Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 35

There remained, between the habitation and the river, only a strip of land about twenty-five feet wide, and behind, on the side of the cape, a plot of cultivated ground about 100 to 120 paces by 60 paces. There Champlain had wheat and rye planted and also set out vines.

[188] =Journal des Philatelistes=, 5th Series, page 298.

As with the Jubilee stamps, some special sets were made up for presentation purposes. The following press clipping gives the details:[189]--

As the Prince of Wales is an enthusiastic collector of stamps, His Royal Highness will no doubt be very pleased to receive the set of the special tercentenary stamps which will be presented to him at Quebec. The stamps will be held in small gold boxes, enclosed in a handsome large box of Morocco leather. A second set accompanies the gift in a special gold box. On the cover of the large box is the Prince's crest and a gold plate inscribed as follows: "Set of Canadian postage stamps issued upon the occasion of the Quebec tercentenary, 1908. Presented to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales by Hon Rodolphe Lemieux, Postmaster-General of Canada." Sets of these stamps, in boxes with appropriate crests and monograms, will be presented to Earl Grey, Sir Wilfred Laurier and Hon.

Rodolphe Lemieux.

[189] =Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News=, XXII: 265.

Unlike the Jubilee issue, no advance information concerning quant.i.ties printed was given out. Many attempts were made to get this interesting detail, but without result. Even an interpellation of the Postmaster-General in the House of Commons was unproductive, as witness the following excerpt:[190]--

Mr. McKechnie sends us information regarding the issue, indicating that there is to be no such vexatious limits set upon the number to be printed as was the case with the Jubilee 1/2c. Postmaster-General Lemieux is reported, in the _Canadian Hansard_, to have said in answer to a query as to the number printed of each denomination: "Since the arrangements as to the respective quant.i.ties comprising the series are thus far of a necessarily tentative character, being largely dependent upon the demand therefor that may arise, no final estimate has been made of the number to be issued in each denomination."

[190] =Canadian Hansard=, 31st March, 1909, page 3754.

All of which was simply a parliamentary way of saying "mind your own business", as the full quota of stamps was doubtless printed and delivered at that time. At any rate, a _Memorandum for the Postmaster_, issued from headquarters under date of 12th September, 1908, states that "With the exception of the 10c, 15c and 20c stamps, all of the Tercentenary postage stamps are now exhausted." However, the question of the quant.i.ty issued was again brought up in the House of Commons, after some time, and the following two questions propounded by a member:[191]--

1. What was the total amount received by the Post Office Department from the sale of the special Tercentenary stamps? 2. What part of this sum would probably have been received as ordinary revenue if there had been no special issue of stamps?

To these questions the Hon. Rodolphe Lemieux, Postmaster-General, responded: The following was the issue to Postmasters of the Tercentenary postage stamps:

Denominations. Quant.i.ties. Value.

1/2 cent 2,000,000 $10,000 1 " 22,530,000 225,300 2 " 35,100,000 702,000 5 " 1,200,000 60,000 7 " 700,000 49,000 10 " 500,000 50,000 15 " 300,000 45,000 20 " 304,200 60,840 ---------- --------- Totals, 62,634,200 $1,202,140

The department has no knowledge whether the stamps in question have all been sold, as during their issue the ordinary postage stamps were also on sale, both issues being in use as preferred by the public. The proceeds derived from the sale of stamps of the two issues were not kept separately, but treated as arising from a common source. It is, therefore, impossible to state to what extent the issue of the Tercentenary postage stamps may have affected the ordinary revenue.

[191] =Ibid.=, XXII: 256.

The Report of 1909, in referring to this issue, had the following remarks:--

To meet what appeared to be a general wish a special series of postage stamps, which has come to be known as the Tercentenary Series, was introduced as a feature of the celebration in July, 1908, of the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Quebec by Champlain. The first supply of these stamps was sent out to Postmasters about the middle of that month, and was on sale to the public by the time His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales reached Quebec for the celebration. The demand for the new stamps was extraordinary, and for the better part of a month was steadily kept up. The interest taken in them was, in no small measure, due to the historic a.s.sociations with which in design they were so happily linked, the subjects depicted in the several denominations of the series being in variety and appropriateness admirably adapted to the end in view,--popular recognition of an epoch-making event.

