{"id":"C1918A00033","name":"Loan Act 1918","slug":"loan-act-1918","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"33 of 1918","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":19118,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1918A00033-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Loan Act 1918","content":"LOAN.\n\nNo. 33 of 1918.\n\nAn Act to authorize the Raising and Expending of the sum of One million two hundred and forty-two thousand one hundred and ninety-four pounds for certain purposes.\n\n\\[Assented to 12th December, 1918.\\]\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Loan Act 1918.\n\nTreasurer may borrow £1,242,194.\n\n2. The Treasurer may from time to time, under the provisions of the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911-1918, or under the provisions of any Act authorizing the issue of Treasury Bills, borrow moneys not exceeding in the whole the amount of One million two hundred and forty-two thousand one hundred and ninety-four pounds.\n\nPurposes for which moneys may be expended.\n\n3. The amount borrowed shall be issued and applied only for the expenses of borrowing and for the purposes set forth in the Schedule to this Act\n\n \n\nSCHEDULE.\n\n```html\n

——

Amount required in 1918-19.

Already available under Appropriations made by previous Acts

Appropriated under this Act.

—

First Column.

—

Second Column.

—

Third Column.

UNDER CONTROL OF DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND RAILWAYS.

£

£

£

Naval Bases, Works, and Establishments—

Labour and Material............................

340,000

72,756

267,244

Machinery and Plant, and expenditure in connexion therewith.

50,000

46,737

3,263

Cockatoo Island Dockyard—

Naval Engineering and other Works..................

60,000

..

60,000

Acetate of Lime Factory, including installation of plant.....

10,000

138

9,862

General Arsenal—

Works and Buildings, including erection of residential quarters—towards cost

115,000

97,604

17,396

Cordite Factory, Maribyrnong—

Buildings and Engineering Works...................

21,500

..

21,500

Perth General Post Office—towards cost...................

45,000

20,653

24,347

Contribution under River Murray Waters Act 1915

99,000

90,000

9,000

Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta Railway......................

300,000

230,333

69,667

Railway from Pine Creek to Katherine River and Southwards.....

15,000

15,000

..

Port Augusta Oodnadatta Railway.......................

2,500

..

2,500

Railway—Completion of Construction Line and New Bridge on Queanbeyan Line and additional waterway on Queanbeyan to Canberra Line

5,000

4,040

960

Total under control of Department of Works and Railways.......

1,063,000

577,261

485,739

UNDER CONTROL OF POSTMASTER GENERAL’S DEPARTMENT.

For the construction of Conduits and for laying wires underground..

220,000

203,864

16,136

UNDER CONTROL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE (MILITARY).

Acetate of Lime Factory—Machinery and Plant—towards cost....

8,000

1,451

6,549

General Arsenal—Machinery and Plant—towards cost..........

50,000

143

49,807

Cordite Factory—Experimental Tri-Nitro-Toluene (T.N.T.) plant...

15,000

..

15,000

Cordite Factory—Additions and extensions.................

10,000

..

10,000

Total under Control of Department of Defence (Military)....

83,000

1,594

81,406

UNDER CONTROL OF DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY.

Cockatoo Island Dockyard—

Machinery and Plant, yard and floating plant

200,000

9,421

190,579

Flinders Naval Depôt—Machinery and Plant................

45,000

17,525

27,475

Wireless Telegraphy................................

30,500

14,882

15,618

Total under Control of Department of the Navy...........

275,500

41,828

233,672

Carried forward...............................

1,641,500

824,547

816,953

\n```\n\n \nSchedule—continued.\n\n```html\n

—

Amount required in 1918-19.

Already available under Appropriations made by previous Acts

Appropriated under this Act.

—

First Column.

—

Second Column.

—

Third Column.

Brought forward...............................

£

1,641,500

£

824,547

£

816,953

UNDER CONTROL OF HOME AND TERRITORIES DEPARTMENT.

Purchase of Sites—

Land, Fairy Meadow, New South Wales...............

8,128

7,528

600

Land lying outside Federal Capital Territory.............

