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 passing
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 passing 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 pass 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 employ['e]s, a registered letter is incomparably
more secure than an unregistered one, for an unregistered
money-letter leaves no trace behind it whilst passing 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 passing 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 2-1/2 "
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 passing 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.
There is a red stamp of the value of two cents for prepayment of the
registration charges on letters within the Dominion.
There is a green stamp of five cents value for registered letters
addressed to the United States.
There is a blue stamp of eight cents value for registered letters
addressed to the United Kingdom.
These stamps are to apply exclusively to the registration charges,
and the postage rates on registered letters are to be prepaid by the
ordinary postage stamps.
It is believed that the use of these distinctive stamps for the
registration charges, will tend to give registered letters
additional security against the risk which is sometimes felt of the
registration escaping observation, when such letters are dealt with
hurriedly or handled at night, whilst passing through the post.
The special registration stamps are too well known to need any
particular description, especially as they are excellently illustrated
as Numbers 54, 55 and 56 on Plate III. Like the ordinary postage stamps,
they are engraved on steel and were originally printed in sheets of 50,
ten horizontal rows of five stamps each, which made a sheet of nearly
the same size, only turned through an angle of 90 deg., as the ordinary
sheet of 100 postage stamps. The imprint was the same as the second type
employed for the "small" cents issue--"British American Bank Note Co.
Montreal" in a pearled frame--and likewise appeared four times on the
sheet, as already fully described in the chapter dealing with that
issue.[193] The denomination of the stamp was also expressed as TWO
CENTS, in the shaded Roman capitals which we found in the case of the
postage stamps, over the first stamp in the top row of that value, but
with the 5 cent the word FIVE alone appears. The 8 cent we have not
seen. On the 2 cent there is also a large numeral 2, 7-1/2 mm. high,
over the last stamp in the top row (number 5) but the 5 cent has none.
[193] See page 125.
The normal colors for the stamps were:--
2 cents, orange varying through orange red to vermilion.
5 cents, a slightly yellow green varying from pale to dark.
8 cents, both bright and dull blue.
The stamps were printed upon the same ordinary white wove paper as was
used for the contemporary postage stamps. The variation from thin to
thick quality is found in the case of the 2 cent and 5 cent stamps, but
very little variation in the 8 cent stamp. This is explained by the fact
that there were probably but two printings of the latter stamp, 100,000
having been delivered by the manufacturers according to the Postmaster
General's Report for 30th June, 1875, and 25,000 more according to the
next year's report.
The stamps were normally perforated 12, but the 2 cents in orange and
the 5 cents in dark green are both known in imperforate condition, the
latter having been chronicled in the _Halifax Philatelist_ for November,
1888. A vertical pair of the 5 cent is shown as illustration No. 115 on
Plate X.
In the Report for 1877 we find the following:--"The Registration charge
on registered letters between the United Kingdom and Canada has been
reduced from 8 cents to 5 cents by the Post Offices of the United
Kingdom." This naturally dealt a heavy blow at the use of the 8 cent
stamp. The _Stamp Journal_ for February, 1878, said:--"Mr. E. Burpee
states that the 8 cent 'Registered' stamps have been called in, and that
hereafter the fee to Great Britain and foreign countries will be the
same as to the United States--5 cents." The next issue, however,
corrected this:--"After January, 1878, the cost of registering letters
to Great Britain has been fixed at 5 c, the same as to the United
States.... To foreign countries the rate is as before, 8 cents, and
therefore there is no suppression of the 8 cent registered stamps."
Nevertheless, the rate to foreign countries must have been reduced not
long after, as the statistics for stamps issued to postmasters between
the 1st July, 1878 and the 1st July, 1879 give but 25 of the 8 cent
registered stamp, which must therefore have been sent out early in the
fiscal year. The total issues to postmasters, according to the Reports,
were as under:--
1876 71,950
1877 17,200
1878 9,400
1879 25
------
Total 98,575
The number returned as "unfit for use" and presumably destroyed during
the several years was 8,872. This gives a total issue of 89,700 for the
8 cent stamp, according to the Reports; but the Canadian correspondent
of _Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News_ stated:[194]--"In 1878 a little over
75,000 of these [original 125,000] were destroyed by order of the
Postmaster-General." This probably means that the stamps were called in
after their usefulness ceased, and allowing for the amount destroyed
during the period of issue gives us perhaps 40,000 as the number
actually issued to the public from post offices.
