In my opinion, which I have had confirmed by several most competent authorities, the various imperforated copies which I show you, some used and some unused, are absolutely genuine varieties. Imperforated copies of various values were sold over the Post-office counter in Montreal about the years 1891-3, at their face value, and have been good for postage whenever people cared to use them. The quantities in this condition are, I believe, extremely small.
Supplementing this Mr. Pack writes:[110]—
I quite agree with Mr. Horsley in regard to the various imperforate copies of the issues of 1882 to 1895. There are a good many specimens of these stamps imperforate, and they were on sale at a Canadian Post Office.
The above statements are correct, and we can vouch for them by documentary evidence. Not only were the various values of the series we are considering on sale in imperforate condition, but also the 8, 20 and 50 cent stamps which we are next to consider, and the shade of the 8 cent stamp shows it to have been among the earlier printings—probably in 1893. We are fortunate in being able to present illustrations of all these imperforates in blocks of four or more, which will be found on Plates IX, X and XII.
That these imperforates are perfectly good for postage and are recognized by the Canadian Post Office to this day, equally with their perforated prototypes, has been proved to our satisfaction because we have employed some on registered matter addressed to the United States. As this class of mail requires to be fully prepaid, any irregularity would at once be detected and the covers would tell the story. We illustrate a pair of the 2 cent imperforate on a registered cover mailed at Como, Quebec, on March 20, 1905. [[Plate XIII], No. 129.]
As before, we find that a few stamps have been "split" and used for half their value, copies of the 2 cent and 6 cent having been cut vertically and doing unquestioned duty as 1 cent and 3 cent stamps respectively. As this practise is unauthorized they can be regarded mearly as freaks that have slipped through by carelessness—or favor.
Turning once more to the Postmaster General's Reports, we begin with that of the 30th June, 1875. This notes that:
The Act passed in the last Session of Parliament for the regulation of the Postal Service of Canada, came wholly into force on the 1st October, 1875.