Brisbane Courier, Wednesday 3
December 1879, page 5
At a recent meeting of the Cabinet it was decided to accept the
recommendation contained in a minute placed before the Cabinet by the Hon. the
Acting Treasurer to do away with distinctive duty and postage stamps. From the 1st
January next there will be only one kind of stamp issued, and which may be
used, either for duty or postage. The change has been recommended for the reasons
that the Treasury suffered to a considerable extent by evasions of the Stamp
Act, in consequence of the alleged difficulty of obtaining duty stamps in
country places, and that the public suffered more or less inconvenience in
consequence of the employment of two kinds of stamps. When the new regulation
comes into force, it is the intention of the Government to rigidly enforce the
Stamp Act. With reference to the difficulty in keeping separate accounts under
the new arrangement of the revenue derivable from duty and postage, the Acting
Treasurer expresses it as his opinion that the Post Office officials will be
able to arrive, approximately, at the value of stamps used for postage.
