There were of course many more plates of the 1 cent stamp, at least, which remained in use for five years, and probably several more of the 2, 3, and 10 cent, but there seems to have been very little interest in Canada in keeping track of these.
But during the life of this series there were important changes taking place which were reflected in the stamp issues, and we must keep track of them.
In the first place, the Hon. William Mulock, the Canadian Postmaster-General, was a firm believer in and an active agitator for Imperial Penny Postage. At the Imperial Conference on Postal Rates in London, in July, 1898, the project was carried through, and a rate of one penny (2 cents) per half ounce established by certain colonies in connection with the Mother Country, to take effect on Christmas Day of 1898. Concerning this we shall have more to say in the next chapter; but meanwhile Canada's domestic rate stood at 3 cents per ounce or fraction, in spite of attempts to reduce it, particularly since the United States had lowered its internal rate in 1883. The anomaly would be presented under such conditions of a letter mailed from one town to another in Canada costing three cents, even if weighing a half ounce or less, while the same letter could cross to Great Britain and travel to Cape Colony, for instance, on payment of but two cents postage.
The agitation and the London conference evidently had their effect, for on the 13th June, 1898, a bill[149] in amendment of the Post Office Act was assented to in Parliament which substituted 2 cents for 3 cents as the domestic postage rate per ounce weight. It also provided that the new rate should not take effect until a date to be named by the Governor General. After the date for the inauguration of Imperial Penny Postage was fixed, the Governor General named New Year's day following as the date for the change in Canada's domestic rate. The following notice was published in the Canada Gazette:[150]—
Order in Council,
Post Office Department.
By Proclamation dated the 29th day of December, 1898, in virtue of the Act further to amend the Post Office Act (61 Victoria, chapter 20) and of an Order in Council in accordance therewith, it was declared that the postage rate payable on all letters originating in and trans
mitted by post for any distance in Canada for delivery in Canada, should be one uniform rate of two cents per ounce weight, from the 1st January, 1899.
This of course had the immediate effect of vastly increasing the consumption of 2 cent stamps and also of rendering the 3 cent stamps practically useless. Another point would be that whereas the Postal Union requirements named red as the color for the stamp used for domestic postage, and the 3 cent had been in its proper hue, the stamp for the new internal rate was printed in purple and would therefore have to be changed. This change was not forced, however, the Post Office Department as usual preferring to use up the stock on hand of the current 2 cent stamp before issuing the new one. It took considerable time to do this, so that the 2 cent carmine did not make its appearance until the 20th August, according to a correspondent of Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News.[151] It was of course the same stamp as before but printed in the color of the 3 cent value, and we have to record plate numbers 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, though there were doubtless many more.
But the 3 cent stamp still remained on hand in large quantities, and in order to use them up more quickly and perhaps save confusion between them and the new 2 cent stamps, the Post Office Department decided upon surcharging the stock on hand down to 2 cents, thus making Canada's first offence in this line. The notice concerning this change and some others that were decided upon was as follows:—