The Development of Rates of Postage Part 2

Under the existing abnormal circ.u.mstances it is difficult to form a satisfactory estimate of the result of this increase. Numerous contrary forces are in operation. The growth of the Army and the dislocation of private business resulting from the war have had important effects on the number of letters posted. Large numbers of letters are exchanged with men in the Army, but, on the other hand, all letters from troops on active service pa.s.s free of postage. It has been estimated that in the first five months the new rates yielded an increased revenue of nearly half a million.--See Postmaster-General's statement, 3rd July 1916 (_Parl. Debates (Commons_), vol. lx.x.xiii. cols. 1231-2).

LETTER POST IN CANADA

When Canada came into British hands after the capture of Quebec, no postal arrangements existed in the province. The population numbered only some 60,000, excluding the Indians, and with so small a number spread over so vast a territory it was not to be expected that any Post Office establishment of the ordinary type could be maintained.[101] Very soon, however, the English merchants interested in the Canadian trade urged upon the British Government the necessity for a regular service from New York to Quebec, and in this they were supported by the Governor of the province. The Government instructed the Deputy Postmasters-General in America to take steps for the establishment of the post, and they accordingly proceeded to Quebec. There they met a young Scotsman, Hugh Finlay, who offered to conduct a regular post between Quebec and Montreal, undertaking all risks, for a commission of 20 per cent, on all revenue collected on the post,[102] and, in addition, a monopoly of licensing persons to provide horses and conveyances for the use of travellers--the old monopoly which had existed for so long in England as a source of emolument to the postmasters. Finlay contracted for the conveyance of the mail with a number of men, to whom he made over the exclusive right of furnis.h.i.+ng travellers on the route. In addition to this privilege, these men, who were styled _maitres de poste_, were remunerated by payment at the rate of 6d. a league (2d. a mile) for providing horses and carriages for the couriers. Between Quebec and Montreal, a distance of 180 miles, there were twenty-seven _maitres de poste_ and two post offices, viz., Three Rivers and Berthier. On the whole route, which was not of the easiest, there was not a single inn; there were six ferries to cross, that at Three Rivers being three miles wide, and one near Montreal nearly three-quarters of a mile. There was a service twice a week in each direction, and the journey occupied about forty hours, the courier who left Quebec at five o'clock on Monday afternoon arriving at Montreal on Wednesday morning, and the courier leaving Montreal on Thursday evening reaching Quebec on Sat.u.r.day morning.

The statutory authority for the establishment of posts in Canada, as in other parts of North America, was section 4 of the Act of the 9th of Anne. This Act, however, failed to prescribe for North America rates of postage for letters pa.s.sing greater distances than 100 miles. Hence, for the post from Quebec to Montreal no legal rate was ascertainable. The rate actually charged was 8d. for a single letter, and so in proportion for double, treble, and ounce letters, which was not an excessive charge, seeing that the legal charge for distances up to 100 miles was 6d. for a single letter. It proved sufficient, however; the whole scheme was completely successful and greatly appreciated by the colonists. To link this local post with the service from England, the Postmasters-General at New York arranged a connecting post to run monthly in connection with the arrival and departure of the English packets. They realized that the number of letters likely to be carried by such a post would be small and would not yield a revenue nearly equal to the expenses, the more so as, in any case, a comparatively high rate of postage would be payable on account of the great distance, and in recommending its establishment, they suggested moderate rates of charge.[103]

The Act of 1765 provided reduced rates of postage for North America.

"The vast accession of territory gained by the late Treaty of Peace,"

and the establishment of new posts in America, for which rates of postage could not be ascertained under the existing law,[104] made a new Act necessary, and the rates prescribed in that Act were fixed under the enlightened principle that moderate rates might yield increased revenue.[105] The rate which would apply to Canada, for the greatest distances, was fixed at 8d. for a single letter for not more than 200 miles, and 2d. for each 100 miles beyond 200 miles--double letters double rates, treble letters treble rates, ounce letter four times the single rate, in the usual way.

