Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 3

_Printed Circulars, Price Currents, Handbills, Pamphlets, Periodicals, Books, and other Printed Matter transmitted by Post in Canada._

1. Upon each Printed Circular, Price Current or Handbill, and other Printed matter of a like description, when unconnected with any ma.n.u.script or written communication and of no greater weight than one ounce, there shall be charged One penny; and for each additional ounce or fraction of an ounce, One penny additional.

2. Upon each Periodical or Magazine, Pamphlet and Book, bound or unbound, there shall be charged a rate of One half-penny per ounce.

3. Pre-payment of the foregoing rates will be optional, except when the Printed matter is addressed to the United States, and in that case the charge must invariably be pre-paid.

4. On such Printed matter received into Canada by Mail from the United States, the above Canada Rates will always remain to be collected on delivery in this Province.

5.[_Exchange of one copy between publishers is free._]

6. [_Must be unsealed; if writing is enclosed will be treated as a letter._]

7. No Book or packet of Periodicals, Magazines, &c., can be forwarded through the Post, if exceeding the weight of forty-eight ounces.

JAMES MORRIS. _Post Master General._

It is of course understood that the above does not apply to newspapers, which were charged to a nominal rate of 1/2d. each, the term _newspaper_ being considered to aply to periodicals issued not less often than once a week.

A supplementary order was issued, a couple of days later than the preceding, which announces a book post with England. It is a bit curious as prohibiting the use of postage stamps in prepayment of the charges, at a time when their introduction was supposed to be an improvement in the postal service.

SUPPLEMENTARY ORDER.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

TORONTO, 19_th April_, 1851.

_Book Post with England._

Under the authority of Her Majesty's Government, an arrangement will take effect on the fifteenth day of May next, under which Printed Books, Magazines, Reviews, or Pamphlets, whether British, Colonial, or Foreign, may be sent through the Post, between Canada and the United Kingdom, at the Following Rates of Postage:

[S] = Sterling [S] Currency For a single volume, _i.e._, Book, Magazine, Review, or Pamphlet, not exceeding half lb. in weight 6d. Equal to 7-1/2d.

For a single volume, &c., exceeding half lb. and not exceeding one lb. 1s. " to 1s. 3d.

For a single volume, &c., exceeding one lb. and not exceeding two lbs. 2s. " " 2s. 6d.

For a single volume, &c., exceeding two lbs. and not exceeding three lbs. 3s. " " 3s. 9d.

The above charge must always be pre-paid, on printed Books, &c., &c., sent to the United Kingdom under this Regulation, at the time of posting in Canada; and the pre-payment must be made in money, and cannot be taken in Canada Postage Stamps.

Postmasters, as with pre-paid Letters for England must rate the Books, &c., posted under this Regulation, in _red ink_, with both the sterling rate and its equivalent in currency, ...--thus, a Book, &c., weighing 3-1/2 pounds, will be rated:--

"Paid 4s. sterling--equal to 5s. currency."

JAMES MORRIS, _Post Master General._

The Department Circular No. 5, published from Toronto on 20th June, 1851, contains but one paragraph of interest to us.

Post Masters are informed that the transfer of the Post Office in the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Provincial control, will take place on the 6th July next, and that from that date the uniform rate of 3d. per 1/2 ounce will form the sole charge on a Letter transmitted between any place in Canada and any place in New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia. Pre-payment will be optional.

On the 30th August, 1851, the Canadian Parliament pa.s.sed an _Act to Amend the Post Office Act_. The only section of any particular interest to us is the following:--

14^o & 15^o Vict. Cap. LXXI.

XV. And be it enacted, That the Post Master General shall be authorized, whenever the same may be proper for the accommodation of the public in any city, to employ Letter Carriers for the delivery of letters received at the Post Office in such city, excepting such as the persons to whom they are addressed may have requested, in writing addressed to the Postmaster, to be retained in the Post Office, and for the receipt of letters at such places in the said city as the Postmaster General may direct, and for the deposit of the same in the Post Office; and for the delivery by Carrier of each letter received from the Post Office, the person to whom the same is delivered shall pay not exceeding One Penny, and for the delivery of each newspaper and pamphlet One Halfpenny, and for every letter received by a Carrier to be deposited in the Post Office, there shall be paid to him, at the time of the receipt, not exceeding One Half-penny:--all of which receipts, by the Carriers in any city, shall, if the Postmaster General so direct, be accounted for to the Postmaster of the said city, to const.i.tute a fund for the compensation of the said Carriers, and to be paid to them in such proportions and manner as the Postmaster General may direct.

