NEEDED STAMP DUTIES REFORMS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11009, 5 July 1901, Page 2

NEEDED STAMP DUTIES REFORMS.

____* jRCOXYESh men. The qommeroial community do pot usually How j&e rtd-tapeispn of QoveinmentA•artmemts to inconvenienoe them long, jßftt ometiske?. matter?. •. which Teqtiire re-ttnn re so comparatively small that the necessary .gxta*fc.O£ is not jnade. Two instances .her© the simplification of tbe methodjttb! he Stamp Department would be a £_»* »oon to the con_meicial community have >een brought under the notice of a "Press"' epresentajtive. The first is in connection "with the duty >n foreign marine insurance policies, upon vMfch 3d" per filOO is chareeable. Instead if holders of suoh policies oeing permitted o affix ordinary adhesive stamps to the .mount of their policy on that document, .beY "4av_ tb'go _hrroug_i tho formality of dsiting the Stamp Office, in the .Government Buildings, a»d fill in a form there, xefore the necessary business is concluded. lifej.ii. th€ policy has been in the colony or over fourteen days, the holder has to nake a solemn stat-ttLory declaration before Justice of the Peace, to the effect that it ias hot been in his possession for over iourteen days, before he can get the Stamp Dffice to carry out their_.portion of the -"usiness. Considering the distance the Stamp Office s from the commercial centre of the city, .hat the merchant, after catching his Justice of the" Peace (not always an easy matter), must. take all these 'proceedings in person, it is not surprising to leayn that there are many cases of evading the chity. No objection is taken to the payrrtenfc of the duty, but. the trouble and time involved result in merchants omitting to go through all the necessary formalities, rhe fact that the agents of Home insurance companies will not pay out on policies which do not bear the "duty stamp means that the merchant, unless he pays the duty, rujis the risk of not recovering in case oi loss", and makes his position no better than the importer who has not insured. Oi course, when a 'merchant has had a policy in his possession over fourteen days, and has not paid duty, he usually,, finds it mow advisable to tear it up in' the civse ol applying the settlement of a claim, than paying the fine of £5 imposed by th. Department. Many commercial men, il is understood, would rather pay double the present duty, provided tliey could affix th. ordinary stamps than have*to go to all th< trouble involved by the present method. The other suggested reform affects exporters and refers to the stamp duty payable on bills of lading in respect to goods foi ports outside the colony. The present system is that the various shipping companies and their agents have to send a supply o! bilCs of lading forms to the Stamp Department at Wellington, where an embossed stamp is impressed on each by'the Xfepaftment free of cost. The inconvenience arises to the exporter in this wise:"—He'has tc obtain these stamped bills ci lading from th. shipping companies or their agents'and-il has stock runs out, say on a busy mail day he has to send a clerk or office boy to th. shipping company's office for the stampec Bill. There seems to be no reason why the same procedure that is followed in Australia -.nd the United States should not b< allowed here—that is the payment of th. duty by affixing ordinary stamps. Thii .vcn£d save considerable inconvenience t. exporters .and would, to all intents and pur poses, attain the same end that is reachet by the present cumbersome and unbusiaess like method.