In January 1774 Finlay was appointed joint "Deputy-General for the Northern District of America" in the room of Dr. Franklin. He was allowed to retain, for the time being, the benefits of the Post Office at Quebec, which, in the words of the letter of appointment, he had been "so instrumental in bringing to a degree of perfection."[106] The disturbances of 1775 in the coast colonies soon affected the post to Canada. In September of that year, the prospect of getting mails through from Canada to New York was so slight that Finlay was antic.i.p.ating the suspension of all communication with the rest of the world during the whole of the winter, unless letters could be conveyed to Halifax. The couriers were frequently held up by armed men and robbed, and by November matters had become so serious that all postal arrangements in the province were stayed. Quebec was besieged throughout the winter and spring. After its relief Finlay tried to set up the posts again, but unsuccessfully, as the Governor refused to re-establish the monopoly of the _maitres de poste_, on the ground that travellers in Canada were very well accommodated in horses and conveyances and did not desire its re-establishment. Without it Finlay was unable to maintain a service, and no posts existed during the remaining period of the war.

After peace had been restored, Finlay represented the matter so strongly that the monopoly was re-established. The posts were again set up, and Finlay was appointed Deputy Postmaster-General of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The mails for Canada were still sent by way of New York, as before the war, but for military reasons it was important that a mail route should be established from Halifax, the military headquarters, to run altogether within British territory. In 1787 a fortnightly post (monthly in winter) was accordingly established between Quebec and Halifax.[107] The mail went by River du Loup, near the Grand Portage, where the courier from Quebec handed over his mail to the courier from Fredericton; by the Madawaska to the Grand Falls; thence by boat to Fredericton. A fresh courier went by boat from Fredericton to the mouth of the St. John's River. Here the mail was transferred to a sloop of about 34 tons burthen for conveyance across the Bay of Fundy to Digby, whence the route lay by Annapolis. The total distance from Quebec to Halifax was 633 miles, and the time required for the trip varied from twenty-one to thirty-one days.

A mail route from Montreal into Upper Canada was also established, but this was rather a military post, intended to serve the military stations and frontier settlements. The mail was despatched only once a year and was, in consequence, known as the "yearly express." The route followed was by the St. Lawrence from Montreal to Matilda, Augusta, and Kingston; across Lake Ontario to Niagara; thence to Detroit Fort, at the base of Lake St. Clair, and across Lake Huron to Michilimackinac, at the head of Lakes Huron and Michigan. After continuing some six years this post was curtailed and went no farther than Niagara.[108]

In 1800 Finlay was succeeded in the deputy s.h.i.+p by John Heriot. The population had now increased to 450,000, but there were only twenty post offices in the whole of the five provinces. Heriot's patent gave him authority to establish new routes and offices, but, in accordance with the general policy, only when in his opinion their establishment would be likely to benefit revenue. The rates at this time were, of course, nominally based on the Act of the 5th George III, but as the routes had never been properly measured, the distances on which the rates were actually based were largely a matter of conjecture. The posts were said, however, to have paid their way and even to have yielded a surplus revenue, which was transmitted to England.[109]

The administration of the posts rested ultimately with the Postmasters-General in London. The service could be extended only by their authority, and the colonists found that the Deputy in the colonies, being bound by his instructions from the Postmasters-General, was unable to extend and improve the service in the manner which they themselves thought desirable. A large number of immigrants entered the provinces, especially Upper Canada, during this period, and settlements were springing up in remote districts far away from the post routes.

Heriot was admonished from London that in considering the provision of new services he must look to the revenue to be antic.i.p.ated as well as to the convenience of the public, and to adopt no scheme involving sacrifice of revenue. His instructions forbade the opening of any post office or post route unless the antic.i.p.ated revenue was sufficient at least to pay the postmaster and courier. He found that these restrictions prevented him from providing a service in any degree adequate to the demands of the settlers, or indeed adequate to their real needs. It was essential that the settlers in the remote districts should be kept in touch with civilization. They could not be allowed to pa.s.s beyond the reach of the Government. They must be kept in contact with the means provided for the administration of the law. For these reasons it was essential to provide post accommodation, although in the nature of the case it could not be expected that a revenue sufficient to cover the cost would be obtained. All these considerations were pressed on the Deputy, and he was so far persuaded as sometimes, in response to urgent local representations, to depart from his specific instructions.

But such cases usually led to a reprimand. The natural result was that the province was driven itself to undertake by grants from the public funds the provision of many local services which it deemed essential.

