The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-10 00:00:00

THE QUARTERS REVENUE.

(From the Observer.)
The Revenue returns for the quarter will be
made up to-morrow, the 10th of October, in the
usual tabular form, and published on Tuesday
morning. Until the actual figures are added up to
the latest day, it is, of course, impossible to be
precise in the comparison of the year and quarter
just ended with the corresponding period of 1852.
Enough, however, is already known to enable us to
state that the result of the comparison will be in
every respect eminently satisfactory. In spite of
large reductions—or, as it would now almost seem,
in consequence of these reductions, all those sources
of revenue, in particular, that are moved by the
springs of industry and trade, seem to become more
land more elastic and enlarged by every successive
removal of restrictions. It is precisely in those
departments of the public revenue where the
largest reductions have been made that the greatest
increase is to be found. Even the abolition of
whole items of taxation—such as the soap
tax—seems to be met with an increased con-
sumption of other exciseable articles on the part
of the population most affected by the repeal, who
are thus enabled to increase their comforts in
every way, and still to contribute their due share
to the public burdens. The continuous success of
the improved commercial policy of late years is the
best test of its wisdom, and the highest encourage-
ment to proceed further boldly on the same path.
The revenue for the year ending the 10th of
October will exhibit a considerable increase over
the year ending 10th of October, 1852. This im-
provement in the year will show a large increase
upon the sum total—whilst almost every particu-
lar item of taxation will contribute its share to the
general result.
The income of the quarter, too, notwithstanding
the reductions which have been in full force during
the last three months, will exhibit an increase upon
the corresponding quarter of last year. The in-
crease, if not so large as the somewhat exaggerated
statements that have been prematurely put forth in
unauthorised quarters, is certainly not to be over-
looked. It will be all the more gratifying, as at
one time a contrary result was looked upon as the
natural effect of the very large reductions of the
last session.

Both on the year and on the quarter the bulk
of the increase will be found to proceed from the
departments of the Customs and the Excise.
There will be a small—probably a merely nominal
decrease in the assessed taxes ; but if so, it will be
owing rather to the accidental state of the collec-
tion than to other causes. Some old stamp duties
repealed, and waiting for the new reductions to
come into operation to-morrow (this day), have no
doubt lessened the receipts from that source in the
last quarter. The total abolition of the soap
duties, which produced 1,200,0001., a year, the
repeal of the advertisement duty upon newspapers,
the reductions in posting and carriage duties and
other items, have to be taken into account, in
estimating the receipts of the Inland Revenue
department. In the teeth of these losses it is
most gratifying to see the Excise exhibit a
decided increase. Nothing can more clearly
demonstrate the satisfactory condition of trade,
and the enjoyment of comforts, and even luxu-
ries, by the great bulk of the industrious popu-
lation. The increase in the Customs, too, is
most satisfactory, when we take into account the
numerous reductions made in the very last session
alone, in addition to those that were made before,
during the last ten or dozen years. The next ses-
sion will probably see the smaller items that still
remain struck off altogether. The revenue has not
suffered in anything like the estimated amount by
the reduction in tea and sugar duties, which have
given such general relief. Some portion of the
quarter's increase, to be sure, may be attributed to
the increased importation of grain, which assists
the Customs revenue to some extent, even at the
nominal impost of is. per quarter.
Upon the whole it may be confidently stated that
all branches of the revenue are understood to be in
a most prosperous condition ; and that on a balance
of receipt and expenditure a very considerable
surplus will remain, in spite of all reductions of
taxation, and in the face of the not inconsiderable,
but essential, additions made to our expenditure
for the necessary purpose of perfecting our national
defences.

THE NEW PENNY STAMP FOR _RECEIPTS
AND DRAFTS ON DEMAND.

