310 CONSTITUTIONAL LA W OF BRITISH DOMINIONS
Chapter vision marks in 1907 the termination of the conflict of
xn* authority between the Privy Council and the High
Court, arising from the fact that appeals lay from
State courts to the Privy Council direct as well as to
the High Court. The High Court ruled that the States
could not tax official salaries of the Commonwealth as
this might interfere with a federal instrumentality;1 the
Privy Council on appeal from the Supreme Court of
Victoria held that this view was unsound;2 the High
Court3 refused to follow the ruling of the Privy Coun-
cil, in reliance on the fact that in the type of constitu-
tional cases set out above, the constitution, Section 74,
excludes appeal to the Council unless on a certificate
of the High Court. If this certificate were refused, the
High Court held that its decision should be final, and
it refused to certify the case.4 The way out lay in the
right given by the constitution to the Parliament to
define to what extent the federal jurisdiction of the
High Court- should be independent of that of any State
court, and the legislature provided for the automatic
removal to the High Court of all cases of the type
described. There can be little doubt that the enact-
ment was valid, and in any case the issue became of no
practical consequence, as the Parliament proceeded to
permit the States to levy income tax at the normal
rates on federal salaries.
The result of this legislation has been that the High
Court decides all such constitutional issues without
possibility of reference to the Privy Council. It remains,
1 Dealcin v. Webb (1904), 1 C.L.B. 585.
* Webb v. Outrim, [1907] A.C. 81.
3 Baxter v. Commissioners of Taxation (1907), 4 C.L.R. 1087.
4 The Privy Council refused to allow appeal. See Hint v. Webb, 4
C.L.Pw 1178; [1908] A.C. 214.