The quantity of 3 cent stamps surcharged was reported by the Ottawa correspondent of the _Weekly Philatelic Era_[154] as "variously stated to be 9,000,000 to 11,000,000," while _Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal_ is more definite[155] in saying that "there are some 9,000,000 of 3c. stamps in stock, of which about 6,000,000 are of the four leaves type, and the rest have the numerals in the lower corners." Just where these figures were obtained does not appear, but the Postmaster General's report for 30th June, 1900, makes the following statement:--"Included in the stamp output of the year was $123,600 worth of 3 cent stamps, which constituted the unissued remnant of 3 cent stamps in the possession of the department; on the occasion of the reduction of the domestic letter rate of postage they were surcharged and issued as 2 cent stamps." The figures quoted account for only 4,120,000 of the 3 cent stamps, and this quantity is confirmed in the Report for 1901, which says:--"In 1899-1900 3 cent stamps to the number of 4,120,000 were included in the output solely with a view to surcharging them down to 2 cents and transference to that column." The two varieties, however, are not separated in the accounts, but inasmuch as the catalogue prices are now, after ten years, at the same figure for each, it is reasonable to suppose that one is as common as the other and that therefore they must have been issued in approximately equal amounts.
[154] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XIII: 393.
Plate numbers for the surcharges seem to be again recorded in only a half hearted way. But one reference has been found to those of the numeral type, plates 5 and 6[156], and none for the "maple leaf" type.
[156] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XIII: 400, 403.
The reduction in the domestic rate of postage was also the cause of another provisional, but of quite a different character. _Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal_ for January 31, 1899, says:--
In some offices 1c. and 2c. stamps ran short, and their places were supplied by one-third and two-thirds portions of 3c. stamps divided vertically. In some places, our correspondent says, these divided stamps were employed without further alteration, but in others we regret to hear that they were surcharged with a figure "2", in _purple_, upon the figure "3" of the larger portion, or the word "one" in _green_, upon the smaller part; or, to further complicate matters, when thirds of two adjoining stamps were used for 2c. each part was impressed with a figure "2". Our informant's letter is franked in part by 2/3 of a 3c. stamp surcharged "2" so we fear that this horrible tale is founded on fact.