CHAPTER XX

The post office in Newfoundland.

The position of Newfoundland, as regards postal requirements, was very similar to that of the other colonies situated on the Atlantic seaboard. The social and commercial relations of the island were almost exclusively with the mother country, and the trade was from an early period very considerable. A number of vessels sailed each year from the ports of Great Britain to those of the colony, which provided the means for the interchange of correspondence.

On this side but one thing was needed--a fixed place in St. Johns at which letters for despatch by outgoing vessels could be deposited, and at which captains on their arrival could deliver the letters with which they had been entrusted in Great Britain.

The first post office was established in 1806 by Sir Erasmus Gower, who appointed Simon Solomon postmaster. The governor communicated with the secretary of the general post office, who though not prepared to include Newfoundland in the British postal system, promised to forward all letters addressed to the island, by the first outgoing vessels. Three years later, the number of merchants settled at Brigus, Harbour Grace and Carbonear on Conception Bay made necessary an arrangement, by which the letters reaching St. John for any of those places were forwarded to their destination by any vessels which might be going thither.

The charge on letters passing through the London post office to Newfoundland was one shilling and threepence, if conveyed to Halifax by packet, and eightpence, if sent by private vessel, to which sums was added the postage from the place in Great Britain at which the letter was deposited, to London. There can be little doubt that but a small proportion of the correspondence passing between Newfoundland and Great Britain was exchanged by these expensive means. Advantage would be taken of the departure of any vessel, to place the letters in charge of the captain, who would collect the sum of a penny or twopence for each letter from the person to whom he delivered them at the port of arrival.

The course of post within the island was also very expensive. The owners of sailing vessels running between St. John's and ports on Conception Bay collected a shilling for each single letter they delivered.

Governor Cochrane, in 1826, appealed to the postmaster general in London to establish a regular post office in St. John's, in order that his despatches from the colonial office might reach him with security. Failing that, he asked that the despatches might be sent, to a company in London, which was in constant communication with Newfoundland.

The chamber of commerce of St. John's, in 1836, presented a memorial to the colonial office, asking that the sailing packets running between Falmouth and Halifax might call at St. John's on their voyages. But the governor, in forwarding the memorial, deprecated the application, on account of the fogs and gales which prevail on those coasts, and the ignorance of the sailing masters regarding the localities. The admiralty refused to entertain the application.

With the establishment in 1840 of the Cunard steamship line to run between Halifax and Liverpool, and the inauguration of the scheme to make the Nova Scotia port the distributing centre for the mails for all parts of North America, provision was made for a sailing vessel of not less than 120 tons to leave Halifax for St. John's in connection with the steamer arriving at Halifax, and the post office at St. John's was incorporated into the imperial system. The postmaster, Simon Solomon, who had died in December 1839, was succeeded by his son, William Lemon Solomon, and the latter was placed on the pay-roll of the general post office with a salary of L100 per annum.

Governor Prescott gave his attention to the inland post office and endeavoured to have established a regular colonial system, but the assembly to which he directed his recommendation did not act upon it. The governor had, however, managed to secure to the postmaster some regular compensation for his services in attending to the exchanges on the island.

There was at this period a communication every second day with the ports of Brigus, Harbour Grace and Carbonear, by a sailing vessel, which carried passengers and letters. The postmaster received a payment of sixpence each upon all letters, and twopence on all newspapers received from other places, and twopence each upon letters despatched from his office. This brought him an income of between L30 and L40 a year.

The establishment of the post office and its peremptory intervention in the exchange of communications between the merchants of St. John's and their correspondents abroad was a novelty, which was not wholly welcomed in that city. Although the post office had been at their service for thirty-five years, it was without official authority to claim exclusive right to the transmission of correspondence. The merchants could use it or not as suited their convenience.

There were few communities that could dispense with the benefits of a post office more easily than St. John's. The merchants all did business on Water Street, and their warehouses looked out on the harbour; consequently the arrival or departure of a vessel was known to every person interested, and letters could be placed in the hands of an outgoing captain or received from one who had just arrived, with the least possible inconvenience. They could be delivered up to the last moment before the vessel left the harbour, and received as soon as it had been made fast at the docks.

