Maple Leaves
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313 MAPLE LEAVES Journal of THE CANADIAN PHILATELIC SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN INCORPORATED 1946 Founder: A. E. Stephenson, F.C.P.S. Edited by L. F. Gillam, F.C.P.S. 66, East Baw•try Road, Rotherham, Yorkshire Opinions expressed in the various articles in this journal are those of the writers and are not necessarily endorsed by the Society Published Every Second Month by the Canadian Philatelic Society of Great Britain Issued Free to Members Additional copies, 3/6 each Vol. 12 No. 12 August, 1969 Whole No. 120 EDITORIAL Whither philately? 'Philately is all-embracing: straight forward collecting, specialisation, thematices, postal history and sundry byways combine effectively to place philately on a sure, permanent foundation,' states a contemporary, and so say all of its, or perhaps not quite all. A contributor in the same journal and in the same issue voices an opinion that all is not quite as well as the confident assertions of his editor would make out. According to him stamp collecting at the moment is off colour, needing aspirins and minor surgery. Soon the symptoms will need strong drugs and a major operation and if we still ignore the signs we will find ourselves conducting a post mortem.' You pay your money and you take your choice and if you choose to endorse the jeremiad undoubtedly you are one of the many who deplore the flood of unecessary new issues, the manufactured `varieties', the proliferation of first day covers, stamp accumulation for investment, the unmounted mint mania and fly speck hunting. To you `birds with no legs' are singularly unattractive and the trepanning of the Queen's head is nothing less than lese-majesty. You are a Simon Pure and collect Canada, Mint AND used, of course, especially those Diamond Jubilees. Even now you can remember how your enthusiasm for that missing top value carried you away and emptied your pocket in that crowded auction room just after the war. A `snip' it was indeed, even then at only £10 and with not a sign of a mount to disturb 314 the pristine purity of the somewhat jaundiced gum which SO took your fancy when you first examined it. And those 'small queens' of yours, especially the three 'imperforated between' pairs that chance has thrown your way, hots lovingly you moon- ted them, reckoning not the cost! Of course you have no idea what they are worth today, or have you? Farlev's folly or no you are not dubious about them! No collection of Canada, it goes' without saying, is the worst for it few covers and infinitely better if they happen to he 'earlies.' Certainly that first page of yours is one that you dote (and gloat) upon so often. That beaver was certainly cancelled right 'on the nose' the tail and the bits in between. But look at the date stamp! You will remember your favourite dealer drawing your attention to it, oh so casually. Only sixteen (lays after issue, he explained. It must be laid paper, of course, and cert- ainly worth the modest premium lie asked. You thought so too did you not? You would not exchange that for all the weeping princesses and cock-eyed Kings in the world. You have those 'for completion' naturally. After all you could hardly boast of all George V otherwise, could you? In fact there is very little, perhaps, Canada wise, that you dear Simon Pure have not accumulated in your time, outside the millionaire range. Perhaps you do not know, or do not choose to know that those beautiful Diamond Jubilees represented the biggest philatelic racket of the nine- teenth century with all the ingredients of post office inspired philatelic jobbery at its worst-conditional sales of certain values, restricted print- ing, 'unnecessary' values et al. Those were the days! But after 70 years and more they have acquired the respectability that comes with age and their disreputability is forgotten conveniently. Those who decry so many of the trends of modern philately forget the shady episodes of the past (and they were legion), and conveniently over- look the fact that modern 'wallpaper' is manufactured to meet a demand. 'Varieties' exist because some collectors have a pathological obsession for them and if they later burn their fingers they will not be able to say that they were not warned. If some 'stamp investors' make a handsome profit and conveniently overlook the fact that in an inflationary situation and with an apparently irreversible decline in money values their 'profit' is more notional than actual, they deceive no one hilt themselves. No one has to collect anything he does not wish to and if mistakes are made through ignorance this is even less an excuse than normally. Stamp collectors al- most certainly are better served with responsible and informed advice than most hobbyists; those who 'don't want to know' have no excuse when disappointment or disillusionment overtakes them. Exhibition/Convention . Are you preparing all entry? An official entry form, with details of classes, etc., is enclosed with this issue of Maple Lea res. Hotel Bookings . If you wish to attend Convention and have not yet booked, please submit your requirements as soon as possible-official hooking form enclosed with this issue of Maple Leaves. Lugl^ ^ panwr^+ a1ii,hlPip ,'iq!PI"d IIRVI I I!I I,ll^^ww 1 ,If11MMIAfg1VINII I IIIMIpi'quirI i i µi 315 presideot's message The programme for Convention has now been completed and you will find a copy included in this issue of Maple Leaves. To those members who have already booked, I would say that I hope you will consider the programme to be varied and interesting, and to those members who have not booked, perhaps you might give further thought to attending Con- vention. Hotel booking form is enclosed-please let me have bookings as soon as possible, as I am expecting the management to withdraw un- booked rooms from my allocation during this month. Please give further thought to the Convention Exhibition /Competition and note that the closing date for entry forms is 30th August 1969. You will be pleased to learn that, after a slow initial response, a satis- factory number of lots have been received for the Convention Auction. May I thank members who have given their support, and ask members who are not attending the Convention, to use the postal viewing facilities which will be available after the catalogue has been issued. I was delighted to see in June Maple Leaves that twelve new members had joined the Society, and would thank members and contact members for their efforts. I recently received a most interesting letter from John Wannerton, one of our members residing in South Africa, giving details of philately in that country and it was pleasing to learn that, although small in number, the members of the C.P.S. of G.B. are very active. At the time of writing, I have just returned from the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain held in Bristol and first of all wish to tell you that two of our members, Mr. J. C. Cartwright; R.D.P., F.C.P.S., and Mr. F. Walker, have been made honorary Life Members of Congress. This is the first time this honour has been awarded and I am sure that we should all feel very proud that these two gentlemen are members of this Society. Finally I wish to thank those members who attended the two study circles at Congress, and in particular those who provided material, wh n we saw the small queens issues, and BNA cancellations. We missed Major L. C. Cohen (734), who was to have attended as one of the delegates for this Society, but was unfortunately not able to do so owing to ill health. Major Cohen has attended most of the Canadian study circles held at recent Congresses, and I sincerely hope that he will soon feel much better. ERIC BIELBY 316 The First Decimal Issue by G. Whitworth, F.R.P.S.L. A Winter Route to New Brunswick A letter from Woodstock, C. W. to Har-iey, N. B. dated ja 19 1864. During the winter nulnths the overland mail for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had to he transported by railway, stage coach and carrier. There was no direct rail connection from Montreal and this cover illustrates one of the routes taken to get the mail through. The information on the cover in the form of hackstamps confirms the description of the hazarduous journey as given in `The Postal History of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick' by Jephcott, Greene and Young. The letter was posted at Woodstock, C.W. on the 19th January 1864 and was sent by rail to Montreal where the first backstamp was applied. This is dated Ja 22 1864 which is rattier a long tinge for this journey. Here the mail would be sorted and sent on the next part of its journey by rail to Quebec where the second backstarnp, dated ja 23 1864, was added. From Quebec the mail left for Lake Temiscouta, a distance of 150 miles, being carried on a light carriage where the road was passable. When the ice and snow conditions became too bad the freight was strapped on to a sleigh and towed on the track or over the ice of the frozen rivers. This leg of the trip was scheduled to take 40 Hours. Between Lake Temiscouta and Grand Falls the qq 1 ^1►11gPd^^I M^I/^M^I if M IIi1rilfi Jill[ I'4'r VolI 'I j lr IIII ICI ^t^N^u 4U II T T 1111111, 1^'^^^^ 111.