screditable issue will fall
as flat as it deserves.

To add to the unsavory tale we have only to say that there was much
scandal on account of the openly expressed statements that the desirable
values were, in many instances, cornered by postal employes who had, of
course, "first option" on the supplies reaching their respective
offices. Thus, in the _Philatelic Messenger_ of New Brunswick, we read:

But now that the stamps have been issued in certain given numbers
and in the Postmaster-General's peculiar way, _where are they?_
That is what a great many want to know and that is a question which
must be answered. I know where some of them are. I had a letter
from a postmaster's son at a small office in Quebec, asking me what
I would give for 45 8c Jubilee stamps. I had a letter from an
office in P. E. Island, asking my prices for 1/2, 6, and 8c Jubilee
stamps. Collectors in the principal cities of the Dominion have
seen whole sheets of 1/2c stamps in the possession of post-office
employees. These little incidents may give one some idea where the
stamps are. I also have a pretty good idea where the stamps are
not. A prominent Toronto dealer laid $100 on the stamp counter the
first day of sale, and was tendered two specimens of the 1/2c and
6c stamps. At Montreal, Toronto, St. Johns, Halifax, and all the
principal cities, not more than two specimens of the 1/2, 6, 8, 10,
15, 20 and 50c stamps were sold to the same person, that is, of
course, outside the post-office staff. I have it on good authority
that there is not a stamp dealer in Canada who has 100 of the 1/2c
value unless he happens to be a post-office employe also. The
stamps are not in the dealers' stock books then, for they have not
been able to get them. I wrote to Fredericton the other day for a
few 10, 15, 20 and 50c stamps and the postmaster returned the money
and said they could be supplied only in complete sets. One meets
with the same reception at nearly every post office. What were the
stamps made for if not to be sold to the public as the public wants
them? What would be thought of a furniture store where one could
not purchase a table or a chair but must take a whole set? The
thing is ridiculous.

While the idea of issuing special stamps to commemorate the Diamond
Jubilee was laudable enough, the restrictions