Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 14

By referring to the Act subsequently pa.s.sed we see that these recommendations were carried out to the letter.

In regard to the fifth section of the Act, concerning the Parcel Post, we come across another example of the curious shuffling of dates and apparent _ex post facto_ law making which we have previously noted. In quoting the Postmaster General's report for _30th Sept., 1858_,[81] we found it stated that the Parcel Post had been in operation "from _1st January, 1859_," and now we have the Legislative Act providing for it pa.s.sed under date of _4th May, 1859_! This is going it one better on "reading history backward" by actually making it backward! The reports at least, as we previously deduced, were evidently written some time after the dates given them and did not confine their record to happenings previous to those fict.i.tious dates. Confirmation of this is furnished by the Postmaster General's report that we have to consider, that of the Hon. Sydney Smith for the year ending 30th September, 1859, the report being actually dated 20th February, 1860.

[81] See page 67.

Further details concerning the Parcel Post are not given until the Report for 30th June, 1864, where we read:--

By means of the Parcel Post a parcel may be sent within the Province to or from any place, however remote from the ordinary lines of traffic conveyance, on prepayment of a postage rate of 25 cents per lb., provided that the weight or size of the parcel does not exceed the carrying capacity of an ordinary mail bag; and provided that the contents of the parcel are not of a character to injure the rest of the mail.

The rate is given in decimal currency, then in use, but at the time of the establishment of the Parcel Post the equivalent rate would have been 1s. 3d. currency. In the Report for 1865 it is stated that:--

The provisions of the Parcel Post have been extended to parcels pa.s.sing between Canada and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and parcels not containing letters may now be forwarded by post from one end of British North America to the other, on prepayment of a uniform rate of 25 cents per lb.

In the report for 1859, mentioned above, we find the following:--

The Law of last Session directing the conversion of all postage rates into decimals, and the collection of postage in the new decimal currency, was put in operation on the 1st July.... Decimal stamps of the value of 1 cent, 5 cents, and 10 cents for ordinary correspondence, and of 12-1/2 cents for Canadian, and of 17 cents for British Packet Postage Rates were obtained in readiness for the commencement of the Decimal Postage Law in July, 1859, and have from that date been issued in lieu of the stamps previously in use.

The cents issue of Canadian stamps therefore dates from July 1, 1859.

The stamps themselves were merely an adaptation of the designs of the pence series to the corresponding values of the decimal currency. The ONE CENT stamp was unchanged from the half-penny except for the subst.i.tution of the new for the former value. The FIVE CENTS stamp had these words in place of the old denomination, with a quarterfoil ornament separating them at each side from CANADA and POSTAGE. Oblique figures 5 were placed in the spandrels on a cross-hatched ground instead of the upright figures 3 on foliations. A similar change was made in the TEN CENTS, Roman numerals X being placed obliquely in the spandrels on a cross-hatched ground where upright figures 6 were previously on foliations; while the new denomination was subst.i.tuted for the old. The sole change in the 12-1/2 cent stamp was to subst.i.tute "12-1/2c." in the spandrels for the former values in sterling and currency. The 17 cent stamp had the value in words replacing TEN PENCE, but the new value was so much longer that the emblems between the old value and CANADA POSTAGE were removed and replaced by two small elliptic ornaments. "8d. stg." still occupies the upper spandrels, but figures 17 are placed in each of the lower ones. The central designs in each of the above stamps are absolutely identical with those of the pence stamps that preceded them--indeed the portrait and surrounding oval with inscriptions on the 12-1/2 c. are all unchanged. From this it is evident that the new dies were "built up" from the old ones, the central portions being transferred and the required changes in surrounding inscriptions, etc., being newly engraved. This was easy enough of accomplishment since the American Bank Note Co., who furnished the new stamps, were the successors of Messrs. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson, the firm name having been changed on May 1, 1858, and the dies of the pence issue were of course in their possession. Ill.u.s.trations of the five values will be found as Nos. 10, 15, 12, 13 and 14, respectively, on Plate I.

There was one addition to the list of values in this set during its period of use--a 2 cent stamp. In the Postmaster General's Report for 30th June, 1864, it is noted:--"A new Postage Stamp, of the value of two cents, was added to the other denominations supplied, from the 1st.

August last [1864]." The Report for the succeeding year has this further to say:--"A provision has been made for the transmission and delivery of Canadian periodicals, addressed to the United Kingdom, at the reduced rate of two cents each," and it was evidently largely on account of this that the new stamp was ordered. Its design was unmistakably "built up"

as with the rest of the set, the 1 cent stamp serving as the model, figures 2 being placed in ovals in the spandrels and the wording of the value being changed to correspond. (Ill.u.s.tration No. 11 on Plate I). The stamp was issued as stated on the 1st August, 1864.

