FOOTNOTES:

There was a practice of taking letters to the steamer and tossing them on to the table in the cabin. On the arrival of the steamer in port, a crowd of messenger boys who were awaiting it picked up the letters from the table and delivered them through the town at one penny or twopence each.

The stage coaches were laid under contribution in the same irregular manner. Every passenger between St. John and Fredericton was expected to take with him all his friends' letters, which he either delivered to the persons to whom they were addressed, or deposited in the post office, the postmaster receiving a penny each for delivering them. A stratagem sometimes employed was to place letters in the midst of a bundle of paper and sticks of wood, the freight of the bundle being less than the postage on the letters it contained.

It was at this time that the legislature of New Brunswick began to manifest an interest in the management of the post office. In 1841, a special committee of the assembly reviewed the operation of the system, and among the questions discussed was the authority.

The committee expressed the opinion that no arrangement could be satisfactory which did not combine provincial control of the local post office with a general imperial oversight over the whole system; and they recommended that a deputy postmaster general should be appointed whose duty it should be to prescribe mail routes, open post offices, appoint postmasters, and generally to manage the business of the post office in the province.[277]

The question of local management the general post office proposed to solve, not in the manner desired by the assembly, but by separating New Brunswick from the jurisdiction of the deputy postmaster general at Halifax, and establishing a department in the province, under a deputy postmaster general who should be stationed at St. John, and who should be, as the deputies in the other provinces were, subject to the postmaster general of England.

Local control was partially effected, as in the other provinces, by vesting the appointment of all officials, except the deputy postmaster general and the inspector, in the lieutenant governor. On the 6th of July, 1843, a separate establishment was set up in New Brunswick with John Howe, the son of the late deputy postmaster general for Nova Scotia, in charge as deputy postmaster general.

The arrangement had, at first, only a qualified success. It was criticized by the legislature as having nearly doubled the expense of the establishment, and by the post office officials on the ground that it introduced the local politician into the system.

As illustration of the introduction of local political mechanics, Page reported to the secretary of the post office that the deputy postmaster general, having had to dismiss a postmaster for very gross mismanagement, applied to the lieutenant governor for a nomination for the vacant office.[278]The lieutenant governor nominated the dismissed man, and when the nomination was refused, he proposed to appoint the late postmaster's son. The explanation was that the postmaster was a leading politician, and his re-nomination had been insisted upon by the political manager, whom the governor consulted.

The lieutenant governor viewed with no favour the independent powers of the deputy postmaster general. In the course of a dispute over the dismissal by the deputy postmaster general of a person whom he had appointed, the lieutenant governor laid hisopinions and desires energetically before the colonial secretary. He requested that the general post office should be removed from St. John to Fredericton in order that the latter might be more effectually under the control of the lieutenant governor; and that the post office surveyor or inspector should make his reports to himself and not to the deputy postmaster general. His views were held to be quite untenable, the postmaster general pointing out that if carried into effect, they would make the governor the deputy postmaster general.

St. John and Fredericton were the only towns in New Brunswick in which correspondence was delivered by letter carrier. In St. John there were two carriers, who covered the city together, one delivering letters, the other newspapers. They were paid a penny for each letter or newspaper. In Fredericton there was only one carrier, who was in the employ of the postmaster, who retained the sums collected as his own perquisite.

New Brunswick was in no respect behind the sister provinces in its demand for the essential thing—a reduced rate of postage. The chamber of commerce of St. John, in 1841, petitioned the postmaster general to reduce the rate on letters exchanged between any of the post offices on the route between St. John and Halifax to threepence, arguing that British letters for places anywhere in the colonies were carried from Halifax inward for one penny (the rate was really twopence), and that letters were exchanged between the remotest places in the United States for one shilling and threepence.

To the point respecting the conveyance of British letters, the postmaster general replied that this part of the service was carried on at a heavy loss, which was only to be justified as an imperial measure.

A legislative committee sitting in the same year went beyond the chamber of commerce in its recommendations.[279]It was of opinion that there should be a uniform rate on letters circulating within the province, and that that rate should not exceed twopence. They, also, recommended that newspapers, legislative papers and small pamphlets, being for the political education of the people, should be exempt from postage altogether. They foresaw a temporary loss if their recommendations were carried into effect, but considered that any such loss should be made good by the legislature.

