Unlike the Jubilee issue, no advance information concerning quantities printed was given out. Many attempts were made to get this interesting detail, but without result. Even an interpellation of the Postmaster-General in the House of Commons was unproductive, as witness the following excerpt:[190]—
Mr. McKechnie sends us information regarding the issue, indicating that there is to be no such vexatious limits set upon the number to be printed as was the case with the Jubilee ½c. Postmaster-General Lemieux is reported, in the Canadian Hansard, to have said in answer to a query as to the number printed of each denomination: "Since the arrangements as to the respective quantities comprising the series are thus far of a necessarily tentative character, being largely dependent upon the demand therefor that may arise, no final estimate has been made of the number to be issued in each denomination."
All of which was simply a parliamentary way of saying "mind your own business", as the full quota of stamps was doubtless printed and delivered at that time. At any rate, a Memorandum for the Postmaster, issued from headquarters under date of 12th September, 1908, states that "With the exception of the 10c, 15c and 20c stamps, all of the Tercentenary postage stamps are now exhausted." However, the question of the quantity issued was again brought up in the House of Commons, after some time, and the following two questions propounded by a member:[191]
1. What was the total amount received by the Post Office Department from the sale of the special Tercentenary stamps? 2. What part of this sum would probably have been received as ordinary revenue if there had been no special issue of stamps?
To these questions the Hon. Rodolphe Lemieux, Postmaster-General, responded: The following was the issue to Postmasters of the Tercentenary postage stamps:
| Denominations. | Quantities. | Value. |
|---|---|---|
| ½ cent | 2,000,000 | $10,000 |
| 1 cent | 22,530,000 | 225,300 |
| 2 cent | 35,100,000 | 702,000 |
| 5 cent | 1,200,000 | 60,000 |
| 7 cent | 700,000 | 49,000 |
| 10 cent | 500,000 | 50,000 |
| 15 cent | 300,000 | 45,000 |
| 20 cent | 304,200 | 60,840 |
| Totals, | 62,634,200 | $1,202,140 |
The department has no knowledge whether the stamps in question have all been sold, as during their issue the ordinary postage stamps were also on sale, both issues being in use as preferred by the public. The proceeds derived from the sale of stamps of the two issues were not kept separately, but treated as arising from a common source. It is, therefore, impossible to state to what extent the issue of the Tercentenary postage stamps may have affected the ordinary revenue.
The Report of 1909, in referring to this issue, had the following remarks:—
To meet what appeared to be a general wish a special series of postage stamps, which has come to be known as the Tercentenary Series, was introduced as a feature of the celebration in July, 1908, of the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Quebec by Champlain. The first supply of these stamps was sent out to Postmasters about the middle of that month, and was on sale to the public by the time His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales reached Quebec for the celebration. The demand for the new stamps was extraordinary, and for the better part of a month was steadily kept up. The interest taken in them was, in no small measure, due to the historic associations with which in design they were so happily linked, the subjects depicted in the several denominations of the series being in variety and appropriateness admirably adapted to the end in view,—popular recognition of an epoch-making event.