The Advertisement Duty Bond is re quired as security for the payment of the duties which may from time to time be payable for advertisements inserted in the newspaper. The persons required to enter into this bond are the printer or publisher of a newspaper, or the proprie tor, or such one or more of the proprie tors as the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes or their officer may deem requi site, with two sufficient and approved securities. No specific sum is mentioned in the act, hut it is left to the Commis sioners of Stamps and Taxes, or their of ficer, to fix such a sum as may appear reasonable.
The stamp on newspapers was imposed by an act, 10 Anne, c. 19, passed in 1712. The amount was one half-penny on "half a sheet or less," and one penny "if larger than half a sheet and not exceeding a whole sheet." The consequence of this duty was, that many of the publications which came within the provisions of the act were discontinued. The duty was raised id. by 30 Geo. II. c. 19 ; another id. by 16 Geo. III. c. 34 ; by 29 Geo. III. c. 50, another half-penny was added; and by 37 Geo. III. c. 90, an addition of 1id. was at once made, making a total of fourpence. A discount of 20 per cent. was first allowed by the act 37 Geo. III. By 6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 76. the stamp duty on newspapers in Great Britain was reduced to ld. without any discount. The quan tity of letter-press on a sheet of paper bearing a stamp of ld. is limited to 1530 square inches on one side. If it exceeds 1530 square inches, but does not exceed 2295, the stamp is lid. ; above 2295, it is 2d. A supplement not exceeding 765 square inches of print on one side pub lished with any newspaper, is chargeable with a duty of id. The stamp duty on newspapers printed in Ireland is ld., with an allowance of 25 per cent. discount. The title of every newspaper is now in serted on the stamp ; and a newspaper can be printed only ou the sheet specifically stamped for printing the same. For several years the number of stamps issued to each newspaper was published in the Parliamentary Returns ; but when the no lice was last given for printing the return the government objected, and there has been no return since 1843.
The duty on advertisements was re duced, after 5th July, 1833, from 3s. 6d to ls. 6d. in Great Britain ; and to Is. it Ireland. [ADVERTISEMENT.] Newspaper Statistics. The number of stamps issued to newspapers in Great Britain and Ireland iu the following years was as under : Great Britain. Ireland.
1827 27,659,270 3,545,846 1835 31,533,023 4,290,836 1840 54,560,513 6,057,795 1844 60,201,133 6,769,067 The number of stamps issued for each part of the United Kingdom in 1844 was as Stamps at 14. Stamps at 44. England 53,933,848 3,738,128 Wales 479,700 7,000 54,413,548 3,745,128 Scotland 5,727,585 817,620 Ireland 6,769,067 249,550 -- Total 66,910,200 4,312,298 In 1835, the year before the reduction of the stamp ditty took place, the number of stamps issued in the United Kingdom was 35,823,859. In Great Britain the increase in nine years has been 90 per cent.
The number of newspapers published in the United Kingdom in 1843 was 447: of this number 79 were printed in Lon don ; 212 in other places In England ; 8 in Wales ; 69 in Scotland ; and 79 in Ire land. The sum annually expended in newspapers is estimated at 1,250,0004 while the estimated annual returns of the whole commerce of the press, including weekly publications which are not news papers, monthly publications, &c., do not exceed 2,085,0001. [Boost TRADE, p. 406.] In 1843 the number of stamps issued to 79 London newspapers was 31,692,092, or rather more than one-half of the total number issued in Great Britain. The
average sale of the daily and other Lon don newspapers in the year 1838, and the number of advertisements, are shown in the following table Circulation Adyta.
6 daily morning total 32,574 1,225 5 daily evening 12,956 211 4 three times a week 8,617 45 3 twice a week 6,741 170 33 weekly . . 212,807 1,805 Total 273,695 3,456 Within the last two or three years the Times' has issued daily a double paper, that is, eight pages of six columns each. The printed area of the whole paper (both sides) is more than 19e square feet, or a space of nearly 5 feet by 4. The number of persons employed on such an establishment as the ' Times' is about one hundred, including editors, sub-editors, reporters, readers, clerks, and compositors. Correspondents are besides employed at all the great centres of politics and commerce throughout the world. In the mouths of September and October, 1845, in consequence of the pressure of railway advertisements, the Morning Herald' on several occasions issued three sheets, containing altogether 72 columns, and in the quantity of printed matter equal to a number of the Edin burgh Review.' As the stamp duty on each sheet was Id., and the newspaper was sold at 5d., there was a loss sus tained ou each copy of the paper sold : and the larger the circulation of the paper, the greater would be the loss. The chief source of profit to the London daily newspapers is derived from adver tisements. The activity of the London newspapers in procuring early intelli gence is one of their most remarkable features. The Morning Chronicle,' in December, 1845, gave a full report of a free-trade meeting at Bradford in York shire, which did not terminate until a late hour ou the previous evening. The proprietors of the paper went to the expense of engaging a special engine to bring the report to London. Thus a town two hundred miles off is in some sort made a suburb of the metropolis. The close of the poll at the Sunderland election, in August, 1845, was brought to the 'Times' office in London, and a copy of the paper, containing the in telligence. reached Sunderland before noon the neat day, the time in which the journey to and from Sunderland was ac complished being only about twenty hours. This rapidity of communicating intelligence is not without its political influence. Public opinion is developed with an energy and activity which at least have the effect of abridging the period that would otherwise be spent in political agitation.
The circulation of 220 English and Welsh provincial newspapers in 1843 was 17,397,556, or rather more than half the circulation of the London news papers. The average circulation of each paper was 1576; but several papers have a circulation exceeding 5000. The Mercury' and 'Stamford Mer cury' each circulate between nine and ten thousand copies ; and a few of the provincial papers contain from two to three hundred advertisements weekly. With two exceptions, at Manchester, all the English provincial papers are pub lished weekly.
The political character of the news paper press of the United Kingdom at the close of 1842 is shown in the follow ing table: the neutral' papers are chiefly trade circulars, and some contain only advertisements: Conservative. Liberal. Nearm. London . . 21 30 39 England, Provincial 89 105 13 Wales . . 3 5..
Scotland . . 25 32 8 Ireland . . 35 38 4 British Islands . 8 9 ..
219 64