Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 24

Newspapers and periodicals issued less frequently than once a month, and addressed to regular subscribers or news agents, and on all specimen newspapers, one cent per pound or fraction of a pound.

British newspapers and periodicals brought by mail to Canadian booksellers, or News Agents, for regular subscribers in Canada are liable to 1 cent per lb. or fraction of a lb.

Newspapers from offices of publication for city delivery are subject to ordinary transient newspaper rates.

_3rd Cla.s.s Matter.--Addressed to Canada._--1. Transient newspapers and periodicals. Rate, 1 cent per 4 oz.; prepayment compulsory; limit of weight, 5 lbs. A single paper weighing not more than 1 oz.

may pa.s.s for 1/2 cent.

2. Book packets. Rate, 1 cent per 4 oz.; limit of weight, 5 lbs., except for a single book, in which case the limit is 7 lbs.

3. Miscellaneous matter. (_a_) Printed pamphlets, printed circulars, etc., and also seeds, cuttings, bulbs, etc.; rate, 1 cent per 4 oz.

(_b_) Maps, lithographs, photographs, circulars produced by a multiplying process easy to recognize, deeds, mortgages, insurance policies, militia, school and munic.i.p.al returns, printed stationery, etc.; rate, 1 cent per 2 oz.

Circulars, Prices Current, etc., to pa.s.s at 1 c. rate must be ENTIRELY PRINTED. Any insertion in ink is not permissible, except the name and address of the addressee, the name of the sender and the date of the circular itself.

Circulars type-written, or in such form as to resemble type-written, are liable to letter rate.

All miscellaneous matter must be put up so as to admit of easy inspection. The limit of weight is 5 lbs.

4. Patterns and samples. Rate, 1 cent per 4 oz.; limit of weight 24 oz.; must be securely put up and open to inspection, and boxes or linen bags should be used for flour and similar matter.

_Miscellaneous Matter for the United States._--(_a_) Newspapers and periodicals; rate 1 cent per 4 oz. (_b_) Other miscellaneous matter, including books; rate, 1 cent per 2 oz., but a minimum prepayment of 5 cents is required for legal and commercial papers.

The limit of weight for patterns and samples is 8 oz., and for other matter under this head 5 lbs.

_4th Cla.s.s Matter.--Parcel Post for Canada._--Parcels must not exceed five lbs. in weight nor two feet in length by one foot in breadth or thickness. The postage is 6 cents per 4 oz., and the parcel should be marked "by PARCEL POST." Parcels may be registered by affixing a 5 cent Registration Stamp thereto, in addition to the postage.

Insufficiently paid parcels may be forwarded charged with simply the deficient postage, provided one full rate is paid and the deficiency does not exceed one rate.

_5th Cla.s.s Matter._--Comprises such articles of general merchandise as are not ent.i.tled to any lower rate of postage. Postage 1 cent per oz., or fraction of an ounce. Limit of weight, 5 lbs.; of size, two feet in length by one foot in width or depth. Matter claiming to be 5th Cla.s.s _must be open to inspection_ and there must be no correspondence enclosed. Packages of 5th Cla.s.s matter, including Seeds, Bulbs, Cuttings, Roots, may be sent to the United States for the same prepayment as required within the Dominion, but the contents will be liable to Customs inspection and collection of duty in the United States. Sealed tins containing fish, lobster, vegetables, meats, &c., if put up in a solid manner and labelled in such a way as to fully indicate the nature of their contents may be sent as 5th Cla.s.s Matter within the Dominion, but no sealed matter can be forwarded to the United States under this head. Liquids, oils and fatty substances may be sent to places in Canada and the United States as 5th Cla.s.s Matter, if put up in accordance with the ruling referring to such articles in the Canada Postal Guide. Electrotype blocks are included in this cla.s.s. An insufficiently prepaid packet of 5th Cla.s.s Matter may be forwarded charged with double the deficient postage, provided the deficiency does not exceed 5 cents.

_Parcel Post.--For the United Kingdom and the Countries and Colonies with which the United Kingdom maintains Parcel Post relations, and for Newfoundland, Barbados, British Guiana, Grenada, St. Lucia, St.

Vincent, Jamaica, Turks Island, Curacoa and j.a.pan._--Parcels securely and substantially packed and closed for the United Kingdom, and other countries and colonies to which parcels may be sent via England, and for Newfoundland, limited in size to 2 feet in length by one foot in width or depth. The postage for the United Kingdom, which must be prepaid, is 20c. for the first lb. and 16c. for each additional lb. or fraction of a pound; the limit of weight is 11 lbs. For j.a.pan the postage is 25c., the limit of weight is 7 lbs.

