Hap. 11] THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 817
52. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have
exclusive power to make laws for the peace, order, and good
government of the Commonwealth with respect to—
(i) The seat of government of the Commonwealth, and all
places acquired by the Commonwealth for public pur-
oses ;
i Matters relating to any department of the public ser-
vice the control of which is by this Constitution trans-
ferred to the Executive Government of the Common-
wealth; [viz. under s. 69, customs, excise, postal, defence,
lighthouses, &c., and quarantine. ]
iii) Other matters declared by this Constitution to be
within the exclusive power of the Parliament.
Of the powers given to the Commonwealth Parliament by
s. 51 of the Act none are expressly stated to be exclusive
of the powers of the states, but in some cases the nature of the
power makes it necessarily exclusive as the power conferred
is a power which, prior to the passing of the Act, did not
exist, and could not be exercised by a State Parliament.
This applies clearly to the powers given in subsections iv,
vi (cf. s. 114), x, xii (cf. 5. 115), xxiv, XXV, XXX, xxxi, xxxii,
xxxiii, xxxiv, Xxxv, XxXvi, Xxxvii, xxxviii, and xxxix.?
Of the other matters entrusted to the Commonwealth a
division may be made between those in which, once the Com-
monwealth has exercised its power, there will be practically
no sphere left within which the state can exercise its authority,
and those which more or less permanently permit an exercise
of authority by the state concurrently with the exercise of
authority by the Federal Parliament. Within the latter
class fall clearly such powers as that of taxation (ii),% the
state being able to raise whatever taxes it thinks necessary
in addition to Commonwealth taxes, though in the case of
land taxes the Commonwealth has by Acts Nos. 21 and 22
! The last branch of this section has been held to apply to a post
office ; see Rex v. Bamford, (1901) 1 8. R. (N.S.W.) 337.
' Of. Clark, Australian Constitutional Law, pp. 71-102, with whose views,
however, I do not entirely agree ; Quick and Garran, op. cit., pp. 660 seq.,
093-8 ; Harrison Moore, op. cit., pp. 273 seq., 445 seq.
Of, Municipal Council of Sydney v. Commonwealth, 1 C. L. R. 208,
at p. 232, per Griffith C.J.
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