(From the Economist. )

We have several letters before us, raising a number of
points in relation to the application of the new penny
stamp, which for convenience we will thus classify :-
1. Does the new act render it imperative to give and
take receipts for all payments of 2/. and upwards ?
2. Whether a stamp receipt is required for a payment
made in money when an immediate exchange of the
goods and money take place, or when goods are bought
over the counter ; and if this be so how far the rule
would extend to transactions of a more continuous na-
ture, such, for instance, as an hotel bill discharged on
leaving, or the immediate payment of the last of any
(From the Press.) series of deliveries included in one purchase !
It was to the honour of Lord Malmesbury's 3. Whether for a payment into a bank to the credit
foreign administration that he conferred ou British of a customer of that bank by a third party, it will be
st Whetherhe a
nereeocoeinptte dfo for
a r payment e
to nt itnhteo a
same banker's
personer's by
commerce the great boon of a treaty which opened required that a stamp receipt be given ?
the Paraguay rivers. The new dictator and bene-
volent administrator of the republic signalised his a c 4.
om u er,
accession to power by yielding to the wishes of the
who pays it in, which shall name a time for the repay-
British minister. That a commercial treat hadment—for example, "to be accounted for six days after
y notice, or demand"—may be upon plain
fpaper,or th e three-
been agreed to which opened the Paraguay to us same as when no specific term is named
for ten years was made public during the last sum- payment ?
mer ; but, with a grudging meanness which seems
sreceipts
. Whether for debts discharged by bills o
to have spread from the policy to the journalism of
exchange, or stamped cheques payable '`to order" and
the Coalition, not one of the organs of the ministry ~ on demand," require to be on stamped paper ?
are required
not ?
—the self-dubbed " friends of commerce"—wilt ould 6. Whether stamp
office order a of 2/. to 51,
5 required for receipts for Post-
notice the fact. Will this jealousy, this
aversion to acknowledge the good done by Lord First, then—Under the new act, as under the present
Derby's Government, be persisted in, now it has law, it will be perfectly optional with those who pay
transpired how much further Sir Charles Hotham moneys whether they take receipts or not. There is no
has been able to carry out the original instructions penalty for not doing so. But if receipts in any form
of Lord Malmesbury ? Will the ministerial jour- are given, they must be on stamped paper ; and it is not
pals endeavour by their silence to conceal from
likely, when so moderate a sum as one penny is charged
the public, that in addition to the rights yielded that any one will not avail himself of such facility of
to us on the Paraguay for ten years, we now have having in his possession receipts for all moneys which he
secured to us the Parana and the Uru pays, in the chance of their being required.
guay
for ever I This large and successful measure Second—Payments for purchases over the counter,
of commercial policy brings out in strong contrast made at the time, or for hotel bills, if receipts are taken
the conduct of the real and the pretended friends at all (which we have already said is entirely optional),
of commerce. Lord Malmesbury opens to us the
will require to be taken on stamped paper, the same
any other payment, when the amount is for 2/. or up-
richest and most fertile portions of the South Ame- wards. Bat nothing will be more simple than for tor
rican continent, which a jealous and ruthless keepers and hotel-keepers to keep ba/heads 1
tyranny had shut out from the world during the stamped with the penny stamp on which them:count:a!
best part of half a century.
Lord Aberdeen risks be made and the receipt given. Every such f
in the other hemisphere assured millions of our ex- given on plain paper will expose the shopkeeper or
ports. Yet the wrong doing of the one is distortedhled
• to nthbank by way
into a service to the cause of commerce, while the keeper
Third
t ___o severe vreereee
iptfor penalties.a
wi interest or
.ab y a third
er7
be received
achievement of the other is passed over in studied
silence ! This measure is the more to the crediton plain
a the persons to whom
o
be
aginvel!
of Lord Malmesbury, inasmuch as it was not, like of deposit to be accounted
ehl.sanes re.
bbsdu
nttook,if
orsame by i,st
to be accounteday for, may
tn
‘o
e,t, providedhe handsthe soafmenbeetnhoot. ethpn
so many of the measures of " popular" statesmen,
fished out of the pigeon-holes of a bureau, but was correspondent,
at
tt
all,l 1,
andit imperativeisv
entirely his own act. He sent out Sir Charles that the banker shall give anorecei
receiptp ;
uhtenhymoono7correspond
Hotham to open the three rivers, and the necrotia- usual in such cases to glueupon the form of it, receiptis
ppaarpteyr, asWp
it will depend . whether it ,
tions were carried out in the most complete and give",or not. If the receipt simply
. states,
o ought to be a stamp
successful manner, in unison with the ministers f
" Received to the account of John Smith.
is paid into
(he being the
Fiance and the United. States. customer of the bank, to whom the banker is alone again
Nor is this all. With the fact of the successful
to account for it), the suns of one hundred pounds,"it
negotiation of this treaty before us, it is difficult obvious that it would be exempt ; the person paying the
to believe the narrow infatuation which could have I money would be regarded simply as the agent of John
led the present Administration, in July last, to Smith,
.f andthe no discharge
a. of any debt would be given.
order Sir Charles Hotham home, because they co
To But
thed the receiptp given in the money into the bank
sidered his mission hopeless and expensive (.e).
com- . serve as a discharge of a din such a form that it would
wake the gallant officer's triumph the mor
the on whose behalf it was a.deb. t due by him to the party
in—that is, if the receipt ran
plete, and the discomfiture of his
" - thus :—"Received of 4)iiii.
William Thompson to the account of
more signal, Sir Charles Hotharo's dispatches the order John Smith, the sum of one hundred pounds"—it is ob-
issuednouncing his success will have crossed
vious it would not
faint-heartedness and come under the exemption, but would
for his recal—because
! require to be
that success impossible stamped. In the former case the receipt
parsimony pronounced
were last year, would not express that •
the sum was received of any
o'dn organs
;other than the •
Blind though the C , to be •
well can affect igno- for . person to whom it was to be accounted
we do not see how theyonsummation of Lord Malmes- (which is the condition of the exemption), and could
rant of the perfecrtt con
behalf of English commerce, not, in fact, be used as a receipt or discharge of a debt
bury's noble effo
d waters of these great South from William Thompson to John Smith ; while the
in the hitherto clos9_, latter would express the same to be received from a dif-
American rivers. "' e shall be curious to note ferent person than the one to whom it was to be AC-

We may not forget that the formation of this Cabi-
net first invited the Russian menace, which it nursed
into the dimensions of a general peril. From this
first fruit of its tedious and torpid gestation we may
infer the abortive nature of its future progeny, and
forebode an internal detriment to England from
her forced declension in the horoscope of Europe.

.counted for, and would be in the hands of William
Thompson a good receipt for a debt due to John Smith.
But there is a special class of cases (to which this ex•
eniption of payment of money to bankers does not apply,
whatever form of receipt be adopted. It is specially
stated "not to extend to receipts or acknowledgments
for sums paid or deposited for or upon letters of allot-
ment of shares, or in respect of calls upon any scrip or
shares of or in any joint stock or other company, or
proposed or intended company;"—and it is further
enacted that such receipts or acknowledgements, by
whomsoever given (whether by the secretary of the
company or the bankers) shall be liable to the stamp
duty. So that in the case of payments of deposits on
letters of allotment or "calls " of any kind, the receipt
must be stamped.

Fourth—We are not aware of any good reason wby a
receipt for a payment into a banker's by a customer, in
the manner already described, should not be exempt
from stamp duty, simply because it names a time for the
repayment of the money, or defines some specific notice
to be given before the deposit shall again be demanded.
We are aware that similar instruments given by private
persons, such as I 0 U's for money borrowed, which
specified a given day on which repayment was to be
made, had been held by some to come within the Stamp
Act as promissory notes. But in the case of a banker's
deposits a special exemption from
stamp duty is made,
and no exception to the exemption is stated on account
of the receipt bearing upon it a note of the time when
it is to be repaid. But this is a point upon which we
shall think it needful to take further advice.

