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Proc. No. 12 of 1902.

General directions

of adhesive stamps.

stamped, unless or until it is shown that the statement is untrue and that the instrument is in fact insufficiently stamped.

12. (1) An instrument the duty upon which is denoted by as to the cancellation an adhesive stamp is not to be deemed duly stamped unless the person required by law to deface the adhesive stamp defaces the same by writing on or across the stamp his name or initials, or the name or initials of his firm, together with the true date of his so writing, so as effectively to deface the stamp and render the same incapable of being used for any other instrument or for any postal purpose.

* Defacement the Registrar

by

of

(2) Where two or more adhesive stamps are used to denote the stamp duty upon an instrument each and every stamp is to be defaced in manner aforesaid.

(3) Every person who, being required by law to deface an adhesive stamp, neglects or refuses duly and effectually to do so in the manner aforesaid shall incur a fine of ten pounds.

14. Where the duty is denoted by adhesive stamps, the

Deeds, by Notaries following provisions shall apply :

and other persons.

Appropriated stamps.

(1) The stamps on all instruments registered in the Registry of Deeds or other Registration Office, or which are executed by or before the Registrar of Deeds or other Registration Officer, shall be defaced by the Registrar of Deeds or other Registration Officer.

(2) The stamps on Notarial Instruments, other than such as are included in the last preceding sub-section, shall be defaced by the Notary by or before whom they are passed.

*

(3) The stamps on all other instruments, unless otherwise provided for by any law, shall be defaced at the time of execution by the party who is liable under this Proclamation to stamp such instrument.

(4) Any person, being a party to any instrument liable to stamp duty, or entitled to act thereunder, who, having accepted such instrument without its being duly stamped, thereafter affixes, or causes to be affixed, any stamp to the same with intent to make it appear that such instrument was duly stamped as required by this Proclamation, shall be liable to a fine of one hundred pounds.

15. (1) A stamp which by any word or words on the face of it is appropriated to any particular description of instrument is not to be used, or if used is not to be available, for an instrument of any other description.

(2) An instrument falling under the particular description to which any stamp is so appropriated as aforesaid is not to be deemed duly stamped unless it is stamped with the stamp so appropriated.

* See Ord. 14 of 1902, sect. 1, where the duty of defacing adhesive stamps on documents not stamped on execution but subsequently stamped is imposed on the Receiver of Revenue; and see also Govt. Notice 48 of 1903 (Gazette, 30th January, 1903, p. 274) as to defacement of stamps on powers of attorney given to pass Bonds or Deeds of Transfer.

16. No instrument which is required by this Proclamation to be stamped shall be available for any purpose whatever, saving express provision to the contrary, unless the same is duly stamped as provided in this Proclamation, and in particular no such instrument which is not so stamped shall be produced or given in evidence or be made available in any Court in this Colony except :

(a) In criminal proceedings;

(b) In any proceeding by, or on behalf of, the Government for the recovery of any stamp duties on such instruments, or any penalties alleged to have been incurred by reason of such instrument not being duly stamped. (c) In other proceedings, upon payment by the party producing or tendering such instrument in evidence, by way of penalty of such sum as the Court may direct, not being less than three times the original stamp duty, and subject to the instrument being stamped with the stamps which ought to have been originally affixed. The stamps shall be defaced, and the payment of such penalty shall be recorded on the instrument by the Registrar or other officer of the Court. Provided always that:

(1) When any such instrument is produced or given in evidence by or on behalf of the Crown, or any officer of the Government acting as such, no penalty or fine or stamp duty shall be deemed to be imposed upon or payable by the Crown or by such officer.

Proc. No. 12 of 1902.

Terms upon which instruments not duly stamped may be re

ceived in evidence.

(2) The foregoing proviso shall not exempt any other person
from any liability in respect of such instrument.
(3) Save where other express provision is made in this
Proclamation, it shall be lawful for the Controller of
the Treasury to cause to be stamped after the execu-
tion thereof any instrument which through inadver-
tence and without intent to evade payment of the
proper duty has not been duly stamped on payment
of the unpaid duty and a penalty not less than three
times the amount of such unpaid duty. Such penalty
shall be denoted by means of stamps, to be affixed by
the officer who stamps the instrument, and to be
defaced by him, together with the stamps denoting the
duty in the manner prescribed by this Proclamation.
17. The persons liable to stamp the several instruments
mentioned shall be the persons respectively designated in this ments
section, and any person, being liable to stamp any such instru- stamped.
ment, who executes and delivers the same without duly stamping
it shall, except in cases where other express provision is made in
this Proclamation, be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty
pounds.

(1) Bill of Exchange and Promissory Note.-The drawer or
maker thereof.

(2) Bond.-The person who makes or passes the same.
(3) Lease.-The lessor.

By whom instru

are to be

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(4) Policy of Life Insurance.-The person or company issuing the same.

(5) Receipt. The person giving it.

(6) In the case of other instruments, the person executing

same.

18. Save where other express provision is made by this Proclamation in relation to any particular instrument(a) Any instrument which has been first executed at any place out of this Colony may be stamped at any time within 21 days after it has been first received in this Colony by the person receiving it, being one of the parties thereto, or entitled to act thereunder.

(b) In such case as above a note shall be made on the instrument by the party stamping it of the true date of receiving it, and he shall forthwith deface such stamps in manner provided by this Proclamation, unless the instrument is one on which the stamps should be defaced by a Notary or Registration Officer.

19. No instrument requiring to be stamped before registration shall be registered unless it is duly stamped, and if any person whose office it is to enrol, register or enter in or upon any rolls, books or records any instrument chargeable with duty enrols, registers or enters any such instrument not being duly stamped, he shall incur a fine of ten pounds.