In 1843 the legislature took up the subject again, repeating their desire for free newspapers, and requesting that the rate onletters exchanged within the province be fixed at threepence a single letter.[280]

The assembly, in 1845, addressed the king on the whole question of the post office.[281]After remonstrating on the large increase in the cost of the provincial service, as the result of erecting a separate establishment, they complained that, in order to bring the expenditure within the revenue, the department had cut off several routes and reduced the frequency of the couriers' trips on others. The charges on letters and newspapers were so high as to impede correspondence.

The assembly in this address gave it as their opinion that if the charges on letters were reduced by one-half, and were abolished altogether as regards newspapers, the receipts would soon be greater than they were. The legislature had expended £145,000 on the main roads during the preceding ten years, and it was disheartening that the postal accommodation was less than it had formerly been.

In their requests in 1845 for reduction of charges, the legislature were more conservative than they had been in earlier sessions. Still maintaining that newspapers should circulate free of postage, they were content to ask that the charges on letters should range from sixpence to twopence, according to the distance they were carried. They asked that the deputy postmaster general be required to establish such additional service as the legislature might see fit to demand; that the accounts of the provincial system be laid annually, in full detail, before the legislature, and that any surplus revenue be devoted to extending the facilities for inter-provincial communication. In consideration of the foregoing requests being granted, the legislature pledged themselves to provide such additional sums as might from time to time be required to defray the current charges.

The colonial office replied to this address in October of the same year.[282]The principal points dealt with were the petition for free newspapers, and the complaint that the accommodation to the public had been diminished.

On the latter point, the colonial secretary stated that no services had been affected, except where they were unnecessary. As for the question of free newspapers, if New Brunswick could be dealt with separately from the other provinces, there could be no objection to meeting their wishes, but in view of the fact that the effecton the other provinces had to be considered, the request of New Brunswick could not be granted.

The legislature in the following session took issue with the colonial secretary on this point. It was quite open to Nova Scotia or any of the other provinces to adopt the same policy as New Brunswick considered advisable. The legislature took a course, which had not hitherto been pursued by the other provinces. They besought the co-operation of a sister province in an effort to have their desires carried into effect. They sent a copy of the address of the previous session to Canada and suggested a joint effort to secure reduced rates for the North American colonies, by guaranteeing a sufficient sum in proportion to the business of the respective provinces to make up any deficiency of a temporary nature that might be caused by such reduction.

The post office in Prince Edward Island was involved in none of the controversies, which agitated the people of the other provinces. It owed its immunity to its low estate. Its revenues were never equal to the cost of its maintenance, and consequently it was not a subject for exploitation. A post office was opened at Charlottetown in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and until 1827 it was the only institution of the kind in the island.

Letters addressed to persons dwelling outside of Charlottetown, no matter how far, remained in the post office in that town until called for. This state of things led to many inconveniences, but it was not until 1827 that it received official attention.

Lieutenant governor Ready, in the course of his speech at the opening of the legislature in that year, pointed out the necessity of establishing a postal system in the island, "as affording the means of a speedy and safe communication with our distant population, and of conveying to them a knowledge of the laws and proceedings of the government, which, while it contributes to the security of the people, serves also to guard them against the effects of misrepresentation and misconception."[283]

The legislature having expressed their concurrence in these views, the postmaster of Charlottetown was directed to open a number of post offices, and establish the necessary courier routes. The system began operations on the 1st of July following.

There were three routes established. The western courier exchanged mails at New London, Malpeque, Traveller's Rest and Tryon River, his route being nearly ninety miles in length. The eastern courier served St. Peter's Road, St. Peters, BayFortune and Grand River. This route was upwards of one hundred miles. The south-east courier travelled fifty-three miles, and exchanged mails at Seal River and Three Rivers.

The couriers performed their services weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter. The rates of postage were fixed by the legislature without regard to the postmaster general of England, and were twopence a letter and one-halfpenny a newspaper. The report of these proceedings rather disturbed the deputy postmaster general at Halifax, whose jurisdiction included Prince Edward Island and who expressed his disapproval of the course pursued by the authorities. He notified the postmaster of Charlottetown that there was no power possessed by the government of any colony of Great Britain to establish post offices and set up couriers, and demanded to be furnished with the orders under which the postmaster had acted.

The secretary of the general post office, in a letter to the postmaster general, pointed out that the measures taken by the legislature of Prince Edward Island were entirely illegal, but that it was a question how far it might be expedient or politic to interfere in a settlement where the deputy postmaster general had not thought it necessary to establish internal communications; particularly when the communications, if established, would probably not produce revenue sufficient to cover the expenses.

