do accept it, they are as much bound to pay the bill as if it had been drawn on them.

Should they refuse to interfere, the notary would state the fact in his protest.

Notice of dishonour should in all cases be forwarded to the party sending the bill directly it is refused acceptance or payment.

Merchants consider this sufficient when they have confidence in the solvability of the party from whom they received the bill; but if they have any doubt about the matter and wish to retain their right to claim on all the other endorsers and the drawer, they should send notice of dishonour to all of them. Each endorser will also, in turn, give similar notice to the parties liable to him.

Want of notice of dishonour would exempt them from liability.

The notice of dishonour need not be in any particular wording, but care should be taken that it is clear and precise.

The following is a very good form of notice :

Example of a Notice of Dishonour.

"We beg to give you notice that the undernoted bill has been duly presented to

for payment, and

"has been dishonoured, and that we shall look to you for

RE-EXCHANGE ACCOUNT.

The Re-exchange Account is a document setting forth the expense of protest incurred through the bill not having been honoured, and it should be accompanied by a broker's certificate of the current exchange, as the drawer is bound to refund the money at the exchange of the maturity of the dishonoured bill.

The following example will serve as a guide to show how a Re-exchange Account should be made up.

We will suppose that the acceptors have failed to pay the bill shown on p. 251, and that Thomas White & Co., the holders, after having had it protested, have presented it through the notary to Messrs. Williams, Marshall & Co., who have paid it for honour of the drawers.

Example of a Re-Exchange Account.

Re-exchange account of a bill of £600 drawn by Olando & Co., dated Seville, 1st January, 1901, at sixty days' date, on Smith & Dawson, of London, protested for non-payment, but paid by us for honour of the drawers.

Here Williams, Marshall & Co., would draw a bill on Olando & Co. for the amount of the Re-exchange Account, which they send to them with the protest, the dishonoured bill, and the Broker's Certificate of Exchange.

But we will again suppose that there was no indication in case of need on the bill, and that nobody paid it for honour of the drawer or either of the endorsers in such case as before said, Thomas White & Co. would draw their Re-draft on E. Latour & Co., of Paris, to whom they would send their Re-exchange Account, of the same tenor as regards charges, but with a different heading-something of this sort :

Another Example.

Re-exchange account of a bill of £600 drawn by Olando & Co., dated Seville, 1st January, 1901, at sixty days' date on Smith & Dawson, of London, and sent us by Messrs. E. Latour & Co., of Paris, to whom we now return it protested for non-payment. It is not usual to allow more than one re-exchange commission on the same bill.

A NOTARY.

A notary is a public officer whose business it is to certify to the execution of deeds, to serve notices, and to perform acts of which formal or judicial evidence is required. His acts are respected both in this country and abroad, but when his acts are to be used abroad his signature should be attested by the Consul of the country in which they are to be used.

In the same way notarial acts made abroad and intended for use in this country should bear the attestation of the British Consul there.

A CONSUL.

A Consul is an officer appointed by a Government to look after the interests of its traders, seamen, or travellers abroad. All the chief trading countries have Consuls at our principal ports, and we in the same way maintain Consuls at theirs.

STAMP DUTIES ON BILLS OF EXCHANGE.

All bills of exchange must bear the stamp fixed by Act of Parliament. If a bill is not sufficiently stamped the maker or negotiator is liable to a penalty.

The following is a table of the stamp duties fixed by Act of Parliament :

And 1s. for every additional £100 or fraction of £100.

The penalty is that every person who issues, endorses, transfers, negotiates, presents for payment, or pays any bill of exchange or promissory note liable to duty, and not being duly stamped, shall forfeit the sum of £10, and the person who receives in payment or as security such bill or note not being duly stamped, shall not be entitled to recover thereon, or to make the same available for any purpose whatever.

From the above wording of the Stamp Act it will be seen that an imperfectly stamped bill is absolutely void

in law, but the fact of its bearing a larger stamp than required would not invalidate it, nor would any penalty attach thereto.

When bills are drawn in sets of three, one of these— usually the first-only is to bear the whole of the stamp.

With bills drawn in the United Kingdom otherwise than on demand, the stamp must be impressed.

DISCOUNTING A BILL.

It often happens that the holder or payee of a bill of exchange requires the money before it becomes due, and he therefore takes the bill to his bankers or to one of the discounting houses, to whom he endorses it, and they pay him at once the amount of the bill, less a certain charge per cent. per annum called "Discount". The discount is charged on the number of days a bill has to run, and is calculated in exactly the same way as interest, but it is of course deducted from the principal.

The merchant who gets a bill discounted continues, as an endorser, liable until it is paid. Very often the acceptor, having more money than he requires for immediate use, will affix a ticket to the bill, when he gives it up after acceptance, bearing an indication to the effect that he will pay it under discount at such a rate, when the holder of the bill will of course accept this offer or not as he pleases.

The charge for discounting bills of exchange varies according to the financial standing of the drawers or endorsers and the state of the money market. It is also much influenced by the bank rate of discount, fixed by