20. (1) For the purposes of this Proclamation the expression "bill of exchange" includes

An unconditional order in writing addressed by one person to another, signed by the person giving it, requiring the person to whom it is addressed to pay on demand or at a fixed determinable future time a sum certain in money to or to the order of a specified person or to bearer.

An unqualified order to pay coupled with

(a) An indication of a particular fund out of which the drawee is to reimburse himself, or a particular account to be debited with the amount; or

(b) A statement of the transaction which gives rise to the bill; or

(c) A statement on the bill that it is drawn against specified documents attached thereto for delivery on acceptance or on payment of the bill, as the case may be; or

(d) A statement on the bill that it is drawn under or against a specified letter of credit or other similar authority;

is to be deemed an unconditional order.

*The time within which instruments executed out of the Colony were to be stamped was 10 days after they had been received within the Colony. The period of 21 days was substituted by Ord. 14 of 1902, sect. 2.

(2) A cheque is a bill of exchange drawn on a banker payable on demand.

The duty of one penny upon a bill of exchange payable on demand or at sight or presentation may be denoted by an impressed stamp.

Proc. No. 12 of 1902.

Meaning of "Pro

21. (1) For the purposes of this Proclamation the expression "promissory note" includes any document or missory Note." writing (except a bank note) containing a promise to pay any sum of money.

(2) A note promising the payment of any sum of money out of any particular fund which may or may not be available, or upon any condition or contingency which may or may not be performed or happen, is to be deemed a promissory note for that sum of money.

bills and notes.

22. Every person into whose hands any bill of exchange Provisions or promissory note drawn or made out of this Colony comes in stamping this Colony before it is stamped shall before he presents for payment or indorses, transfers or in any manner negotiates or pays the bill or note affix thereto a proper adhesive stamp or proper adhesive stamps of sufficient amount and deface every stamp so affixed thereto in manner required by this Proclamation.

Provided as follows:

(a) If at the time when any such bill or note comes into
the hands of any bond fide holder there is affixed
thereto an adhesive stamp effectually defaced, the
stamp shall, as far as relates to the holder, be deemed
to be duly defaced, although it may not appear to
have been affixed or defaced by the proper person.
(b) If at the time when any such bill or note comes into
the hands of any bona fide holder there is affixed
thereto an adhesive stamp not duly defaced, it shall be
competent for the holder to deface the stamp as if he
were the person by whom it was affixed, and upon his
so doing the bill or note shall be deemed duly stamped
and as valid and available as if the stamp had been
defaced by the person by whom it was affixed.

But neither of the foregoing provisos is to relieve any person from any fine or penalty incurred by him for not defacing an adhesive stamp.

as to

foreign

As to bills and

be drawn abroad.

23. A bill of exchange or promissory note which purports to be drawn or made out of this Colony is for the purpose of notes purporting to determining the mode in which the stamp duty thereon is to be denoted to be deemed to have been so drawn or made although it may in fact have been drawn or made within this Colony.

24. (1) Every person who issues, indorses, transfers, negotiates, presents for payment or pays any bill of exchange or promissory note liable to duty and not being duly stamped shall incur a fine of fifty pounds, and the person who takes or receives from any other person any such bill or note, either in

Penalty for issuing &c., any unstamped

bill or note.

Proc. No. 12 of 1902.

One bill only of a

payment or as a security or by purchase or otherwise, shall not be entitled to recover thereon or to make the same available for any purpose whatever.

(2) Provided that if any bill of exchange payable on demand or at sight or on presentation is presented for payment unstamped, the person to whom it is presented may affix thereto an adhesive stamp of one penny and deface the same as if he had been the drawer of the bill, and may thereupon pay the sum in the bill mentioned and charge the duty in account against the person by whom the bill was drawn or deduct the duty from the said sum, and the bill, in so far as respects the duty, is to be deemed valid and available.

(3) But the foregoing proviso is not to relieve any person from any fine or penalty incurred by him in relation to such

bill.

25. When a bill of exchange is drawn in a set according to set need be stamped. the custom of merchants, and one of the set is duly stamped, the other or others of the set shall, unless issued or in some manner negotiated apart from the stamped bill, be exempt from duty; and upon proof of the loss or destruction of a duly stamped bill forming one of a set any other bill of the set which has not been issued or in any manner negotiated apart from the lost or destroyed bill may, although unstamped, be admitted in evidence to prove the contents of the lost or destroyed bill.

Provisions as Broker's Note.

Penalty for

to

a

26. (1) For the purposes of this Proclamation the expression "Broker's Note means a note sent by a broker or agent to his principal advising him of the sale or purchase of any marketable security.

(2) Where a note advises the sale or purchase of more than one description of marketable security the note shall be deemed to be as many broker's notes as there are descriptions of stock or security sold or purchased.

(3) Every adhesive stamp on a broker's note is to be defaced in manner prescribed by this Proclamation by the person by whom the note is executed.

27. (1) Any person who affects any sale or purchase of person not making any marketable security as a broker or agent shall forthwith stamped broker's make and execute a broker's note and transmit the same to his principal, and in default of so doing shall incur a fine of twenty pounds.

note.

Provisions as

to

(2) Every person who makes or executes any broker's note chargeable with duty and not being duly stamped shall incur a fine of twenty pounds.

(3) No broker, agent or other person shall have any legal claim to any charge for brokerage, commission or agency with reference to the sale or purchase of any stock or marketable security mentioned or referred to in any broker's note unless the note is duly stamped.

(4) The duty of one shilling upon a broker's note may be added to the charge for brokerage or agency.

28. (1) Every letter or power of attorney for the purpose proxies and voting of appointing a proxy to vote at a meeting is to specify the day upon which the meeting at which it is intended to be used is to

papers.

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