The Project Gutenberg eBook of Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery, by Clifton Armstrong Howes

A new general issue of Canadian postage stamps is imminent, being necessitated by the fact that the present Liberal government has entered into a new contract for engraving and printing Dominion treasury notes, postage and revenue stamps, and in short, all government matter. The previous contractors were the British American Bank Note Co. of Montreal.... When the bids for a renewal of the engraving contract were opened last winter, it was found that the American Bank Note Company of New York were the lowest bidders, and that they bound themselves in the event of the acceptance of their tender to build and equip a printing establishment in Ottawa, in compliance with the conditions of the bids. Their tender was accepted and they have carried out their undertaking by building a commodious and fully equipped establishment near that of their rivals on Wellington Street. Of the new presses the Jubilee issue of postage stamps were the first fruits. The impending general issue will be required as soon as the existing stock of the current issue is exhausted, and it is rumored that the supply of some values is running low.

This much is announced,—that the design for the new issue has been decided upon; that the center of the stamp will contain a portrait of the Queen taken at the time of the Jubilee, approved and signed by the Queen as the best existing likeness of her, and that our national emblem, the maple leaf, will appear in the corners—not the unnatural and misshapen leaf that appears on the Jubilee issue, but the real article, copied from actual leaves gathered on Parliament hill. This would indicate that there will be only one die for all the values, but I have as yet no information as to size, colours, or details.

A couple of weeks later a circular was sent to postmasters announcing the new stamps, etc., of which the following is a copy:[141]—

Circular to Postmaster.

The Postmaster-General has made arrangements for a new issue of postage stamps, letter cards, stamped envelopes, post cards and post bands. These will be supplied to postmasters in the usual way.

Postmasters are, however, instructed not to sell the stamps of any denomination of the new issue until the stamps of the corresponding denomination of the present issue are disposed of. The filling of requisitions by the Postage Stamp Branch will be regulated by the same principle—that is to say, no item of the proposed issue will be sent out until the corresponding item of the present issue has been exhausted.

To conform to the requirements of the International Postal Union, the color of the new 1c. stamp will be green and that of the 5c. stamp a deep blue.

R. M. COULTER,
Deputy Postmaster-General.
Post-Office Department, Canada.
Ottawa, 25th October, 1897.

These instructions were followed out, and the issue of the new series was thus stretched over a considerable length of time. The first to appear was the ½ cent, two weeks after the date of the above circular. The circumstances of its début are told under "Ottawa Notes" in the Weekly Philatelic Era:[142]—

The half cent stamp of the new issue was placed on sale today [9th November, 1897], its appearance having been precipitated by events over which the postal authorities had no control.... The philatelists, anticipating an early exhaustion of the old half cent stamp, helped the thing along by quietly but assiduously buying in every copy in sight. As a consequence the stock ran down much faster than that of other values, and a few weeks ago orders were issued that no more were to be sold to the public, but that publishers entitled to the half cent rate should take their papers to the post-offices and there have the stamps affixed by the staff. Even that did not save the distance [sic]. I hear that in Montreal it was found necessary to use cent stamps to prepay the half cent rate.[143] Fortunately for the reputation of Canadian stamps, these stamps were not over-printed with new value, and we have been spared a surcharge. However, the postal authorities hurried forward the printing and circulation of the new issue, in that value at least, and it is an accomplished fact.

The next value to appear was the 6 cent, which was announced in the Weekly Philatelic Era under date of 4th December, 1897 as having been put in circulation. Following closely upon this came the 1, 2, 5 and 8 cent stamps, and in January, 1898 the 3 and 10 cent.

The new stamps were very simple in design, the central oval containing a portrait of Queen Victoria copied from a photograph by W. & D. Downey of London, taken at the time of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. CANADA POSTAGE and the value in words only appear in Egyptian capitals on the oval frame to the portrait, and each spandrel is occupied by a maple leaf. Much criticism was engendered by the fact that the portrait was too large for its frame, making the design appear cramped and thus giving a disappointing effect to what otherwise might have proved a most neat and effective stamp. [Illustration No. 36 on Plate II].

