The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-07 00:00:00

gantic boots constituting as a pair the most
appropriate supporters. There the Ogre, as he
appeared when about to swallow Hop at a
gulp—with a mouth so gluttonously cavernous !
There the said giant, ricochetting in his creaky
boots high up in the clouds, bound after bound
over the mountains ! There Hop relieving him of
the same boots in which the Ogre sleeps profoundly
with a snore that (looking at the picture) is all but
audible ! There a triple etching in one, showing
the escape from the wood, the escape from the
Giant, and the arrival at home ! And, lastly, a
limning of Hop, in hisultimate glory, presenting the
seven-league boots to the King—_a Lilliputian
bowing by the side of the bowing boots of Brob-
dignag. Everything in all this —more were
scarcely possible in this respect, to our mind at
least, by way of panegyric—is worthy of the droll
and graceful pencil of George Cruikshank-.

Lazarine. Translated from the French by Frances
Langan. C. Dolman.

A charming little storyinculcaTtive of good is
this domestic history of " Lazarine." The heroine
of the tale exemplifies in her life the blessedness of
duty once understood, and when understood re-
ligiously fulfilled. As intimated in the dedication
to a private friend, "as a testimony of respect and
gratitude," the volume is a translation from the
French—a translation which introduces the Eng-
lish reader to the pleasant group of imaginary
beings there collected together : among them
Count St. Arnould, honest old William, his daugh
ter Veronica, naughty little Valerie, and, above
all, the kindly but at first mistaken Lazarine. An
exquisitely appropriate motto from " Proverbs"
appears upon the title-page :—" Many daughters
have gathered together riches : thou hast surpassed
them all : favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain :
the woman that feareth the Lord she shall be
praised." Beautiful words, which aptly indicate
the moral of this ingenious narrative—an effusion
at once of the heart and of the imagination.

The New Stamps.—Tilsley's Treatise on the Stamp

Laws. New- edition. -Stevens and Norton.
It is not our habit to pass in review the literary
productions of members of the legal profession on
subjects within their ordinary practice, and we
should not, therefore, make any reference to the
new edition of the work by the Assistant-Solicitor
of Inland Revenue, just issued, had not our atten-
tion been directed to that portion which relates to
the new bill and receipt stamps. Anything au-
thentic upon this subject the public will be glad
at this juncture to make themselves acquainted
with ; and, although in a work not intended for
popular reading, little can be expected that will be
useful to the general public, yet, in the absence of
more detailed information, we gladly avail our-
selves of such as we can glean, and, therdore, ex-
tract the following, under the head of " Bills of
Exchange and Promissory Notes :"
"The stamp duties on promissory notes remain un-
touched by the recent acts, with one exception noticed
under that head ; but an important alteration has been
made in the duties on certain bills of exchancre.
"By the 16 and 17 Vic., c. 69, the duties on all drafts
or orders for the payment of money to the bearer or to
order on demand, are repealed, and a duty of one penny
is imposed, in lieu, upon every such draft or order for
the payment of money of any amount.
"And it is provided, that all documents or writings
usually termed letters of credit, or whereby any person
to whom any such document or writing is, or is intended
to be delivered or sent, shall be entitled, or be intended
to be entitled to have credit with, or in account with,
or to draw upon any other person for, or to receive from
such other person any sum of money therein mentioned,
shall be deemed and taken to be bills, drafts, or orders
for the payment of money within the intent and mean-
big of that Act, and of any Act or Acts relating to the
stamp duties on bills, drafts, or orders, and be charge-
able with the stamp duties imposed thereby.
"The exemption in favour of cheques on bankers re-
mains as before. These cheques are drafts payable to
hearer on demand ; but every such cheque, to entitle it
to the exemption, must be issued within fifteen miles of
the place of business of the hanker upon whom it is
drawn ; the place where it is issued being correctly
specified ; and the date that of the day on which it is
issued, or some previous day. Unstamped cheques
thus drawn and issued may circulate at any place, how-
ever distant.

"It was well known that a practice prevailed of issu-
ing cheques beyond the prescribed distance, involving
th'e drawer, and the banker knowingly paying any such
cheque, in a penalty of 1001., and the party receiving it
in payment or as a security, in a penalty of 201.; and
one reason for the reduction of the duty to an almost
nominal amount, was, to enable persons, at a trifling
expense, to conform to the strict law ; and by the means
of adhesive stamps to do so with greater convenience ;
thus at the same time not only avoiding liabilities in
themselves and others, but putting 'forth good and valid
documents, available to any persons into whose hands
they may intentionally be placed. It will be observed,
that such cheques wherever issued may, if stamped with
this duty, be made payable to order ; the banker, how-
ever, is relieved from proving the indorsement.
"All drafts or orders, whatever form they may assume,
payable on demand to bearer, or to order, and stamped
with the new duty, are subject to all the incidents of
ordinary bills of exchange, and may therefore be trans-
ferred or negotiated ; and a receipt for the contents in-
dorsed upon any such draft, when paid, requires no
stamp.