He therefore suggested no interference be made for the present with the arrangements in the island, and that Howe, the deputy postmaster general, should watch the financial results of the system. If it should appear that a revenue should arise, then the local authorities might be advised that the postmaster general would take the arrangements into his own hands, under the powers given by his patent, and by various acts of parliament.

The postmaster general concurred, and Howe was duly instructed. As it appeared at the end of the first year's operations, that the revenue derived from the posts set up by the legislature amounted to £268, while the expenses were £383, the postmaster general decided to leave the service in the charge of the legislature, with instructions to Howe to keep his attention alive to the subject in case a change in the financial results might make it desirable for the postmaster general to assert his authority.

The outcome of the negotiations was that the revenue collected by the post office in its internal system was passed over to the provincial treasury, which defrayed the cost of maintaining the couriers. The situation remained unchanged until 1851, when thecontrol of the post office was formally transferred to the colonial legislature. The financial results of the system were at no time of any considerable magnitude, and the expenses constantly outran the revenue, though not sufficiently to make the post office a serious burden on the provincial revenues. In the year 1850, the total net receipts were £1441, and the expenditure was £1528.

FOOTNOTES:[269]Howe to Lawrence, September 2, 1839 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).[270]Report of Committee of Assembly, February 25, 1842 (enclosure in Howe to Maberly, April 4, 1842, Br. P.O. Transcripts).[271]Falkland to colonial office, April 30, 1841 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).[272]Journals of Assembly, Canada, 1846, App. F. (E).[273]Howe's death took place on January 18, 1843.[274]Watson to secretary, G.P.O., July 17, 1844 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).[275]Journals of Assembly, 1844.[276]Journals of Assembly, 1846, and Br. P.O. Transcripts for 1845 and 1846.[277]Journals of Assembly, N.B., 1841, p. 266.[278]Page'sInquiry, II. 72 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).[279]Journals of Assembly, N.B., 1841, p. 266.[280]Journals of Assembly, N.B., 1843, p. 285.[281]Ibid., 1845, p. 334.[282]Ibid., 1846, p. 54.[283]Howe to Freeling, June 10 and September 29, 1827 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).

[269]Howe to Lawrence, September 2, 1839 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).

[270]Report of Committee of Assembly, February 25, 1842 (enclosure in Howe to Maberly, April 4, 1842, Br. P.O. Transcripts).

[271]Falkland to colonial office, April 30, 1841 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).

[272]Journals of Assembly, Canada, 1846, App. F. (E).

[273]Howe's death took place on January 18, 1843.

[274]Watson to secretary, G.P.O., July 17, 1844 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).

[275]Journals of Assembly, 1844.

[276]Journals of Assembly, 1846, and Br. P.O. Transcripts for 1845 and 1846.

[277]Journals of Assembly, N.B., 1841, p. 266.

[278]Page'sInquiry, II. 72 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).

[279]Journals of Assembly, N.B., 1841, p. 266.

[280]Journals of Assembly, N.B., 1843, p. 285.

[281]Ibid., 1845, p. 334.

[282]Ibid., 1846, p. 54.

[283]Howe to Freeling, June 10 and September 29, 1827 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).

Reversal of attitude of British government on post office control—Instructions to Lord Elgin—Provincial postal conference—Control of post office relinquished to colonies.

The ministry formed by Lord John Russell, which took office on July 6, 1846, gave its immediate attention to the condition of the post office in the North American colonies, and a few weeks after taking office, Lord Clanricarde, the postmaster general, laid a proposition before the treasury[284]which had for its object the severance of the relations between the colonial system and the general post office and the withdrawal of the latter from all responsibility respecting the service in the provinces.

The reversal of policy in this case was as remarkable for suddenness as that which, in the same year, had brought about the abolition of the Corn Laws. As late as June 9, the secretary of the post office submitted a proposition from Stayner for a substantial reduction in the rates, with many doubts as to the propriety of accepting it. He pointed out that it would involve, at least temporarily, so great a shrinkage in the revenues, that the treasury would be faced with alternatives almost equally distasteful, but one of which it would be obliged to adopt. The treasury must be prepared either to take on itself the deficits certain to arise, or must call upon the colonial legislatures to meet them.