Thus grew up the anomalous system under which the colonies made large grants in aid of the service, but were unable to exercise any substantial control over its administration. The more important routes were self-supporting and were controlled entirely from England. In order to obtain extensions of the service the colonists, through the Governor, requested the establishment of certain services, undertaking that, if the revenue derived from these services should prove insufficient to meet the expenditure, the balance should be made up by the colony. A regular post was established in 1801 between Quebec and York (Toronto) under a guarantee of this kind. The colonists naturally wished to have some controlling voice in the administration; but the Deputy, holding office under the Imperial authorities, was not bound to concede to them any rights over the administration of the service, however great sums they might pay towards its maintenance--a situation which was sure to lead to difficulties. Whether or not serious trouble occurred depended in large degree on the character of the Deputy.[110] In later years there was considerable friction and much irritation on the part of the colonists.

In Nova Scotia the system of grants in aid was developed to an even greater extent than in Upper Canada. When Sir George Provost became Governor in 1808, there were only five post offices in Nova Scotia--Halifax, Windsor, Horton, Annapolis, and Digby--and they were all on the line of the Quebec post. Sir George was anxious for an extension of the posts on military rather than general grounds, and he asked the postmaster of Halifax, John Howe, to establish several new routes. Howe was inclined to favour the projected posts, but Heriot realized that they could not be expected to yield a revenue equal to their cost, and he informed the Governor that his instructions from England prevented compliance with the request. Sir George Provost thereupon induced the Legislature to appropriate a sufficient sum for the establishment of the posts. The Governors of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island followed this example, with the result that a large part of the Post Office establishment in these provinces was outside the jurisdiction of the Imperial authorities.

This development is noteworthy. It has always been found in Canada that for a large part of the country the circ.u.mstances are such that a postal service adequate to the necessities of the inhabitants cannot be self-supporting, but the Legislature has never hesitated to make grants from general taxation in order to provide means of communication. In the early days the question of post office communication was intimately bound up with the question of general means of communication, and was usually treated in connection with the making or maintenance of roads.

For a long period the posts in Canada were maintained not solely for the transmission of letters, but to a great extent on account of collateral advantages. They were largely military in character, and were identified with the military routes.[111]

In 1816 Daniel Sutherland was appointed Deputy Postmaster-General for Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Under his administration the development of the service was pushed forward, and so far as was found consistent with the interests of revenue, new offices and routes were established. But in 1820 there were still no more than forty-nine post offices in the whole of British North America, distributed thus: in Lower Canada twenty offices, in Upper Canada nineteen, in Nova Scotia six, in New Brunswick three, and in Prince Edward Island one. The progress was from this time somewhat more rapid. By 1824 the number of offices in the Canadas alone had risen to sixty-nine, and during the next ten or fifteen years the growth, both of Post Office accommodation and of Post Office revenue, was more rapid than the growth of population.

The settlers were not, however, completely satisfied. Their complaints were to some extent laid against the administration of the office--they claimed, for example, that gross overcharges of postage were being made, through incorrect computation of the distances on the post roads--but they became more and more dissatisfied that the control of the whole of the service and its officers should rest with the Postmaster-General in England. The question was, of course, to a large extent political, and one only among the several general grievances of the colonists at this period, which caused so much anxiety to the Home authorities.

As early as 1819 a movement began in Upper Canada to obtain the transference of the administration to the provincial authorities. A Committee of the House of a.s.sembly considered the abuses of the existing Post Office system, and on presentation of their report, in March 1820, the House pa.s.sed a resolution condemning the administration of the service. The question continued to receive a good deal of attention. The chief complaint of the colonists was that a net revenue was year by year transmitted to London. There is no doubt that a balance was paid over to the Imperial administration year by year, but it is questionable whether any of this balance was a net revenue on the local service.[112] The colonists chose so to regard it. They advanced the contention that the legal right of the Imperial Government to levy postage rates in the colonies at all was doubtful, because postage was a tax; and the raising of money by authorities outside the colonies was a direct infringement of their own const.i.tution, which provides that "no tax shall be levied on the people of this country except such as shall be appropriated for the public use and accounted for by the Legislature,"[113] and of the Declaratory Act, in which Great Britain disclaimed the right to impose upon a colony any duty, tax, or a.s.sessment, except where necessary for the regulation of commerce.[114] The Government were advised by the Law Officers that it would not be wise to contest the point, and proceeded to consider a measure for placing the establishment on a more satisfactory basis.

If the Home Government could have agreed to hand over the entire administration of the office in British North America to the local Legislatures, there would have been an end of the matter. But such a course would have left the interior provinces at the mercy of those on the seaboard as to the conveyance across those colonies of the mails to and from England. Although there was no desire to continue the appropriation to the Imperial revenue of any surplus which might arise on the service in North America, it was felt to be highly desirable that the Imperial Government should retain control over the administration of the office, particularly in the matter of fixing the rates of postage, since by that means excessive charges for transit across other provinces would be prevented. But in controlling the administration from London there was the difficulty that any alteration of the rates of postage by Act of the British Parliament might be an infringement of the rights of the colonists under the Declaratory Act of 1778. Accordingly, all intention of direct legislation by the British Parliament was abandoned, and in 1834 an Act was pa.s.sed,[115] repealing the Act of the 5th George III, on which the whole Post Office establishment of North America rested, conditionally on the pa.s.sing by the Legislatures of all the provinces of a Bill for the regulation of the colonial Post Office service, which had been prepared in London. This Bill provided that the ultimate control of the whole service in British North America should remain in the hands of the Postmaster-General in London, but that the rates of postage should be fixed by the local Legislatures, and any surplus of revenue over expenditure should be divided between the provinces.

Nova Scotia was prepared to accept the Bill, but only with modifications which would have prevented its adoption as the basis of a general service throughout the five provinces. New Brunswick and both Upper and Lower Canada rejected the Bill. The a.s.sembly of Lower Canada subst.i.tuted a Bill of its own.[116] The Legislative Council were indisposed to accept the subst.i.tuted Bill,[117] and in March 1836 adopted an Address to his Majesty, explaining that in their view it would be exceedingly difficult, if not impracticable, to secure the co-operation between the separate Post Office establishments of the several provinces essential for the attainment of the purpose of the original measure, and they pointed for ill.u.s.tration to the United States, a country where, notwithstanding a keen regard for State rights, the whole control and management of the Post Office department had been delegated to the Federal Government. Since the Post Office establishment was a most effective means for strengthening the ties connecting the several provinces, as well as an essential aid and convenience of commerce, they deemed the best course to be the retention by the Imperial Parliament of the exclusive power of legislating for the control and management of the Post Office in all parts of the Empire. In March of the following year, there being still no prospect of the adoption of the Bill by the provinces, the House of a.s.sembly and Legislative Council of Upper Canada adopted a joint Address to his Majesty, substantially identical with that adopted a year earlier by the Legislative Council of Lower Canada.

It was clear that little progress was to be antic.i.p.ated.[118]

In 1840 a Commission was appointed. Its attention was directed more especially to the faulty administration of the office and the excessive rates of postage. To remedy the former, and to make the administration more amenable to local control, they suggested placing the Deputy Postmaster-General under the control of the Governor-General in all matters which did not conflict with the authority of the Postmaster-General in England. As to postage, they were satisfied that the rates at that time in operation were too high. They considered that the rates should be such as would yield a revenue sufficient to meet the expenses of the department, and no more; and in their view, if the revenue improved after the establishment of such rates, which there should be no difficulty in calculating, the proper course would be either to grant further facilities or further to reduce the rates. There should not in any case be a net revenue of any magnitude. The Commissioners themselves made an estimate of the rate which should fulfil the requirements they had detailed. In so doing they proceeded on much the same lines as Sir Rowland Hill in his pamphlet _Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability_. They had no difficulty in answering the demand for penny postage in British North America, a demand based on its successful inauguration in England. The circ.u.mstances in the two countries were not comparable. England, small and densely populated, the first industrial and commercial nation of the world, could not in such a matter be compared with a country of vast extent, spa.r.s.ely peopled and almost entirely agricultural. While Sir Rowland Hill had been able to show that in the case of letters conveyed for comparatively long distances in England the actual cost of carriage was only one thirty-sixth part of a penny, the Commissioners found that in British North America the actual average cost of conveyance was no less than 3d., and the actual average total cost of dealing with letters no less than 5-1/2d. Uniformity of rate at a penny, which had been justified in England on existing facts of the service, could therefore find no similar justification in North America.

