The Press WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1867.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1584, 4 December 1867, Page 2

The Press WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1867.

The atamp- duties, haie noar been, enforced sufficiently long ta enable the public to judges, of of the 4Qts under which these imposts are ,levied. When the Statop Act was .^oughts forward in the General Asaera-, -bly in the session of 1866 great alarm was expressed in many quarters at Bβ direct a mode of^taxation being reaprted to; But whenl the tak'enj and the Act passed, though many grumbled at the number of calls they had to meet in consequence, the great majority seemed t$ opinion that the new ] fb*m of taxation was not unfair, and that with alteratlpnain tl>e jof procedure directed to. be: followed they "could put up the inconvenience which, such an Act wap sur© to cause on firet coming into operation.;* It was the cumbrous, and unwieldy manner. in, which the-, details of the. wepe directed to be carried out that gave dissatisfaction, and not the principle of Act that was objected tq v For this reason the j last session of the Assembly was confidently looted forward to as the time when, a Bill wouldl be introduced to? remedy the complfvine4 °£ All hopes that such would be the case were however doomed to disappointment; an Act was introduced and passed, but that which already required improvement was rendered even wor^e: jthan before, especially as. there was then n® immediate proepecb of ; any alteration efflfeeted. The A;.ct 6f1566, after, providing that certain, dutjes. should be denoted by means of adhesive-etampsy goes on to say, "Every stamp whether adhesive orirapreesed when used for the purpose o£ this ;A.cfe- elia.ll be cancelled by the person ufing the same- or eiguing the instrument, ■writing or pausing to be written the date of the month, the month, and year of using the same, and the name of the person using the saine,.po tk&t tte stamp may be appro- i %q the ingtrament, and so fw

to show that the stamp has been used, and for t any omission to do so at the time of the using of such stamp he shall incur a penalty of £10." The new Act has rendered good service in making" these forms unnecessary in the case, oi) an impressed stamp, but they rriay be all rigorously insisted on whenever; an adhesive stamp ia used. Let any man of business ask himself how many cheques pass through his hands in the course of a week that comply with the _Act in all i these particulars. A great deal of misinppivuension exists as to whose duty it is to see that a cheque is properly stamped—whether , the drawer is bound, to do so, or,whether it is,on the receiver thajb the. obligation is 'cast—but there can be no doubt on carefully reading the sections bearing on this point that the maker (as he is called) is bound to provide, the. $tajnp, and, to see that it is properly cancelled. In the case of a bilfrof exchange, however, no distinction is made between the maker and the acceptor, who are both equally liable to a heavy penalty where the document has not been properly stamped and every stamp affixed to the bill cancelled in the manner pointed out. But the Act goes still further, and says that any person who shall pay any bill of exchange, draft or order for the payment of money liable to the duties imposed by the Act without the same being stamped for denoting the duty charged thereon, shall for every such offence incur a penalty of £50. This is just one of those provisions that occasionally creep, into a Legislative enactment from an over-careful-ness to provide against any possibility of the revenue being defrauded,, but it is at the same time one that is calculated to operate very oppressively in many cases which are sure to occur in epite of the utmost efforts on the part of those chiefly concerned. Let us see. bow this clause is likely to affect the Banks, for there is no doubt that the words "draft or order for the payment of money" apply to ordinary, cheques, of which an immense number daily pass through the hands, of the Bank clerks who are for the purposes of the Act constituted judges of the due cancellation of every stamp affixed, and are moreover required under a penalty of £20 to write the word " paid " across the face of each stamp (already obliterated) in order that the stamp may be more effectually cancelled and made incapable of being used again ! The difficulty then in which the teller of a Bank is thus placed is that, if through spme exroP;h.esbPHld cash a.cheque the stamp upon which had been insufficiently cancelled, (or if not properly cancelled the stamp will not avail), he would render himself liable to the -penalty of £50 ; if on ; the other hand , he.refused to pay money on a cheque drawn in accordance with the clause in question, he" probably subject bis employers to the. unpleasant con-, sequences of having unreasonably refused to cash the draft of one of their depositors. But this is not the only result which would follow, for a dishonest person might, after obtain-; ing the money, refuse to recognise the payment made by the Bank under the cheque in which there may have been some trifling omission, Now in order to:prove the payment it would be necessary for tihe Bank to put the cheque in evidence as a voucher, and before doing this the penalty of £50 would have to be paid. Surely this is holding out a premium to the grossest fraud, and is anything but the propeceouree to/adopt to protect the revenue, which is after all the only object in view. It is notj in. these reapecte only; that the Acts are defective and found to wqrk badly ; we could point out many others if time and epace would admit. of thejclausee the duties qf a Commissioner of Stamps are thrust ,upon the Registrar of Deeds, who is directed to refuse to register any instrument tendered t t o, him for registration not duly stamped and dated after the Ist January, 1867. The Begistrar of Deeds should be bound to register for what it may be worth anything that is tendered; to.him for that purpose, and the decision as to the sufficiency or otherwise of the stamps should be left $6 the—authorities, to-whom reference i*s directed to: be made ia case of disputes, pointed out, pn a former occasion the entire absence of any systematic scale of penalties in proportion to the ■ magnitude of the offences for which tfjey are : prescribed, 'and we have only, now to express a sincere hope that the Legislature may be induced to take the first opportunity of enquiring into and amending this anomalous branch of the law. We yesterday availed ourselves of the courtesy of *Dr. Haast, and paid a visit to the Museum, which has now been thrown open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from eleven three. We were most agreeably_surprised to find very extensive collections .of almost everything connected with the study of geology—typical roekrafid minerals • from all countries .on.ljlie Jace of the ("earth arranged m tfie molt approved