While the treasury was deliberating, a new postmaster general supervened, who was quite prepared to face the idea of colonial postal systems over which he ceased to have control. With the insistent petitions from Canada and New Brunswick before him, he came to the conclusion that the time had arrived when it was no longer expedient for the general post office to continue responsibility for postal systems, which had to subserve interests understood only by those whom they concerned. With certain safeguards, he had no fear for the impairment of imperial interests.

The course of reasoning by which Clanricarde reached the conclusions he communicated to the treasury were as follows:The unanimity of the demands of the colonial legislatures left no doubt that the postage rates must undergo a very considerable reduction; and there was equally little doubt that the consequences of this reduction would be a diminution of revenue so considerable that a large deficit would be inevitable. New Brunswick, the new postmaster general recalled, had undertaken to make good its portion of the deficiency, and there was every probability that the other provinces would assume the same obligation.

In these deficiencies, however, in spite of the utmost good will on the part of the provinces, lay the seeds of certain trouble. The principle governing the establishment of a postal system, and its expansion to meet local requirements, was fundamentally different in a new country from the principle by which they were guided at home. In a new country a postal system was expected to afford the means of extending civilization, and to advance with equal step with settlement, whereas in a long settled country, the postal system followed in the train of civilization.

The consequence of this difference is naturally a frequent clashing of opinion between the authorities at home and the public in the colonies. Disputes were constantly arising as to the extent of the accommodation to be given to new settlements, the amount of the salaries to be paid to officials, and above all as to the principle upon which new and expensive posts should be established.

As to this last point, the general post office had just disposed of an application, which threw a strong light on the different elements, which had sometimes to be taken into consideration in dealing with questions of extensions of the system in a country like Canada.[285]

Sir George Simpson, the deputy governor of the Hudson Bay Company, represented that the company had a post at Sault Ste. Marie, for which postal accommodation was desirable. The post office having but one test to apply was disposed to reject the application on account of the insufficiency of the prospective revenue to cover the cost of the service.

Gladstone, at that time colonial secretary, sought information from Lord Cathcart, administrator of the government, as to the merits of the application and learned that, besides the Hudson Bay interest, there were prospects of large mining developments in the district, and that a body of troops was about to be sent tofort Garry, which would certainly require regular communication with headquarters.

These were considerations which post office officials in Great Britain would seldom have to take into account, and while the accommodation was authorized in this case, owing to the standing of its advocates, there would be many cases, where the necessity would appear equally great to local authorities, which would not impress the authorities at home sufficiently to cause them to disregard their customary regulations.

Parenthetically it may be stated, as instances, that when the North-West territories were taken over by Canada in 1869, it became necessary to establish a mail service over a stretch of nine hundred miles between Winnipeg and Edmonton, at a cost of $10,000 a year, while the revenue from the route would scarcely exceed as many hundreds; and for many years after the Canadian Pacific railway was carried to Vancouver in 1886, the expenditure of the post office for the conveyance of mails into that country exceeded the revenue by some hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On this point the postmaster general says: "there is no more fertile source of contention in the North American colonies than the establishment of new posts; and if the means of extending such posts throughout the colonies were provided by funds not of the post office, but granted from the general colonial revenue, however well administered a department might be, I fear it would constantly be subjected to accusations of favouritism and of undue influences."

Clanricarde conceded that it would only be reasonable to expect that the legislative assemblies would endeavour to ascertain whether by rearrangements, or other alterations in the administration, the deficiency would not be diminished, and whether economy could not be introduced with respect to salaries. The struggle of members for local advantages would heighten the feeling with which the department administered from England would be regarded.

The postmaster general summed the situation up by declaring his conviction that any measure producing a large deficiency in the post office revenue would be tantamount to a surrender of the administration by the postmaster general; and as he was of opinion that the general colonial interests called for a large reduction in the postage rates, he considered that it would be better that the postmaster general should resign his control over the post offices at once.

The imperial interests, which had determined the department in the past to retain its control over the arrangements remained inundiminished strength; and in order to safeguard these, it would be necessary to stipulate for certain conditions to which the colonies would be required to agree, before the colonial post offices were relinquished to the colonial legislatures.

The first was that correspondence passing between two colonies through the territory of a third, should not be subject to a charge on the part of the latter for transportation. This stipulation ensured that an intermediate colony should not have the power to compel the colonies on either side of it to raise their charges to meet exorbitant rates for transportation.