75

75

..

Land in Federal Capital Territory....................

12,000

12,000

..

Land for Defence purposes generally.................

47,000

10,741

36,259

Land for Naval Defence purposes, Cockburn Sound

20,000

13,968

6,032

Land for Port Stephens Naval Base...................

25,000

22,250

2,750

Purchase of the reversionary interest of lease of the residence of the Captain in Charge of Naval Establishment, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney

1,600

..

1,600

Townsville Wireless Site.........................

433

..

433

Wungong Quarry Site, Western Australia..............

1,200

..

1,200

Site for New Store at Randwick Wireless Workshops.......

1,000

..

1,000

Land for Post and Telegraph purposes.................

810

810

..

Land for Lighthouse purposes......................

7,984

..

7,984

Land for Quarantine purposes......................

110

..

110

Purchase of Roads, Quarantine Station, Lytton, Queensland..

350

..

350

Land for Laboratory at Royal Park, Melbourne...........

8,035

8,035

..

Total under Control of Home and Territories Department.

133,725

75,407

58,318

UNDER CONTROL OF DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND CUSTOMS.

New Lighthouses (including upkeep of vessels for construction work) and optical and other apparatus for lightships

16,000

..

16,000

Additions to existing lighthouses........................

20,000

8,485

11,515

Total under Control of Department of Trade and Customs.

36,000

8,485

27,515

UNDER CONTROL OF PRIME MINISTER’S DEPARTMENT.

London Offices....................................

25,000

25,000

..

UNDER CONTROL OF TREASURY.

Redemption of Loans raised by the Government of South Australia on account of the Northern Territory

339,408

..

339,408

Total...........................

2,175,633

933,439

1,242,194

\n```","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"model":"kimi-k2.5","source":"moonshot-realtime","completionTokens":1519},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act remains tightly focused on its original purpose: authorizing a specific loan to cover identified shortfalls in funding for capital works, land purchases, and defence infrastructure. No extraneous provisions have been added."},"complexity_factors":["Only 3 operative sections with no conditional logic","No interpretation clause or defined terms","Straightforward appropriation mechanism with no exceptions or triggers","Lengthy Schedule contains only financial allocations, not legal machinery"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act authorises the Commonwealth to borrow £1,242,194 (about $120m today) in 1918–19 to fill funding shortfalls for a range of infrastructure and defence needs — including naval and military works, communications, lighthouses, land for public and defence purposes, and repayment of a South Australian loan. The Treasurer may raise the money by issuing government stock or Treasury bills under existing borrowing powers."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act is a one‑off appropriation/borrowing authority: it authorises specified borrowing up to a stated sum (s 2) and confines expenditure to the Schedule and borrowing costs (s 3). It does not amend or broaden the Treasurer’s borrowing powers beyond the sources named, nor extend the list of permitted purposes outside the Schedule."},"complexity_factors":["Short, single-purpose statute: core power is a numeric borrowing limit (s 2) and application restriction (s 3).","Large, detailed Schedule listing many departmental projects and fixed monetary allocations increases administrative bookkeeping complexity.","Cross-reference to other legislation (Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911–1918; Acts authorising Treasury Bills) creates dependency on external statutory frameworks for execution.","\"From time to time\" borrowing language grants practical timing discretion to the Treasurer (administrative discretion).","Schedule distinguishes amounts already available under prior appropriations and amounts newly appropriated, requiring reconciliation with prior accounts."],"plain_english_summary":"Authorises the Treasurer to borrow up to £1,242,194 (s 2) under existing Inscribed Stock or Treasury Bill powers and requires those moneys to be used only for borrowing costs and the specific purposes set out in the Schedule (s 3). It affects the Treasurer (who decides when and how to raise the debt), the Commonwealth departments named in the Schedule, and public finances because the Commonwealth must raise and ultimately service the borrowing."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/loan-act-1918","history":"/api/acts/loan-act-1918/history","analysis":"/api/acts/loan-act-1918/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/loan-act-1918/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/loan-act-1918/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/loan-act-1918/documents"}}