Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 18

16. When posted in Canada for any place in Canada, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland or the United States, the rate will be one cent per four ounces.

17. A like rate will be payable on delivery in Canada, when received from the United States, Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland.

18. Periodicals weighing less than one ounce per number, when posted in Canada for any place within the Dominion, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland or the United States may, when put up singly, pa.s.s for one half cent per number, to be prepaid by Postage Stamp.

19. As the Postage Rates on Periodicals, other than Newspapers, will be payable in advance, and as certain cla.s.ses of such periodicals, printed and published in Canada, and sent from the office of publication to regular subscribers, have for some time past been exempted from postage where exclusively devoted to the education of youth, to temperance, agriculture and science, or for other reasons, it is ordered, that with respect to periodicals which do now enjoy this privilege or exemption, the exemption shall continue until the expiration of the current year--that is until the 31st December, 1868, and that from the 1st. January, 1869, all such special exemptions and privileges shall cease.

PARCEL POST.

20. The rate on Parcels, by Parcel Post, will be 12-1/2 cents per 8 ounces, that is to say:--

On a parcel not exceeding 8 oz 12-1/2 cents Over 8 oz., and not exceeding 1 lb 25 cents Over 1 lb., and not exceeding 24 oz 37-1/2 cents And so on, to the limit of three lbs.

BOOK AND NEWSPAPER Ma.n.u.sCRIPT, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS MATTER.

21. On Book and Newspaper Ma.n.u.script (meaning written articles intended for insertion in a newspaper or periodical, and addressed to the Editor or Publisher thereof, for insertion), Printers' Proof Sheets, whether corrected or not, Maps, Prints, Drawings, Engravings, Music, whether printed or written, packages of Seeds, Cuttings, Roots, Scions or Grafts, and Botanical Specimens, the rate will be 1 cent per ounce, when posted for any place in Canada or the United States, and prepaid by Postage Stamp.

POSTAGE STAMPS.

22. To enable the Public to prepay conveniently by Postage Stamp the foregoing rates, the following denominations of Postage Stamps for use throughout the Dominion, have been prepared, and will be supplied to Postmasters for sale:--#/

Half Cent Stamps } One cent do } Two cent do } Three cent do } All bearing, as a device, the effigy Six cent do } of Her Majesty.

Twelve and a half cent do } Fifteen cent do }

23. The Postage Stamps now in use in the several Provinces may be accepted, as at present, in prepayment of letters, etc., for a reasonable time after the 1st of April; but from and after that date all issues and sales to the public will be of the new denomination.

FRANKING AND FREE MATTER.

The following matter is exempt from Canadian Postage:--

24. All letters and other mailable matter addressed to or sent by the Governor of Canada.

25. All letters or other mailable matter addressed to or sent by any Department of the Government, at the seat of Government at Ottawa, under such regulations as may from time to time be made by the Governor in Council.

26. All letters and other mailable matter addressed to or sent by the Speaker or Chief Clerk of the Senate or of the House of Commons, or to or by any Member of either House, at the Seat of Government, during any Session of Parliament--or addressed to any of the Members or Officers in this section mentioned at the Seat of Government as aforesaid, during the ten days next before the meeting of Parliament.

27. All public doc.u.ments and printed papers sent by the Speaker or Chief Clerk of the Senate or of the House of Commons to any Member of either House during the recess of Parliament.

28. All papers printed by order of either House sent by Members of either House during the recess of Parliament.

29. Pet.i.tions and Addresses to either of the Provincial Legislatures of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, or to any branch thereof; and votes, proceedings and other papers, printed by order of any such Legislature, or any branch thereof, during any Session thereof,--provided such pet.i.tions and addresses, votes, proceedings and other papers, are sent without covers, or in covers open at the ends or sides, and contain no Letter or written communication to serve the purpose of a Letter.

30. Letters and other mailable matter (except that provided for as above) addressed to or sent by the Provincial Governments or Legislatures of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, will be liable to the ordinary rates of Postage.

31. Public doc.u.ments and printed papers sent under the foregoing clauses should bear, as part of the address, the bona fide superscription of the Speaker, Chief Clerk, or Officer specially deputed for this purpose to act for those functionaries, or of the Member sending the same.

32. The privilege of free transmission, as above described, has effect only as respects Canada Postage rates.

33. All letters and other mailable matter to and from the Postmaster General and the Deputy Postmaster General, and all Official communications to and from the Post Office Department, and to and from the Post Office Inspectors, are to pa.s.s free of Canadian Postage.

34. All letters and communications on the business of the Post Office Department, intended for the Post Office Department at Ottawa, should be invariably addressed to "The Postmaster General."

The branch of the Department for which the letter or communication is intended should be written on the left hand upper corner of the letter, thus:--

"For Accountant"

"For Secretary"

[etc.]

as the case may be, but the main direction must be to the Postmaster General, or Deputy Postmaster General.

35. All letters containing a remittance on account of the Public Revenue sent by any Postmaster in Canada to a Bank or Bank Agency; and all remittances or acknowledgements sent by a Bank or Bank agency, on account of Public Revenue, to any Postmaster in Canada, are to pa.s.s free through the Post, as respects both postage and registration charge.