The second condition was that, in the case of correspondence passing between Great Britain and the colonies, the postage on which was one shilling and twopence, the part of this amount, which was for the inland conveyance, viz. twopence, should remain in operation, unless the ordinary inland rate should be less than twopence. In this case the correspondence to and from Great Britain should have the benefit of the lower rate.

The third condition was that prepayment or payment on delivery should be optional with respect to correspondence passing from one province to another, and, in order to avoid complicated accounts between the provinces, the practice should be for each province to treat as its own all the postage it collected whether it were on letters paid at the time of posting, or on letters from other provinces, the postage of which, being unpaid at the office of posting was collected at the office of delivery. The postmaster general also suggested, as highly desirable, that a uniform system and rate of postage should be maintained throughout the provinces.

As the proposition of the postmaster general provided for the reservation to the treasury of the full amount of the packet postage, part of which had until that time been used in the colonies to defray the expenses of their services, there could be no objection in point of finances to leaving to the colonies the control of their post offices.

Lord Elgin, who came out as governor general in the beginning of 1847, brought with him instructions to convey this information to the several legislatures. In these instructions Lord Grey, the colonial secretary, after alluding to the great change in the economic policy of the United Kingdom towards the colonies as a consequence of the adoption of the principle of free trade—the abolition of the preferential tariff which the colonies had hitherto enjoyed, and the concomitant removals of the restrictions, which had existed on their trade with foreign countries—pointed outthat in order that they might reap the largest measure of benefit from the greater freedom of trade, it was necessary that they should be united for customs purposes, on lines perhaps similar to those of the German Zollverein.

Grey further intimated that it was also desired, in order to complete the commercial association of the colonies, that some arrangement should be come to for settling the affairs of the post office. He suggested that a conference of the representatives of the colonies should be held in Montreal, to discuss these important subjects, and to endeavour to arrive at some agreement as to the principles to be adopted in giving effect to united colonial action.

Elgin delivered his message to the Canadian legislature in opening the session of 1847, on the 4th of June. He stated that he was enabled to inform the legislature that His Majesty's ministers were prepared to surrender to the provincial authorities, the control of the department in the colonies as soon as, by consent between the several legislatures, arrangements should be matured for securing to British North America the advantage of an efficient and uniform postal system.

But before this official intimation reached the colonies, action had been taken in one of them, on lines so closely parallel to those defined in the letter of the postmaster general to the treasury, as to suggest that Elgin, on his arrival in Boston on the 25th of January, had at once despatched a message to Halifax, since, on the 27th of January, the question of the post office was brought up for discussion in the legislature of Nova Scotia.

A committee was appointed to inquire generally into the conditions of the post office, and, particularly, into the advantage of one general system being adopted for the colonies, and the best means of accomplishing such an object.[286]Their task was to submit such a scheme as should be likely to command the approval of the other colonies and of the imperial authorities. This scheme should be founded upon some principle of central supervision and management of the various colonial post offices that would ensure uniformity in their operations, security against conflict with the general post office of the empire, and a proper degree of responsibility of the local heads to their legislatures.

Addressing themselves first to the question of postage rates, the committee at Halifax decided, though with some misgivings, to recommend for adoption the rates proposed by the commission approved by Sydenham to investigate the affairs of the postoffice. These rates were based on the principle of charging according to the distance letters were carried.

The preference of the committee was for a single uniform rate. But they were prepared to waive it, and adopt the rates proposed by the commission, "because those suggestions had already received the sanction of able men well acquainted with the subject, because they believed their adoption would involve very great benefits to the people of this colony, and because they believed those suggestions were more likely to be concurred in by the authorities in England, and by the other colonies, than would be any that proceeded directly from themselves."

The concurrence of the legislatures of the other provinces should be obtained in the recognition of common principles, and of the necessity for an independent authority placed in one of the colonies, whose function it should be to organize and centralize the department within certain limits to be prescribed and defined.

The report of the committee was submitted to the assembly of Nova Scotia on the 29th of March, and was adopted on all points, except the important one of the rates of postage. The house was not disposed to concur in the continuation of a system of postal charges, which had been definitely abandoned in Great Britain and the United States, and which had been condemned by every public body in the colonies, which had considered the subject. The assembly substituted for the rates proposed by the committee the uniform rate of threepence, and were prepared to face such deficits as should result. The lieutenant governor was requested to send the resolutions to the other colonies, with the earnest desire that they would be pleased to give them consideration.