Fifth—Much discussion has taken place upon the state
of the law under the new act in relation to stamped
cheques drawn "to order" and "on demand," and in
relation to bills of exchange. What we have formerly
stated in respect thereto is strictly in accordance with
the law, but the scope and effect of our observations
seem to have been misunderstood.

In the first place, the new instrument of a cheque
or draft drawn "to order " and "on demand" on a
penny stamp, is in every respect subject to the same
laws fas bills of exchange, except as regards the
exemption of bankers from the duty of ascertaining the
genuineness of the indorsement. Now, it is quite true,
as we have before stated, that a receipt for the payment
of a bill of exchange at maturity, when the money is
paid, may be given upon the bill itself, without any
further stamp. But if, at the time of taking the bill, a
receipt is given as a discharge for the debt which it re-
presents—for example, if the invoice or account be
thus receipted : "Received this day by bill at three
months "—such receipt, though only for a bill, must be
upon a stamp ; and the party paying a bill, or giving
an acceptance in discharge of a debt, has a right to de-
mand a stamped receipt for it, the same as if the claim
were discharged by money. Of course, if the party
giving such bill or acceptance is willing to dispense with
any receipt for it, he is quite at liberty to do so and
in many cases, perhaps in most cases, the bill itself
when paid at maturity might be so identified with the
claim that it was intended to discharge, as to be in his
hands a sufficiently valid receipt, and one on which he
might safely rely. Thus dispensing with any receipt for
the bill at the time it is given, the final receipt by in-
dorsement upon it at maturity, and when paid, may be
convertedinto a receipt without a further stamp. But
by the way of trying the distinction for which we are
contending, suppose the same bill of exchange, as is
frequently the case, to be used to discharge numerous
debts, by indorsement from one person to another, the
only person to whom it would finally serve as a receipt
would be the first acceptor, when it returned into his
hands. None of the intermediate h olders, who had dis-
charged claims with the same instrument, would have
any receipt, unless they were taken separately from the
hill, and if so taken, for example in this form, " Settled
by A.B 's draft upon C.D.," the receipt must in every
case be upon a stamp.

The same rule precisely applies to stamped cheques
payable to order and on demand. The party dis-
charging a debt by such an instrument has a right to
require a receipt for it, and such receipt must be
stamped ; though the receipt for the money, when
obtained from the banker's upon whom it is drawn,
may be endorsed upon the back of such cheque
without any further stamp. But if, as in the case of
a bill of exchange, the party paying the stamped cheque is
willing to dispense with any receipt for the same, and is
satisfied to rely upon the endorsement of the person in
whose favour it is drawn, and the possession of the
cheque after it has been paid, as a legal proof of the dis-
charge of any particular claim, it is quite competent fur
him to do so, and there is nothing illegal in the mode of
doing it. Legally and technically the receipt written by
endorsement upon such cheque is an acknowledgment to
the banker for the money that it represents, and not a
discharge for the debt for which such cheque was given ;
but it may be without much difficulty converted into a
collateral evidence of the discharge of such claim, and
especially if the cheque bears upon its face any note of
the account for which it is drawn. For example, in pay-
ing a tradesman's account, if the stamped cheque is
drawn :—" Messrs. Jones, Loyd, and Co., pay to A. B.
or order, for bill to Christmas, 1852," and it is indorsed
as being received by A. 8., such paid cheque in the
hands of the person giving it, would furnish a sufficient
proof of payment. In all cases in which payments are
made by means of such cheques direct into the hands of
the parties in whose favour they are drawn, such an en-
dorsement can be obtained at once, and any further re-
ceipt may be the easier dispensed with ; but in cases where
accounts are collected by clerks, the endorsement could
only be made afterwards, and no doubt, if genuine, would
be equally efficacious as if made at the time ; but in such
cases the person making the payment would possess no
evidence that he had paid the cheque at all, if it were
subsequently lost or stolen, and the endorsement forged.
What we want to point out is the technical distinction
between the stamp which authorises such a cheque to be
drawn " to order," and the stamp which serves as a legal
discharge for a claim. But practically, however, it is plain
that, in a great majority of cases, a stamped cheque, by
being endorsed by the person in whose favour it is drawn,
will serve all the purposes of a legal proof of the discharge
of a debt. But let it be borne in mind that if any acknow-
ledgment is made of the payment by the cheque, separately
from the cheque itself— if the person making the pay-
ment requires a receipt when he parts with the receipt in
discharge of a debt, which he is entitled to do, all such
receipts must be upon stamped paper, whether the cheque
be stamped and drawn "to order," or unstamped and
drawn " to bearer."

