George V Admiral Period
1912 - 1928
The Universal Postal Union Rates
The Universal Postal Union (UPU) rates applied to all nations for which preferential rates such as those to Great Britain and the Empire were not in place. This post is organized as follows:

1. Letters
a) To September 30, 1921
b) October 1, 1921 to September 30, 1925
c) From October 1, 1925

2. Post Cards
a) To September 30, 1921
b) October 1, 1921 to September 30, 1925
c) From October 1, 1925

3. Printed Matter
a) To September 30, 1921
b) From October 1, 1921

4. Registration
a) To July 14, 1920
b) From July 15, 1920


1. Letters

a) To September 30, 1921

The UPU letter rate was 5 cents for the first ounce and 3 cents for each additional ounce.

Montreal to Schildau, Germany, January 26, 1912
5 cents UPU letter rate



Toronto to Plauen, Germany, May 28, 1912
5 cents UPU letter rate



Montreal to Leipzig, Germany, November 7, 1912
5 cents UPU letter rate



Montreal to Vohwinkel, Germany, June 13, 1913
5 cents UPU letter rate



German Consulate Winnipeg to Leipzig, October 21, 1912
5 cents UPU letter rate


German Consulate Seal



Ottawa to Peking, China, September 3, 1917
5 cents UPU letter rate



Montreal to Stockholm, October 1, 1919
5 cents UPU letter rate
Shortpaid 2 cents
Double deficiency 4 cents = 20 centimes ( 1 cent = 5 centimes)
Swedish tax 16 ore


T 20 Canadian tax marking
"Losen 16 ore" Swedish due label


The Great War

Canada entered into the war on August 6, 1914. The letter to Germany below was in transit before the war had begun.


Quebec to Nuremburg, July 25, 1914
5 cents UPU letter rate


German Army censor



Montreal to Montbellard, France, January 2, 1916
5 cents UPU letter rate


"OPENED BY MILITARY AUTHORITY" handstamp



New Brunswick to Torino, Italy, May 3, 1918
5 cents UPU letter rate


Italian censor tape


Neutral Terminal Censorship

On July 3, 1917, censorship from Canada to neutral countries that had communications with enemy nations was established. This "neutral terminal" censorship was discontinued on May 7, 1919.


Victoria to Christiannia, Norway, October 12, 1917
5 cents UPU letter rate


Canadian "neutral terminal" censorship



Ottawa to Breda, Netherlands, March 10, 1919
5 cents UPU letter rate


Canadian "neutral terminal" censorship



Niagara Falls to Rotterdam, April 16, 1921
Double weight letter : 5 cents for the 1st ounce and 3 cents for the next ounce
Shortpaid 4 cents


Double deficiency 8 cents = 40 centimes (1 cent = 5 centimes)

Netherlands tax 17 1/2 cents.

Montreal to Zurich, May 8, 1918
5c UPU letter rate
Foreign Exchange handstamp


b) October 1, 1921 to September 30, 1925

The UPU letter rate was increased from 5 cents to 10 cents for the first ounce and 5 cents for each additional ounce.


Winnipeg to Lyngby, Denmark, December 4, 1922
10 cents UPU letter rate



Toronto to s'Gravenhage, Netherlands, April 3, 1922
10 cents UPU letter rate



Montreal to St. Gall, Switzerland, December 21, 1922
10 cents UPU letter rate



Toronto to Zurich, January 18, 1924
10 cents UPU letter rate



Edmonton to Hamburg, Germany, March 22, 1924



Calgary to Yvorne, Switzerland, October 30, 1921
10 cents UPU letter rate
Shortpaid 5 cents
Double deficiency 10 cents = 50 centimes
Swiss taxation 40 Swiss centimes


c) From October 1, 1925

The UPU letter rate was reduced from 10 cents to 8 cents for the first ounce and 4 cents for each additional ounce.