For Newfoundland, 15 c. per lb., or fraction of a pound. For Barbados, British Guiana, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St.

Vincent, 20 c. per lb. Parcels for Newfoundland are daily forwarded on to Halifax, N.S. For j.a.pan, on to Vancouver, B. C. For Barbados, British Guiana, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent, on to St. John, N.B., and for the United Kingdom and other countries and colonies by the weekly mail and conveyed by the steamers of the Canadian Lines.

Parcels posted without the formalities required are sent to the Dead Letter Office, Ottawa.

_Registration._--All cla.s.ses of matter may be registered to places in Canada, the United States and Postal Union Countries, and the sender may ent.i.tle himself to an acknowledgement of delivery from the party addressed by the payment of a fee of 5 cents in addition to the registration fee.

(A) _Commercial Papers_, (B) _Books and_ (C) _Samples, for Postal Union Countries_.

"Commercial papers" comprise all papers or doc.u.ments, written or drawn, wholly or partly by hand, (except letters or communications in the nature of letters, or other doc.u.ments having the character of an actual and personal correspondence), doc.u.ments of legal procedure, Deeds drawn up by public functionaries, copies of, or extracts from Deeds under private seal, Way-Bills, Bills of Lading, Invoices and other doc.u.ments of a mercantile character, doc.u.ments of Insurance and other public companies, all kinds of ma.n.u.script music, the ma.n.u.script of books and other literary works, and other papers of a similar description.

"Printed Papers" include periodical works, books, st.i.tched or bound, sheets of printed music, visiting cards, address cards, proofs of printing with or without the ma.n.u.script relating thereto, engravings, photographs, when not on gla.s.s or in frames containing gla.s.s, drawings, plans, maps, catalogues, prospectuses, announcements and notices of various kinds, printed, engraved, lithographed, printed circulars.

(A) Limits of weight and size: 5 lbs. for the United Kingdom, and 4 lbs. for other countries, 18 inches in length and 12 inches in width or depth.

(B) 5 lbs. for the United Kingdom, and 4 lbs. to other countries, 2 feet long and 1 foot wide or deep.

(C) United Kingdom, 5 lbs. in weight, 2 feet in length by 1 foot in breadth or depth.

(D) Limits of weight to Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Egypt, France, Hawaii, Italy, Portugal, Roumania and Switzerland, is 12 ozs., limit of size 1 foot in length by 8 inches in width and 4 inches in depth.

If in form of a roll it may be 12 inches in length and 6 inches in diameter.

The limit of weight to other Postal Union Countries is 8 ozs., limit of size same as to Austria-Hungary, &c., &c.

_Matter Which Cannot be Forwarded Through the Post._--Liquids, Oils, etc., not properly put up. Explosive Substances and other matter likely to entail risk or injury to the ordinary contents of the mail, cannot be sent by post.

Letters containing Gold or Silver Money, Jewels, or precious articles, or anything liable to Customs duties, cannot be forwarded by Post to any of the Postal Union Countries except the United States.

We see from the above postal packet rates where the use of a 20 cent stamp would be convenient, which accounts for the announcement of the new value in the Postmaster General's Report last quoted in the preceding chapter. The 50 cent stamp of course would serve a useful purpose in making up relatively large amounts of postage. The above rates also show that there was still use for the 15 cent stamp in payment of parcels to Newfoundland.

We find notice of the issue of the new values in the _Dominion Philatelist_[117] as follows:--

As foreshadowed in the Postmaster General's report, there have appeared Canada postage stamps of the value of 20c. and 50c.; the 20c. is a bright deep orange and the 50c. is indigo blue, they are of similar design and resemble very much the third issue bill stamp and may be described as follows: head and shoulders of Queen to left, with widow's cap and chin resting on right hand, enclosed in a circle; above the circle the words "Canada Postage", below the circle at either side the value in figures and across the bottom the value in words.... The above were all placed on sale Feb. 22nd. The 20c. and 50c. stamps were intended for parcel post.

[117] =Dominion Philatelist=, V: 31.

The somewhat ambiguous description will be more readily understood by reference to the ill.u.s.trations, numbers 33 and 35 on Plate II.

