ceived, "Apl. 16 1851". I sent the envelope
to Mr. Donald A. King, of Halifax, and received the following reply
from him:--

HALIFAX, N. S., February 22nd, 1904.

"Dear Sir,--I have yours of 19th inst. with cover, and am much
obliged for your kindness in permitting me to have a look at it. It
is new to me. I have no doubt it is absolutely genuine, and
probably was made by the Postmaster at New Carlisle to save trouble
in stamping the letter '3d' as was then the custom. It is just
possible that the writer (whose name appears to be endorsed on the
envelope) was the Postmaster there. A reference to the
Postmaster-General's report for that year would give his name. As
far as my memory serves me, the Canadian stamps were not then in
issue, though an advance circular may have been sent out. I have
shown the cover to a friend of mine who is an expert in typography,
and he assures me that the printing is as old as dated, and that
such type and border could not be procured now at any cost. The
only thing that I have seen that resembles it in any way was a
cover from Prince Edward Island, prepaid with a square of white
paper stamped 3d and cancelled. This was an adhesive, and used some
years after stamps were in use. As in your case, it had been
recognised as paying postage. As to the value of your cover, it is
impossible for me to say, but very considerable to any collector of
British North America.

"Yours faithfully,

"DONALD A. KING."

Following up the clue given to me by Mr. King, I wrote to the Post
Office Department at Ottawa, and received the following courteous
answer:--

OTTAWA, 2nd March, 1904.

"Sir,--I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your communication
of the 26th ultimo, inquiring whether R. W. Kelly was Postmaster of
New Carlisle, Co. Gaspe, Quebec, in 1851, and in reply am directed
to inform you that R. W. Kelly, doubtless the same man, was
Postmaster of New Carlisle in 1851. Owing to the incompleteness of
the early records of the department, which was then under the
direction of the British Office, the date of Mr. Kelly's
appointment cannot be ascertained. He appears to have been
Postmaster from 1851, however, until his resignation on the 9th
April, 1855.

"As regards your inquiry as to whether postage stamps were