What became of the remainder of the old issue does not appear, but it seems probable that they were largely used up in the course of regular business, as no object would be gained by turning in the relatively small quantities remaining, for accounting and destruction, unless it be the 17 cent value, which had become rather useless. Curiously enough, the stamp accounts do separate the old and new issues in the "balance on hand, 30th June, 1868," which was three months after the appearance of the new set. These figures are as follows:—
| 1 | cent | 319,900 |
| 2 | cents | 700 |
| 5 | cents | 138,400 |
| 10 | cents | 60,650 |
| 12½ | cents | 68,750 |
| 17 | cents | 33,876 |
Glancing now over the Postmaster General's reports for the years 1859-1868, during which the above issue was in use, and which were the last years of the strictly provincial control, we find many items of interest.
In the report for 1859 it is noted that "the issue and use by the public of Postage Stamps has increased with great rapidity since last return," and the issue of stamped envelopes "for the promotion of public convenience" is announced. These will be treated of by themselves in a later chapter. We find the experiment was made of placing street letter boxes in Toronto, and "with very encouraging results as to the extent to which the number of letters posted in these boxes would appear to demonstrate their usefulness. These Pillar Boxes are visited, at least twice each day, at suitable hours, by Post Office Messengers, in order to convey the letters deposited in them to the Post Office." Preparations were also being made to install letter boxes in Montreal and Quebec.
The Department accounts have the following entries:—
| Rawdon, Wright & Co., supply of letter and newspaper stamps | $238.69 |
| American Bank Note Co., engraving letter and newspaper stamps | 1487.40 |
Of course the amounts all went to the same concern, as the firm name had been changed on May 1, 1858, as already noted.
The report for 1860 contains interesting statistical information concerning the growth of the Department, which it may be well to put on record: