The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 6, 8 January 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1867.

That the introduction of the Stamp Act, interfering as it does with commercial operations, and disturbing the repose of a large section of the community, should be greeted with a burst of disapproval, •was not to be wondered at. The expression of public opinion has displayed something more than an ignorant impatience of taxation, it has sprung from a painful foreboding that greater evils are yet in store, which are but faintly foreshadowed by this first infliction. As the Act has, however, become law, by the sanction of the people's representatives, it would be merely a waste of time and temper to denounce it at any length. Obedience to the law for the time being, whether good or bad, is what British subjects pride themselves upon^ always with the reservation, that they will get rid of a bad law, on the first opportunity. The subject opens the question of representation and will lead, if we mistake not, to a more narrow scrutiny of the character of representatives, and a more vigilant observance of their conduct whilst discharging their parliamentary duties. The Stamp Act having come into force, it must remain in force till it is re_ pealed, and the next best thing to be done is touring the greatest possible amount of pressure on the Government to induce them to render its working as little irksome and burdensome as possible to the people. It does little credit to the department whose duty it is to administer this Act, that so little preparation was made to ensure its working without causing inconvenience and confusion. Not only in Nelson but in other provinces the thing seems to have been allowed to take its chance, the mercantile community have been alarmed lest they should be saddled with penalties they were unable to prevent, or engage in business transactions that might not henceforth receive the sanction of law. What the public have now to look to is to secure the easy working of the Act, trusting to future action to work through the medium of their representatives to obtain the repeal of the money screwing ordinance. It seems necessary for the public convenience that in all the great centres of population, proper officers should be appointed to administer the act, for unless adequate machinery is provided to secure the easy working of an engine so complicated in its construction, there will be no end of trouble, anxiety, and alarm, among a large class of the community. It is all very well to say that every man should be his own lawyer in the case. It is simply impossible that a great many persons should be able to unravel all the intricacies of this piece of state craft without the assistance of the officers of the Stamp Office, who should be appointed in every province or populous town. Pos-

sibly the department might be blended with some other already iv existence, but this is not desirable, as undivided attention to the operations of the Act on the part of the public officers, is the best means of securing an efficient performance of the duties required of them. Considerable alarm has been caused in some parts of the colony at the assumed intention of the Government, to require that all documents that are to be stamped, be sent to Wellington for that purpose. If this is true it will be another unbearable infliction, for although in the case of Nelson the evil might not be felt so keenly as in that of Auckland and Otago, the amount of delay to business and the additional expense entailed, might well excite the public indignation. No doubt the want of means will be pleaded by the Government, as an excuse for centralising everything at "Wellington, but it is an excuse that will give very little satisfaction to the people of the other provinces, who will 6ee nothing in the system but an attempt to sacrifice them at the shrine of the imperial city. The least the Executive can do, now that they have prescribed the nauseous dose, is to make it as palatable as possible to the much disgusted patient. This they can do only by gilding the pill in the style approved by medical charlatans, and concealing its disagreeable qualities from the wry-faced public.

The Act does give power to appoint commissioners for the collection of the tax, as well as providing the various stamps and dies that may be deemed necessary to carry it into operation. There can be no excuse, therefore, if this is not done without delay, and we doubt not the proper officers can be found in Nelson to do all the necessary stamping without having to send all documents for that purpose across the Strait. Let the public then agitate for a stamp office and the appointment of a stamp distributor. To him all documents, deeds, parchments, &c that require stamping can be taken, and the public convenience greatly promoted. "We would not be understood to mean that any of the present General Government officials here should be required to do extra duty, as no doubt the work of an officer employed in the stamp office would take all his time and exercise all his ingenuity, We have no wish to see a repetition of the system in reference to the Stamp office which obtains in reference to the Telegraph office. From the latter a highly efficient officer has recently been taken and sent to another part of the colony, his place being supplied by a mere tyro, who has to pass his novitiate at the cost of the increased labor of the chief of the department and the public convenience. We know men must learn their business somewhere, bat in the public service care should be taken that the public do not suffer by the various experiments it may be thought necessary to introduce on men and things. It rests with the public to what extent the Stamp Act is allowed to get into easy working order in this province. If they choose to submit to all the inconveniences the ignorance or negligence of the Executive may think fit to inflict upon them, it is their own fault. If they enforce the maxim that the Government exists for the people, and not the people for the Government, respectful attention will be paid to their suggestions and complaints.