place, if the information is such as is calculated to be, or might be, directly or indirectly, useful to the enemy.

11. (1) No person shall, without the permission of the competent naval or military authority, make any photograph, sketch, plan, model, or other representation of any naval or military work, or of any dock or harbor work in or in connexion with a defended harbor, and no person in the vicinity of any such work shall, without lawful authority, have in his possession any photographic or other apparatus, or other material or thing suitable for use in making any such representation.

(2) For the purpose of this Regulation, the expression “harbor work” includes lights, buoys, beacons, marks, and other things for the purpose of facilitating navigation in or into a harbor.

12. (1) No person shall, without lawful authority, injure, or tamper, or interfere with, any wire or other apparatus for transmitting telegraphic or telephonic messages, or any apparatus or contrivance intended for or capable of being used for a signaling apparatus, either visual or otherwise, or prevent or obstruct, or in any manner whatsoever interfere with, the sending, conveyance, or delivery of any communication, by means of telegraph, telephone, or otherwise, or be in possession of any apparatus capable of being used for tapping messages sent by wireless telegraphy or otherwise.

(2) No person shall, in any area which may be prescribed by order of the competent naval or military authority, keep or have in his possession any carrier or homing pigeons unless he has obtained from some person designated by the competent naval or military authority a permit for the purpose (which permit may at any time be revoked), and the person so designated may, if he considers it necessary or expedient to do so, cause any pigeons kept in contravention of this Regulation to be liberated.

13. No person shall, with the intent of eliciting information for the purpose of communicating it to the enemy, or for any purpose calculated to assist the enemy, give or sell to any member of His Majesty’s Forces or the Commonwealth Forces, any intoxicating liquor, and no person shall give or sell to any member of His Majesty’s Forces, or the Commonwealth Forces, employed in the defence of any railway, dock, or harbor, or engaged or being in a proclaimed area, any intoxicating liquor, when not on duty, with intent to make him drunk, or, when on sentry or other duty, either with or without any such intent.

14. No person shall do any injury to any railway, or be upon any railway, or under or near any bridge, viaduct, or culvert over which a railway passes, with intent to do injury thereto.

15. No person shall, by the discharge of firearms or otherwise, endanger the safety of any member of His Majesty’s Forces, or the Commonwealth Forces, travelling on or guarding any railway.

16. No person, without the permission of the competent naval or military authority, shall, in the vicinity of any railway or of any dock or harbor or proclaimed area, be in possession of dynamite or any other explosive substance, but nothing in this Regulation shall be construed as affecting the possession of ammunition for sporting purposes.

17. No person shall by word of mouth or in writing spread reports likely to cause disaffection or alarm among any of His Majesty’s Forces or the Commonwealth Forces or among the civilian population.

18. No person shall, if an order to that effect has been made by the competent naval or military authority, light any fire or show any light on any hill within such radius from any defended harbor or proclaimed area as may be specified in the order.

19. The competent naval or military authority at any defended harbor or proclaimed area may by order direct that all lights, other than lights not visible from the outside of any house, shall be kept extinguished between such hours and within such area as may be specified in the order; and all persons resident within that area shall comply with the order.

20. The competent naval or military authority at any defended harbor or proclaimed area may by order require every person within any area specified in the order to remain within doors between such hours as may be specified in the order, and in such case no person shall be or remain out between such hours unless provided with a permit in writing from the competent naval or military authority or some person duly authorized by him.

21. Where the behavior of any person is such as to give reasonable grounds for suspecting that he has acted, or is acting, or is about to act, in a manner prejudicial to the public safety or the defence of the Commonwealth, the competent naval or military authority may, by order, direct him to cease to reside in any area (specified in the order) within or in the neighborhood of a defended harbor or proclaimed area, and any person to whom the order relates shall, within such time as may be specified in the order, leave the area specified in the order, having first reported his proposed residence to the competent naval or military authority, and shall not again reside in that area without a permit for the purpose from that authority.

22. If any person, with the object of obtaining any information for the purpose of communicating it to the enemy, or of assisting the enemy, or with intent to do any injury to any means of communication, or to any railway, dock, or harbor, forges, alters or tampers with any pass, permit, or other document, or uses or has in his possession any such forged, altered, or irregular pass, permit, or document with the like object or intent, or with the like object or intent personates any person to whom a pass, permit, or other document has been duly issued, he shall be guilty of a contravention of these Regulations, and may be tried and punished accordingly; and where in any proceedings against a person for contravention of this Regulation it is proved that he has forged, altered, or tampered with the pass, permit, or other document in question, or has used or had in his possession the forged, altered, or irregular pass, permit, or document in question, or has personated the person to whom the pass, permit, or document was duly issued, he shall be presumed to have forged, altered, or tampered with it, or to have used or had it in his possession, or to have personated such person as aforesaid, with such object or intent as aforesaid, unless he proves the contrary.

23. Any person who attempts to commit, or procures, aids, or abets the commission of any act prohibited by the foregoing special Regulations, or harbours any person whom he knows, or has reasonable grounds for supposing, to have acted in contravention of such Regulations, shall be deemed to have acted in contravention of the Regulations in like manner as if he had himself committed the act.

24. (1) Any person contravening any of the provisions of the foregoing special Regulations shall be liable to be tried by court martial and to be sentenced to imprisonment for life or any less punishment:

Provided that no sentence exceeding three months imprisonment with hard labour shall be imposed in respect of any contravention of Regulations 18, 19, or 20 unless it is proved that the contravention was for the purpose of assisting the enemy or in respect of any contravention of Regulation 17 if the offender proves that he acted without any intention to cause disaffection or alarm:

Provided, further, that any sentence passed by a court martial under these Regulations shall be placed before the Governor-General for his approval, confirmation, mitigation, or remission of the sentence.

(2) A court martial having jurisdiction to try offences under these Regulations shall be a general court martial convened by the Governor-General, or a district court martial convened by an officer authorized to convene district courts martial within the limits of whose command the offender may for the time being be; but nothing in this Regulation shall be construed as authorizing a district court martial to impose a sentence of more than two years’ imprisonment.

(3) Any person tried by court martial under these Regulations shall, for the purpose of the provisions of the Army Act relating to offences, be treated as if he belonged to the unit in whose charge he may be; but no such person shall be liable to summary punishment by a commanding officer.

Part IV.—Supplemental.

25. The powers conferred by these Regulations are in addition to, and not in derogation of, any powers exercisable by members of His Majesty’s Naval and Military Forces or the Commonwealth Naval and Military Forces or other persons to take such steps as may be necessary for securing the public safety and the defence of the Commonwealth, and the liability of any person to trial and punishment for any offence or war crime otherwise then in accordance with these Regulations.

26. (1) Where the Minister has reason to believe that any naturalized person is disaffected or disloyal he may by warrant under his hand order him to be detained in military custody in such place as he thinks fit during the continuance of the present state of war.

(2) The Minister may telegraph a copy of any such warrant to the competent naval or military authority, and action may be taken on such telegraphed copy as if it were the original.

27. The Naval Board or the Military Board may authorize the competent naval or military authority to delegate, either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as he thinks fit, all or any of his powers under these Regulations to any officer qualified to be appointed a competent naval or military authority.

Printed and Published for the Government the Commonwealth of Australia by Albert J. Mullett, Government Printer for the State of Victoria.

C.14152.—Price 3d.