[194] =Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News=, II: 45:2.
The 2 cent and 5 cent stamps remained in use, but when the general
revision of rates took place in 1889 the domestic rate was raised to 5
cents, and the 2 cent stamp lost its usefulness, the 5 cent alone
remaining. We have already reproduced the circular announcing these
changes,[195] and will only repeat here the paragraph relating to the
registration fee:--
The fee for the registration of a letter or other article of mail
matter will be five cents upon all classes of correspondence passing
within the Dominion. For the present, and until further instructed,
the registration fee may be prepaid by using the _2 cent
Registration stamps and postage stamps to make up the amount_.
[195] See page 136.
This notice was dated 8th May, 1889, and the Report of 30th June
following remarks further:--
The charge for the registration of a letter, parcel, book or other
articles of mail matter was also made uniform, and fixed at 5 cents
for all classes of matter. The frequent delay consequent upon the
prepayment of a wrong registration fee will no longer take place.
The removal of the British American Bank Note Co. from Montreal to
Ottawa, which we have already noted as resulting in some marked changes
in the shades of the regular postage stamps,[196] was not without its
effect upon the registration stamps. Apparently the same ink used for
printing the ordinary 3 cent stamp was used for the 2 cent registration,
for we find both stamps chronicled in the _Halifax Philatelist_ for
October, 1888, as having appeared in a "bright carmine." The usual
catalog designation for this 2 cent registration stamp is "scarlet
vermilion", but we think that "brick red" best describes the ordinary
shade in which these Ottawa printings are found, though the _Halifax
Philatelist_ recorded a "dull rose" tint in March, 1889.
[196] See page 128.
The 5 cent stamp was also noted in blue green in the November, 1889,
issue of the _Philatelic Record_, a few months after the regular 2 cent
postage stamp appeared in the same shade, again apparently showing the
use of the same ink in printing both stamps.
During its regular currency the 2 cent stamp had risen from an issue to
postmasters of 937,000 in 1876 to 2,800,000 in 1889, but the change in
rates caused a drop to 600,000 in 1890, 14,850 in 1891, and 100 in 1892,
while a straggling lot of 400 appeared in 1896.
The 5 cent stamp was distributed to the amount of about 232,000 in 1876,
but ran up gradually from 135,000 in the next year to half a million in
1889. The increase in rates jumped it to nearly three times this amount
in 1890, and by 1893, when the regular 8 cent stamp was issued for
combined postage and registration, the annual output of the 5 cent
registration stamp was 2,260,000.
It may be remembered that after the removal of the engraving company
from Montreal to Ottawa certain of the low value postage stamps appeared
printed from plates of two hundred impressions instead of the ordinary
one hundred. In like manner we find that new plates of double size were
made for the 5 cent registration stamp also, these being in one hundred
impressions, ten rows of ten, but without the "Ottawa" imprint which
appeared on the enlarged plates of the regular postage stamps, according
to the _Dominion Philatelist_, which noted the new sheet arrangement in
October, 1892.
On the 1st August, 1893, the regular 8 cent stamp was issued to prepay
the combined postage and registration fee, and the notice we have
already quoted in that connection stated[197] that when the supply of
the 5 cent registration stamp on hand was exhausted no more would be
issued. The Report for 1894 states that 307,900 were issued to
postmasters for the year ending 30th June, and as over two and a half
millions had been issued in the previous twelve-month, the probability
is that the supply was exhausted about the time of the appearance of the
8 cent postage stamp, and therefore the stock in the hands of
postmasters must have been pretty well used up by 1894.