order, and displayed to great advantage under large glass frames. There were also many collections of a local character, specimens from all the provinces ; from Auckland and from Otago; and samples of the different formations 1 occurring, in the various river gorges and districts of Canterbury herself. The coal measures of the province furnish many contributions; and the samples of the different varieties of coal found at the Grey, at j the Kovyai, and. other places, afford a proof of the resources which we and which mast sooner or -Uvfe*¥—be—more- fully developed. A large j ca**e-, continuing .auriferous quartz and other rock, and some of the line, shotty, or nugijety gold produced from the beach divings of WeetUiud, or from., claims.further inland, was of course a centre of,attraction, and the interest of the group was completed by quantities of the wash-dirt from which the samples had been gathered. In building-stoijß the , province is evidently rich, and Dr. Haast assures us could compete with any country in the world. Conspicuous-amongst the worked .blocks was a t square of the celebrated Weka Riss limestone, which is somewhat, similar to the tufaeeous limestone of which the Bank of New South Wales, in Hereford street, is built; The Weka Pass stone, however, is smoother, and a great deal closer, while it is also easily worked, andcapable of being considerably hardened by exposure to the atmosphere. A curious cabiuet of odd-looking seeds, fruits, and vegetable productions — some brought from the centre of Africa by Dr. Livingstone, others obtaiued from Hiudostan and many tropicaleountries by various explorers —next attracts attention, and astonishes, the vieitor by; the peculiar forms assumed, by . the vegetation. Among the most beautiful objects to be found in the room are a number of odds and ends magnificently encrusted oveV from having come in contact with the hot springs of the North Island, ; the most curious is a a small branch of manuka, which presents a very fantastic, appearance in consequence of the berries being nearly all covered with a delicately white coating. The crystals and precious stones need no special recommendation, for they possess a beauty of their own which makes_ them objects of interest even to the most unlearned in this most attractive study, quite apart from any special claim that they may have to the attention of the purely scientific geologist.:;,..-. In the adjoining room is to be found a large assortment of valuable shells, most of which have been obtained from other places by exchanging local specimens for them. New Zealand is but poorly represented here, but it is to be hoped that the collection of native shells will be increased when other branches of perhaps greater importance have been thoroughly investigated. We must not pmit to mention a perfect specimen of jcme of the large European Saurians, which Dr. Haast succeeded in obtaining for the Museum; nor must the fossil remains, which constitute a most interesting group and so materially, assist in the-study-of-palaeontology, be overlooked. Some of the impressions of the most minute portions of fern fronds are beautifully and distinctly marked on what is now the hardest of rock. A small assortment of grained and polished woods serves only to remind us of what this colony can boast of in that direction, but up to the present time no attempt has been made to get specimens for the Museum, for, the simple reason that there was nowhere to put them.