The stamps, as stated, are very evidently copied from the design of the dollar values of the Bill Stamps issued in 1868. The portrait of the Queen in her widow's weeds, in fact, is doubtless reproduced directly from the original die engraved twenty-five years previously. The stamps were of course line engraved on steel, and printed in the usual sheet arrangement of 100, ten rows of ten. The plates of course emanated from Ottawa, but bear a new imprint, similar to the second one used in Montreal. The colored strip is now 38 mm. long and 2-1/2 mm. high with square ends, and bears the legend: "British American Bank Note Co.

Ottawa." within a pearled border. It appears only twice, in the center of the top and of the bottom margins, and can be seen in ill.u.s.trations Nos. 106 and 108 on Plate IX. The colors are not exactly as described in our quotation, the 20 cent being a vermilion or bright red, similar to the colors of the 3 cent, and the 50 cent a deep blue, but not indigo.

According to the advices of the _American Journal of Philately_ (VI: 102) the stamps were issued on the 17th February--five days earlier than the above quotation states.

Both values were printed on a medium white wove paper and perforated 12.

Both were ordered to the number of half a million copies in 1893, and in 1895 25,000 more of the 20 cent and 30,000 more of the 50 cent were delivered, with a final 200 copies of each in 1896. These quant.i.ties were sufficient to last until the 20 cent was superseded by the newer type in 1901, and the 50 cent by the King's head stamp in 1908. Some 1500 of the 20 cent were returned for destruction and about 10,000 of the 50 cent!

Both these stamps are found imperforate and in this condition are to be cla.s.sed in the same category as the imperforates of the "small cents issue," which we have already considered.[118] Ill.u.s.trations of blocks of four of each will be found as numbers 106 and 108 on Plate IX. The 50 cent is in a peculiar black blue shade.

[118] See page 130.

In the preceding chapter we quoted a circular from the Postmaster General which called attention to the changes made by _The Post Office Act, 1889_. A uniform registration fee of 5 cents was one of these, and to enable the 2 cent registration stamps to be used up permission was given to make up the difference by postage stamps when registering mail matter. Four years later it was decided to discontinue the use of the special stamp for the registration fee, and to permit its prepayment by ordinary postage stamps. As the combined letter and registration rate was eight cents, a stamp of this value for use on registered letters was deemed advisable. We read under "Canadian Notes" in _Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News_ for August 10, 1893:--

The following orders were posted up in all the Canadian post-offices on August 1st:

"A new postage stamp of the value of 8c. is now being put into circulation. This stamp will be available for the prepayment either of registration fee and postage combined, or of postage only. The 5c. registration stamp, when the present supply is exhausted, will be withdrawn."

The new stamp reverted to the small size and general design of the "small cents issue", but with the important difference that the head was turned to the _left_ instead of the right, as with all the others of that series. It was line engraved on steel, as usual, and the only entire sheet we have seen was of 200, in ten horizontal rows of twenty stamps, but without a sign of any marginal imprints. The perforation variety 11-1/2 12 is reported as occurring in this value also, as well as the regular gauge 12. The color was at first a bluish gray, which soon darkened and ran through a series of shades as if in emulation of the old 6 pence stamp. Mr. Horsley states[119] that it appeared in slate-blue in October of 1893, and slate in 1895. _Alfred Smith's Monthly Circular_ for December, 1895, records it in a "dark slate-black," and the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ for November 30, 1895, says that "a peculiar feature in connection with the new shade of the current eight cent Canada postage stamp is that upon being put in water and left there for a few minutes the paper becomes of a pinkish tint which after the stamp becomes dry still remains." This "new shade" was doubtless the dark slate color referred to, which must have been issued, therefore, in October or November of 1895. In December, 1897, the _Monthly Journal_ notes it in a "deep purple", similar in shade to the 8 cent Jubilee stamp, and very likely printed from the same mixing of ink.

[119] =London Philatelist=, XVI: 88.

The stamp was printed upon a medium white wove paper, and is found in imperforate condition like the other values of the then current stamps, which we have already described.[120] The imperforates are in the early bluish gray color, so that it is fair to suppose they were from the first printings in 1893. A block of four is ill.u.s.trated as number 110 on Plate X.

[120] See page 130.

The first delivery of these stamps--and of course the first printing--was of 100,000, as recorded in the stamp accounts for 1893. As these accounts were made up to 30th June, and there is no record of any "issue to postmasters," the stamps were doubtless delivered just before the accounts were closed, so that opportunity had not been given to distribute the new value. For the next few fiscal years the amount received from the manufacturers averaged over a million and a half annually, so that by the time it was superseded it had been printed to the number of at least 7-1/2 millions.