"Another inducement for substituting a duty of this
amount was the hope of putting an end to the irregular
system of issuing unstamped letters of credit. Docu-
ments falline, within this description are unquestionably
bills of exchange ; and the Court of Common Pleas has,
as will presently be seen, somewhat recently so decided ;
but seeing that the practice of issuing them without
stamps had become general, and that their illegality was
a point not commonly believed, it was not thought pro-
per by the authorities to interfere with them whilst the
late duties existed, and until some enactment specially
declaring them to be chargeable had passed the Legisla-
ture ; the case now, however, assumes a different aspect,
and the law will dOubtless be rigidly enforced.
"Three rates of duties are chargeable on drafts or
orders, viz.:—

" On drafts or orders for the payment of any sum of
money to the bearer, or to order on demand.
"On drafts or orders for the payment to the bearer or
to order otherwise than on demand, but not exceeding
two months after date, or sixty days after sight, of money
amounting to 40s. or upwards.
"And or► drafts or orders for the payment to the
bearer or to order at any time exceeding either of the
periods last-mentioned, amounting to 40s. or upwards.
" A draft in general terms, not specifying any time of
payment, is payable on demand ; and a draft not made
payable to bearer or to order, is, if delivered to the payee
or to any person in his behalf, chargeable with the same
duty, according to its tenor, as if made payable to bearer
or to order.

"Letters of credit are for the most part not transfer-
able ; and it is well that all under 51. should be so ; it
being unlawful to issue any negotiable bill of exchange
for a sum under 205.; and all negotiable or transferable
bills for 20s. or upwards, and less than 51. being re-
quired to be issued, and endorsed with certain forma-
lities ; that is to say—the name and residence of the
person to whom or to whose order any such bill is pay-
able, must be specified ; it must bear date before or on
the day of drawing or issuing, and not after ; it must be
made payable within twenty-one days after date, and
not be transferable or negotiable after the time litnited
for payment ; every indorsement must be made within
the same time. and bear date on the day it is made, and
specify the name and residence of•the indorsee ; and the
signing of the bill and every indorsement must be at-
tested.
" It will be noticed that no stamp duty is chargeable
on drafts for sums not amounting to 405., except under
the late act, which imposes the duty of one penny on
drafts coming
within the terms specified, whatever the
amount may be.",,

" PROMISSORY NOTES.

of charge
ahragvee
endernlade no
ItO.
~ It i 4 desirable to refer to this head merely to oh-
tieus
onndeprrotdrelepisohssoeiratyeadnienctehil.3t •
alteration ofthleBssuobjaencdt ol
serve that
ItehsepeActcints4
in a manner to affect, n 0 doubt exten-
sively, of Exchange have been dealt with by the 16 and
17 Vict., c. 59,
sively, the practical opeyations.relatmg to them ; and
the association between bills and notes is so intimate as
to give rise to a belief that the same law a
esiv mustbeen
eoe
nnetag auda e.
neces-
sarily extend to both.
"The obserrv.tion that noneatletesrmateiositi
the -receipt stamp
1 n thereh 5 5 Geo.dn 111.,
c. ii
ii
fii
cztlyi
odnu.
c. 184, is an exemption from
accounted for on demand, with the words added
t.ropecibeiteipatisfecfmOo,urith interest, see Promissohandsry
No of
te. any, banker,
On
n r e ..
ferring to that head it will be found that receipts
for money depositedin the hands of any banker, which
shall contain an?:ar shall
b
agreement
romisso sy
or memorandum importing
head
that interestnoetepsawidithfoinr
thtleiememaonninegy, 0
farteheto be
deemed p Act.
No reference is made in the 16 and 17 Vict., C. 59, to
this had of
promissoryt note, but an exemption will be
found, under he head Receipt, of receipts given for
money deposited in the hands of any banker to be ac-
counted for, whether with interest or not ; and as such
receipts were, before, chargeable with duty as promissory
notes and not as receipts, the intention of the Legislature
was to extend the exemption to the promissory note duty.

" RECEIPTS.

"The whole of the duties on receipts have been re-
pealed by the 16 and 17 Vict., cap. 59, and one uniform
duty of a penny has been granted, in lieu, upon all
receipts for money amounting to 2/. or upwards. This
duty of one penny is not extended to any document that
was not chargeable before, whether by reason of any
express exemption or otherwise ; but besides the ex-
emption of bankers' receipts for money deposited with
them to be accounted for with interest, there has been
added (by the 16 and 17 Vict., C. 63, s. 9) to the pre-
vious exemptions that of receipts for„ land tax, assessed
taxes, and property and income tax.

Lord John Russell comes to Cheshana-place to-day
from Pembroke Lodge, to attend the Cabinet Council.
The noble lord, during his recent retirement at the Duke
of Argyll's romantic seat at Roseneath, is understood to
have been much occupied with preparing his new Re-
form Bill, for which abundant statistics were furnished
him and which ministers intend to introdUce to Parlia-
ment soon after the commencement of the session,