The case has been put very popularly and clearly in
the following paper from a correspondent, which is per-
fectly consistent with the statements made in the former
articles in the Economist on the subject :--
A receipt for a debt requires a stamp of id.
A draft payable to order on demand requires a stamp
for id., and on the back of this draft the payee may give
a valid discharge, either by a simple indorsement or by
prefacing his signature by "Received the within.'"
Now, if an individual pays his tailor by a draft, pay-
abletake
takes
to a
receipt, order, this
tbi s requiresust
alsoa pennybeon a
stamp ; if he then
penny nny stamp.
But it is clear that both these documents,
oteaperhaebteieinagily
a
legal discharge, are not required, and
will
be used. If the debtor takes a receipt duly stamped, he
does not want another stamped document, and may pay
by a cheque to "bearer" which requires no stamp.
Or if he prefers to pay by a cheque to order, as the
creditor must indorse it, and thus acknowledge the receipt
of the sum mentioned in the cheque, the debtor does not
require a further receipt.
The indorsement, though not in terms a receipt for the
tailor's bill, is expressly a receipt for the amount named
in the draft. Therefore, the case will stand thus ;
The debtor has in his possession his tailor's bill, say
for 25/. 10s. He draws a draft payable to the tailor's
order for 251. 108., and will have in his possession this
draft duly receipted by the tailor, acknowledging, there-
fore, that he has received the 25/. 10s., and this is as
perfect a receipt for the tailor's bill as if it were on a
separate penny stamp.
Sixth—lt was not intended that receipts given to the
PostmaAer-General for money orders for 2/. and upwards
should be subject to stamp duty ; as the person receiving
such orders pay the Post-office a commission for the
same ; and again, as in most cases, the persons receiving
the orders must give a legal receipt to the persons send-
ing them to discharge the claims they represent. But
as some doubt has been raised on the subject, it is under-
stood that the Treasury will issue an order to the Post-
office to authorise the Postmaster-General to dispense
with such receipts.

ACCIDENT ON THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.--
On Saturday morning, as a coal train from Doncaster
was proceeding to the south, the axletree of one of the
carriages broke near the Bawtry station, and several of
the trucks were thrown off the line, some of them very
much shattered, and the others more or
passengerless
trainged .
The rails were torn up for a considerable distance, and
ua ifttee
after
ltohcek
accident,ed up . A
the road being also covered with coals andbu t theit
wasdebris
ir tansl ycl
time t 0 prevent more s •
pisetphdeworsonal injuries were sustained beyond
_emus conse-
quences.ruises. A staff of platelayers was put on
soon
part of
was re-opened for traffic.
as possible and in
ethehaelle decefor-
tunatelyaausmrrlpi i
agavgshgteetNeordspyho'
the line as
the course of the day it
LADVERTISEMENT.I
ERS'S AND TOURISTS' EXTRAORDINARY MUNICH GERMAN
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. York Hotel. - The Royal Exhibition.
Observe, opposite the 69, Albemarle-street, Piccadilly.—
oat-pocket glass, the size
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eeeveryt
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at
tantht
e;
andrne
on the
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They are invaluable for shooting, deer-
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