STAMP DUTIES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 8, Issue 412, 20 September 1866, Page 4

STAMP DUTIES.

(Prom the Wellington Independent, 15th Sept.) Aeiee a discussion which has lasted over seven days, the House of Representatives came last night to the conclusion by a majority of twenty, that Stamp Duties should be imposed on the people of this colony. The discussion yesterday wa» well worth listening to j the tone of it was so rawed and the speeches so excellent. The easy eloquence of Mr. Fitz Gerald, the keen satire of tbs Hon. W. Fitzherbert, the impressive oratory ol the Premier, the clearness of Mr. Dillon Bell, th® broad humour of Mr. Beauchamp, and the interesting verbosity of Mr. Whitaker were all displayed yesterday, and relished by their hearers 5 whatever side they might take. Every on® seems to agree that Stamp Duties in themselves are most excellent, and that a better form of raising revenue could scarcely be devised; according to Mr Whitaker they were invented in Holland about a century and a half ago by an ingenious person, who was struck with the brilliant idea in consequence of the Government of that country offering a reward for a new and pleasant mode of raising a revenue, and have never been abolished wherever they have been imposed; hut Mr Ward and other members seem to think that they would press heavily on the people here and that it is not desirable that they should be levied. They havo forgot, however, that it is the intention of the Government to reduce the Tariff. We trust that ther® will bo no difficulty in carrying out this proposal; it may be that some of those members who have voted for the stamp duties may object to it, but wo anticipate that the Government will carry their object in this as in other matters. Mr Vogel intends to bring forward a resolution to the effect that the stamp duties should be treated as Customs, and shared with the provinces. This it will be remembered, was the question on which Mr Weld was turned out of office last session, but the fickle-minded members of the Legislature, (may we use the word without being guilty of a breach of privilege,) will, probably, have the wisdom this year to negative the resolution by a large majority. While wo are writing of Stamp Duties, we may as well correct an erroneous impression which has gone abroad with regard to them. The general idea is that the mode of raising Revenue by stamps is a direct form of taxation. This idea has been assiduously propgated by those members of the house who object to their being imposed on this colony, but we have th® authority, not only of Mr Whitaker, but also of a standard work on taxation by Leone Levy, that the imposition of Stamp Duties is an indirect mode ot raising revenue. There is still much important business to be done in the House, so that it is almost impossible to say with any certainty, when the session will be brought to a close. Tho Government will, however, do its utmost to bring about this desirable consummation in as short a period as possible.