partment are silent as to where this perforation was
performed and by whom," and also seems a little uncertain in some
other details, we feel that further confirmation is needed.

In our table above we have given the supplies received after the 30th
September, 1857, and deducted the remainders so as to have the actual
number issued. The 10d has already proved a stumbling block, for it was
not perforated at all! Next we find the 6d to the number of 150,000,
when the total issue, including the laid paper, was but 400,000; yet the
catalogue value of the imperforates is some $6 for each variety, and of
the perforated stamp at least $30! Can anyone doubt that all these
150,000 6d stamps were _not_ perforated? In the case of the 3d we have
one and a third millions to compare with a total issue of three and a
half millions--about a third in the supposed perforated class. Yet the
catalogue value of the latter is $2.50 against 36 cents for the wove
paper imperforate alone. With the 1/2d stamp there are two millions
against a total of three and a third millions, or about two to one in
favor of the supposed perforated stamps, yet the latter are double the
catalogue price of the former! The only conclusion to be drawn from
these regularly appearing inconsistencies in each value is that all the
supplies after 30th September, 1857, were _not_ perforated, as the 10d
stamp very glaringly intimates!

If this be so, is it not possible that the order to perforate the new
supplies was given to the manufacturers much later than has hitherto
been thought to be the case? It hardly seems likely that this
improvement would be ordered for a few supplies and then dropped, only
to re-appear a year and a half later as a permanent feature of the new
set. Once adopted it was more than likely to be retained.

Let us see, then, just for curiosity's sake, what the supplies of the
last six months of issue yield us for data. For the 1/2d we find 850,000
roughly, with 60,000 remainders. Call it 800,000 issued which, if
perforated, would be a quarter of the total issue of 1/2d stamps, or a
ratio to the imperforates of one to three. This is not so far away from
the catalogue ratio of two to one (inversely, of course,) in the value
of the perforated stamps. With the 3d stamp we have 450,000 roughly,
with 20,000 remainders, say 430,000 issued. Of a total issue of
3,500,000 this represents one-eighth, or a ratio of one to seven. The
inverse ratio of