BRITISH COLUMBIA AND VANCOUVER ISLAND.

PRELIMINARY NOTES.

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.

LIST OF POST OFFICES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.

PLACE. POSTMASTER.

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

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.

REFERENCE LIST OF THE PHILATELIC SOCIETY, LONDON.

Issue I. 1861.

One value. Engraved and type-printed by Messrs. De La Rue and Co., of London, on white, unwatermarked, slightly-surfaced paper; white gum. Design: Diademed profile of Queen Victoria to left, on ground of horizontal lines. Above and below the head are a straight and a curved label of solid colour—one with convex, and the other with concave ends. The upper labels are inscribed “BRITISH—COLUMBIA &,” and the lower ones “VANCOUVERS—ISLAND” respectively, all in small white Roman capitals. On either side are straight white labels, with rounded ends, inscribed in coloured Roman capitals—“POSTAGE” on the left, reading upwards; and “TWO PENCE—HALFPENNY” in two lines on the right, reading downwards. The remainder of the stamp is filled in with reticulations, and two outer lines of colour complete the design. Shape, upright rectangular. (Illustration 1.)

(A) Imperforate.

2½d., rosy-brown.

(B) Perforated 14.

2½d., rose, rosy-brown (shades).

Remarks.—No postmarked copy of the imperforate variety is known to the Society. The perforated stamp, although bearing the face value of Two Pence Halfpenny, was sold at Three Pence, and did duty provisionally for this latter value from 20th June, 1864, until 1st November, 1865, when it was replaced by the Three Pence, blue, of the next issue.

Issue II. 1st November, 1865.

One value. Engraved and type-printed by Messrs. De La Rue and Co. on white slightly-surfaced paper, watermarked Crown and CC; white gum; machine perforated 14. The sheet is composed of 240 stamps, divided into four panes, each containing sixty stamps, arranged in six horizontal rows of ten. Design: Ornamental letter “v,” representing “Victoria,” with heraldic rose inside, thistle on the left, and sprig of shamrock on the right, surmounted by Gothic crown; is enclosed within a white oval band, inscribed “BRITISH COLUMBIA POSTAGE” above and “THREE PENCE” below, the two inscriptions being separated by a star-like ornament at either side. The remainder of the stamp is filled in with a diaper pattern, the corners being rounded, and the design is completed by a single outer line of colour. Shape, upright rectangular. (Illustration 2.)

3d., blue, deep blue.

Issue III. 13th March (?), 1867.

Six values. All of the same design, and printed from the same die as the preceding issue, but with the values in the altered currency, surcharged in a straight line across the bottom of the stamp. The paper is white wove, watermarked Crown and CC, and the perforation is 14 or 12½. Like the preceding issue, each sheet contains 240 stamps, which are similarly disposed. The values are printed as follows: “TWO CENTS,” in black block type; “5 CENT 5,” in black Roman capitals; “10 CENTS 10,” in blue Roman capitals; “25 CENTS 25,” in violet Roman capitals; “50 CENTS 50,” in carmine Roman capitals; “1 DOLLAR 1,” in green Roman capitals. Shape, upright rectangular. (Illustrations 3, 4, 5.)

(A) Perforated 14.

2 c. on 3d., bistre, black surcharge.

5 c. on 3d., vermilion, black surcharge.

10 c. on 3d., rose-pink, blue ”

25 c. on 3d., orange, violet ”

50 c. on 3d., mauve, carmine ”

1 d. on 3d., green, green ”

(B) Perforated 12½.

2 c. on 3d., bistre, black surcharge (?).

5 c. on 3d., vermilion, black surcharge (shades).

10 c. on 3d., rose-pink, blue ” ( ” ).

25 c. on 3d., orange, violet ” ( ” ).

50 c. on 3d., mauve, carmine ” ( ” ).

1 d. on 3d., green, green ”( ” ).

Remarks.—The Two Cents has not been met with perforated 12½, by the Society.

VANCOUVER ISLAND.

Issue I. July, 1865.

Two values. Engraved and type-printed by Messrs. De La Rue and Co. on white wove paper, watermarked Crown and CC; white gum. Designs: FIVE CENTS. Diademed profile of Queen Victoria to left, on ground of horizontal lines, within a circle. Above and below are curved labels of solid colour, inscribed with white block letters. Conventional ornaments in spandrels, and outer border filled in with chequers. Ten Cents. Same portrait of Her Majesty in circle; straight coloured label above, inscribed with white block letters; white label with rounded ends below, with coloured block letters. Floriate ornaments in spandrels. An outer line of colour completes the design of each value. Shape, upright rectangular. (Illustrations 6, 7.)

T. “VANCOUVER ISLAND.” B. “FIVE CENTS.” “TEN CENTS.”

(A) Imperforate.

5 c., rose.

10 c., blue.

(B) Perforated 14.

5 c., rose (shades).

10 c., blue ( ” ).