The stamps were as usual line engraved on steel, and printed on the same stout white wove paper that was employed for the Jubilee issue, as well as on a thinner and more brittle quality. The 5 cent, for the first time in Canadian philatelic history, appeared on a colored paper, the stock having a decidedly bluish tint. The perforation was the regulation gauge 12. But one irregularity seems to be known, and that is the 5 cents imperforate, a block of four of which we are able to illustrate as No. 112 on Plate X.

The sheet arrangement was intended to be the usual block of 100 impressions, ten by ten, but the Ottawa correspondent of the Weekly Philatelic Era tells us that in the case of the ½ cent stamp the first plate was twice this size.

By some misunderstanding the contractors, the American Bank Note Co., set the sheet up with 200 stamps, and the first five hundred sheets were so printed. The sheets were afterwards cut in two through the imprint, and we have these half sheets with a close imperforated margin on either the left or right edge. Afterwards sheets of 100 stamps were issued, all the stamps perforated on all four sides. Plate number collectors will find the earliest sheets difficult to obtain. Both sheets bear the plate number 1.[144]

The imprint on the sheets was the same as that on the Jubilee sheets, OTTAWA—No—1, etc., but instead of numbering the plates all consecutively, each denomination began its own series with "No 1." The imprint is placed in the top margin only, over the middle two stamps (5 and 6) of the top row. In the case of the 14 cent stamps each style of the first two plates was numbered "1". The plate of 200 impressions was arranged in ten horizontal rows of twenty stamps each, thus bringing the imprint over stamps 10 and 11 of the top row, and as it was between these that the large sheets were severed, the imprint was cut in two in the process. All the other values were made up in sheets of 100 only.

For the information of plate number collectors we give a list of such numbers as we have been able to ascertain.

The quantity of each value issued before they were replaced by the stamps with numerals is stated to have been as follows:[145]—

A similar variation is found in the dimensions of these stamps to that occurring in the 7½ d. and 10d. stamps and the issue of 1868, and has caused quite a little comment from those unfamiliar with this phenomenon. As much as ½ mm. in the vertical measurements can be found between many stamps. The cause is of course the uneven shrinking of the dampened paper when drying after being printed upon. This was fully discussed in an earlier chapter.[146] As the paper in the present instance is very similar in quality to that used for printing the United States stamps, in which the same peculiarity occurs, we will quote Mr. Melville's comment on the subject:[147]—

As we have said, the paper is impressed when damp.... This wetting-down business has another effect which has always puzzled philatelists. The wet paper is taken into a hot room to dry, and in drying it contracts. The contraction is not uniform and the philatelist in trying to prove the existence of more than one original die will pin his faith to the idea that if the varieties noticeable were due to contraction of the paper the contraction would be proportionate on all sides of the stamp. This is not the case however.

Paper, when absorbing moisture, expands more in one direction than the other. The direction of greater expansion is what is technically known as the "cross direction", and is the direction across the flow of pulp in the paper making machine. During the flow of the pulp the bulk of the fibres lie parallel with the movement of the wire gauze, and it is a scientific fact that the diameter of a fibre is increased by absorption of water much more than is the length. The subsequent shrinking on drying also is uneven.

The contract with the British American Bank Note Company expired on the 22nd April, 1897, and a contract was entered into with the American Bank Note Company for the manufacture and supply of postage stamps &c. An estimate of the probable ordinary requirements for the next fiscal year and the comparison based thereon between the old and the present rates show that, under the new contract, stamp supplies will cost the department, say, $10,000 per annum less than under the old contract, a reduction in outlay of about 20%.

It is also noted that during 1896-7 electric cancelling ("mail marking") machines were introduced, six of which were rented and installed in the Montreal Post Office and one at Ottawa.

The reduction in the domestic letter rate from 3 cents to 2 cents per ounce is forecasted, as well as a proposed reduction from 5 cents to 2 cents per ½ ounce on letters between Great Britain and many of her colonial possessions. This will be more thoroughly discussed later.