There could, however, be no doubt that with a reduction of the rate, which then averaged 8-1/2d. a letter, the number of letters would be very greatly increased and the cost per letter consequently reduced. The public were in the habit of making use of every available means other than the post for forwarding their letters. Steamboats which carried a mail would carry outside the mail many times the number of letters that were enclosed in the mail. Teamsters, stage drivers, and ordinary travellers all carried large numbers of letters, and in cases where no such opportunity offered, persons had been known to enclose the letter in a small package, which could be sent as freight at less charge than the rate of postage on the single letter. If, therefore, all these letters, and the many additional letters which would be written if transmission were cheap and easy, were sent in the mails, the cost of the service would not be by any means proportionately increased, and the average cost per letter would be very greatly reduced. It would still, however, have been considerably more than a penny. Their conclusions were less satisfactory in regard to the rates actually recommended. They proposed a graduation according to distance of no less than five stages, starting with as short a distance as 30 miles. For this the rate was 2d., and the scale rose to 1s. for distances over 300 miles. The only virtues of the rates were that they were lower than those in operation in the United States and were to be charged by weight.[119]

The chief recommendations of this report were carried out under the authority of the Colonial Office. The weight basis for determining rates of postage was adopted, and the Deputy Postmaster-General's authority was restricted. His privilege of sending newspapers free of postage was also taken away, and in compensation he was given a salary of 2,500 a year--personal to himself, and high on account of his long enjoyment of the lucrative newspaper privilege. That for his successor was fixed at 1,500 a year. The agitation in the provinces in regard to the Post Office continued during the succeeding years, but it was less vehement and concerned itself more with the question of rates than with questions of administration.

In 1842 a member of the headquarters staff of the British office (Mr. W.

J. Page) was commissioned to examine and reorganize the service in the Maritime Provinces, with the object more especially of introducing such measures of reform as should bring the expenditures of the department in those provinces within the revenue. His reports throw a flood of light on the state and methods of the service.[120] He found extraordinary anomalies in the methods of charging postage, in the methods of remunerating the Deputy-Postmasters, the couriers, and the Way Office keepers, and in the relations subsisting between the Post Office and the local Legislatures. The financial arrangements of the office were in a condition which can only be described as chaotic. Postage was, of course, chargeable on the total journey of the letter. But in Nova Scotia letters were charged with a new rate at each office through which they pa.s.sed, and postage became an excessive charge on all letters which pa.s.sed through two or three offices. Deputy-Postmasters were paid a percentage, usually 20 per cent., on the amount of postage collected by them, but their chief remuneration in many cases arose from the right which they exercised of franking all their private and business correspondence, a consideration which they had princ.i.p.ally, if not exclusively, in view in taking up their appointments. Many of the deputies were lawyers or other professional men. The privilege was nominally subject to the limitation of four single letters, or two double letters, or one packet of an ounce by each mail; but this limitation was very generally disregarded. To such an extent was this the case that one-half of many mails consisted of free letters.

Couriers received fixed wages, which were either paid by the Deputy Postmaster-General out of the general funds of the department, or from grants in aid, given by the Legislature specifically for the support of the respective routes. Way Office keepers received no remuneration from the department: in many instances the existence of the Way Offices was unknown at Halifax. This was explained in great part by the manner in which such offices were usually established. A courier travelling a particular line of road received from the despatching postmaster a number of "way letters," or letters for persons living on or near his route. Partly for his own convenience, and partly for the accommodation of the persons addressed, the courier would leave packets of the letters at some house on the route, and the occupant would collect the postage on behalf of the courier. In course of time the courier induced the postmaster to make up the letters for this particular place separately, and to open a private account with the householder, who thus became an agent for the postmaster, and the house became a Way Office. The keepers of these Way Offices usually charged a fee of 2d. on each letter received or sent. The Post Office was not in any way concerned in the transactions, except that in some cases, where it was not always possible for the Way Office keeper to obtain his fee in advance, the practice grew up, with the co-operation of the Deputy-Postmaster, of charging forward the unpaid Way Office keeper's fee as unpaid forward "postage." Some of the Way Office keepers also claimed and exercised the same rights of franking as the Deputy Postmasters. Others were paid on the basis of a percentage of 20 per cent. of the postage collected; and in such cases some of the keepers still collected their fee of 2d., and some did not.

