30 
THE CHEMIST AND DEUGGIST OF AUSTEALASIA 
Feb. 1, 1887. 
the changes foreshadowed, but it will certainly not lose. We 
should like indeed to “ welcome the coming, speed the parting 
guest,” without instituting any doubtful comparisons. 
THE QUEENSLAND POSTAL RATES. 
Our subscribers in Queensland have been subjected this 
month to considerable annoyance, owing to a surcharge of 2s. 
Cd. on the diaries x^osted to them from this office. That is 
to say, while the other colonies accejoted and delivered diaries 
for a charge of lOd., Queensland requires 4s. for the same 
service. We hear from the Postal Department of Queensland 
that it declined to recognise a rate of book postage in force in 
Victoria, and refuses to accept packets i^aid at any other rate 
than that which was undoubtedly agreed to at the Inter- 
colonial Conference of 1873 as the intercolonial packet rate. 
Eighteen seventy-three ! — This is sublime. We wonder where 
else the xoostal rates remain what they were in 1873. Fourteen 
years has seen the x)OX)ulation of Queensland nearly trebled, 
but still the postal rates are to remain unaltered. 
Further, while other colonies will recognise as a newspaper 
a publication of a certain kind, whatever may be its weight, 
Queensland declares that her citizens shall not receive at a 
time more than four ounces of such literature without x->aying 
sixteen times the amount that any other colony charges. 
This is a comparatively small matter to us, but when it is 
multiplied by the pox^ulation of Queensland, it becomes large 
in the aggregate. It is a tax in restraint of knowledge ; it 
puts Queenslanders at a disadvantage with other colonists. 
It is not likely that the Dex)artment would long resist the 
combined pressure of our subscribers even, and we invite them 
each and all to comxdain of the annoyance and isolation in- 
flicted uj)on them by these antiquated regulations. If any of 
our subscribers who have not yet done so will communicate 
with us, we will refund the charge which has been made. We 
have communicated with all of them, but some seem to have 
overlooked the notice. 
THE PARCELS POST TO LONDON. 
Some of our readers may not be acquainted with the advan- 
tages offered by the Parcels Post over the usual forwarding 
agencies. Here is one experience. A parcel forwarded from 
London to Sydney through an agent was charged 8s. Od. plus 
duty ; the postal charge would have been 3s. The agent 
chai'ged Is. 3d. for insurance of £2. Another was charged 
fls., insurance for £4, being set down at 2s. 9d., but reduced 
before despatch to 9d. The postal charge Avould have been 
5s. We have had much experience with small parcels, and 
find that comxjared with forwarding agents the Parcels Post 
saves much delay, and about half the expense. By post 
proiiijrt delivery can be dex>ended on ; by agents delivery any 
time within a fortnight after arrival is accepted wdth grati- 
tude. 
LAW OF PAYMENT. 
It is a common error, says the Mercantile and Ikuihraptcy 
Gazette, that a creditor is bound to demand payment from his 
debtor before he can sue him for his debt. This is not so • 
there is no need for any such demand, and, on the contrary] 
it is the duty of the debtor to seek out his creditor and pay, or 
tender, him the sum owing. Of course creditors do send' in 
their accounts, and often send their collectors for the money; 
but they are under no legal obligation to either the one or the 
other. If the term of credit has exxhred, a creditor can take , 
proceedings for the recovery of his debt without any other 
demand than the action itself, although, where the costs are 
in the judge’s discretion, he might, in such a case, disallow' 
them to a creditor so acting. If a debtor i>leads payment, the : 
o«7cv of proving the fact falls upon him. Unless a bill, note, 
or cheque is taken as cash, it is really accepted by the creditor 
as a conditional payment, by which his right of action for the 
debt is suspended until the instrument arrives at maturity and 
is dishonoured. As to the aqipropriation of payments, the 
party paying has the right, in the first instance, to appropriate 
the money as he likes to such items or such portions of the 
account as he designates. But if he does not so a^q^ropriate 
it, then the creditor may apply it as he thinks fit, either at 
once or any subsequent period. If neither party appropriate 
the payments, the law will generally apply them to the dis- 
charge of antecedent debts in the order in' which they stand. 
NOVELTIES IMPORTED OR MANUFACTURED. 
We desire to call the attention of importers and manufac- 
turers, in all the colonies, to the fact that w'e are ahvays glad 
to notice any genuine novelties they may have been imported, 
or xnoduced. No charge is made for such notices. 
POSTAL INFORMATION. 
In connection of the Postal Information given in our Diary 
for 1887 W'e have to add that since the commencement of the 
year it has been arranged that Postal cards, at the rate of one 
penny each, shall be interchangeable in the Australasian 
colonies, with the exception of New' Zealand. Victoria re- 
ceives these post cards from other colonies, but cannot 
despatch them till Parliament has been consulted. 
The mails by the Messageries Maritimes to Mauritius, Mar- 
seilles, and London, w'ill start three days earlier than noted in 
the Diary. 
In telegraphic rates a change will be made by the Cape 
York lines in Queensland. The uniform rate of Is. x>er ten 
words W'ill be maintained over the land lines from any part of 
that colony, but an extra charge of 2s. will be exacted for 
messages to Thursday Island — the rate to that iflace being 3s., 
for the first ten words, and 3d. each succeeding word. 
This plant is somew'hat variable, and the 
EurnoimiA illustration given in our last issue shows ihe 
Drujimoxdii leaves larger than they a]px>ear in some speci- 
mens. The leaves are occasi»nally obovate. 
In some cases, but not all, the stalks and lower surface 
of the leaves are purplish; but the milky juice character- 
istic of the Kuiylwrhiacc(c is one of the best means of 
distinguishing it from plants with which it is likely to be 
confounded. Specimens of the plant deposited with us 
by Dr. Reid can be seen at this office. From an article on 
another page it will be seen that Dr. Reid considers his results 
confirmed by the experiments of Mr. Stanley, the Government 
Veterinarian of New' South Wales. When sheep eat the plant 
the drumine paralyses the sensory nerves of the stomach, thus 
putting a stop to digestion, and indirectly producing hoven. 
The properties of drumine seem so well adapted to many pur- 
poses that we are surprised no chemist has yet taken up the 
manufacture. Had attention been called to a native plant in 
England or America, as it has been called here, two months 
would certainly not have been allowed to pass before the active 
lirinciple had been placed on the market. 
Criticism or approval from without is always in- 
JouRx.vLs structive. It may not be known to our readers 
roR that the journalists in the United Kingdom have 
Societies, formed an association. One of the first thoughts 
w'as naturally a journal of their own ; there w'as 
a vigorous discussion on the subject, during which the Chair- 
man said he had all along held the opinion that, as an 
Association, they should have nothing to do with bringing 
out a journal. If they had a journal of their own it w’ould 
naturally be, more or less, one-sided. He thought they had 
better be criticised, and that criticism came better from a source 
outside their own control. He doubted whether the Asso- 
ciation w'ould be better served by its own journal than it now' 
was by the journal in existence. These view's seemed to have 
been endorsed by the meeting, which referred the w'hole 
matter to the executive committee. 
We have now received a small 
supply of the 
Reading Cases 
for 
“THE CHEMIST AND 
DRUGGIST,” 
and can SLqqfly them to our 
readers at two shillings each, 
j)Ost x)aid to all colonies, excej)t . 
Queensland, w'here they w'ill 
cost tw'o shillings and six^jence 
post paid. The postage 
amounts to six^ience in all - 