36. No change is made in the Way or Sub-Office system of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Quebec or Ontario.

37. No change is made in the Money Order System.

38. A system of Post Office Savings Banks will be inst.i.tuted on the 1st. April, and will be extended as quickly as practicable to all the princ.i.p.al cities, towns and places throughout the Dominion.

A. CAMPBELL, _Postmaster General_.

CHAPTER VIII

THE ISSUE OF 1868

A glance at the new regulations quoted in the last chapter will show that there is no five or seventeen cent prepaid rate, and but one at ten cents--to British Columbia and Vancouver Island; as a result these three denominations are not found in the new set of Dominion postage stamps.

On the other hand the half cent transient newspaper rate, the three cent letter rate, with its double at six cents, and the new British Packet rate via New York of fifteen instead of seventeen cents, necessitated these four additional denominations in the new series.

The stamps themselves are as usual line engraved on steel, and present more "continuity of design" throughout the set than before. The main feature of this design is a circular medallion bearing a diademed profile portrait of Queen Victoria to right, on a horizontally lined ground. Arched above this medallion are the words CANADA POSTAGE, and beneath it the value, both in words and Arabic numerals, a slightly different arrangement occurring on each denomination. Foliations of acanthus pattern fill in the remainder of the design, making the outline somewhat irregular. The stamps are fairly large, averaging 20 24 mm.

in size, except the half cent, which is considerably smaller, being only 17 21 mm. They will be found ill.u.s.trated as Nos. 17, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23 and 24 on Plate I.

The stamps were printed in sheets of 100, ten rows of ten, and by the imprint we find they were the product of a new concern. This imprint appears in colorless capitals on a narrow strip of color with bossed ends, and reads BRITISH AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. MONTREAL & OTTAWA. This strip is framed by a very thin parallel line, its entire width being but one millimeter, while its length is about 51 mm. It occurs but once on a side, being placed against the middle two stamps (numbers 5 and 6) of each row at a distance of about 3 mm. (see ill.u.s.tration 107 on Plate IX.) The inscription reads up on the left and down on the right, as before, but the bottom one is now upright, instead of being reversed.

In the case of the half cent stamp at least, we find an additional marginal imprint over the second and third stamps of the top row. This consists of the words HALF CENT, in shaded Roman capitals 4 mm. high, the whole being about 40 mm. long, (ill.u.s.tration 119 on Plate XI).

Presumably the same thing, varied for each denomination, occurs on other values of the series, as we find it does on the succeeding issue; but a strip from the top of a sheet of the 15 cent stamps proves that it was lacking on that value at least.

The normal colors of the stamps of this series are approximately:--1/2 cent, black; 1 cent, brown red; 2 cents, green; 3 cents, deep red; 6 cents, dark brown; 12-1/2 cents, deep blue; 15 cents, mauve. We say approximately, since there is considerable variation as may be noted by a glance at the Reference List. Particularly is this the case with the 15 cent stamp. The earliest tint is the one we have noted--mauve; but the stamp was in practically continuous use down to 1900, and the gamut of shades and colors through which it pa.s.sed in that time is almost equal to the 10 cent stamp of the preceding issue.

Of the approximate dates of issue of some of the more p.r.o.nounced shades of the 15 cent stamp it is possible to give an idea through the chronicles of various contemporary magazines which noted them. The original stamp we know was in a mauve tint, and was so chronicled in the _Stamp Collector's Magazine_ for May 1868 (VI: 71). The _American Journal of Philately_ for April 20, 1868, (I:18) describes it as "lilac". The _Stamp Collector's Magazine_ in December, 1874 (XII: 182) says it has "just appeared in a dull deep mauve." Next M. Moens notes that it has become gray lilac, in _Le Timbre-poste_ for March, 1877.

Again in the issue for June, 1880, he records it in bright violet, while in May, 1881, it is described as a dark slate color (_ardoise fonce_).

In the July, 1888, issue of the _Halifax Philatelist_ the color is said to have reverted to the mauve tint of the first printings except that it was "more bluish", and once more in May, 1890, the _Dominion Philatelist_ states that "The Canada 15c. has again changed color. It is now bright violet." Finally, in _Mekeel's Weekly_ for March 12, 1896, under "Canadian Notes", we read that "quite a large stock is still on hand in the P.O. Department, but no more are being printed. What are going out now are the remainders of various batches. They are coming in all shades; some being almost the first issue colors."

It remains to note two additions to this series. The first was a change in color:--the 1 cent and 3 cent stamps were quite naturally found to be too nearly alike in shade to properly differentiate them in the rush of post office business. Hence the 1 cent was changed to an orange yellow, appearing in its new dress in 1809. The exact date seems not to be available, but we find it first noted in _The Philatelist_ for April 1, 1809, in these words:--"The 1 cent and 3 c. of this colony have been hitherto almost identical in hue; that anomaly is now rectified by the recent emission of the former value in bright orange." In the "Summary for the year 1809", the same paper credits the issue to January, 1869.[86]