he issue of these two Provisional overprints, following upon the
appearance in 1905 of the 5d., 7 1/2d. and 10d. stamps, brought a good
deal of censure from philatelists, who considered that the Colony was
descending to undignified means of increasing the revenue by the sale
of stamps to collectors. At the instance of Lord Crewe an inquiry has
lately been held into the reasons for the emission of various Colonial
postage stamps, and the report of the Governor of the Gambia is quoted
in the printed report of the Commission:--

"The Governor of the Colony states that as the supply of the
1/2d. and 1d. stamps had been exhausted before the arrival of
a new supply which had been ordered, no [regular] stamps of
these denominations were available from the 2nd to the 10th
April, letters requiring such postage being stamped 'Postage
Paid.' The surcharged stamps were on sale from the 10th to
the 24th of April, the date on which the new supply became
available. A surplus was left over, which was destroyed with
proper precautions."

The unsold balance of the Provisional 1/2d. stamps on hand was destroyed
"under direction from the Secretary of State and by a special Board
appointed by His Excellency the Acting Governor" on October 16, 1906.
How small the "unsold balance" was is not stated.

[page 56]

CHAPTER IX.

Bibliography.

INDEX TO THE CHIEF PRINTED ARTICLES AND PAPERS IN PHILATELIC
PERIODICALS.

ABBREVIATIONS.

2 A.J.P.--American Journal of Philately, 2nd series.
E.W.S.N.--Ewen's Weekly Stamp News.
G.S.W.--Gibbons Stamp Weekly.
M.W.S.N.--Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News.
P.J.G.B.--Philatelic Journal of Great Britain.
P.R.--Philatelic Record.
P.S.--The Postage Stamp.
S.--Stamps.
S.C.F.--Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly.
S.C.M.--Stamp Collectors' Magazine.
S.G.M.J.--Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal.

NOTE.--Roman figures thus--V.--denote the volume, and Arabic
figures--135--indicate the page. In a few cases the date takes the
place of the volume number. In E.W.S.N. the number of the issue alone
is given.

COLONIAL POST OFFICES COMMISSION [Ward], G.S.W., IX., 88.

Contains the report of the Governor of the Gambia on the
Provisional stamps of 1906.

CORRECTED PLATE, 6d., S.C.F., III., 207.

FORGERIES, 6d. [Hilckes], S.C.F., II., 217.

[page 57]

GENERAL. The Postage Stamps, etc. ... of the British Colonies,
Possessions and Protectorates in Af