f Major Evans a
set of Canadian stamps surcharged SERVICE, and he certainly
vouched for the authenticity of the Royal arms and supporters, with
the word SERVICE on some Canadian envelopes, which he declared had
been issued to the troops that were sent out in the Indian
rebellion in 1885, and with whom Mr. Hechler was serving. This
rebellion did not break out until April of that year, and yet we
find these envelopes described in the _Timbre-Poste_ of February of
the same year, on the authority of _Der Philatelist_ of the
previous January. This all seems to be very remarkable, especially
as no one but Mr. Hechler appears ever to have had any of them.

A little delving into the history of these stamps and envelopes soon
showed that they were nothing more than a private speculation on the
part of their sponsor, Mr. Hechler. It appears that Hechler was a
captain in a Volunteer regiment which was despatched to assist in
putting down the rebellion. He had the words SERVICE printed on a number
of envelopes, postcards, and probably stamps as well, which were used in
sending notices of drill, etc., to his company. But they were never
issued or recognised by the Government of Canada.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

_The Special Delivery Stamp._

In March, 1884, the _Philatelic Record_ contained the following
paragraph:--

We are informed that there is likely to be issued shortly "a new
ten cent stamp of special design, which, when attached to a letter,
will ensure its immediate delivery to its address at any free
delivery office, between the hours of 7 a. m. and 12 midnight." A
similar system has, we believe, been in use for some years in
Belgium, where the extra charge is paid in telegraph stamps.

This was certainly a case of intelligent anticipation for it was not
until fourteen years later that a stamp of this character was issued by
the Dominion of Canada. The Postmaster-General's Report for 1898
referred to the introduction of the new stamp as follows:--

The calendar year has witnessed the introduction of the special
delivery stamp, whereby on the payment of a delivery fee of 10
cents in addition to the ordinary postage, a letter immediately
upon its arrival at the office of destination is sent by special
messenger for delivery to the addressee.

A special-delivery stamp of the face-value of 10 cents was
pr