ne result of the Imperial Conference on Postal Rates held in London, in
addition to the inauguration of Imperial Penny Postage, was to revive
the agitation for the reduction of the domestic rate on postage in
Canada from 3c to 2c on letters weighing one ounce or less. Indeed just
prior to this Convention a bill in amendment of the Post Office Act had
been assented to by Parliament under which it was agreed the reduced
rate of postage should prevail, but no immediate steps were taken to
enforce the reduction, it being left to the Governor General to name a
date when the change should take effect. The establishment of Imperial
Penny Postage, however, brought matters to a head, for it was a
ridiculous state of affairs under which a charge of 3c had to be levied
in carrying a letter from one town to another in Canada while 2c would
carry a similar letter (if under half an ounce in weight) to any point
in the British Isles. Consequently the Governor General named New Year's
Day as the date when the reduced rate of domestic postage should come
into force as shown by the following "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 transmitted 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.

The immediate effect of this change of rates was a vast increase in the
demand for 2c stamps and a corresponding decrease in the use of the 3c.
Also, to fall in line with Postal Union requirements a change of color
was necessary, but this did not take place at once, the postal
authorities preferring to follow their usual precedent of using up the
old stamps first.

The 3c, which had been printed in large quantities, moved so slowly that
the Post-Office Department decided that the only way the stock could be
used up within a reasonable time would be to reduce the stamps to the
value of 2c by means of a surcharge. This intention, as well as a change
in the color of the regular 2c stamps, was set forth in a circular
issued on July 1st, 1899, from which we extract the following:--

Owing to the reduction in the Domestic letter rate of post