Passing through the 7 buildings to the new room that • has been prepared for the reception of a portion of the collections, the visitor finds himself surrounded *>n all sides by a large group of about 250 New Zealand birds, well preserved, and arranged with great taste. On his right he will notice a large white crane, several hawks and owls, a couple of crested grebes and blue herons, a number of parrots, the kiwi of the North and SoutL Islands, the large bittern and many others, while in front he is confronted by skeletons of the gigantic moa, which is now supposed to be extinct. On the left-hand side of the room are several contributions received from America and from Australia, the latter comprising many of the largest indigenous snakes, and a few animals peculiar to the country.' In a small jar by themselves are the mysterious eels that were found in the tunnel during the progress of the works on the~ Lyttelton and Christchurch line. No one professes to account for their having been discovered there, but there can be no doubt as to the fact, whether the explanation be forthcoming or not. It would be impossible to enumerate within reasonable limits one-tenth of the objects of interest' which may be seen without any trouble by the visitors to the Museum; still more impossible would it be to give any idea of the intrinsic beauty of the majority of the specimens which nave been so carefully collected. We can only recommend all who have an opportunity of doing so to pay our Museum a visit for the purpose of seeing for themselves, and we are sure that they will show their appreciation of the amount of work that has been performed by their gratification at the results that have been obtained. It only remains for us to express our thanks to Dr. Haast for the courtesy with which he explained any subject of special interest upon which we required information. "We were assured that now that the Museum has been thrown open to the public they will be welcome to come as often and stay as long as they please. No. 2 Company.—This company will fire for the prizes given by the members this" afternoon, at HiUsborough. CjlNterbttrt . Sund ay-School Tjjrrox.— The committee of the Sunday-school tnion intend to celebrate the firet anniversary of the Union on New. Year's Daj by giving a treat to all the children of the different schools. In aid of the object donations of money, provisions, fruit, &c, are solicited, and collecting- ! books have been distributed to the various ] teacher!. '" '.. I

Fibk Police.—A general meeting of the members of the Fire Police will he held this evening at seven o'clock, at the White Hart hotel. * Acclimatization—Great anxiety has been omited with respect to the fute of the two irout th:it have made their escape out of the. breeding-box into the lower and a perfect storm of indignation hits been raised against the Curator for his carelessness in permitting his precious charges to be handed over to the tender mercies of the eels and wafer beetles. We :ire. however, assured by the Curator that the fish had arrived at tin nge beyond ihit at whi.ih they are generally i-oiiM..l«?red reaiiv for turning out, and tlmt the •*e's in the pomls have been 'ill destroyed. -NMiie silkworms have been introduced by Mr J. B. Russell a* an additional object of interest in the gardens. j

Legal.—Before the business of the Supreme Court was commenced Mr Gurrick nude an application to his Honour the Judge m the case of Baldwin v. Tiiiel. It had been Uiiwd at the last sitting of the Court in ch>irnbers that the case should be settled by arbitration. Mr Garrick stater! that Mr Williams would not consent on behalf of the defendant to. leas ...than three arbitrators, and as this course would involve considerable expense he now objected on behalf of his client, the plaintifl , , Hβ therefore applied that the case might go,to trial, issues to be settled on morning of trial immediately before the hearing. His Honour granted the,application. No. 1 Company.—A meeting of the members of this company was held ufter drill las<r erening at the Clarendon hotel. At a previous meeting it hud been decided that an armoury should be built, and the tender of Mr Turner, of Cranraer-square, for the building, was last evening accepted. It was stated that a ; piece of ground near the'orderly-room of the Engineer Company on which to place the building had been applied for, and that there was every likelihood of its being granted by the Government. It was decided that the challenge sent by No. 7 Company (Timaru) should, h,e! accpted, to be fired if possible on the anniversary day. The conditions of the match are, eight men five rounds each at 400, 500, and 600 yards. After transacting some routine business the meeting separated.

The Cakandini Concerts —We can hardly confess to feeling disappointed at the performance of the sacred portion of the programme at Madame Carandini's concert last night, for it is so frequently the vate that singers, excellent in other branches of music,; fail when they attempt to attack the works of the great masters. However, kst night's concert was by no means a failure, the excellence of the part singing j>eing very marked. "On Thee each living soul awaits " went rather unsteadily at first, but was otherwise well done. Miss Fannie took "He was despised " too fast, and consequently the air lost the best part of its effect. "Angels ever bright and fair" was nicely rendered by Madame, though we must take exception to the long sostenuto note introduced by Madame on the word, "take " in the last strain. Mias Fannie was more successful in " O, rest in the Lord," which is more adapted to hep powers than "He was despised." The great success of the evening was undoubtedly the terzetto of angels from Elij ih, " Lift thine eyes," which was repeated in response to the applause it called forth. The second part commenced with a very pretty quartette from Balfe's " Siege of Rochelle," which was really, an excellent specimen of part singing. Among the other pieces we may particularly notice "When the quiet moon is beaming," "I would that my love," and the " Murmur of the shell," all of which were encored. We should notice also that Miss Rosiua again sung her best song " Nor'ah MuHane." "Beware, trust her not," substituted for " The Chough and Crow," concluded the evening. To-night we expect to gee a full house. The programme includes some of the best selections performed by Madame Carandini's company.