The necessary formalities of a post office proved inexpressibly irksome to the merchants of St. John's, and Solomon was made to feel the irritations of their impatience. He seems to have been one of those officials who make much of the functions of their offices. He delighted in the parti-coloured pencils, which his regulations prescribed. He was indignant with the merchants, who could not be made to understand why he used a red pencil to indicate that a letter had been prepaid, and a blue one to show the receiving postmaster in England that the postage had not been paid. All the trappings dear to the accountant's soul, were to them merely hindrances to the prompt posting and receiving of their letters.

Then there were difficulties of another sort. One of the merchants was notified that there was a packet in the post office for him, on which postage to the amount of five shillings and threepence was due. He, at first, refused to accept the packet, declaring that it could only contain newspapers, but, yielding to curiosity, he took it, and finding his surmise to be correct, endeavoured to return the packet to the postmaster, declining to pay the postage. The postmaster reported the case to England for instructions. He was told that the acceptance of the parcel carried with it the necessity on the part of the merchant of paying the postage, but whether the postmaster succeeded in bringing the recalcitrant merchant to a sense of his obligation is not recorded.

The postal situation in Newfoundland remained unchanged until 1848, when Elgin, the governor general, of the British North American provinces announced to the government of the island, that the British government had decided to grant autonomy to the several administrations in the colony, and called a conference in Montreal to settle the questions arising from this concession.

Newfoundland was not represented at the conference, but the decisions adopted and the course taken by the other colonies stimulated the Newfoundland government to establish a postal system within the island. On April 26, 1850, a committee of the assembly was appointed to inquire into the subject. That the question had been fully discussed before this

## action was taken by the assembly is evident from the fact that three

days later the report of the committee was presented to the house.

The interval between the time of its appointment and the date on which it made its report precluded the committee from making anything like exhaustive inquiries. They were satisfied, however, from the information they had obtained as to the volume of correspondence passing to and from the ports of Conception Bay, that a scheme would be practicable for establishing a system, which should carry postal facilities to the principal settlements as far north as Twillingate and as far as Gaultois on the south-west coast. They were encouraged to make the proposition by the rapid progress made by the post office at St. John's during the eight years of its operation. The revenue of this office had increased from L595 in 1841 to L1545 in 1849.

The committee proposed as an interim measure that the stipendiary magistrates in the ports at which post offices should be established, might be called upon to act as postmasters in those places. The foundation of the service to the north would be a conveyance by messenger from St. John's to Portugal Cove. From this point, a sailing vessel would carry the mails to Brigus, Harbour Grace and Carbonear; from Carbonear, a messenger would cross the peninsula to Heart's Content on Trinity Bay; a sailing vessel would serve Trinity and Catalina on the other side of the bay, and from the latter point a messenger would continue the transmission to Bonavista. From Bonavista, the mails would be carried to the outermost points of the system, Greenspond, King's Cove, Cat Harbour, Fogo and Twillingate, by vessel and messenger. It was estimated that the several services within this part of the system would cost L575 a year.

To the south, there would be couriers down the coast to Trepassey, serving Ferryland on the way; and to Placentia, by way of Salmonier and St. Mary's; thence on to Gaultois with stopping places at Burin and Garnish. The southern route should be covered for L325 a year. These routes would displace services by vessel to Placentia, Bonavista and Fogo, as well as couriers to Ferryland and St. Mary's, which with expenses for the incidentals were a charge of L520 upon the colony. It was expected that the improved services proposed would provide travelling accommodation for the judges, school inspectors and other officials, and by the savings thus effected, the increased outlay for the postal system would be largely made up.

