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Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue XXII, 26 November 1867, Page 3

When we recently called attention to tho hasty and imperfect legislation of last session, our comments were made without having seen that triumph of New Zealand statesmanship, " The Coinage Offences Act." As the bill is now in force, we reprint its most important clauses : — ■ 14. Whosoever .shall falsely make or counterfeit any coin resembling or apparently intended to resemble, or puss for any of the Queer's current copper coin, and whosoever, without lawful authority or excuse (tho proof whereof shall lie on fcho party accused), shall knowingly mako or mend, or begin, or proceed to make or mend, or buy, or sell, or have in his custody or possession, any instrument, tool, or engine, adapted and intended for tho counterfeiting of any of tbo (Queen's current copper coin, or shall buy, soil, receive, pay, or pufc off, or offer to buy, sell, receivo, pay, or pufc off any false or counterfeit coin resembling or apparently intended to resemble, or pass for any of the Queen's current copper coin, nfc or for a lower rate or value than fche samo imports or was apparently intended to import, shall bo guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to fche discretion of the Court to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding seven years, and not less than threo years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without; hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement. 15. Whosoever shall tendor, utter, or pufc off, any false or counterfeit coin resembling or apparently intended to resemble or puss for any of fcho Queen's current copper coin, knowing i'ho same to bo false or counterfeit, or shall have in his custody or possession three or more pieces of false or counterfeit coin, resembling, or apparently infended to resemble, or pass for any ofthe Queen's current copper coin, knowing fche samo to bo false or counterfeit, aud with intent to utter or pufc off tho sumo, or any of (hem, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall bo liable at the discretion of the Court fco be imprisoned for any term nofc exceeding o»e year,

1 witli or without, hard labor, and with or without,' solitary confinement. 31. Ifc shall be lawful for any person whatsoever to apprehend any person who shall be found committing any indictable or other offence against this Act, and to convey or deliver him to some peace officer, constable, or officer of police, in order to his being conveyed as soon as reasonably may be, beforo a Justice of tbe Peace, to be dealt with according to law. It appears to us that if tlie words, "resembling or apparently intended to resemble tlie Queen's eurreut copper coin" legally apply to the tokens which are now in circulation, nearly every wholesale and retail trader in the colony, together with their customers, are liable to be imprisoned for a year with or without hard labor, and with or with out solitary confinement. If this absurd law is to be carried out, his Honor Mr Justice Johnston will have no easy task at the next criminal sittings, and our friend, Mr Micaiah Read, will find serious difficulty in accommodating the numerous guests who will be sent to sojourn in his establishment. The child of tender years who invests Papa's present of coppers in " lollies ;" the smoker who buys a " yard of clay ;" the imbiber of colonial beer at threepence a glass, and all who deal in or use those articles, the price of which is the fractional part of a shilling — "both buyers and sellers — are made criminals by Acfc of Parliament — and must needs do penance in red shirls while mending the highways. But, above all other classes, it presses mosfc hardly on newspaper proprietors. The price of the Independent is threepence, and seeing that silver threeponn}** pieces are scarce, and the Queen's bronze coinage a rarity here, we should like to know what the buyers of this journal on tho oue hand, and the proprietor on the other, are to do ? Jf the buyer tenders three copper tokens, he is liable to punishment — if the proprietor takes them, he also may be made to suffer. What is to be done ? Are we to raise tho price of the paper to sixpence — or give it away for nothing — or take sixpences and give lOU's for threepence by way of change? We want to obey the law and can't, because neither '' browns" nor "bronzes" of a legal kind exist in New Zealand. fStill though our case is hard, -what is to that of our dual contemporary, the Penny Morning and Evening Post, who rises iv the morning to break the Jaw, and commits a second olfence on closing the labors of the day? Are his premises to he confiscated, his runners seized, and himself taken to prison ? It almost appears as if the Act had been specially passed to enable the Government to crush all penny papers which, like the Fost, are in opposition. Seriously speaking, the Government, its law officers, and the General Assembly have gofc themselves and everybody else into a pretty mess. AYe are all using copper tokens which to a certain extent "resemble the Queen's current coin," and we can't help ourselves, because, as wo have already observed, there is scarcely any of the legal bronze coinage at present circulating in England, to be found in New Zealand. We applied to our banker the other day for a supply, and he could not furnish it. If the Government desired to secure — what, indeed, is a very desirable thing — the substitution of a legal coinage for the copper tokens in use, they should havo obtained a full supply of the former from England, before making it illegal to use the latter. The Act can't ho repealed till the Assembly meets, and meantime there it stands, ready to be used as an instrument of tyranny and oppression by the " powers that be " There are two possible ways out of the difficulty. If a prosecution were instituted, we are of opinion that the Act is so loosely worded that a conviction could not be obtained under it. and therefore it would be rendered useless; whilo it is quite practicable, though of course irregular, to let it remain as a dead letter, till the gross blunder of enacting it at all can be rectified next session.