The earliest issue of _The Government Gazette, British Columbia_, I have been able to find in this country is that of January 7th, 1865. This number contains the following notices:
“Between British Columbia and Vancouver Island, delivered at Victoria or New Westminster, for each Letter under ½ ounce 3d.
And for every additional ½ ounce or fractional excess 3d.
On all Letters and Papers to or from abroad, and delivered or mailed at New Westminster, in addition to Foreign Postage, for each letter under ½ ounce 3d.
And for every additional ½ ounce or fractional excess 3d.
Between a Post Office at any one place in the Colony and a Post Office at any other place in the Colony, in all cases to be prepaid, for each Letter under ½ ounce 6d.
And for every additional ½ ounce or fractional excess 6d.
“N.B.—Packages or Parcels other than Newspapers, and not exceeding 8 ounces in weight, will be charged at Letter rate of 6d. per ½ ounce. No Parcel can be taken exceeding 8 ounces in weight.
“(Signed) WARNER R. SPALDING, _Postmaster-General_.
“On and after the 20th day of June, 1864, all Letters and mail matter liable to postage must be prepaid. Until other stamps shall have been substituted there will be issued for the prepayment of postage the postage stamps at present in use, bearing the mark 2½d., for which the sum of 3d. will in future be charged.
(Signed) WARNER R. SPALDING, _Postmaster-General_.
“GENERAL POST OFFICE, _11th June, 1864_.”
The above no doubt first appeared in _The Gazette_ about the middle of June, 1864; but, as is customary with similar notices, copies were published in subsequent numbers, and in this case continued to appear until the latter end of 1865. Not having been fortunate enough to find a file of _The Gazette_ for 1861—the year the Two Pence Halfpenny stamp is said to have been first issued in—I am unable to give the exact day this stamp came into use. I am inclined to think the stamp was first solely used to prepay letters sent between New Westminster, the capital of British Columbia, and Victoria, the capital of Vancouver Island. If this was so, we see from the first of the above notices that this rate was raised one halfpenny in June, 1864. It is apparent from the second notice that whatever distance the old 2½d. rate formerly paid, it was done away with or raised in the above month, as the stamp was to be sold at 3d., pending the arrival of a new one bearing the higher value. Perhaps it is as well for collectors that the idea of surcharging the Two Pence Half penny stamp 3d. did not enter the Postmaster’s head, or there is no telling how many varieties we should have had to add to our albums if the surcharge differed in type, as it probably would have done. The escape was no doubt due to the fact that at that time surcharges on stamps were few in number, and most likely altogether unknown to the Postal authorities of British Columbia. This Two Pence Halfpenny stamp is certainly admissable into a collection as a provisional Three Pence, provided it, or the paper it is attached to, is postmarked after June 19th, 1864. Another curious point in connection with the above notices is to know how the newspaper rate of one penny was prepaid. The second notice distinctly says, “All Letters and mail matter liable to postage must be prepaid.... There will be issued for the prepayment of postage the postage stamps at present in use.” Was this Three Penny provisional divided in any way like so many of the other North American Colonies stamps, or was the postage, even in face of the notice, prepaid in coin? One of these two alternatives naturally suggests itself to have been the case. I have never seen or heard of a copy of this stamp divided; but as it could have been only employed for newspapers sent by two special routes, the use of the stamp would probably be small, and the fact that it was found upon newspapers alone would account for the disappearance of specimens. We shall see from the next notice I give that the provisional Three Penny stamp was in use down to the 1st November, 1865. This notice is taken from _The Gazette_ for October 21st, 1865, and runs as follows: