The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1882.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3513, 11 October 1882, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1882.

The custom amongst certain tradespeople of stamping bank notes with their names and business has been rendered illegal by the " Banks and Bankers Act Amendment " of last session. Not having yet received a copy of the Act we are indebted to the Auckland Star for the following information concerning the provisions of the measure :—lt is advisable to warn persons who have been m the habit of stampiDg bank notes for advertising purposes that this practice will not only render themselves liable to a fine of £5, but any person accepting the note is also liable. The effect of putting a stamp on a bank note, there-

fore, will be to make it worthless. The Act under which this provision is brought into force, is the " Banks and Bankers Act Amendment, ,, passed last session. The clause rnns as follows : —ls. " Any person who shall commit any of the following acts shall be deemed to have committed an offence, and shall be liable to a ■ penalty not exceeding five pounds, to be recovered in a summary way, that is to say, every person ; (a) who, after the issue thereof, defaces any bank note by writing, printing, stamping, or marking thereon his name, or the name of ony other person, or any other matter relating to trade, business, occupation, or affairs of any person ; (5) who, being party or privy to any bank-note being defaced as aforesaid, pays away, parts with, puts in circulation, demands payment of or deposits or offers to deposit in any bank any bank-note so defaced as aforesaid." The necessity for this law has become abundantly manifest lately by the extent to which notes have been defaced for advertising purposes. It is every person's duty now, in self protection, to refuse to accept a note disfigured in the manner described. The result will be to bring the defaced notes now in circulation quickly to the bank from which they were originally issued, and a speedy reform will thereby be accomplished in the paper money in circulation. Those who neglect this precaution wilt do so at their own peril. The new Act gives definitenehs to the customs relating to crossed and endorsed cheques. It renders illegal the payment by a banker of any crossed cheque, unless it comes to him through another banker. The Act also authorises the proclamation of special local bank holidays upoa due notice being publicly given.