_BY E. D. BACON._
Before laying before the members of the Society the few official notices
I have collected in reference to the Stamps of the North American
Colonies, I purpose prefacing what remarks I have to make in each case
with a short _resumé_ of the history of each of the provinces. These
historical particulars are taken for the most part from _The Colonial
Office List for 1889_, and are supplemented by additions from one or two
other works of reference.
British Columbia is situated on the north-west coast of North America,
and comprises the territory between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific
Coast; bounded on the north by the 60th parallel, and on the south by
the United States, the average breadth being about 250 miles, and the
length of coast line 450 miles. The area (including Vancouver and Queen
Charlotte Islands) is about 341,000 square miles.
British Columbia was constituted a Crown Colony in 1858, owing to the
large immigration consequent on the discovery of gold in that year.
Vancouver Island, discovered in 1592 by Juan de Fuca, was leased to the
Hudson’s Bay Company in 1843, and made a Crown Colony in 1819. In 1866
the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island were united, and
on July 20th, 1871, British Columbia entered the Dominion of Canada.
Vancouver Island is sometimes called QUADRA, after the Spanish commandant
on the coast of the mainland, at the time that the island was visited, in
1792, by the British naval officer, Captain George Vancouver, from whom
it derives its more usual name.
The earliest issue of _The Government Gazette, British Columbia_, I have
been able to find in this country is that of January 7th, 1865. This
number contains the following notices:
“PUBLIC NOTICE.
“_BRITISH COLUMBIA._
“RATES OF POSTAGE.
“Between British Columbia and Vancouver Island, delivered at
Victoria or New Westminster, for each Letter under ½ ounce 3d.
And for every additional ½ ounce or fractional excess 3d.
For each Newspaper 1d.
On all Letters and Papers to or from abroad, and delivered or
mailed at New Westminster, in addition to Foreign Postage,
for each letter under ½ ounce 3d.
And for every additional ½ ounce or fractional excess 3d.
For each Newspaper 1d.
Between a Post Office at any one place in the Colony and a
Post Office at any other place in the Colony, in all cases
to be prepaid, for each Letter under ½ ounce 6d.
And for every additional ½ ounce or fractional excess 6d.
For each Newspaper 6d.
“N.B.—Packages or Parcels other than Newspapers, and not
exceeding 8 ounces in weight, will be charged at Letter rate of
6d. per ½ ounce. No Parcel can be taken exceeding 8 ounces in
weight.
“(Signed) WARNER R. SPALDING, _Postmaster-General_.
“GENERAL POST OFFICE, _8th June, 1864_.”
“PUBLIC NOTICE.
“On and after the 20th day of June, 1864, all Letters and mail
matter liable to postage must be prepaid. Until other stamps
shall have been substituted there will be issued for the
prepayment of postage the postage stamps at present in use,
bearing the mark 2½d., for which the sum of 3d. will in future
be charged.
(Signed) WARNER R. SPALDING, _Postmaster-General_.
“GENERAL POST OFFICE, _11th June, 1864_.”
The above no doubt first appeared in _The Gazette_ about the middle
of June, 1864; but, as is customary with similar notices, copies were
published in subsequent numbers, and in this case continued to appear
until the latter end of 1865. Not having been fortunate enough to find
a file of _The Gazette_ for 1861—the year the Two Pence Halfpenny stamp
is said to have been first issued in—I am unable to give the exact day
this stamp came into use. I am inclined to think the stamp was first
solely used to prepay letters sent between New Westminster, the capital
of British Columbia, and Victoria, the capital of Vancouver Island. If
this was so, we see from the first of the above notices that this rate
was raised one halfpenny in June, 1864. It is apparent from the second
notice that whatever distance the old 2½d. rate formerly paid, it was
done away with or raised in the above month, as the stamp was to be
sold at 3d., pending the arrival of a new one bearing the higher value.
Perhaps it is as well for collectors that the idea of surcharging the
Two Pence Half penny stamp 3d. did not enter the Postmaster’s head, or
there is no telling how many varieties we should have had to add to our
albums if the surcharge differed in type, as it probably would have done.
The escape was no doubt due to the fact that at that time surcharges on
stamps were few in number, and most likely altogether unknown to the
Postal authorities of British Columbia. This Two Pence Halfpenny stamp
is certainly admissable into a collection as a provisional Three Pence,
provided it, or the paper it is attached to, is postmarked after June
19th, 1864. Another curious point in connection with the above notices
is to know how the newspaper rate of one penny was prepaid. The second
notice distinctly says, “All Letters and mail matter liable to postage
must be prepaid.... There will be issued for the prepayment of postage
the postage stamps at present in use.” Was this Three Penny provisional
divided in any way like so many of the other North American Colonies
stamps, or was the postage, even in face of the notice, prepaid in coin?
One of these two alternatives naturally suggests itself to have been the
case. I have never seen or heard of a copy of this stamp divided; but
as it could have been only employed for newspapers sent by two special
routes, the use of the stamp would probably be small, and the fact that
it was found upon newspapers alone would account for the disappearance
of specimens. We shall see from the next notice I give that the
provisional Three Penny stamp was in use down to the 1st November, 1865.
This notice is taken from _The Gazette_ for October 21st, 1865, and runs
as follows:
“NOTICE.
“GENERAL POST OFFICE, _28th September, 1865._
“It having been found necessary to issue a new postage stamp
to meet the requirements of the Postal Ordinance, 1864, notice
is hereby given that from and after the 1st November next the
stamp at present in use will not be received by the Post Office
Department. Persons in possession of the stamp at present
in use may exchange the same on application at any of the
Post-offices of British Columbia on or after the 1st November.
“(Signed) WARNER R. SPALDING, _Postmaster-General_.”
The new postage stamp mentioned in the above is obviously the Three
Pence, blue, with large fancy letter “v” and Crown in the centre, which
is catalogued by M. Moens as issued on the 20th June, 1861, the date, we
have seen, the provisional Three Penny stamp came into use. Like that
provisional, I think it is possible the Three Pence, blue, may also have
been divided to prepay the one penny newspaper rate; but future research
will, I hope, definitely determine in each instance whether or not such
was the case.
The following list of Post-offices, with the names of the Postmasters,
was published in _The Gazette_, for April 14th, 1866. The list is chiefly
interesting as showing upon what a small scale the Postal Service of the
country then was, as at that time there were only sixteen Post-offices
opened throughout the whole colony.