Commonwealth act

Purchase Telephone Lines Acquisition Act 1911

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Act Number

9 of 1911

Collection

act

Plain English Summary

2/10 complexity

This Act lets the Commonwealth acquire certain privately financed telephone lines—those built by state Post & Telegraph departments (but paid for by the owner) or constructed by owners before 1883—where the owner still pays an annual maintenance fee. The Postmaster‑General must give three months’ written notice, after which the line vests in the Commonwealth and the owner is paid; unresolved compensation is set by arbitration.

It enabled federal consolidation of fragmented early telephone networks into a unified national system.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Purchase Telephone Lines Acquisition Act 1911.

Purchase Telephone Lines Acquisition Act 1911

PURCHASE TELEPHONE LINES ACQUISITION.

No. 9 of 1911.

An Act to provide for the Acquisition of Purchase Telephone Lines.

[Assented to 12th December, 1911.]

BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Purchase Telephone Lines Acquisition Act 1911.

Resumption of purchase telephone lines after notice.

2.—(1.) The Postmaster-General may, after giving three months’ notice to the owner, acquire any purchase telephone line which was erected by the Department of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones of any State at the expense of the owner or his predecessor in title or constructed prior to the year 1883 by the owner or his predecessor in title, and in respect of which the owner pays an annual maintenance fee.

(2.) On the expiration of the time specified in sub-section (1.) of this section, the purchase telephone line specified in the notice shall become the property of the Commonwealth and vest in the Postmaster-General.

(3.) The compensation, if the amount cannot be agreed upon, shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the laws relating to arbitration of the State in which the line is situated.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Purchase Telephone Lines Acquisition Act 1911