794 THE FEDERATIONS AND THE UNION [PART IV
was exhaustively discussed the question of the relations of
the Crown in the states to that of the Crown in the Common-
wealth.
The point arose out of the question whether the Crown
in the states was bound by the provisions of the Customs
Act of 1901, in respect of goods imported by the Crown in
the state for the use of the state.
The Government of New South Wales imported wire
netting, which it was intended to distribute at a moderate
cost to farmers in New South Wales, and they set up a claim
in the first place that the goods were not subject to any
control by the Commonwealth customs authorities, and in
the second place that the goods were not subject to the duties
of the customs. They relied partly on the doctrine that
statutes did not bind the Crown except by express order, or
necessary implication, and partly also on the provisions
of s. 114 of the Constitution, which forbids the imposition of
a tax upon the property of a state by the Commonwealth.
The High Court decided against the Government of New
South Wales. The substance of the decision was based on
the ground that for customs matters the whole control of
customs must be given by the Constitution to the Common-
wealth (see ss. 52 (2), 86, and 90). The Crown was the
Crown in the Commonwealth.
It was laid down that the constitution binds the Crown
as represented by the states, and takes no count of the
states and States Governments in relation to Commonwealth
legislation in matters within the exclusive control of the
Commonwealth Government, and therefore, in the construc-
tion of Commonwealth statutes dealing with such matters,
the rule that the Crown is not bound by statute applies
to the sovereign as head of the Commonwealth Government,
and not as head of the State Governments.
It was pointed out by the Court that if the principle were
conceded, then the states could have made the customs laws
and duties of customs illusory by importing largely and selling
for the benefit of private individuals. But the decision rested
in the main on the constitutional ground indicated above.
