Royal Commission on the Navigation Act

Appointed by Letters Patent dated 7 September 1923 by the Bruce government, replacing a House of Representatives select committee on the operation of the Navigation Act appointed earlier in 1923. John Henry Prowse was chairman; the other members were Senators W. L. Duncan, H. E. Elliott and C. S. McHugh and Frank Anstey, A. C. Seabrook and G. E. Yates of the House of Representatives. It was to report on the effect of the Navigation Act on Australian trade and industry and on the Territories (including the Mandated Territory).

1. 20 August 1924Three separate reports (by Prowse and Seabrook; by Anstey, McHugh and Yates; and by Duncan and Elliott) laid before Parliament.

Its final report, the second report dealing with New Guinea and Papua, was presented to Parliament on 13 August 1925, ending the commission. The members had divided three ways in their 1924 reports, and the government did not amend the coastal trading provisions as a result.

• Effect of the Navigation Act on Australian trade and industry
• Coastal trading provisions and their effect on Tasmania and Western Australia
• Shipping services to Papua and New Guinea

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