The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-18 00:00:00

UNSTAMPED PUBLICATIONS.

Yesterday at the Bow-street Police-court Mt. Edward
Truelove, of 240, Strand, appeared before Mr. Henry,
upon an information, laid at the instance of the Commis-
sioners of Inland Revenue, under the 6th and 7th of
William IV. chap. 76, charging him with having know-
ingly and wilfully sold a certain newspaper, printed on
paper not duly stamped according to law, and called
The Potteries Free Press, and Weekly Narrative of Cur-
rent Events.
From the copies of the periodical exhibited in court, it
appeared that four numbers had been published, at ld.
each. They were printed at Stoke-upon-Trent, " for
the proprietor, Collet Dobson Collet," the Secretary of
the Society for the Abolition of Taxes on Knowledge,
and avowedly (as inserted at the head of the paper) "in
conformity with the practice of the Stamp-office, which
permits records of current events, and comments thereon,
to be published, without a stamp, in the Athenceunt,
Builder, Punch, Racing Times, &c." The defendant is
one of the London agents for the sale of the paper, the
leading articles of which invite a Government prosecu-
tion of the journal, "in order that a jury of Englishmen
might determine what description of news is to be en-
titled to exemption from the penny stamp."
Mr. Phinn, M.P., the Standing Counsel for the In-
land Revenue, appeared in support of the information ;
and Mr. Humphries Parry represented the defendant.
Mr. Wood, Chairman of the Inland Revenue, Mr.
Scholefield, M.P., and Mr. Ricardo, M.P., were present
during the investigation. •
Mr. Phinn, in opening the case, drew attention to the
17th section of the act, which enacted that any person
who shall "sell, utter, or expose for sale " an unstamped
newspaper, shall forfeit a sum of 201. The object of the
act was to amend the laws relating to the duties on
newspapers, and in schedule A definitions were given of
the kind of papers liable to the stamp. The first clause
of the schedule defined it to be " any paper containing
public news, intelligence, or occurrences printed in any
part of the United Kingdom, to be dispersed and made
public." The third clause of the schedule added, "and
also any paper containing any public news, intelligence,
or occurrences, or any remarks or observations thereon,
printed in any part of the 'United Kingdom for sale, and
published periodically, or in parts or numbers, at inter-
vals not exceeding 26 days between the publication of
any two such parts or numbers." Now he (Mr. Phinn)
presumed that no person who looked at the paper in
question could have any doubt that it came within the
class here described, for it contained all the information
of an ordinary newspaper. It was true that a recent
decision in the Court of Exchequer, limited the definition
of a newspaper to certain conditions relative to size, in-
terval, and price.
Mr. Henry—Do you think the decision went so far as
that ?

Mr. Phim—That was the construction which had
been put upon it, and he was willing to give it its widest
interpretation for his present purpose, although he
might state that the Government and the Stamp-office
had always contested that decision, and that application
of it ; and that Baron Parke dissented from the judg-
ment of the other judges. He did not consider, how-
ever, that the question could arise in the present in-
stance, from the obvious difference in the character of
the two papers.
James Maddett, a messenger attached to the Inland
Revenue, proved the purchase of a copy of the Potteries
Five Press, of the 23d of February, at the shop of the
defendant. He obtained it from a woman in the shop,
but on previous occasions he had purchased numbers of
Mr. Truelove himself.

Mr. Parry—On what number of the paper is this pro-
ceeding founded ?

Mr.Phinn—The one published Feb. 23.
Witness cross-examined—ldo not know anything of a
paper called the A thenceum. I never saw it, or heard of
it. (A laugh.) I know nothing of the Builder either.
Mr. Parry—Nor any other newspaper, I suppose ?
Witness—l don't know.
The copies produced having been handed up to his
worship, Mr. Phinn stated that this was the case for the
Crown.