Owing to the change of contract for the manufacture and supply of postage stamps, a new series of stamps became necessary at the beginning of the present fiscal year. New stamps ranging in value from the ½ cent to the 10 cent denomination (inclusive) were printed, and the first supplies thereof sent out to postmasters as the corresponding denominations of the old stamps became exhausted. A considerable quantity of the higher values of that series (15 cents, 20 cents and 50 cents) remaining over from the late contract, these three stamps continued to be issued, so that the department, previous to the introduction of the same denominations in the new series, might, in accordance with the universal practice, dispose of the old stamps in each case before issuing any of the new. The design of the new stamps is of a uniform character, and consists of an engraved copy (reduced) of an authorized photograph of Her Majesty taken during the Diamond Jubilee year. This, placed within an oval bearing the usual inscriptions, is enclosed in a rectangular frame, a maple leaf on a lined ground occupying each of the triangular spaces between the two frames. To conform to the regulations of the Universal Postal Union, the colour of the new 1 cent stamp is green, and that of the 5 cents a deep blue. This necessitated corresponding changes in the colours of the other stamps of the new series; for example, purple, instead of green, being selected for the 2 cent denomination, and orange instead of slate for the 8 cent.

[141] American Journal of Philately, 2nd Series, X: 502.

[142] Weekly Philatelic Era, XII: 86.

[143] See page 156.

[144] Weekly Philatelic Era, XII: 132.

[145] Metropolitan Philatelist, X: 117.

[146] See page 53 et seq.

[147] United States Postage Stamps, 1894-1910, page 16.

CHAPTER XIII

THE "NUMERALS" ISSUE, 1898-1902

No further news of the numeral set is recorded until the issue of the Weekly Philatelic Era for September 17th, wherein its Toronto correspondent says that "Last week the 2c. purple with numerals in lower corners made its debut, a few days later the ½c arrived similarly altered, followed closely by the 6c." This evidently puts the issue of these three values within the first ten days of September. The 8 cent was recorded in the same paper for October 15th, so that it must have been issued about the first of the month. The 10 cent did not make its appearance until November, being noticed under the "Toronto Letter" in the Weekly Philatelic Era for November 19th, so that again it was doubtless the early part of the month that saw its advent.

For six months nothing further was heard of new "numeral" stamps, when finally the 5 cent, which was the one value lacking to complete the set in its altered form, made its appearance on July 3, 1899, according to a correspondent of Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News.[148]

The new type of stamp, as already stated, was merely an alteration of the preceding "maple leaf" design, due to two criticisms—that no numerals were shown, making it often difficult without a close look to tell the denomination, and bothersome to the large population of French origin who did not speak English; and that the portrait was too large for its oval frame, giving a somewhat cramped effect. In the new design, illustrated as number 40 on Plate II, the first objection was met by placing the proper numerals in small squares in the lower corners, which necessitated the removal of the maple leaves from the lower spandrels; and the second objection was met by enlarging the oval frame containing the portrait, thus giving a much better effect. To do this the oval was extended to the outside of the stamp, cutting the rectangular border lines instead of lying wholly within them, as in the design it superseded.

The stamps were of course line engraved on steel and printed in the usual sheets of 100, ten rows of ten. The imprint was the same as on the last issue, and the plates again began with No. 1 for each denomination. As far as we have been able to ascertain, the plate numbers are as follows:—

There were of course many more plates of the 1 cent stamp, at least, which remained in use for five years, and probably several more of the 2, 3, and 10 cent, but there seems to have been very little interest in Canada in keeping track of these.

But during the life of this series there were important changes taking place which were reflected in the stamp issues, and we must keep track of them.

