CHAPTER XVIII

THE POSTAGE DUE STAMPS

Canada managed for years, like many other countries, to collect the postage due on insufficiently prepaid mail matter by merely marking the amount on the cover. The use of stamps as checks on those responsible for making the collections seems not to have been appreciated, or more probably was not deemed necessary. At last the advantages of such a system seem to have become manifest, and in the Postmaster General's Report for the 30th June, 1906, we find the following:--

A system of accounting for short paid postage collected by Postmasters, by means of special stamps known as "Postage Due" stamps, has been adopted by the Department. These stamps are to be affixed to short paid mail matter and cancelled by Postmasters when such matter is delivered to the addressee, and are not to be used for any other purpose. They cannot be used for the payment of ordinary postage, nor are they to be sold to the public.

The denominations of these stamps are 1, 2 and 5 cents.

The first issue of the stamps to postmasters was on the 1st June, 1906, but the system did not come into operation until a month later. The following is the official notice with the technical portions omitted:--

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CANADA.

OTTAWA, 1st June, 1906.

_Circular to Postmasters of Accounting Offices._

Commencing on the 1st July, 1906, the present system of collecting unpaid postage will be discontinued and thereafter the following arrangements will supersede the regulations now in force:--

(1) The Department will issue a special stamp which will be known as the "POSTAGE DUE" stamp and on delivery of any article of mail matter on which unpaid or additional postage is to be collected the Postmaster will affix and cancel as ordinary stamps are cancelled, postage due stamps to the amount of extra postage charged on such article.

(2) The short paid postage must be collected from the addressee before postage due stamps are affixed; otherwise the Postmaster is liable to lose the amount of such postage.

(3) Postmasters will obtain postage due stamps on requisition to the Department but the initial supply will be furnished without requisition, so that the new system may go into operation on the date above mentioned. When a new form is ordered "postage due" stamps will be included in the printed list, but it is proposed to use the stock on hand at present which would otherwise have to be destroyed. The denominations of the new stamps will be 1, 2 and 5 cents.

The new stamps were of the same size as the regular postage stamps, but with the longer dimension horizontal. A large numeral in a central tablet flanked by an acanthus scroll at each side, CANADA above, CENTS below, and POSTAGE DUE in block letters along the bottom, all on an engine-turned groundwork, make a very neat and effective design for the purpose intended. [Illustrations Nos. 58, 59 and 60 on Plate III.] The engraving is of course in the usual steel plate process, and the sheets are of 100 stamps in ten rows of ten. The marginal imprint is at the center of the top of the sheet and is the same as for the later postage issues, "OTTAWA--No--1" or "2". So far there have appeared the following plate numbers:--

1 cent No. 1 2 " " 1 and 2 5 " " 1

The numbers printed, according to the Reports, have been as follows:--

1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1 cent 500,000 700,000 300,000 600,000 2 " 1,100,000 500,000 900,000 900,000 1,300,000 5 " 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 400,000

All three values were printed in the same shade of dark violet, but in 1909 the 5 cent was reported in a red violet.