[197] See page 143.
There is one point left in connection with the registration stamps that
deserves mention, as it has so frequently been a bone of contention. The
2 cent stamp was formerly listed in _brown_, and quantities of printer's
ink and valuable space have been wasted in discussing its merits. Mr.
Donald A. King seems to have been the discoverer of the variety,
according to the _Halifax Philatelist_,[198] where it was exploited in
an article which is worth quoting here for its historical value.
[198] =Halifax Philatelist=, II: 8.
THE CANADIAN ERROR.
The Canada 2c. brown registration is at this time mentioned
frequently in the _Figaro_ and several other philatelic
publications. As there seems to be considerable doubt as to the
origin, and as I was in the main instrumental in introducing them to
the philatelic public, I have decided to give the information I
possess on this subject to them.
About the beginning of January, 1887, I was shown a registered
letter received from Miscou Light House Post Office in New
Brunswick. It had a BROWN 2c. registration stamp on it--a clear
unmistakable dark brown. I immediately wrote the postmaster there
for information relative to them. He answered and said that he had
23 on hand. That he had originally received 50 from the P. O. Dept.
at Ottawa, and that they were BROWN when he received them. This he
stated positively. I then sent to him for them, but before my letter
reached him he had used two of them so that I received only 21.
Those stamps I showed to several philatelists, and could not get two
to agree as to their origin. Some said the change in color was due
to the gum, others to chemical changes, others again said it was due
to the atmosphere from the salt water. Very few would allow a
misprint. In the meantime Mr. F. C. Kaye also came across another
registered letter with brown registration stamp. This time it was
from the P. O. of New Ross in Lunenberg Co., N. S. From this office
about 50 were obtained. The postmaster at this office was also
positive as to having received them from the Dept. at Ottawa in
brown. The same objections were raised to those as to the others, as
to whether they were a genuine misprint or not. In this case the
atmosphere of salt water was not the cause as New Ross is in the
interior. If the gum was the cause of their changing color, it is
peculiar that we do not get more of them. Changes by chemical means
were also tried. The only thing which would turn the red of the
genuine color to brown, was sulphuric acid mixed with water, and
this did not give a good clear color, having a somewhat greyish
shade in it. Those experiments have, in my opinion, confirmed their
genuineness. And now as if to make assurances in regard to their
genuineness more sure, we find a third post office with them. This
was Beauly, in Antigonish Co., N. S. There were, however, only 6
received from there, the postmaster had the same story as the
others, he had received them from the Dept. at Ottawa in a brown
color.
The Department at Ottawa was written to in regard to them, but as
was to be expected, knew nothing of them whatsoever. No doubt if
they had been seen they would not have been allowed to be issued to
the public.
Again we find some details given in _Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News_[199]
under "Canadian Notes" which evidently refer to another lot:--
In this color the stamps were first issued in 1885, and were
distributed to a number of small towns in Ontario. Some months later
the attention of the Postmaster at Toronto was called to this stamp,
and as he had received no official notification of an emission in
this color, he caused inquiry to be made as to the authenticity of
these stamps. A number of offices that had them on hand were
communicated with, and all the answers were positive in the
statement that the color of the stamps when received had been a
decided brown, and had not undergone the slightest change by the
action of either time or chemicals. A number of these letters are in
the hands of a collector here, and are proof positive that this
stamp was issued in a brown color.
[199] =Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News=, VI: 96.
In spite of this brave showing, however, it is practically certain that
the stamps are not a misprint but color changelings caused by oxidation,
or rather "sulphuretting" to be more exact, an effect peculiarly liable
to take place with stamps printed in red or orange. The same thing is
found to occur in other Canadian stamps, the 3 pence and 5 cent of the
Beaver type, the first issues of Newfoundland and the 3 cent, 1851, of
the United States, as well as some of the red and orange colored revenue
stamps of the Civil War period. In fact the change is carried almost to
a black, at times, but can be restored to the original color by the
application of hydrogen peroxide.