In the first place, the Hon. William Mulock, the Canadian Postmaster-General, was a firm believer in and an active agitator for Imperial Penny Postage. At the Imperial Conference on Postal Rates in London, in July, 1898, the project was carried through, and a rate of one penny (2 cents) per half ounce established by certain colonies in connection with the Mother Country, to take effect on Christmas Day of 1898. Concerning this we shall have more to say in the next chapter; but meanwhile Canada's domestic rate stood at 3 cents per ounce or fraction, in spite of attempts to reduce it, particularly since the United States had lowered its internal rate in 1883. The anomaly would be presented under such conditions of a letter mailed from one town to another in Canada costing three cents, even if weighing a half ounce or less, while the same letter could cross to Great Britain and travel to Cape Colony, for instance, on payment of but two cents postage.

The agitation and the London conference evidently had their effect, for on the 13th June, 1898, a bill [149] in amendment of the Post Office Act was assented to in Parliament which substituted 2 cents for 3 cents as the domestic postage rate per ounce weight. It also provided that the new rate should not take effect until a date to be named by the Governor General. After the date for the inauguration of Imperial Penny Postage was fixed, the Governor General named New Year's day following as the date for the change in Canada's domestic rate. The following notice was published in the Canada Gazette:[150]—

By Proclamation dated the 29th day of December, 1898, in virtue of the Act further to amend the Post Office Act (61 Victoria, chapter 20) and of an Order in Council in accordance therewith, it was declared that the postage rate payable on all letters originating in and transmitted by post for any distance in Canada for delivery in Canada, should be one uniform rate of two cents per ounce weight, from the 1st January, 1899.

This of course had the immediate effect of vastly increasing the consumption of 2 cent stamps and also of rendering the 3 cent stamps practically useless. Another point would be that whereas the Postal Union requirements named red as the color for the stamp used for domestic postage, and the 3 cent had been in its proper hue, the stamp for the new internal rate was printed in purple and would therefore have to be changed. This change was not forced, however, the Post Office Department as usual preferring to use up the stock on hand of the current 2 cent stamp before issuing the new one. It took considerable time to do this, so that the 2 cent carmine did not make its appearance until the 20th August, according to a correspondent of Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News.[151] It was of course the same stamp as before but printed in the color of the 3 cent value, and we have to record plate numbers 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, though there were doubtless many more.

But the 3 cent stamp still remained on hand in large quantities, and in order to use them up more quickly and perhaps save confusion between them and the new 2 cent stamps, the Post Office Department decided upon surcharging the stock on hand down to 2 cents, thus making Canada's first offence in this line. The notice concerning this change and some others that were decided upon was as follows:—

Owing to the reduction in the Domestic letter rate of postage, the issue of the 3 c. letter-card, the 3c. stamped envelope and the 3 cent postage stamp from the Department has ceased. Any unused 3c. letter-cards, 3c. stamped envelopes or 3c. stamps, still extant, will, however, continue available for postage purposes, or may be exchanged at any Post Office, at their full face value, for postage stamps of other denominations.

The color of the Domestic-rate postage stamp, as prescribed by the Universal Postal Union, is red, and it is intended to discontinue the issue of the ordinary two cents purple colored stamps as soon as the present supply on hand is exhausted. This will be about the 20th July, 1899. Thereafter the Department will issue two cents stamps in red, first, however, surcharging down to two cents the unissued remnant of the three cents stamps in red, now in the possession of the Department, and as soon as the supply of such surcharged threes is exhausted, the issue of two cents stamps in red will begin. The surcharged stamps will be issued to Postmasters as 2c. postage stamps and be recognized as postage stamps of that denomination.

Postmasters are requested to exchange, as above mentioned, all unused 3c. letter-cards, 3c. stamped envelopes and 3c. stamps which may be offered them to be exchanged for other postage stamps of an equal value.

Postmasters, who as a result of such exchange, may find the 3c. stamps, etc., unsaleable, are at liberty, in the case of an Accounting Post Office, to send them direct to the Department for credit; and in the case of a Non-Accounting Post Office, to send them to the City Post Office from which it obtains its supplies, asking in lieu of those returned other stamps to an equal value.