Mr. Parry took a preliminary objection to the sum-
mons, on the ground that the act required proof of the
actual and manual sale of the publication, whereas it had
been shown that the purchase was made of a woman in
the shop.
_. _

Mr. Henry did not allow the objection, as it was
proved that other numbers of the same work had been
obtained from the defendant.
Mr. Parry wished it to be understood that he had
taken this objection upon his own responsibility. His
client had no desire to get rid of the case by a quibble,
but he (Mr. Parry) had suggested the point, because it
would certainly be raised hereafter, as the question would
not be finally disposed of here. The learned counsel
then addressed the court at great length in condemnation
of the conduct of the Inland Revenue in selecting a
penny paper of the description produced for prosecution,
while suffering such periodicals as the Athenceum, the
Builder, and Racing Times to escape their notice. The
real difficulty of his client had been to ascertain what

constituted a newspaper ; and, in order to try the ques-
tion, he had taken upon himself the responsibility of the
present publication. When he spoke of his client,
he wished it to be understood that the pro-
prietor of the paper (Mr. Collet) was the real defendant
in this matter, and that he had published this paper
on his own account, and not in connection with the
society with which he was associated. When he re-
solved

upon its publication, he made the officers of the

revenue fully acquainted with his intention, and duly
transmitted copies of the paper for their inspection, and
the assessment of the advertisements. Then, why was
he not at once informed that his paper would be pro-
hibited ? No proceedings were taken, and several num-
bers were permitted to be issued. By the 24th section
of the act, all persons having printing presses were com-
pelled to give returns of the purposes to which they were
applied. These conditions had been complied with by
Mr. Collet, and it was not until now that proceedings
ueeondauhlylyini registered
rhteeiduz;
were taken against him ; but the course they had pur-
sued would not prevent the final discussion of the ques-
t , althoughun itci ti was
ques-
tion before a jury. lie had never been apprised of the
illegality
meanwhilegailtyefh oiePahpe err,
journals
iTnhfoerrearntioedn oefeouecnsuerri
thenences , were
readproceeding
several extracts from the
Athenaeum and Builder, which contained
in-
formation relative to the fine arts Weekl , scientific disco-
de
, &c.—information he would aa,
ference to the Legislature, of fary, with great
public importance than the debates • more interest and
Athenceunt also contained particulars inarliament. The
oppression exercised towards the Eof
news,
such as the
the press on the Continent, aud neigh reporters for
of a man in Paris for la li* the recent apprehension
Louis Napoleon in one of thing at an ugly portrait of
.These papers had constantly been shop windows of Paris.
consideration of the Inland y been brought under_ tctee.
hadfrom fear or otherwise,Revenue, but theyhatdem,
and capricious), selected to take notice of
.h
At the close of ' the defendant's paper.
his address Mr. Parry called
Mr. Joseph Timm, solicitor to the Inland Revenue,
to prove that intimation had been duly given to them of
the intention t® publish the Potteries Free Press, copies
of which were duly transmitted to the office ; and that
no prosecutions had ever been instituted against the___r.
Atheneum, Chambers's Journal, or such papers. Al
Timm stated that Mr. Collett had written to request
directed against himself,
but that he had declined adopting,
lie
tis course, consider-
ing_ I
that the evidence against him would be insufficient.
Inland Revenue has
By Mr. Phinn—The rule of the n
or class
h
been to allow
papers
swich relate to a special
subject to be exempt from the tax, although a paragraph
be occasionally
inserted.
of information might e
Mr. Collett was calledto
prove that he had published
question, and t
avowedly to test the hat he was
the paper it if a jury should decide against
prepared to discontinue

him.
After a words in reply by Mr. Phinn, who relied upon
the internal evidence presented by the paper itself; as
to its tine character, differing widely from the other
journals cited,
Mr. Henry announced his intention to reserve his de.
cision upon the case, with a view of taking time to look
through the papers produced.

The summons was then adjourned until his worship
sits again.

THE LATE DUEL AT CHERTSEY.—Yesterday afternoon
the four Frenchmen, Barrinet, Allain, Bartlemy, and
Mome were
t removed from Horsemonger-lane to King-
ston, previous to taking their trial at the assizes. The
trial is expected to take place on Saturday.