PETTY PERSECUTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 162, 9 July 1907, Page 7

PETTY PERSECUTIONS.

(To tHe Editor.) Sir,—The recent prosecutions, one of TOaefa appears in Wednesday's "Star," for trivial breaches of the Stamp Art, are calculated to bring the law into contempt, and to make it a by-word for ridicule. As matters now stand anyone is liable to prosecution who does not initial and date the stamp on a receipt, although they may have cancelled the stamp in another manner. The cancellation of the stamp, when carried out in any manner whatever, is proof positive of the intention of the person so doing to comply with the Act. This being so, it is nothing short of persecution to inflict a fine of £ 1 and costs, as was done in. the case before the Court on Wednesday. A shilling fine would more than meet the case, as it is a mere technical breach of the law, and is certainly not the great crime that the unfair fine would lead us to suppose. Probably in every case of this nature the offence is committed in ignorance, without any intention whatever to defraud, and, in any case, no defrauding is done. The utter triviality of these prosecutions is a disgrace to the Department instigating them, and appears to show that some official has nothing better to occupy his time with.—l am, etc., REVENUE.