When letters were sent from one Way Office to another--as was frequently the case, since often there were several Way Offices in succession--a fresh fee was charged; and a letter might be charged four or five twopenny fees and no postage, the fees all being appropriated by the Way Office keepers and nothing finding its way to the Post Office revenue.

Indeed, the Post Office department received scarcely any revenue from the Way Offices, and no sort of control over them was even attempted.

The House of a.s.sembly was in the habit of establis.h.i.+ng post routes, and of voting increases in the salaries of existing couriers, the resulting expense of which was to be paid by the Post Office. The action of the Legislature was often taken on the presentation of memorials from persons interested, or on the initiative of a member specially interested in Post Office matters with some axe to grind. The Legislature would vote, say, 10 or 20, for a courier to some remote place, for which the number of letters was negligible--perhaps a dozen in a year, perhaps two a week and a few newspapers. The resolution of the House would then be forwarded to the Postmaster-General, who by virtue of his delegated authority established the route, the cost over and above the amount voted by the House being drawn from Post Office funds. The whole system was permeated with jobbery, and the House used to become more than usually active in these matters as the elections approached. In Cape Breton, in 1841, the expenses of the couriers amounted to some 604, and the revenue, after deducting the commission of the three postmasters in the island, was some 308--the explanation being that the member for the island was one of the leaders in Post Office matters in the Legislature.

Internal correspondence was at this time literally nonexistent, many of the couriers conveying only newspapers (which in general went free), and fee letters (that is, letters charged only with the Way Office keeper's fee, and no postage). Except in five towns (Halifax, Yarmouth, and Picton in Nova Scotia; and St. John and Fredericton in New Brunswick) there was no provision for the delivery of letters except at the post office window. In those towns, delivery was made in the first instance at the post office, but all letters which were not called for within a short time after the arrival of the mail, were sent out for delivery throughout the town by letter carrier. An additional charge of 1d. per letter was made by the carrier, and retained by him as his remuneration.

In some cases 1d. was charged also for the delivery of newspapers; in others this penny was charged only where the receivers could be induced to pay; and in some cases newspapers were delivered free. At Halifax two letter carriers were employed, and their total weekly earnings were estimated at 4 10s., indicating 1,080 as, approximately, the weekly number of letters and newspapers received. At Fredericton a charge of 1d. was made on letters and on newspapers, but the amount was taken by the postmaster, who paid a weekly wage to the carrier. The postmaster estimated his annual receipt at about 19 10s., corresponding with a weekly average of 90 letters and newspapers delivered in Fredericton.

He paid the carrier 14 10s. per annum.

Up to 1827 there were no internal posts in Prince Edward Island. The only post office in the province was at Charlottetown. In 1827 the Legislature resolved to establish an inland service, and appointed couriers to travel weekly for the conveyance of letters. Way Office keepers were also nominated at various places. A uniform rate of 2d. for single letters, and 1/2d. for newspapers published in the island, was fixed for transmission within the island, and, in consideration of the whole expense being borne by the Provincial Treasury, the Deputy Postmaster-General of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick agreed to the retention by the province of the net revenue. The Way Office keepers received as their remuneration 20 per cent. on the postage collected, with the privilege of franking for transmission within the island. The province made a small grant, at first 20 per annum and later 30, in aid of the administration of the posts.

The first wish of the Home authorities was to bring the expenditure within the revenue, and after he had been in the colony some two months Mr. Page submitted a scheme which should remove the deficit in Nova Scotia, then over 1,000 a year.[121] This scheme, which was not lacking in boldness, proposed the discontinuance of no less than twenty-four couriers, and reduction of the frequency of the mail in two other cases, involving towns of some importance.

On the 6th July 1843 the Post Office of New Brunswick was separated from that of Nova Scotia and a large number of services abolished. Following on these drastic measures, the New Brunswick Legislature, in 1844, adopted a joint Address to his Majesty, praying for redress. They asked for a reduction of letter rates, for the abolition of newspaper rates, and for the application of all surplus revenue to the extension of facilities for inter-provincial communication, adding that in consideration of the introduction of these changes the Legislature would guarantee to provide such sums as might from time to time be necessary to defray the expenses of the department. The reply of the Colonial Office was that the prayer of the pet.i.tion could not be granted, since other provinces were involved; but that, so long as the province guaranteed the charges, the proposal as regards newspapers, taken by itself, was un.o.bjectionable.

