“The stamps referred to in the letter were impressions from the old hand stamps in his office. To understand the latter part of this letter thoroughly, it must be understood that it was a rule of the Nova Scotia Post Office Department (and is now of the Canadian) that a stamp should not be cancelled with pen and ink, or with date stamp, but with a cancellor, so that in case the stamp should come off the postmark would be on the envelope, and the origin of the letter could thus be found. This of course could not be done if the postmark was on the stamp. The objection to ink was that it could be cleaned, and the stamp used again. This letter, of course, exploded the idea of a surcharge. Not long after this Mr. J. N. Crane showed me an envelope he had, which was mailed from Whycocomagh, C.B., February 29th, 1860, with a pair of Six Penny stamps with the figure 10 surcharged on each; but, as in my own case, there was no other cancellation on them. Mr. Crane’s theory is, that as the currency was changed to dollars and cents in the beginning of 1860, and that as 6d. was then worth only 10 c., that the postmaster at Whycocomagh put it on the Six Penny stamps to show that he sold them for that price. If this was the case I should think more would be found, and until then I will continue to believe that this surcharge was only an accidental cancellation, although in support of Mr. Crane’s argument there is a figure five alongside of my own Three Penny stamp, illustrated. It seems, however, a singular coincidence that his and mine should be mailed at almost the same dates, Mr. Crane’s being mailed at Whycocomagh, 1860. Another manner in which those stamps are likely to be thus overprinted is this: In 1854 there was a new postal treaty arranged between the United States and Nova Scotia, one of the agreements of which was that the rate should be 3d. per ½ ounce, and that all prepaid letters sent by Nova Scotia to the United States should be stamped on the face of them ‘PAID 5 CENTS,’ the equal in United States currency to 3d., or 10 cents if it was a double rate. This may have been occasionally struck on the stamp accidentally, and would thus make a surcharge. I have myself seen an envelope in which the edge of the paid stamp has missed the Three Pence stamp by only a hair-breadth. Some of the surcharges have no doubt originated in this manner.