Note 293 — II THE RATE FOR NEWSPAPERS

'The Solicitor of the Board of Inland Revenue, being examined before a Committee upon the subject of class publications, was asked why class publications were not subjected to the compulsory stamp. Inadvertently, instead of saying that they were exempted because they were addressed to a particular class of the community, he said that it was because they related only to one subject. In giving that reason, he made a slight error of statement. That error has now been taken up in different parts of the country, and a number of periodicals have appeared, such as the War Telegraph and the War Times, containing intelligence relating exclusively to the war, which they say is 'one subject,' and so saying, set the Board of Inland Revenue at defiance."—Chancellor of the Exchequer, 19th March 1855; ibid., vol. cxxxvii. col. 804.