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PLACE. | POSTMASTER.
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New Westminster | W. R. Spalding, P.M.G.
Hope | A. S. Hall.
Douglas | Richard White.
Lillooet | T. H. Sharwood.
Yale | L. Agassiz.
Lytton | W. M. Cochran.
Ashcroft[A] | C. F. Cornwall.
Clinton | J. Champness.
Lake La Hache | W. Anderson.
Soda Creek | J. T. Sanay.
Quesnelmouth | F. Mevor.
Van Winkle | L. Cahn.
William’s Creek |
Fort Shepherd | John Jane.
Columbia River, Big Bend District |
Kootenay |
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[A] Ashcroft Post-office is the junction whence mail matter
for Big Bend District will be forwarded.
On March 20th, 1867, an Act was passed which changed the currency of the
colony to the decimal system of cents and dollars. On March 13th, in the
same year, a new Postal Ordinance Act also became law. The following
clauses are taken from the latter:
“IX. That on every Letter deposited in, or passing through,
any Post-office in the Colony, and not exceeding half an ounce
in weight, there shall be paid a postage according to the
following scale; that is to say:
At or between Victoria, or any Post-office in Vancouver
Island and New Westminster, or any Port in the Colony 5 Cents.
Between Vancouver Island or New Westminster and Clinton
or Savana’s Ferry 12½ Cents.
Beyond those distances 25 Cents.
Between any two Post-offices above Yale, Hope, and
Douglas 12½ Cents.
And for every additional half an ounce, or fraction of half an
ounce beyond the above weight, there shall be paid on each such
Letter an additional postage, according to the foregoing rates.
“X. That for every single Newspaper deposited in or passing
through any Post-office in the Colony, there shall be paid a
postage of Two Cents.”
I have been unable to find any notice in _The Gazette_ of the issue of
stamps surcharged with the value in cents, but they probably came into
use at the time the above Act was passed, or shortly afterwards. In
_The Gazette_ for January 18th, 1868, there is a notice giving certain
Postal rates in cents, and stating that “letters, papers, &c., for
Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Prince Edward Island, and
Newfoundland, must be prepaid in the Postage Stamps of the colony.” So
it is evident, from the plural word used, the _Cents_ stamps were then
in use. This set, as we know, consisted of the following values: 2, 5,
10, 25, 50 cents and 1 dollar. It is possible all the values may not have
appeared at once, but they are usually catalogued as one issue. As we
see from Clause X. of the Postal Ordinance 1867 Act, the Two Cents value
prepaid newspapers alone, which accounts for the stamp being so rarely
met with postmarked. Looking at the list of letter rates in Clause IX.,
we should expect to find a Twelve and a Half Cents stamp, but, as we
know, no such value was issued. Here again I can only suggest that the
Twenty-five Cents may have been divided, or the Five Cents cut in two,
and used in conjunction with a Ten Cents or two Five Cent stamps to make
up the required rate. The stamps of British Columbia were withdrawn from
use on July 20th, 1871, on the admittance of the colony into the Dominion
of Canada. Mr. N. Shakespeare is the present Postmaster of Victoria.