§ MR. FOTHERGILL, in the absence of Colonel Roden, asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If it will not be possible to accord a great convenience to the commercial community, without loss to the Revenue derived from Stamps, by authorising all Stamp distributors to affix adhesive Stamps to forms of Inland Bills of Exchange, the Stamps so issued being cancelled by such authorised distributors before they left their possession?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, in reply, said, there were two 656 objections to the proposal of the hon. Gentleman. The first was that if a bill were not properly stamped it would not be available for any purpose, and the Customs' stamp distributors were not necessarily a class of men possessing that degree of education which would render them competent to give advice as to the amount of the stamp which should be placed on a bill of exchange. A second and more serious objection to the proposal was, that at present one person sold stamps while it was the duty of another to cancel them, and that if both duties were committed to the hands of a Custom House officer there might be a considerable risk of fraud. Now, of course, anything like fraud in the case of a Government officer would be more injurious in its effects than if committed by a private individual. He had, he might add, come to no decided opinion on the subject, and should be happy to consider the proposal of the hon. Gentleman in conjunction with another which he had before him of the hon. Member for Surrey.