It is especially requested that, in the case of stamps sent direct to the Department, under this authority, that is to say, by Accounting Post Offices,—Postmasters will be so good as to carry out the following instructions:—

(1) Each transmission should be registered, and accompanied with a brief memorandum, plainly stamped with the date stamp of the Post Office, and indicating the number and value of the 3c. stamps, etc., claimed to be enclosed. If other stamps are required to replace those returned, a separate requisition therefor (not enclosed in the package) should be sent direct to the Department in the usual way.

(2) Single stamps, and stamps that are not in complete sheets, should be pasted on alternate pages of separate sheets of paper, with not more than one hundred stamps on each page. Any stamps that have stuck together whilst in the possession of the Postmaster, must be taken apart (which can easily be done by immersing them for a few minutes in water) and then pasted on sheets of paper as above directed.

Postmasters of Non-Accounting Offices are particularly asked to bear in mind that any 3c. letter-cards, 3c. stamped envelopes or 3c. postage stamps which conformably to this instruction, they may receive from the public in exchange for other stamps and find unsaleable, must be returned, as above directed, to the City Post Offices from which they respectively obtain their supplies, and not to the Department.

As only the unused remnant of 3c. stamps now in the Department will be surcharged, Postmasters must not send in, with a view to their surcharge, any 3c. stamps in their possession nor accept 3c. stamps from the public for that purpose.

Postmasters must distinctly understand that the exchange of stamps herein permitted applies only to the 3c. letter-card, the 3c. stamped envelope and 3c postage stamp.

As a matter of fact the 2 cent purple seems to have lasted about a week longer than was anticipated in the above circular, so that the surcharged 3 cent stamps were not issued until the 28th July.[152] A correspondent of the Weekly Philatelic Era, in its issue for 22nd July, said: "I learn that the 3c numeral and some 3c with the four maple leaves will be surcharged," which proved correct; those first issued on the date mentioned above were of the numeral type, while on the 8th August [153] the "maple leaf" 3 cent made its appearance with the same surcharge.

Illustrations of the two stamps will be found as numbers 41 and 42 on Plate II. It is stated that the surcharge was made up in its peculiar form so as to prevent counterfeiting by the use of ordinary type. At any rate the graded height of the numeral and letters, giving the concave effect to the top of the surcharge, shows it to have been specially prepared. There is some variation in the thickness of the surcharge, due perhaps to inking and to wearing of the plates. The overprinting was done in full sheets of one hundred from a special plate, in black ink, and should normally be horizontally across the bottom of the stamps. Poor registering of the sheets in printing caused the position to vary even up to about the middle of the stamp in some cases, and of course there had to be some inverted surcharges in both varieties. The number of these has not been published. Illustrations of the inverts will be found as numbers 44 and 45 on Plate II.

The quantity of 3 cent stamps surcharged was reported by the Ottawa correspondent of the Weekly Philatelic Era[154] as "variously stated to be 9,000,000 to 11,000,000," while Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal is more definite [155] in saying that "there are some 9,000,000 of 3c. stamps in stock, of which about 6,000,000 are of the four leaves type, and the rest have the numerals in the lower corners." Just where these figures were obtained does not appear, but the Postmaster General's report for 30th June, 1900, makes the following statement:—"Included in the stamp output of the year was $123,600 worth of 3 cent stamps, which constituted the unissued remnant of 3 cent stamps in the possession of the department; on the occasion of the reduction of the domestic letter rate of postage they were surcharged and issued as 2 cent stamps." The figures quoted account for only 4,120,000 of the 3 cent stamps, and this quantity is confirmed in the Report for 1901, which says:—"In 1899-1900 3 cent stamps to the number of 4,120,000 were included in the output solely with a view to surcharging them down to 2 cents and transference to that column." The two varieties, however, are not separated in the accounts, but inasmuch as the catalogue prices are now, after ten years, at the same figure for each, it is reasonable to suppose that one is as common as the other and that therefore they must have been issued in approximately equal amounts.

Plate numbers for the surcharges seem to be again recorded in only a half hearted way. But one reference has been found to those of the numeral type, plates 5 and 6 [156], and none for the "maple leaf" type.