In the following year (1851) an act was passed by the legislature providing L1000 for the establishment and maintenance of the inland post office proposed by the committee. The appointment of all postmasters was vested in the governor, and the management of the system was to be placed in the hands of the postmaster of St. John's. His salary was to be L75 a year (doubtless in addition to the L100 sterling, which he held under his imperial appointment), the postmasters of Harbour Grace and Carbonear were to receive, each, L15 a year, and the other postmasters L10.

The postage on letters passing anywhere within the island was fixed at threepence per half ounce; and on books, twopence where the weight did not exceed six ounces, and threepence on greater weights up to sixteen ounces. The scheme outlined came into operation on October 15, 1851.

The first report of the postmaster general was a serious disappointment. The total receipts for the year amounted to no more than L52 2_s._ 11_d._, and this amount was received entirely from St. John's and the three offices on Conception Bay. Letters, on which postage somewhat under L6 was due, were sent to other offices, but not one penny was collected upon them. The committee of the assembly which examined the accounts inclined to the opinion that the postal system might, for the time, be restricted to the offices on Conception Bay.

Solomon was rather alarmed by these expressions of the committee, and in his next report he dealt, in some fulness, with the peculiar difficulties that attended the establishment of a postal system in the colony. No very great regularity, he declared, could be anticipated while the couriers were retarded by the marshy and swampy nature of the roads on the most important lines. Under the most favourable circumstances, their journeys were made over mere tracks or footpaths, while the less frequented routes lay through wilds where neither roads nor paths had been formed and where unbridged rivers and streams had to be crossed, the couriers being often obliged to wade to a considerable depth, exposed to strong, rapid currents.

The postmaster general acknowledged that it was on his advocacy of the system that Delaney, the chairman of the committee, introduced the subject into the assembly. He was under no illusions as to the rapid growth of the revenue; his object was to secure to the inhabitants, who were excluded for the greater part of every year from the advantage of communication with the capital, a ready means of maintaining intercourse with the centre of the social and commercial life of the island. He was encouraged by the increasing revenue to believe that his efforts were being crowned with success.

The step the committee feared might be forced upon them was not taken. On the contrary, the postal system was extended liberally in every direction in which it seemed to be required, in adherence to the principle which guided the postmaster general in advocating the inland service.

In 1858, the colony, having decided on the desirability of direct communication with the mother country, sent to England two delegates--Little, the attorney general and Lawrence O'Brien--to confer with the government and leading shipowners on the subject of a steam service from a British port to St. John's. When the delegates made their first report, they had not succeeded in their objects, but they were encouraged by the recognition accorded to the scheme by the British government and by the promise of a subsidy of L3000 a year to any satisfactory service the government of Newfoundland might arrange for.

It was not long before plans were submitted for their consideration. In the same year, the North Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Navigation Company laid before Little a proposition for a regular service between Liverpool, St. John's and a port in the United States. The company were prepared to undertake a contract for trips of a frequency of not less than one every four weeks, with additional trips during April, July and August, for L10,000 a year. A contract was made on this basis, the understanding being that the British government would contribute L3000 of this amount. But the British government, being satisfied from earlier experiences with the personnel of this company that they could not be depended upon to fulfil their arrangement, declined to sanction the contract, and the arrangement fell through.

In intimating to the Newfoundland government their refusal to endorse the contract, the British government expressed their willingness to assist in procuring a competent contractor; and in October of the same year, an agreement was made with the Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Navigation Company, known more generally as the Lever or Galway Company, for a service of virtually the same frequency as that provided for in the earlier contract, between Galway, St. John's and a United States port. The rate of compensation was to be L13,000 a year, of which the British government was to contribute L4500 a year.

Though for political reasons, this company enjoyed an unusual degree of favour on the part of the British government, it failed entirely to satisfy the conditions of the contract, and after a short period of futile effort, it ceased altogether. It was not until 1872 that an arrangement with the Allan line provided the first direct communication with Great Britain.

