-----+------------------+--------------------- Year.| Yearly. |Quinquennial average. -----+------------------+--------------------- | £ s. d. | £ s. d. 1899 | 266,403 10 3 |} 1900 | 288,827 8 1½ |} 1901 | 297,479 19 6 |} 298,483 18 3 1902 | 306,337 5 9 |} 1903 | 333,371 7 9 |} | | 1904 | 323,445 14 0 |} 1905 | 331,438 17 6½ |} 1906 | 324,111 14 2 |} 328,048 16 0 1907 | 327,105 15 3½ |} 1908 | 334,141 19 2½ |} -----+------------------+--------------------- The value of the stamp which the vendor must affix to the bottle or package varies according to the price charged for the medicine, and the returns show the number of articles for which the several rates are paid. The following table gives the amount of the stamp duty on the several prices, the number of articles stamped in the fiscal year 1908, and the amount of the stamp. An attempt has also been made to estimate the total amount paid by the public for the articles stamped:— TABLE SHOWING RATES OF DUTY, NUMBER OF ARTICLES STAMPED AND APPROXIMATE SUM PAID BY THE PUBLIC IN THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31ST, 1908. ----------------+----------+------------------+--------------------- Price of Article| Stamp. |Number of articles|Price paid by public. without stamp. | | stamped. | ----------------+----------+------------------+--------------------- £ s. d. | s. d. | | £ s. d. 0 1 0 | 0 1½ | 33,037,202 | 1,858,342 12 0 0 2 6 | 0 3 | 7,565,822 | 1,040,300 10 0 0 4 0 | 0 6 | 1,002,549 | 225,573 10 6 0 10 0 | 1 0 | 122,249 | 67,236 19 0 1 0 0 | 2 0 | 18,445 | 20,289 10 0 1 10 0 | 3 0 | 11,308 | 18,658 4 0 ----------------+----------+------------------+--------------------- 41,757,575 | 3,230,401 5 6 -------------------+---------------------