The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1889.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8638, 26 November 1889, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1889.

The Government of a colony may quickly make itself unpopular by the way it has its taxes collected. Since the beginning of the year there have been several brewers prosecuted for alleged evasion of the beer duty, and although in most cases negligence Avas the chief charge brought against them, convictions were secured and the penalties of the Act, which are very severe, were in every case inflicted. The provisions of tho Act are that "the absence of the proper stamps duly cancelled from any cask containing beer after its sale or removal from the brewery, where it was made, shall be notice to all persons that the duty has not been paid thereon, and shall beprima facie evidence of the non-pay-payment thereof ;" and the penalty following is ' that every brewer who evades, or attempts to evade the payment of any duty, etc., shall forfeit for every such offence all the beer made by him and then in his custody or possession, and all the vessels, utensils, and apparatus used in making the same, and be liable to a penalty not less than £50 nor more than £100.' The utensils may be forthwith seized by " any collector or other proper officer, and may be taken or conveyed to any warehouse or place the collector may think fit, and shall be sold and disposed of at such time and manner as the Commissioner may direct, and the proceeds thereof shall bo paid into the public account." No appeal is practically allowed, and upon tho prima facie evidence alone, the conviction is recorded. As the Otago Daily Times, commenting on this matter, says: —"The stamp from a cask or those from a number may be maliciously or accidentally removed after delivery from the brewery, and, following the conviction which the magistrate is entitled to record, the Collector may forthwith dismantle the brewery, and perhaps practically ruin it, although appeal to the Commissioner may afterwards result in the remission of the sentence of confiscation." Now, this is altogether unjust and unfair. The Act already provides for the execution of a bond by a brewer for double the amount of the value of his monthly output, and as the actual output can be easily ascertained, that and that alone should bo taxed. It is a most vexatious law that makes not only the beer subject : to duty, but likewise the vessels which contain it, for the convictions have been chiefly for the casks being unstamped. We I cannot see why beer should be treated differently from spirits and wines, and the quantity manufactured taxed instead of the I casks which contain the liquid.