In 1860, on the death of Solomon, John Delaney, who had made the postal service his special care while a member of the assembly, was appointed postmaster general. His first measure was to provide for St. John's what he described as a penny delivery service. After consultation with the chief post office inspector in Canada, he submitted his scheme to the legislature. He proposed to divide the city into two sections, to each of which he proposed to appoint a letter carrier to deliver the letters from door to door, not gratuitously as at present, but for a compensation of a penny for each letter delivered. The plan was put into operation on September 1, 1863, but it had little success at the time.

Steps were also taken in 1863 to improve the accommodation to the outports by substituting a steam vessel for the sailing boats, by which the exchange of mails was effected. In November 1860, a contract was made with Aaron DeGraw, of New York, for a service north and south from St. John's. The steamer "Victoria" was to run twice in each month to Twillingate on the north, and to La Poile on the south-west coast, calling at all the post offices _en route_. The consideration was L3750 a year.

The contract provided for the service for five years. But a few months after it went into operation, the contractor represented that he was unable to continue, unless the terms were modified. He asked that the trips on the northern section might be reduced from fortnightly to monthly during the winter, and that he might omit certain of the ports of call; or, if the legislature were unwilling to lower their requirements, that he might have his compensation increased by L1500 a year.

The application of DeGraw was not entertained by the legislature, and the contractor dropped his service shortly after. Recourse was had to the sailing vessels until 1863, when a more satisfactory arrangement was concluded with Robert Grieve on June 2, 1863. The contract stipulated for fortnightly trips in each direction, and the compensation was fixed at L4500. The "Ariel" was the steamer employed by Grieve for the service.

The coastal service, thus satisfactorily established from St. John's down the east and along the south coasts as far as La Poile, was extended to Port aux Basques on the south-west corner of the island by a sailing vessel. This completed the postal communications on the southern shore of the island.

The west coast was still to be comprised in the system. In 1873, arrangements of an experimental nature were made to send mails from Port aux Basques (or Channel as the post office was called) to St. George's Bay, Bay of Islands and Bonne Bay on this coast. A courier service was also set in operation to provide communications to those settlements during the winter, but many difficulties were encountered owing to the inacquaintance with the country on the part of the couriers, who had to pass on their way between Channel and these bays.

The arrangement thus experimentally entered upon continued until 1881, when the sailing craft, which carried the mails to Bonne Bay was withdrawn, and the steamer "Curlew," by which Channel post office received its mails from St. John's, extended its trips up the north-west coast as far as Bonne Bay.

The conveyance of the mails up this coast was carried on to the top of the island in the following year. Two trips were made by couriers from Bonne Bay to Flower Cove at the gulf entrance to the straits of Belle Isle. From Flower Cove, the journey of the courier ran along the shore of the straits to Pistolet Bay at the northernmost point of the island, and thence on the Griquet which looked from the north of the island on the Atlantic, and down the Atlantic coast to St. Anthony.

Another courier set out from Flower Cove and travelling due east across the island carried the mail to Conche, which served the settlements on Hare Bay. At the same time that the process of encirclement was proceeding from the western side, the settlements of Western Cove, Mings and Coachman's Cove on White Bay, the northernmost of the series of great bays by which the Atlantic coast is indented, were having the benefits of communication extended to them from Bett's Cove, in Notre Dame Bay.

The benefits of these trips were so greatly appreciated by the fishermen in the northern parts of the island that the department arranged for regular fortnightly services during the winter from Bonne Bay along the west coast to the top of the island, and thence down the east coast as far as Canada Bay. On the other side the steamers which carried the mails northward from St. John's to the settlements on Notre Dame Bay, also conveyed bags for the settled districts in White Bay. These were sent forward monthly from Bett's Cove. Thus was completed the system of coastal service by which every part of the island was brought into communication with the capital of the colony.

On the larger and more thickly settled bays, it was obviously impossible for the steamers which sailed from St. John's to stop at any but the more populous villages, and within each of these bays smaller craft plied to the less important settlements. In 1881, there were eight such sailing vessels in the service of the post office: one each in Bonavista and Trinity Bays, three in Placentia Bay, two in Fortune Bay, and one which effected the exchange of mails at Harbour Breton. In Conception Bay, where there were two towns and several villages a steamer was employed.