On the 30th of June, the Nova Scotia resolutions were laid before the Canadian legislature, and no time was lost in carrying into effect the suggestion of a conference between representatives of the colonies on the mainland. Wm. Cayley, the inspector general of Canada (in practice the minister of finance), J. W. Johnston, the solicitor general of Nova Scotia and R. L. Hazen, of the executive council of New Brunswick, were appointed representatives of their respective provinces.

These representatives of three of the four provinces met in Montreal, on the invitation of Elgin; and in October, the result of their deliberations was presented to the governor general.[287]

In considering the question of the establishment of an independent management within the provinces, thus taking over thefunctions of the general post office so far as they related to the colonies, the delegates discussed the relative advantages of a scheme of a central department for the four provinces with united revenue and management such as then existed, or of one that would place the management of the postal arrangements in the hands of the local governments of each province, with no greater central control than should be necessary for securing imperial and inter-colonial interests.

The former of the two alternatives was rejected, as open to practically all the objections that had arisen from the control being continued in England. There was the further consideration that the most practical security against an imprudent excess in postal accommodation would be found in the consideration that undue encroachments on the general revenue for the benefit of the postal service would diminish the means required for other and not less valuable purposes. This motive, powerful when confined within the limits of a single province, might lose much of its force, were the postal revenues of the four provinces gathered into one fund.

The other alternative appeared free from the objections mentioned. The delegates, therefore, recommended that the post office departments in the several provinces should be separate and distinct from one another, and under the control, each, of its own provincial government, which should appoint all officers, make arrangements for mail service, pay all expenses, and retain all collections, except the balances due to Great Britain on packet postage.

For expenditures common to all the provinces, there should be an office of central audit in Canada of which the postmaster general of Canada should be the head. The duties of the office were to audit the accounts of the several provinces, returns of which should be presented annually to the different legislatures; to collect and transmit to England the balances due from the four provinces on the packet service; and, in concert with the postmaster general in each province, to make all necessary arrangements for the transmission of the mails along the chief or central route from Canada to Halifax and between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

This office was anomalous in character, implying the inability of the several independent provincial departments to make all necessary business arrangements among themselves, and when the provinces assumed control of their post offices, it was not established.

In dealing with the question of the rates of postage, the delegates had before them the various representations from the several provinces as to the desirability of establishing, if possible, a low uniform rate of postage; and the success of penny postage in Great Britain and of the rates adopted in the United States in 1846 encouraged the belief that a low uniform postage would not only confer immeasurable commercial and social benefits, but would within a reasonable time be productive of a revenue ample for all the needs of the service.

It was, therefore, agreed to recommend to their respective governments the adoption of the threepenny or five-cent rate for each half-ounce letter. Lest, however, any of the provinces should fear for the financial results of conveying letters over the greater distances for this sum, they confined their recommendation to letters carried less than three hundred miles, leaving it optional to charge a double rate for letters carried beyond that distance. For the purpose of fixing the charge the provinces were to be regarded as one territory.

No change was recommended in the charges on newspapers, parliamentary documents, or other printed papers, but the several legislatures were left free to exempt these from postage, if they thought fit to do so. Prepayment or payment on delivery of letters should be optional, and franking abolished.

The treasury to whom this report was submitted, approved of the arrangements proposed, except that relating to the payment for the British mails to and from the port of destination in America. But they contented themselves with observing that this remained a matter of negotiation between the home and the colonial departments; and stated that as soon as the arrangements had been sufficiently matured, the requisite steps would be taken for the transfer of the postal communications to the provincial authorities.

Nova Scotia, which had taken the leading part in the negotiations which had brought matters to the point they had reached, again took up the leadership. On the 21st of March, 1848, the legislature adopted the report of the commissioners, and directed the attorney general to prepare a bill based on the view of Grey and Clanricarde, pledging themselves to make good any deficiency which might take place in the post office revenue of that province.

The bill to effect this arrangement was adopted by the legislature on April 4.[288]Thus all necessary action on the part of that province was complete, and the measure was ready to be put intooperation, as soon as the British government and the other colonies had taken the necessary action on their part.

Following up the enactment of this measure, the Nova Scotia legislature appointed James B. Uniacke, the chairman of the post office committee, to visit Canada, and lay before the governor general the views of Nova Scotia on the subject of the provincial post office and to endeavour to settle with Canada the questions necessary to be disposed of before the post office could be established.

