The Report of 1909, in referring to this issue, had the following remarks:-- To meet what appeared to be a general wish a special series of postage stamps, which has come to be known as the Tercentenary Series, was introduced as a feature of the celebration in July, 1908, of the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Quebec by Champlain. The first supply of these stamps was sent out to Postmasters about the middle of that month, and was on sale to the public by the time His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales reached Quebec for the celebration. The demand for the new stamps was extraordinary, and for the better part of a month was steadily kept up. The interest taken in them was, in no small measure, due to the historic associations with which in design they were so happily linked, the subjects depicted in the several denominations of the series being in variety and appropriateness admirably adapted to the end in view,--popular recognition of an epoch-making event. The Report of 1910 notes that the last issue of the Tercentenary stamps was on Oct. 14, 1908,--apparently the 15 cent denomination. The whole issue was thus exhausted in three months' time. CHAPTER XVII THE REGISTRATION STAMPS The first mention that we find concerning the registration system in Canada is in the Postmaster General's report for the year ending 31st March, 1856, in the following words:--"The number of letters passing through the Post under the Registration System commenced in May 1855, is very great, and is rapidly increasing." The number of letters is given in even figures as 350,000 during the first year. The Report states further:--"In October 1856, an agreement with the Post Office Department of the United States took effect for a system of Registration to be applied to letters passing between the two countries. Under this arrangement a person posting a letter on either side can, by the pre-payment of a fee of 3d. in addition to the ordinary postage, secure a continuous record of its transmission from the place of posting to the place of destination, where a receipt will be taken and preserved of the due delivery of the letter so registered." Further details are found in the postal section of the Canadian Directory for 1857-8, as follows:--