The Home authorities, seeing that in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick the service still showed a deficit year by year, remained indisposed to introduce reduced rates; but when Lord Clanricarde was appointed Postmaster-General there was a change of policy. Lord Clanricarde came to the conclusion that the time was ripe for a reduction of rates in British North America, although he was convinced that such a reduction would entail heavy postal deficits in all the provinces. It would be for the provincial Legislatures to make good these deficits, and he concluded it was therefore expedient that the full control of the service should be handed over to the provincial authorities, subject to certain conditions imposed with the view of preventing friction between the provinces over the transit across the sea-board provinces of mails for or from the interior.

Lord Elgin, Secretary of State for the Colonies, suggested to the Governor-General[122] that one or two members of the Executive Councils of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island should meet at Montreal to discuss the question and mature a plan, which could be submitted to the respective Legislatures, for the a.s.sumption by the provinces of the administration of the Post Office. A conference was arranged, and a plan for the establishment of a uniform system throughout the British North American Colonies elaborated.

The conference made clear that in the repeated remonstrances against the "transfer of a.s.sumed surplus receipts" to the revenue of the British office there was no desire on the part of the provinces to make the Post Office a source of revenue, or, indeed, to call into question the prudent management of the Imperial Government; but that the remonstrances were prompted by a growing conviction of the great importance of an efficient postal system as a factor in their social and commercial welfare, and as "a means in a new country of extending civilization." The provinces were impressed by the great social and moral benefits which had followed the introduction of cheap postage in the Mother Country, and were anxious to extend to their own land the benefits of the system, which had already been introduced by their great neighbour. The delegates were satisfied that the most suitable rate would be 3d. the half ounce, uniform, irrespective of distance; but, thinking it likely that some of the provinces might be unwilling entirely to disregard distance, they recommended that an option be suggested for any province that wished so to do to charge double rates for distances greater than 300 miles. They recommended the establishment throughout British North America of a uniform system and rate of postage, with as little local modification as the circ.u.mstances of the various provinces might demand. But for two main reasons they were opposed to a common administration: (1) they considered that the control by each province of its postal establishment would be a powerful aid to economy in administration, would prevent imprudent extensions of postal accommodation, and would prevent also any feeling of jealousy between the provinces with regard to the application of the funds of the establishment to the extension of services in the respective provinces; (2) they thought the various provinces would be more likely to accept a system under local control, each province defraying the entire cost of its service, and retaining all postage collected within its limits, whether prepaid or post-paid.[123]

The Home authorities accepted the recommendations of the conference, subject to a few slight modifications in non-essentials, and an Act, pa.s.sed in 1849, authorized provincial Legislatures to establish posts within their respective territories, but gave them no authority over the posts between the colonies and places abroad.[124]

The transfer of the Post Office systems to the provincial Governments was accomplished in 1851.

Delegates from all the colonies met to consider the arrangements to be made for conducting the office under the new conditions. With the example of England before them, as before the world, the delegates were anxious for a uniform rate, and for a low uniform rate. They realized, however, that conditions vastly different from those prevailing in England prevailed in British North America. With their great distances and their thinly settled districts, with the rigours of the American climate and the generally poor state of the roads, it could not be antic.i.p.ated that rates which had been found successful in England, with its comparatively small area and dense population, with its less difficult climate and its better facilities for intercommunication, would prove equally successful. In the end a compromise was adopted--uniformity of rate, but a rate moderately high, viz. 5 cents.[125]

A period of great development ensued, especially in the Maritime Provinces. Under the stimulus of the reduction of the rate to the new uniform charge of 5 cents per 1/2 ounce, in place of a charge graduated by distance which had averaged over 8d. a letter, the number of letters increased so rapidly that in four years the gross revenue had recovered its former level.[126] But in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick the account regularly showed a heavy deficit, in partial explanation of which there was the fact that both Governments carried newspapers in the mails free of charge. In Canada, with a larger number of commercial communities, the results were somewhat better. But even there the accounts showed a deficit until 1859. From that year there was an annual surplus until 1865, when the heavy charges for conveyance of the mails by railway began to tell.