But in the meantime the postage stamps, which will now be our main study, were issued to the public, and we will therefore turn back to the period of their birth and trace their history, together with the development of the post that accompanies it, through the nearly sixty years that have since elapsed.

CHAPTER II

THE ISSUE OF 1851

According to all good catalogues, the date of the first issue of stamps for Canada is the year 1851. If we find some more precise statement put forth in a special article on the subject, the date is apt to be given as the 6th April, 1851. If we go back into the dusty archives of the Canadian Post Office Department, we find the circular announcing the forthcoming stamps is dated a fortnight later than the hitherto supposed correct date for their issue. We reproduce it here in its entirety:--

DEPARTMENT ORDER [NO. 4.]

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, TORONTO, _21st April_, 1851.

_Stamps for the pre-payment of Postage on Letters._

Postage Stamps are about to be issued, one representing the Beaver, of the denomination of Three pence; the second representing the head of Prince Albert, of the denomination of Six pence; and the third, representing the head of Her Majesty, of the denomination of One s.h.i.+lling; which will shortly be transmitted to the Post Masters at important points, for sale.

Any Post Master receiving Stamps from this Department will, by the next mail, acknowledge the receipt of the amount. At the expiration of each Quarter, and with his Quarterly Postage Accounts, he will render an account of Stamps on a form which will be hereafter supplied, charging himself therein with any amount which remained on hand at the close of the preceding Quarter, and with the amounts received during the Quarter just ended, and crediting himself with the amount then remaining on hand. The balance of the account so stated, representing the amount of Stamps he has sold or disposed of, the Post Master will add to the balance due on his Return for the same Quarter of Postages.

Any Letter or Packet, with one or more Stamps affixed, equal in amount to the Postage properly chargeable thereon, may be mailed and forwarded from any office as a pre-paid Letter or Packet; but if the Stamps affixed be not adequate to the proper Postage, the Post Master receiving the Letter or Packet for transmission will rate it with the amount deficient in addition.--This Regulation concerning Letters short paid has reference only to Letters pa.s.sing within the Province.

Stamps so affixed are to be immediately _cancelled_ in the office in which the Letter or Packet may be deposited, with an instrument to be furnished for that purpose. In Post Offices not so furnished, the stamps must be cancelled by making a cross [X] on each with a pen.

If the cancelling has been omitted on the mailing of the Letter, the Post Master delivering it will cancel the stamp in the manner directed, and immediately report the Post Master who may have been delinquent, to the Department. Bear in mind that Stamps must invariably be cancelled before mailing the Letters to which they are affixed.

Letters and Packets pre-paid by Stamps must be entered in the Letter-Bill separately from other pre-paid Letters,--and in like manner in the Monthly Sheets.

J. MORRIS, _Post Master General_.

From the above it is plainly evident that the new stamps were _not_ placed in use on April 6th, the day of the transfer of the Post Office to Provincial control, as is usually stated. Furthermore, as this order announcing them states that the stamps are "about to be issued," it is evident that they did not appear concurrently with the order, which is dated April 21st.[7] As a matter of fact the first supply of the 3 pence stamps was only received by the Department from the manufacturers on April 5th, the day before the transfer, and the second supply on April 20th, the day before the above circular was issued; while the 6 pence and 12 pence stamps did not arrive until May 2nd and May 4th, respectively.[8] In a letter to Mr. Donald A. King,[9] dated 2d March, 1904, from Mr. William Smith, Secretary of the Department at Ottawa, the latter states "that postage stamps were issued to the public for the first time on 23rd April, 1851." This agrees with the other known facts, and can doubtless be taken as the correct date for the 3d. stamp. The 6d. stamp we have no further details for, but it was doubtless in use by the middle of May. For the 12d. stamp we have, fortunately, all the details, as will appear subsequently, and can give the exact date of issue as June 14, 1851.

[7] This correction of the date must be noted, for in Mr. King's article in the Monthly Journal, VII: 7, it is wrongly given as 1st April, which might lead to erroneous conclusions. In the Article by Messrs. Corwin and King, (Metropolitan Philatelist, I: 149), the date is correctly given.

[8] Metropolitan Philatelist, XVII: 83.

[9] London Philatelist, XIII: 153.