All the stamps of this issue were, as before, line engraved and printed in sheets of 100, ten rows of ten. The same style of marginal inscriptions as in the first issue is found--"American Bank Note Co.

New-York" in minute letters of the type known as "diamond," repeated twice in each margin, reading up on the left, down on the right, and inverted at the bottom of the sheet. In the 1, 2, 5 and 12-1/2c. stamps the imprint is placed against the third and eighth stamps of each marginal row of ten, but from a block of 10c. at hand the inscriptions in the case of this value are apparently "centered" over the s.p.a.ce between the third and fourth and the seventh and eighth stamps of each marginal row, thus bringing them over two stamps instead of one.

Curiously enough, the 17c. value has no marginal inscriptions at all.

The same plate variety that occurs in the 3d. stamp--the "s.h.i.+fted transfer" or "double strike"--is repeated in its successor, the 5c.

stamp. That it is a true plate variety is abundantly proved by the fine block of seven stamps ill.u.s.trated as No. 96 on Plate VII. The variety will be found in the upper right corner stamp, and the doubling of the frame lines at the left and of the oval frame line above CANADA will be readily apparent. A single copy is ill.u.s.trated as No. 19 on Plate I. It seems to have been first noted by Mr. R. Wuesthoff in the _American Journal of Philately_ for June, 1892.

A minor variety of the 5c. stamp printed from a worn plate is also to be noted, in which the fine lines of the groundwork have almost disappeared.

The entire series comes regularly perforated 12, the identical normal perforation of the pence stamps that immediately preceded it, and which we have endeavored to trace to the same source. The abnormal varieties in this series are of course the imperforate ones, and of these we present cuts of a full set in blocks of four, numbered 100 to 105 on Plate IX. That the stamps were actually issued and used in this condition is proved by copies of several with the proper postmarks of the period in the Pack collection. Mr. Pack writes of them[82]:--

I have the 1c. and 5c. postmarked in 1860 and 1861 at Toronto and Prescott, Canada West. I also believe that these varieties were on sale at Kingston, Canada West, at about that time. I have also the 2c. and 10c. in undoubtedly early used condition.

[82] =London Philatelist, XVI=: 144.

Further varieties are formed by "split" stamps, as before, though these were never authorized and seldom used. We are fortunate in being able to ill.u.s.trate two five cent stamps used with half of a third to make up the 12-1/2c. packet rate. This is No. 97 on Plate VII. The postmark is unfortunately mostly torn away, but is evidently "Montreal," and the last numeral in the year figures seems to be an "8," which would mean "1868." A 10c. stamp also split and used for a 5c. is shown on the entire as No. 99 on Plate VIII. The postmark is "Bowmanville, U.C., Feb.

15, 1860."

The normal colors for the stamps of this series may be given as 1 cent deep rose, 2 cents dull rose, 5 cents deep red, 12-1/2 cents deep green, and 17 cents Prussian blue. It will be noticed that we have omitted the 10 cents--and with reason. If the 6 pence stamp of the preceding issue was difficult to select a normal color for, how shall we find one for its successor? Messrs. Corwin and King say[83]:--"The most surprising fact about this issue is the vast number of colors and shades to be found in the 10 cents. We have several hundreds of them in our collection, and are continually adding new color varieties." They run all the way from a bright red lilac through shades of violet and brown to a black brown, which is so dark and distinct that it has for years been catalogued separately.

[83] =Metropolitan Philatelist, II=: 3.

The paper on which these stamps were printed does not show as much variation as in the previous issue. Mr. King[84] gives a list of five varieties, all of which vary considerably in thickness. It seems sufficient for our purposes, however, to list them under three heads as ordinary wove paper, a thick, hard wove paper, and ribbed paper.

[84] =Monthly Journal, VII=: 32.

These stamps were in issue from the 1st July 1859, until the series issued for the new Dominion of Canada appeared on 1st April, 1868. The stamp accounts in the various Postmaster General's Reports give the quant.i.ties received and issued, and we present here a summary of these tables as their reproduction entire would serve no useful purpose unless to show the increase in the consumption of stamps from year to year as the postal business increased.

_Received from_ _manufacturers_: 1c. 5c. 10c. 12-1/2c. 17c.

quarter ending 30th Sept. 1859 1,000,400 1,000,089 200,000 200,000 50,000 year ending 30th Sept. 1860 2,000,050 2,499,986 300,000 300,000 50,000 year ending 30th Sept. 1861 2,200,100 3,400,300 499,998 199,996 50,000 year ending 30th Sept. 1862 2,799,900 3,300,350 400,000 399,996 50,000 year ending 30th Sept. 1863 3,500,200 4,300,450 600,050 300,000 100,000 9mos. ending 30th June 1864 3,000,000 3,999,999 800,000 399,990 49,999 year ending 30th June 1865 3,064,800 4,890,598 700,000 676,600 100,000 year ending 30th June 1866 3,910,000 8,100,000 800,000 400,100 50,000 year ending 30th June 1867 5,100,000 5,100,500 999,650 299,950 100,000 year ending 30th June 1868 (?)900,000 3,199,900 400,000 ? ......