Montreal to Zug, Switzerland, December 8, 1925
8 cents UPU letter rate



Montreal to Paris, February 8, 1926
8 cents UPU letter rate


Taxation of Underpaid Mail: 1925 - 1930

From 1925 to 1930, Canada Post Office reduced the tax charged on underpaid mail to UPU destinations. An article had been posted HERE to explain the reduction.


Arvida to Copenhagen, Denmark, June 12, 1926
8 cents UPU letter rate
Shortpaid 5 cents
Double deficiency 10 cents = 50 centimes (1 cent = 5 centimes)
Denmark tax 38 0re


Front Only

The front below is a significant example of Admiral postal history because it is a front! The sender of the item below to the Netherlands did not affix sufficient postage and the addressee paid a 25 cent tax. The addressee wished to be reimbursed and mailed the front to the sender proving the short payment.



Yarmouth to Haarlem, Netherlands, August 11, 1928
8 cents UPU letter rate
Shortpaid 6 cents
25 cents Dutch due



Typed on the back of the "front" :

Miss Amanda Hal., The postage to Holland is 8 cent, and as you only put a 2 cent stamp on I had to pay 25 Dutch cent to get your letter, 25 Cent Dutch is 10 cents Canadian, kindly send me 10 Cent extra when writing again.


2. Post Cards

a) To September 30, 1921

The UPU post card rate was 2 cents.



New Wesminster to Curland, Russia, March 22, 1914
2 cents UPU post card rate



Montreal to St-Mande, France, November 9, 1913
2 cent UPU post card rate



Welland to Hudiksvall, Sweden, May 7, 1914
2 cent UPU letter rate



Ottawa to Berlin, January 18, 1913
2 cents Postal Stationery card


b) October 1, 1921 to September 30, 1925

The UPU post card rate increased from 2 cents to 6 cents.


Montreal to Hamburg, December 7, 1923
6 cents UPU post card rate



"Along Line of Canadian Pacific Railway" Photographed and Copyrighted by Byron, Harmon,-Banff


Calgary and Vancouver RPO to Brussels, Belgium, October 5, 1922
6 cents UPU post card rate



Aneroid, Sask., to Herrnhut, Germany, March 18, 1922
6 cents UPU post card rate


"6 cents on 2 cents blue"



Didsburg to Yvorne, Switzerland, May 6, 1922
6 cents UPU post card rate



Halifax to Gothenburg, Sweden, July 19, 1924
6 cents UPU post card rate



Quebec to Brussels, Belgium, August 6, 1924
6 cents UPU post card rate
Shortpaid 4 cents
Canadian tax : 40 centimes
Belgian charge : 60 Belgian centimes





Hamilton Beach to Kottbus, Germany, September 23, 1923
6 cents UPU post card rate

 
c) From October 1, 1925

The UPU post card rate was reduced from 6 cents to 4 cents.


Sidney, B.C., to Helsingland, Sweden, August 13, 1926
4 cents UPU post card rate


Montreal to Zug, Switzerland, September 5, 1928
4 cents UPU post card rate



Toronto to Rome, April 19, 1927
4 cents UPU post card rate


3. Printed Matter

a) To September 30, 1921

The UPU printed matter rate was 1 cent for each 2 ounces.


Winnipeg to Amiens, France, November 23, 1916
1 cent UPU printed matter rate



Montreal to Tar, France, November 2, 1920
1 cent UPU printed matter rate


b) From October 1, 1921

The UPU printed matter rate was increased from 1 cent to 2 cents for each two ounces.



Vancouver to Keysin, Switzerland, December 23, 1926
2 cents UPU printed matter rate



Kitchener to Gera, Germany, October 25, 1926
2 cents UPU printed matter rate


4. Registration

a) To July 14, 1920

The UPU registration fee was 5 cents.



Victoria to Buso Arzizio, Italy, September 6, 1912
5 cents UPU letter rate + 5 cents registration fee



Montreal to Frankfurt, March 2, 1914
5 cents UPU letter rate + 5 cents registration fee



Galt to Wurtenburg, Germany, November 10, 1919
5 cents UPU letter rate + 5 cents registration fee


b) From July 15, 1920

The UPU registration fee was 10 cents.