The reduction in the domestic rate of postage was also the cause of another provisional, but of quite a different character. Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal for January 31, 1899, says:—

In some offices 1c. and 2c. stamps ran short, and their places were supplied by one-third and two-thirds portions of 3c. stamps divided vertically. In some places, our correspondent says, these divided stamps were employed without further alteration, but in others we regret to hear that they were surcharged with a figure "2", in purple, upon the figure "3" of the larger portion, or the word "one" in green, upon the smaller part; or, to further complicate matters, when thirds of two adjoining stamps were used for 2c. each part was impressed with a figure "2". Our informant's letter is franked in part by ⅔ of a 3c. stamp surcharged "2" so we fear that this horrible tale is founded on fact.

The surcharged fractions appear to have been used only at the office at Port Hood, N. S., where the Postmaster apparently did not consider it safe to use divided stamps without some distinguishing mark. We have seen other copies since, and find that a figure "1" was struck upon the smaller portion; not the word "one" as previously stated.

In reference to the cut and surcharged 3c. stamps, a correspondent sends us the following extract from a letter from the postmaster of Port Hood:—

"When the change in Canadian postage was made—of which we got notice by wire—I had only very few two cent stamps in stock, so that before I got my supply from Ottawa I ran completely out of them, and, to keep my account straight, I was compelled to cut threes. This was for one day only, and not over 300 stamps were cut. I would say about 200 '2' and 100 '1' were used. Those stamps I put on letters for delivery within the county as much as possible. About 100 '2' and probably nearly as many '1' were marked with the figures 3 and 1 as you describe, and were placed on letters for delivery in towns throughout the Dominion. Those were the only provisional stamps used by this office."

Mr. Horsley reports having a copy on the original cover with the postmark of Port Hood dated 5 January, 1899, which is doubtless the "one day" that they were employed.

A Canada correspondent, writing in Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News[157] concerning these "splits", says that "the Dominion Government has announced that they were not authorized and letters having them on for postage should have been charged double rate when delivered." They may be interesting as curiosities, but they are assuredly not worthy of any great attention from collectors. Illustrations of the "2" cent and a pair of the "1" cent will be found as Nos. 37 and 39 respectively on Plate II.

Nothing further in the line of novelties is to be reported until the 29th December, 1900, when a new 20 cent stamp suddenly made its appearance as a companion in design to the rest of the "numeral" series. The large 20 cent stamp of 1893 had finally been exhausted, and the new comer in its neat olive green was a welcome addition to the current set. It of course conformed to the others in engraving, sheet arrangement, etc., and had the plate number 1. An examination of the stamp accounts during its term of life make it appear probable that approximately 500,000 were issued.

Finally the long heralded 7 cent stamp, which was supposed to take the place of the 8 cent stamp after the reduction of domestic postage, made its appearance nearly four years late! It was announced in a despatch to the Toronto Mail and Empire as follows:—

Ottawa, Dec. 18th, [1902].—The Post Office Department announces that on the 24th instant it will be in a position to supply a seven-cent postage stamp to accounting post offices throughout Canada. This stamp, which is of a yellow color, will be especially convenient for postage and registration fee on single rate letters, while it may also be used for other postage purposes to the extent of its face value. Non-accounting offices can obtain their supply through the city post offices. This new stamp will bear the Queen's head, the department not having yet decided on the design for the King's head issue.

The Postmaster General's Report for 1903, however, gives the issue of 7 cent stamps as occurring on the 23rd December, 1902. The stamp, as was the case with the 20 cent, conformed in all respects to the others of the numeral issue, but was printed in a hideous shade of olive yellow. There was but one plate number, No. 1. It seems probable that about one million copies constituted its total issue.

The above completes the issues of the numeral type stamps with the Queen's head. Glancing over the Reports of the Postmaster General, as usual, for the period during which they were in issue, we find the following items of interest.