These conditions continued until the confederation of the British North American Colonies in 1867. The control of the Post Office was within the powers a.s.signed to the new Dominion Government. The Government was desirous of not falling behind other countries in the provision of Post Office services, and it was necessary for political reasons to take advantage of every available means for facilitating intercommunication between the different parts of the Dominion. Shortly after confederation, therefore, a Bill to establish and regulate a Federal Dominion Post Office was brought before the Dominion Parliament.

A reduction of the letter rate of postage from 5 cents to 3 cents per 1/2 ounce was proposed, and a rate of postage on newspapers. In some of the provinces newspapers had previously been carried by the posts free of charge; and the establishment of a rate of postage for them was to some extent bound up with the reduction of the letter rate, since with the lower rate for letters the free transmission of newspapers would have proved so great a strain on the revenue, that either the Government would have been compelled to make larger grants in aid, or services would have to be withheld in districts where it was desirable they should be provided. Some members were disposed to think the better course would have been to retain the old rate for letters and to allow newspapers to pa.s.s free, as had long been the practice in the Lower Provinces; and the imposition of a rate on newspapers was characterized as a tax on the dissemination of public intelligence and a retrogressive step towards old and exploded abuses.[127]

Other members desired to follow the English example and reduce the letter rate to 2 cents, the equivalent of a penny; but this was deemed impracticable on account of the different conditions under which the Post Office was conducted in Canada, where the mails were carried very long distances through a spa.r.s.e population.[128] In the United States, where the circ.u.mstances were more nearly comparable, the rate was still 3 cents. With a rate of 3 cents in Canada, as proposed, it was antic.i.p.ated that there would be a considerable deficit, but that the deficit would soon disappear.[129] It was alleged that there was no demand for a reduction and that everybody was willing to pay 5 cents; but the real objection was not to a reduction in the letter rate _per se_. The objection arose from the a.s.sumption, fairly well grounded, that the reduction was only possible if accompanied by the establishment of a postage on newspapers, to which a number of members were strongly opposed. The rate of 3 cents for 1/2-ounce letters was, however, adopted. In three years the yield of postage at 3 cents surpa.s.sed the former yield at 5 cents.[130]

In 1898 a Bill for modifying rates of postage was introduced. The main propositions of the Bill were (1) to reduce the letter rate to 2 cents per ounce, and (2) to impose a postage on newspapers. Since 1867 there had been several changes in newspaper postage, and for about nineteen years newspapers had been pa.s.sing through the post in Canada free of any charge for postage.[131] The postal service was at this time being carried on at some loss to the general Dominion revenue, and, as in 1867, the proposal to charge postage on newspapers was made to counterbalance any loss of revenue which might result from the reduction in the letter rate of postage. It was hoped that with this counterbalance any such loss would soon be made good, and that, indeed, the Post Office would become a self-sustaining department.[132]

The arguments in Parliament were almost identical with those of 1867, when the previous similar proposals as regards the letter and newspaper rates were before it. Stress was, however, now laid on the contention that letter-writing was the pursuit of the wealthy, and of business and commercial men, who were well able to pay for their correspondence, while the newspapers were sent mainly to the farmers of the country, who wrote few letters. The Government were proposing at this time to raise a million dollars by a tax on sugar, a course denounced as an imposition by the Government on the poorer cla.s.ses, to whom sugar is a necessity, while the reduction of postage would present the wealthier cla.s.ses with some $650,000 a year.[133]

The reduction was carried, and the 2-cent rate has proved successful.

The gross revenue recovered within four years.[134] The number of letters has largely increased, especially in recent years, largely, no doubt, in consequence of the growing commercial prosperity. The total number, which in 1876 was some 41 millions, had in 1913 increased to 633 millions. The financial result has also proved satisfactory. The Post Office service in Canada as a whole in 1913 showed a profit of some $1,200,000, and there is no doubt that the greater part of this profit was derived from letters.

NOTE.--In 1915 a war-tax of 1/2-d. was imposed on all letters and postcards. On the a.s.sumption that the numbers posted would not be appreciably diminished, the increase of revenue was estimated at $6,000,000 a year, and this estimate has been realized.