“IX. That on every Letter deposited in, or passing through, any Post-office in the Colony, and not exceeding half an ounce in weight, there shall be paid a postage according to the following scale; that is to say:
At or between Victoria, or any Post-office in Vancouver Island and New Westminster, or any Port in the Colony 5 Cents.
Between Vancouver Island or New Westminster and Clinton or Savana’s Ferry 12½ Cents.
Between any two Post-offices above Yale, Hope, and Douglas 12½ Cents.
And for every additional half an ounce, or fraction of half an ounce beyond the above weight, there shall be paid on each such Letter an additional postage, according to the foregoing rates.
“X. That for every single Newspaper deposited in or passing through any Post-office in the Colony, there shall be paid a postage of Two Cents.”
I have been unable to find any notice in _The Gazette_ of the issue of stamps surcharged with the value in cents, but they probably came into use at the time the above Act was passed, or shortly afterwards. In _The Gazette_ for January 18th, 1868, there is a notice giving certain Postal rates in cents, and stating that “letters, papers, &c., for Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, must be prepaid in the Postage Stamps of the colony.” So it is evident, from the plural word used, the _Cents_ stamps were then in use. This set, as we know, consisted of the following values: 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 cents and 1 dollar. It is possible all the values may not have appeared at once, but they are usually catalogued as one issue. As we see from Clause X. of the Postal Ordinance 1867 Act, the Two Cents value prepaid newspapers alone, which accounts for the stamp being so rarely met with postmarked. Looking at the list of letter rates in Clause IX., we should expect to find a Twelve and a Half Cents stamp, but, as we know, no such value was issued. Here again I can only suggest that the Twenty-five Cents may have been divided, or the Five Cents cut in two, and used in conjunction with a Ten Cents or two Five Cent stamps to make up the required rate. The stamps of British Columbia were withdrawn from use on July 20th, 1871, on the admittance of the colony into the Dominion of Canada. Mr. N. Shakespeare is the present Postmaster of Victoria.