In the Report for 30th June, 1899, the introduction of "Domestic Penny Postage" is thus recorded:—

On the 1st January, 1899, the letter rate within Canada was reduced from 3 to 2 cents per ounce. This change has been accompanied by such a marked and continuous increase in the number of domestic letters being transmitted through the mails, as to warrant the conclusion that the loss of revenue consequent on such reduction will soon be overcome.

As a result of the reduction in the Domestic Letter rate of postage, the issue of the 3c. letter card, 3c. stamped envelope and 3c. postage stamp has been discontinued, unused quantities of these, however, continuing available for postage purposes or exchangeable at any post office for their equivalent in postage stamps of other denominations.

On the 1st January, 1899, also, the provisions of the Act which reimposed postage payment on newspapers and periodicals went into effect. This was An Act further to amend the Post Office Act (assented to 13th June, 1898)[158] which we have already quoted as being the Act authorizing the reduction in the domestic postage rate to 2 cents per ounce. The third section of this Act repealed section 26 of the Post Office Act and substituted the following therefor:—

26. On and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, newspapers and periodicals, printed and published in Canada, mailed by the publisher in the post office at the place where they are published and addressed to regular subscribers or newsdealers in Canada, resident elsewhere than in the place of publication, shall be transmitted by mail to their respective addresses as follows:—

If they are required to be transmitted by mail a distance within twenty miles from the place of publication or within a circular area of a diameter not exceeding forty miles, and if their publication is of no greater frequency than once a week, they shall be so transmitted free of postage within one or other of such areas to be selected by the publisher in accordance with regulations in that behalf to be established by the Postmaster General; if they are required to be transmitted a greater distance, or if their publication is of greater frequency than once a week, then in either of such cases postage thereon shall be paid on and after the said first day of January, and until and inclusive of the thirtieth day of June next following, at the rate of one-quarter of one cent, and thereafter at the rate of one-half of one cent, for each pound weight or any fraction of a pound weight, which shall be prepaid by postage stamps or otherwise, as the Postmaster General from time to time directs; provided that—

(a) such newspaper or periodical is known and recognized as a newspaper or periodical in the generally received sense of the word, and consists wholly or in great part of political or other news or of articles relative thereto or to other current topics, and is published regularly at intervals of not more than one month;

(b) the full title, place and date of publication, and the distinguishing number of the issue are printed at the top of the first page, and every subsequent page, and also on any paper, print, lithograph or engraving purporting to be a supplement to it and sent with it;

(d) it is delivered into the post office under such regulations as the Postmaster General, from time to time, makes for that purpose.

2. For the purpose of determining the weights of such newspapers or periodicals, each newspaper or periodical transmitted separately through the mails shall be held to weight not less than one-half of one ounce.

3. [The Postmaster General to decide whether any publication comes under this section, and whether the requirements have been complied with in any case.]

4. [Books for the blind transmitted free of Canadian postage.]

One other item, not strictly philatelic perhaps, but interesting to record here, is the announcement of the issue of postal notes, the system having been inaugurated throughout Canada on the 4th August, 1898. It was intended mainly to obviate the need of remitting small sums by mail in postage stamps, with the consequent difficulty to the recipient of disposing of any quantity. The notes were for certain fixed values, odd amounts between values being made up by affixing postage stamps.

½	cent	2,000,000
1	"	34,000,000
2	"	12,000,000
3	"	44,000,000
5	"	3,500,000
6	"	500,000
8	"	1,400,000
10	"	500,000

½	cent,	No.	1 (2 plates).
1	"	Nos.	1, 2.
2	"	Nos.	1, 2, 3.
3	"	Nos.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
5	"	No.	1,.
6	"	No.	1.
8	"	No.	1.
10	"	No.	1.

½	cent	No.	1.
1	"	"	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
2	"	"	1, 2, 3, 4.
3	"	"	1, 2, 3, 4.
5	"	"	1, 2, 3.
6	"	"	1.
8	"	"	1.
10	"	"	1.

CHAPTER XIII THE "NUMERALS" ISSUE, 1898-1902

CHAPTER XIII

THE "NUMERALS" ISSUE, 1898-1902