Uniacke arrived in Montreal on the 8th of June, and had interviews with Elgin and the executive council. Two days later the council adopted a report drawn up in terms differing but slightly from those of the commission of 1847, and recommending the adoption of a uniform rate of threepence (five cents) throughout British North America.

The other recommendations were the same as those submitted by the committee, with the addition that postage stamps should be issued for the use of the public. The council were of opinion that the provisions recommended should be introduced in a bill, to be laid before parliament, and expressed the hope that the postmaster general might be given full discretionary powers in matters referring to the colonial post office, and that Her Majesty's government might be persuaded to adopt the above rates and regulations without further delay, the council pledging the administration to make good any excess of expenditure over revenue which may possibly arise in carrying out such arrangement.[289]

The government of Nova Scotia then approached that of New Brunswick, the lieutenant governor at Fredericton being informed of the result of Uniacke's visit to Canada and that all that was now required was the assent of the government of New Brunswick and the approval of the imperial authorities. The governor general added a word to the intimation of the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, and it was settled that legislation would be introduced into the New Brunswick legislature in accordance with the terms agreed upon.[290]

All requisite measures for establishing the colonial post offices on an independent footing were matured, so far as could be done, by the legislatures themselves, and nothing now remained but the imperial sanction. This the law officers were of opinion would require an act of the imperial parliament, and on the 28th of July, 1849,[291]an act was passed empowering the legislative authoritiesin any of the colonies to establish and maintain a system of posts, to charge rates of postage for the conveyance of correspondence, and to appropriate to their own uses the revenue to be derived therefrom. With this action taken, the control of the imperial government over the colonial posts should cease and determine.

The government of Prince Edward Island, though invited by Elgin to participate in the conference at Montreal in October 1846, took no part in it. In November 1847, Johnston, one of the representatives from Nova Scotia, sent to the lieutenant governor a copy of the report of the Montreal commission, requesting an expression of his sentiments, and inquiring as to the prospect of the legislature concurring in the opinions contained in the report.

The deputy postmaster general in the course of an examination of the report pointed out that the only valid objection the government of Prince Edward Island could have to the adoption of its conclusions, was that the uniform charge of threepence on inter-colonial correspondence would make a serious inroad in the receipts of the Prince Edward Island post office.

The island post office had been in the practice of adding to the postage charged on inter-colonial letters, the inland rate of twopence a letter. If the terms of the report were adopted in their entirety, and a uniform rate were charged throughout the provinces of threepence a letter, the island would have to relinquish its inland charge.

The deputy postmaster general took a serious view of the effect of the proposed relinquishment of the inland postage. The revenue for 1850 was £1440. Applying his estimates of the proportions by which the receipts from the several classes of correspondence would be reduced, he concluded that, under the scheme submitted, the revenue would probably not exceed £660.[292]

Notwithstanding this unfavourable anticipation, the government gave its assent to the scheme agreed upon by the other colonies, and the rate of postage on letters exchanged with other colonies became threepence per half ounce, while the charge on letters exchanged within the island remained twopence per half ounce.

FOOTNOTES:[284]Can. Arch., G. series v. 126 (August 18, 1846).[285]Cardwell to postmaster general, June 10, 1846, and accompanying papers (Br. P.O. Transcripts).[286]Journals of Assembly, N.S., 1847.[287]Journals of Assembly, Canada, 1849, App. B.B.B.[288]Journals of Assembly, N.S., 1848.[289]Journals of Assembly, Canada, 1849, App. B.B.B.[290]Ibid., N.S., 1849[291]Imperial Statutes, 12 and 13 Vict., c. 66.[292]Journals of Assembly, P.E.I., 1850, App. H.

[284]Can. Arch., G. series v. 126 (August 18, 1846).

[285]Cardwell to postmaster general, June 10, 1846, and accompanying papers (Br. P.O. Transcripts).

[286]Journals of Assembly, N.S., 1847.

[287]Journals of Assembly, Canada, 1849, App. B.B.B.

[288]Journals of Assembly, N.S., 1848.

[289]Journals of Assembly, Canada, 1849, App. B.B.B.

[290]Ibid., N.S., 1849

[291]Imperial Statutes, 12 and 13 Vict., c. 66.

[292]Journals of Assembly, P.E.I., 1850, App. H.

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