The Report of 1910 notes that the last issue of the Tercentenary stamps was on Oct. 14, 1908,--apparently the 15 cent denomination. The whole issue was thus exhausted in three months' time.

CHAPTER XVII

THE REGISTRATION STAMPS

The first mention that we find concerning the registration system in Canada is in the Postmaster General's report for the year ending 31st March, 1856, in the following words:--"The number of letters pa.s.sing through the Post under the Registration System commenced in May 1855, is very great, and is rapidly increasing." The number of letters is given in even figures as 350,000 during the first year. The Report states further:--"In October 1856, an agreement with the Post Office Department of the United States took effect for a system of Registration to be applied to letters pa.s.sing between the two countries. Under this arrangement a person posting a letter on either side can, by the pre-payment of a fee of 3d. in addition to the ordinary postage, secure a continuous record of its transmission from the place of posting to the place of destination, where a receipt will be taken and preserved of the due delivery of the letter so registered." Further details are found in the postal section of the Canadian Directory for 1857-8, as follows:--

Persons transmitting letters, which they desire should pa.s.s through the post as "registered letters," must observe that no record is taken of any letter unless specially handed in for registration at the time of posting. Upon all such letters, with the exception of those addressed to the United States, one penny must be prepaid as a registration charge. If addressed to the United States, the ordinary postage rate on the letters to that country _must be prepaid_, and in addition a registration charge of 3d. per letter. The registry thus effected in Canada will be carried on by the United States Post office until the letter arrives at its destination.

In like manner, letters addressed to Canada may be registered at the place of posting in the United States, and the registry made there will accompany the letter to the place of delivery in Canada.

A certificate of registration will be given by the postmaster if required.

The registration system can be applied to the letter portion of the mail only....

_[The Postal Department is not liable for the loss of any registered letters._]

The next year's Report gives the number of registered letters posted annually as computed at 500,000. The Report of 30th September, 1858 also says: "About 500,000 letters were registered last year", and goes on to state:--"It is also considered that it would be an improvement on the system if the charge for registration were made pre-payable by a stamp, instead of by money as at present." From this it is evident that the postage stamps were not then used for indicating the payment of the registration fee. Just when they were permitted to be so employed does not appear, but it was doubtless within a comparatively short time thereafter, as we have seen a cover with stamp so used which was dated in 1862; in fact it seems probable that arrangements for using stamps to indicate the payment for registration may have accompanied the introduction of the decimal stamps in 1859.

Further remarks upon the registration system are found in the Report for 1860, as follows:--

A rate of charge for Registration so low as, in no probable degree, to operate as a motive, with persons posting letters of value, to deny themselves the advantage of securing from the Post Office an acknowledgement of the receipt of the specific letter, has always been considered to be a cardinal point in the Canadian Registration System.

The Registration fee, or charge, has, therefore, under the influence of this consideration, been maintained at 2 cents, though it is doubtful whether such a rate of charge covers the actual cost of the process; the address of the Registered Letter having, in the course of transmission, to be entered on an average not less than six times, and forms of certificate or receipt, and Books in which to preserve permanent records at each Post Office, to to supplied.

From the above it is evident that the domestic rate of registration was 2 cents in 1860, the equivalent of the 1 penny rate already noted as being in force in 1857, and doubtless the original rate when the system was inaugurated in 1855--certainly a remarkably cheap fee for the service. Of course the rate for letters to the United States, which had been fixed at 3 pence in 1856, was held at the equivalent of 5 cents upon the change to decimal currency in 1859.