Montreal to Luzerne, Switzerland, September 11, 1920
8 cent double weight letter rate ( 5 cents 1st ounce + 3 cents next ounce) + 10 cents registration fee



Halifax to Christiania, Norway, December 21, 1920


8 cent double weight letter rate ( 5 cents 1st ounce + 3 cents next ounce) + 10 cents registration fee

Montreal to Krumlov, Czechoslovakia, January 25, 1921

2 cents UPU post card rate + 10 cents registration fee

Waterloo to Dresden, Germany, July 20, 1923
10 cents UPU letter rate + 10 cents registration fee






Heffey Creek to Berne Switzerland, December 7, 1929
12 cents rate for double weight letter ( 8 cents for the 1st ounce and 4 cents for the next ounce) + 10 cents registration fee

Sir James Aikins (1851 - 1929)
4th Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba

Postal covers are historical artifacts which can help us explore and understand the past. That is why I collect them. Today's cover takes us to early 20th century Manitoba and to the oceanside resort of Kennebunk Beach, Maine.



The cover was sent from Government House, Winnipeg to Lady Aikins, Atlantis Hotel,  Kennebunk Beach, Maine and postmarked July 26, 1917.

Government House

Government House, located on the grounds of the Legislative Building, in downtown Winnipeg, is the residence of the Manitoba Lieutenant-Governor.



Built by the Dominion government in 1883, the building was transferred to Manitoba in 1885 to be used as a residence for the Lieutenant-Governor and for no other purpose.


 Sir James Aikens

James Aikens was the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba when the letter was mailed. He was a lawyer and politician who served as Manitoba's 4th Lieutenant-Governor from 1916 to 1926.

1923
National Gallery of Canada

The following information about John Aikins was found on the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba's  web site :

• Son of James Cox Aikins, Manitoba's 4th Lieutenant- Governor.
• Educated at Upper Canada College and University of Toronto.
• Called to the Ontario bar in 1878 but chose to relocate in Winnipeg the following year; called to the Manitoba bar 1879.
• Counsel for Department of Justice 1879-96.
• Counsel for Province of Manitoba 1900, aided in the drafting of the Manitoba Liquor Act.
• First president of the Canadian Bar Association 1914-29 and President of the Manitoba Bar Association.
• Director of Manitoba Agricultural College.
• Elected as Conservative MP for Brandon 1911 but resigned to lead the provincial Conservative party in the election of 1915 when his party was defeated.
• Widely credited as a brilliant and witty speaker, he was also said to be one of the province's finest marksmen.
• Knighted in 1914. 

Aikens was a respected figure in Manitoba . At Aikins' state funeral , Archbishop Matheson said that John Aikins would be remembered as

 “a great and brilliant member of the legal profession, a magnetic and eloquent public speaker, a great legislator, a great educationalist, a great philanthropist, and above all, a great Canadian citizen.” Source : Biographical Dictionary of Canada

Lady Aikins

The Manitoba Historical Society provides the following information concerning  Mary French Colby Aikins on its website:

Born at Stanstead, Quebec on 25 October 1862, daughter of William B. Colby and Malvina Wallingford, she was educated at Stanstead Wesleyan College. She came to Manitoba in 1887 with her widowed mother and took a position teaching modern and classical languages at Lansdowne College in Portage la Prairie. She later attended the Central Normal School at Winnipeg, after which she worked as a clerk in the Department of Education until her marriage.
On 6 September 1899, she married J.A.M. Aikins at Stanstead, Quebec. They had two daughters: Helen Aikins (wife of F.J. Ney)  and Elizabeth Aikins (wife of Ronald Ney). She was the first President of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Winnipeg. She was also a member of the Women’s Canadian Club of Winnipeg, the Daughters of the Empire, and the Methodist church. Her recreations included golf and tennis.

 She died at Winnipeg on 9 February 1931.

