SIR.--I am directed to transmit to you the accompanying partial sets of Jubilee stamps. These sets consist of two kinds: one from a 1/2c. to $1.00 (value $2.20-1/2), the other from 1/2c. to 50c. (value $1.20-1/2). You are instructed to sell these stamps as sets, and as sets only, representations having been made to the department that in various parts of the Dominion there is a desire to obtain such sets for souvenir purposes. You must not, under any circumstances, break a set; for, besides the disappointment that such a course would cause, you would render yourself liable to loss, the department having decided not to allow credit for any broken sets returned to it by a postmaster who, notwithstanding the instructions herein given, sells any denominations of the stamps making up a set apart from the rest. I am also to ask you to use your best judgment in the sale of these sets, checking, as far as possible, any attempt on the part of speculators to monopolize them, and thus securing as general a distribution of such sets in your vicinity as the circumstances may permit. To enable you to make change in connection with the sale of the enclosed sets I include a sufficient quantity of ordinary 1/2 c. postage stamps. I may add that the accompanying supply has been based strictly upon the annual revenue of your office, and, having regard to the total number of sets available and the extent of their distribution, represents that proportion to which you are entitled. I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, E. P. STANTON, _Superintendent_. THE POSTMASTER. [125] =Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News=, XI: 78. [126] =Monthly Journal=, VIII: 178. For disingenuousness, for pathetic regard for the public and the postmaster, and yet withal a keen eye for the "interests" of the department, this circular is a model which should be preserved for posterity--and "businesslike" post office departments. Mr. King continues:-- The demand for the small sets was so great that the supply was exhausted almost all at once, and in reply to repeated requests for more sets the department issued the following circular:--#/ POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CANADA. (_Office of the Superintendent of the Postage Stamp Branch_). Ottawa,... 1897. SIR,--The partial sets of Jubilee stamps already issued to your office constituted its share of these sets, having regard to their limited number and the area of their distribution, which comprised all the money order offices in the Dominion. Except a reserve for complete sets (from 1/2c. to $5.00 inclusive, cost $16.20-1/2) there is not a Jubilee stamp left in the department--all having been issued to postmasters. The plates, I may add, were destroyed on the 10th September instant.