Nothing further of special interest is found until the Report of 1864, in which the following dissertation occurs:--

When a letter is _registered_, that is to say marked and recorded in the Post Office so as to individualize it from the bulk of ordinary letter correspondence, its presence in the Post Office can be identified and its course of transmission traced, and a registered letter is thus secured from the chance of abstraction by an unfaithful messenger employed to post it (as it is always open to proof whether the letter was posted for registration or not), from risk of loss by accidental misdirection on the part of the sender, and from mistakes in the Post Office--such as mis-sending or delivery to a wrong party. Against actual dishonesty on the part of the Post Office employes, a registered letter is incomparably more secure than an unregistered one, for an unregistered money-letter leaves no trace behind it whilst pa.s.sing in the great stream of ordinary correspondence, though its presence as a money-letter and the nature of its contents are, to any person accustomed to handle letters, as manifest as though the letter had been singled out and marked by the registered stamp. Moreover, the safety of an unregistered letter in dependent on the integrity of a Post Office Clerk during the whole time that it remains in his custody, frequently for hours or even days; whilst a registered letter will almost invariably have to be acknowledged at the moment of its pa.s.sing into an officer's hands, and cannot thereafter be suppressed without leaving him individually accountable for its disposal.

In the Report for 1865 it is stated that "there has been a reduction in the charge on Registered letters" between Canada and the United Kingdom, but we are left in the dark as to the amount of the reduction or the new rate, as far as the Report goes, but in a _Post Office Directory for 1866_ (dated October 1, 1865) we find the following table which gives us the information desired:--

REGISTRATION OF LETTERS.

The charge for Registration, in addition to the Postage, is as follows, viz.:

On Letters to any other place in Canada, or British North America 2 cents On Letters for the United States 5 "

On Letters for the United Kingdom 12-1/2 "

On Letters for British Colonies or Possessions, sent _via_ England 25 "

On Letters for France and other Foreign Countries, _via_ England, an amount equal to the postage rate.

Both the postage charge and registration fee must in all cases be prepaid.

The _Post Office Act_ 1867 made the domestic registration of letters containing valuables compulsory, the Postmaster General being empowered to prescribe and enforce regulations "in respect to the registration by the officers of the Post Office of letters unquestionably containing money or other valuable enclosure when posted without registration by the senders of the same, and to imposing a rate of two cents registration charge upon such letters."[192]

[192] 31^o Vict. Cap. X. Sec. 10, par. 11. See page 96.

The Report for 1868, which was the first of the Dominion of Canada, gave the statistics of registered letters as 640,000 for Ontario and Quebec (the former Province of Canada), 24,700 for New Brunswick, and 40,000 for Nova Scotia, a total registered correspondence of 704,700. The next year's Report especially notes the increase in the use of the registration system, the total having advanced to 850,000 pieces, while the Report for 1870 records an even million.

Finally in the Report for 1872, we find the first hint of special stamps for registration purposes, as follows:--

It seems expedient to adopt some distinctive postage stamp to be used only in prepayment of the Registration charge, both to make it clear that this charge has been duly paid and accounted for in every case, and to diminish the risk which is occasionally felt at points of distribution of omitting to carry on the Registration in cases where the ordinary Registration postmark is not as distinct and calculated to arrest attention as it should be.

It has always been the policy of the Canadian Post Office to admit letters to Registration at a low rate of charge for the additional security thus given, so as to leave no adequate motive, on the score of cost, for sending valuable letters through the mails unregistered; and, doubtless, the very large proportion of such letters offered for registration demonstrates a gratifying measure of success in attaining the desired object.

We have here the reason for the extremely cheap domestic registry fee of 2 cents--a reason which might, possibly with profit, even, enter more deeply into the calculations and published rates of even larger countries than Canada.

The above recommendation did not bear immediate fruit, but after a delay of three years the suggested special stamps made their appearance on November 15, 1875. The Report of that year says of them:--

Registration stamps have been issued, to be used by the public in prepaying the registration charges on letters pa.s.sing within the Dominion, or to the United Kingdom or United States, each destination being distinguished by a different colour in the stamp, as well as by a variation in the amount of registration charge and corresponding value of the stamp.