It may be recalled that one of our quotations stated that the first set of Jubilee stamps printed would be presented to the "Prince of York"—a slip for the "Duke of York," afterwards Prince of Wales, and now His Most
Gracious Majesty King George V. An account of this presentation set may not be without interest here:[137]—
A very unique and handsome piece of work is the postal portfolio which is to be presented to His Royal Highness, the Duke of York, by the Dominion Government, and which is on exhibition in the window of Kyrie Brothers, Jewelers, Toronto. The portfolio is in the form of an album, the cover of which is of royal blue morocco leather, handsomely decorated in gold. In the center of the front cover is a raised shield in white on which are the words in gold letters, "Dominion of Canada, Diamond Jubilee Postage Stamps, 22nd June, 1897." The corners of the portfolio are decorated with guards of Canadian gold made from British Columbia and Ramey district ore. The right hand upper corner decoration is a design of maple leaves, and the lower corner of English oak leaves and acorns. The portfolio is fastened with a clasp of Canadian gold in the form of oak leaves, while the bracket on the front holding the clasps in position is entwined with maple leaves with the monogram of H. R. H. the Duke of York—G. F. E. A.—George Frederick Ernest Albert. On the third page is the inscription, "This collection of postage stamps issued at Ottawa by the Dominion of Canada in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria is presented to H. R. H. the Duke of York, K. G., by the Government of Canada, 1897." The last page of this unique stamp album will contain the certificate of the destruction of the dies and plates in the presence of Hon. Wm. Mulock, postmaster-general of Canada.... This is probably the dearest stamp album in the world, and contains only a single specimen of each denomination of the jubilee issue.
It will be noted that the Superintendent's last circular concerning the exhaustion of the Jubilee stamps stated that the plates had been destroyed. An eye witness sent Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News (X: 166) an account of the process which is interesting enough to reproduce.
On Friday afternoon, Sept. 10th, ... I presented myself at the Post-Office Department and joined a party who were just leaving the building to go over to the American Bank Note Co's. building, a couple of blocks away.... Arriving, we were conducted to the top floor by the manager. The plates, dies, etc., were brought out by those in charge, and the seventeen original dies after inspection by those present were placed one by one under a press and an obliterating roller passed over them several times: proofs were then pulled which faintly showed the outline of the ovals, etc., but the words showing the value could not even be made out. Next the rolls for transferring the impression from the dies to the plates came in for their share of attention. There were nineteen of them, and a few burns from an emery wheel quickly put
each one "out of sight". The plates, 31 in number, were subjected to the same treatment as the dies and the total time occupied in the destruction of the various parts occupied almost two hours.
The Postmaster General's Report for the 30th June, 1897, reprints the extract from the Canadian Hansard of 20th May, which we have already given.[138] The stamp accounts show a few curious things. In the first place the announcement of the issue gave the quantity of 8 cent stamps as 200,000. The accounts for 1897 give the number received from the manufacturers as 240,000, and we find in the column headed "Returned by Postmasters as unfit for use," 40,000 copies, and in the column headed "Stamps destroyed as unfit for use", a like amount! When the Post Office Department estimates for the ensuing year were being discussed in Parliament in May, 1898, the following interpellation occurred and was replied to by the Postmaster General:[139]—
Mr. Ingram. I notice that 40,000 eight cent stamps were returned by the postmasters as unfit for use, and that 40,000 were destroyed as unfit for use.
The Postmaster-General. The explanation of that is this: The total number issued was limited to the schedule mentioned in the answer that I gave to Parliament. By a mistake a larger quantity was delivered to the department, and before it was discovered the department had distributed a larger quantity than was mentioned in the schedule.[140] They discovered it when the mail had gone out, and at once recalled the over-issue. Of course they were at once destroyed, so as to keep the amount within the figure named by Parliament.
Mr. Ingram. Then it was not through stamps being unfit?