THE LATE STAMP ACT CASE.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 66, 21 March 1881, Page 3

THE LATE STAMP ACT CASE.

♦ TO TH* XDITOK OT THK EVENING PORT. Sib— l am fully aware of the professional impropriety of the Editor of the Post commenting on any paragraphs or reports that may appear in any other newspaper, but this may not apply to outside correspondents, and there is one that appeared a few days •go in the New Zealand Times that I feel constrained to say one word upon. In reporting a case in the Resident Magistrate's Court for a breach of the Stamp Act r your contemporary stated that "a man named Cheymol" was charged with omitting to affix a penny stamp to an account. Now, I must say that I am sure this ia the first time in Wellington that a highly-respected merchant and importer of some yean' standing has been so designated, and that considerable snrprise and regret is felt amoagst mercantile circles that a gentleman held in such general esteem should be so disrespectfully described. Had it been an unknown person, or the offence that of drunkenness and disorderly behavior, the description might pass unchallenged. The faots of the case were that Mr. Cheymol accepted £6 as part payment of his account, on the understanding that the balance of the account was to be paid daring that or the following day, and that the duty stamp of one penny would be affixed when the amount was paid during the same day. Technically speaking, no doubt Mr. Cheymol made a mistake ; but iB there any person living in Wellington that would believe Mr. Cheymol would render himself liable to legal proceedings for the sake of a penny P And what is the reason for the Times calling a well-known respectable merchant " a man named Cheymol P" I am, Ac, A Business Man.