Atlantis Hotel, Kennebunk Beach

Post card not in author's collection

The Atlantis Hotel, built in resort community of Kennebunk Beach, Maine in 1903, occupied a leading position among Maine's oceanside hotels until its demolition in 1967.

Imperial Conference 1926

 

Imperial Conference were meetings of Prime Ministers of the Dominions of the British Empire in London which had been held since 1917. The sixth Imperial Conference took place from October 19 to November 22, 1926. Representing the Dominion of Canada was Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.The central issue of the conference was the status of the Dominions within the Empire. The Conference produced the Balfour Declaration which established the principle that the Dominions were all equal in status, and not subordinate to the United Kingdom. It stated that the United Kingdom and the Dominions:

"...are autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth."

 King George V(front, centre) with his prime ministers.

George V (seated, centre) with Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin, United Kingdom,(seated left), Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King, Canada (seated, right). Standing Rt. Hon. Walter Stanley Monroe Newfoundland, Rt. Hon.Gordon Coates, New Zealand , Rt. Hon. Stanley Bruce, Australia , Rt. Hon. J.B. Hertzog and W.T. Cosgrave, Irish Free State. 


Canadian Delegation Mail

 

Canadian Delegation Mail, London to West Norwood (London), November 4, 1926

Official Paid handstamp

Canadian Delegation 1926 Imperial Conference cachet

Official Paid London, November 4, 1926

 Prime Minister's Office

The Prime Minister's seal was embossed on the back flap.

 

The Dionne Quintuplets:
An Ontario Government Tourist Attraction

Successful multiple births are not unusual in this era of fertility drugs and state-of-the-art neonatology facilities . In 1934 this was not the case. The Dionne Quintuplets born near Callander, Ontario, were the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy.

 

Elzire Dionne and her five daughters

In the bleak days of the Great Depression, the birth of the Dionne Quintuplets ("Quints") drew world-wide attention. Fearing for the exploitation of the only living quintuplets in the world, the Ontario government removed the babies from their parents four months after their birth making them wards of the provincial crown.

 

Ironically, it was the Ontario government that exploited the Quints, turning them into the province's top tourist attraction. The government placed them in a specially built facility, which became know as "Quintland", where thousands of people per day walked around an observation gallery to view the sisters behind a one-way screen.Over 3 million people visited  the gallery between 1936 and 1943. According to a 2001 New York Times article, the Quints " brought an estimated $500 million to Ontario..."

 



After a bitter custody battle, the sisters were returned to their parents in 1943. Unfortunately for the sisters it was the saddest home they ever knew. They viewed their mother as unloving and their father as controlling. Difficult lives followed.

 In 1998, the surviving sisters reached a monetary settlement with the Ontario government as compensation for their exploitation.


Covers from Callandar


1. The Dionne Quintuplet Guardianship

 Callander to Philadelphia, August 8, 1941

Corner card

Back of the envelope

2. From Yvonne Dionne

Callander to Hudson, Mass., February 28, 1940

Corner card

Enclosed letter from  five-year old Yvonne :

3. Philatelic Souvenirs

Second Birthday Anniversary

Callander, May 28, 1936

Toronto : World's Highest Post Office

CN Tower post card, circa 1977

The CN Tower is one of Toronto's most recognizable architectural structures. Built by CN Rail and opened in 1976, the 553m (1815ft.) communication and observation  tower is a major Toronto landmark and  tourist attraction. In 1995, it was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. When CN transferred ownership of the tower to the federal crown corporation Canada Lands in 1995, the  tower's official name was changed to Canada's National Tower , but this name is not commonly used. The CN Tower was the highest freestanding structure in the world until 2007.
The World's Highest Post Office Cachet

The 1977 post card shown below shows that visitors were able to post mail at the top of the tower to which a souvenir cachet was applied. The author has no information relating to the posting system and would be interested in learning more about it (Please contact philcovex@gmail.com).

Toronto to Thalwil, Switzerland, September 14, 1977

THE WORLD'S HIGHEST POST OFFICE
CN TOWER