The Special Delivery stamp differs materially in design and size from the ordinary series, the dimensions of the engraved work being 1-1/4 inches long by 7/8 of an inch wide [31 × 23 mm.]. The advantage of such a contrast is obvious. The letter to which a Special Delivery stamp is affixed can thus be at once picked out by those handling the mails including it, and its delivery greatly hastened. The design of the Special Delivery stamp is without any vignette, and consists substantially of a panel across the top containing the words "CANADA POST OFFICE", with a lathe-work border round the other three sides of the stamp. The center of the stamp is occupied by an oval containing lathe-work, with the word "TEN" in the center, and the phrase "SPECIAL DELIVERY WITHIN CITY LIMITS" in a white letter, on a solid panel encircling the word "TEN". On each side of the stamp, connecting the oval with the border, is a circle with the numeral "10"; the space between the oval and the border is occupied by ornamental work. At the bottom of the stamp, in the lathe-work border, appears a white panel with the words "TEN CENTS". The stamp is illustrated as Number 57 on Plate III. It is line engraved and printed in sheets of 50, ten rows of five. The usual imprint, OTTAWA--No.--1, is found in the margin at the top of the sheet, over the third stamp. But one plate number has yet appeared. The color was at first a deep green which in 1908 took on a bluish cast. The paper used is the thick white wove ordinarily employed for the regular postage series, and the stamp has also appeared on the toned paper on which the 1 cent postage is known. The annual requisitions from the manufacturers have increased from 25,000 in 1898 to 112,500 in 1910. * * * * * To return to the Postmaster General's Reports. That of the 30th June, 1899, states:--"The 10 cent Special-Delivery stamp, to which reference was made in the last report, came into use at the beginning of the current fiscal year, simultaneously with the commencement of the Special-Delivery Service, and of this stamp 52,940 were issued to meet the demands, which would go to show that the service is being availed of to a considerable extent throughout the country." The date of the first issue of the special delivery stamp to postmasters is given as the 28th June, 1898.