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Otago Daily Times, Issue 165, 27 May 1862, Page 5

Ah Impostor.—Of the latter class take tho following example :—One night last week a lady, elegantly dressed, rushed into the lobby, apparently in grnat distress, and asked to see a noble lord. His lordship promptly came out, and condescendingly listened .to her story. .'■' She was on her way to Paris. She had been robbed of £45, all her worldly' wealth. She could not proceed on her journey. She was without friends or home. Would his lordship help her V His lordship, touched by her melancholy tale, after reading hurriedly a letter from a person known to his lordship, did help her. He gave her £4 ; and, after expressing her gratitude in a ladylike, impressive manner, she weiit her way; his lordship nothing doubtiag that her tale was true. But soon afterwards his lordship went home to dinner, and there he found waiting for him a detective police-cfficer. " Havo^. youhadacall from a Mrs. Hughes V asked the detective. '."Mra. Hughes'?" replied his lordship. " Yes ; she called upon me at the House." " Did you give her anything?' " Yes; she said she had been robbed, and I gave her L 4. to enable her to go to Paris." " She is an impostor, my lord,"' replied the detective. " She has many names besides that of Hughes. I have long been on her trail. I heard she had been enquiring for your lordship's address, and -hurried down here to {rive you warning ; but I am too •late, it seems. However, I will soon be on her track again.'-' Whereupon, bowing, he took his departure, and hnrried oft' as fast as a hansom could speed to the South Eastern Hail way, and arrived just in time; for, as he entered the station, madame was getting into a fiiv.t-class carriage. Of course she was <'grabbed' immediately, and passed the night in ft gloomy police-station instead of a first-class carriage. What became of her after that we know not; but, doubtless, due cure has been taken to stop her swindling career for a time.—li^ustrat^d Times. The last Device of American -'inakcikrs.— The Note Bid, which is soon to regulate the American currency, has not yet become law, and any account of its provisions must therefore be premature, and might be inaccurate; but it is now stated that it will for certain contain a clause so important to English exporters :.s to require immediate attention. The note is to ho. a legal tender everywhere except at the Custom:h»:us<;. ; The Government will pay its own paper, but will not take its own paper. It will pay its creditors in a currency which it manufactures and they mast take, but it 'will not receive that currency from its debtors. The duties at the Custom-house are to be paid in gold. The effect on English exporters to America is evident. They will have to find gold on the spot for the purpose. ■ They may have " credits" on America, but these credits will be ordinarily cashed in the currency which is the legal tender of America, —that is, in paper, —and at the Custom-house that paper will be rejected. Themerchant must change his paper into coin, and this exchange he will be only able to effect at a heavy premium. The depreciation of the paper, which is about to be issued in large, quantities must be heavy, and must be uncertain. It may be one thing to-day and another to-morrow. A sudden demand for a large payment in foreign countries may raise the premium on gold to a very high point quite suddenly and without warning. Any sudden event that impairs domes: tic confidence may do the same. Of all elements connected with the foreign exchange, the premium oii gold, as compared with an inconvertible currency, is the most uncertain and difficult to anticipate beforehand ; and yet an English exporter to America is now asked to pay this premium in addition to the existing heavy burdens on liiiii. The inevitable effect must be to depress foreign importation and protect native industry. A more disastrous device even American financiers do not as yet seem to have thought of. Their principal revenue is still derived from foreign imports, and ytt they impose, in addition to the heavy tariff charges, upon that importation a tax of incalculable amount, which no merchant can foresee, which may be five per cent, when his goods are shipped, and twenty when his goodsl arrive, which may easily absorb all bis profits. If a financier had wished to'annihilateforeign importation and customs revenue, he could not have adopted a more effectual remedy . than this.— Economist. (The bill has since passed, and received the approval of the President.)