---------- --------- ------- --------- ------- Totals 27,475,450 39,792,172 5,799,698 3,176,632 599,999

The yearly supplies of the 2 cent stamps, first appearing in the 1865 accounts, were as follows:--

1865 360,000 1866 300,000 1867 200,500 1868 50,000(?) ------- Total 910,500

Unfortunately the stamp accounts for 1868 do not separate the supplies received in the old and new designs, so that in the case of the 1, 2 and 12-1/2 cent stamps, which appear in both issues, the quant.i.ty delivered by the manufacturers is a total which we cannot divide with certainty.

An approximation may perhaps be made, particularly with the 2 cent stamp. The balance of this value on hand 30th June, 1867, was 171,000, and the deliveries in the year ending 30th June, 1868, were 2,050,000.

Inasmuch as the yearly issue of this value had been some 250,000, the probability is that the odd 50,000 delivered belonged to the 1859 series, as this would make 221,000 for the nine month's supply to 1st April; the even two millions were doubtless the order for the new series. The yearly issue of the 1 cent had been some 3-1/2 to 4 millions; if from the 2,900,000 received, according to the 1868 Report, we take the odd 900,000, we find it makes 3,308,900 when combined with the balance on hand in 1867. This gives a sufficient supply for the nine months of the old issue and leaves an even two millions again for the new series. The 12-1/2 cent presents a slightly different aspect. The yearly issue had been some 400,000, and the amount on hand in 1867 was 385,750--without doubt a plentiful supply for the nine months preceding the issue of the new stamps. It must be remembered, also, in all these cases, that the "amount on hand" was that of the Department's stock, and that the postmasters were of course in possession of local stocks. It therefore seems probable that the 500,000 12-1/2 cent stamps received in 1868 were of the new series alone. The 5 and 10 cent stamps, however, which are lacking in the new set, can at once be added to their preceding deliveries, and it will be noted that no further supplies of the 17c. stamp were required during the year.

We find in the Department accounts that the American Bank Note Co. was paid $1331.70 for "engraving postage stamps" during the fiscal year, which was the final settlement with that Company.

What became of the remainder of the old issue does not appear, but it seems probable that they were largely used up in the course of regular business, as no object would be gained by turning in the relatively small quant.i.ties remaining, for accounting and destruction, unless it be the 17 cent value, which had become rather useless. Curiously enough, the stamp accounts _do_ separate the old and new issues in the "balance on hand, 30th June, 1868," which was three months after the appearance of the new set. These figures are as follows:--

1 cent 319,900 2 cents 700 5 cents 138,400 10 cents 60,650 12-1/2 cents 68,750 17 cents 33,876

Glancing now over the Postmaster General's reports for the years 1859-1868, during which the above issue was in use, and which were the last years of the strictly provincial control, we find many items of interest.

In the report for 1859 it is noted that "the issue and use by the public of Postage Stamps has increased with great rapidity since last return,"

and the issue of stamped envelopes "for the promotion of public convenience" is announced. These will be treated of by themselves in a later chapter. We find the experiment was made of placing street letter boxes in Toronto, and "with very encouraging results as to the extent to which the number of letters posted in these boxes would appear to demonstrate their usefulness. These Pillar Boxes are visited, at least twice each day, at suitable hours, by Post Office Messengers, in order to convey the letters deposited in them to the Post Office."

Preparations were also being made to install letter boxes in Montreal and Quebec.

The Department accounts have the following entries:--

Rawdon, Wright & Co., supply of letter and newspaper stamps $238.69 American Bank Note Co., engraving letter and newspaper stamps 1487.40

Of course the amounts all went to the same concern, as the firm name had been changed on May 1, 1858, as already noted.

The report for 1860 contains interesting statistical information concerning the growth of the Department, which it may be well to put on record:--

Year No. of Miles of No. of letters Postal Revenue Remarks Offices. Post by Post (deducting Route. per annum. dead letters.) 1851 601 7,595 2,132,000

1852 840 8,618 3,700,000 $230,629.00 {First year of { account under { Provincial control.

1853 1016 9,122 4,250,000 278,587.00 {Charge on { newspapers { reduced one-half.

1854 1166 10,027 5,100,000 320,000.00

1855 1293 11,192 6,000,000 368,166.00 {Newspapers conveyed { without charge.

1856 1375 11,839 7,000,000 374,295.00

1857 1506 13,253 8,500,000 462,163.00

1858 1566 13,600 9,000,000 541,153.00