But though the settlements in Newfoundland were at this period practically all on the coasts, and depended mainly on seacraft for the means of communication, the conveyance of mails to the northern settlements was in the winter one of great danger and difficulty.

As early as 1863, it was determined to make the experiment of serving these settlements by couriers who should travel over an overland route. In February of that year, Smith McKay undertook the delivery by land, so far as that was possible, to Greenspond, on the stretch of coast between Bonavista and Notre Dame Bay, and to Fogo and Twillingate, islands in Notre Dame Bay. The success attending this trip induced the postmaster general to make a contract for three trips each winter.

The government also planned the construction of a road, which would make communication easier between the northern outports and St. John's. The work was entered upon with vigour, the reports of progress making an interesting feature of the annual papers of the legislature. In 1868, a serviceable road was constructed to Gander Bay, an inlet of Notre Dame Bay, whence the mails were conveyed to the important villages of Twillingate and Fogo by sailing vessel.

In 1870 the road was complete. It was estimated to be 210 miles in length. There were six relay stations on the route, and ten men employed in the conveyance. The course pursued by the courier took him from Harbour Grace, his starting point, down the shore of Conception Bay; thence along the isthmus separating Trinity from Placentia Bay, serving the settlements on each side of the isthmus. From the top of the isthmus, the road maintained a northerly direction, running generally parallel with the Atlantic coast, as far as Greenspond, from which point it turned westward across the country to Gander Bay.

The postal accommodation on the peninsula of Avalon was greatly augmented by the completion of the railway between St. John's and Harbour Grace in 1884. On January 1, 1885, all the principal offices at the bottom of Conception Bay were supplied with mails daily, and Heart's Content and other offices on Trinity Bay had their mails three times a week. The extension of the branch to Placentia in October 1888 gave that village the benefit of an expeditious service three times a week.

The northern settlements were given the benefit of the more speedy service afforded by the railway. The winter arrangements were expedited and extended. In 1870, when this service was put on a settled footing, ten couriers were employed. In 1890, their number was increased to fifty-four. The mails for the northern districts were despatched from St. John's by railway to Broad Cove station, where they were taken over by the couriers. Their greater number enabled the couriers, not only to shorten their relays, but to establish a trunk line to the settlements of Hall's Bay and Little Bay on Notre Dame Bay, with branch lines running to the more important settlements to the east and west. The overlapping of the western and northern courier systems at White Bay gave the dwellers in those remote regions the opportunity of replying to their letters without loss of time.

Communication was established with the settlers on the Labrador coast in 1875. Previous to that time, mails were sent as the opportunity was afforded by sailing vessels visiting that coast. In that year, a regular fortnightly service was put in operation, the steamer by which the mails were carried connecting with the steamer on the northern route.

The "Ariel," which was first employed on this route having been lost in September of the same year, its place was taken by the "Walrus," whose work gave much satisfaction to the department. In 1881, an arrangement was made by which the steamer running on the northern route from St. John's extended its trip to Battle Harbour, where it was met by the Labrador vessel, which served all the settlements as far north as Nain.

A money order system was an early adjunct to the primary functions of the post office. In 1862 the postmaster general of Prince Edward Island proposed on exchange with Newfoundland, on the basis of the arrangement between that colony and Canada. The postmaster general, Delaney, was eager to accept the proposition, but there were delays, and it was not until 1864 that an exchange was adopted. This exchange was not with Prince Edward Island, however, but with Great Britain.

At the beginning of 1865 exchanges were established with Canada, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and in 1867 with New Brunswick. In 1866 a domestic exchange was set on foot, the system embracing the twelve leading post offices besides St. John's.

Delaney endeavoured to come to an arrangement of the same character with the United States, but the department at Washington was unable to adopt the proposition at the time, and it was only in 1876 that arrangements were completed for an exchange through the intermediation of the Canadian service.

The comparative lack of banking facilities in the island gave the money order system an unusual utility. At the end of 1865, the amount of the money orders exchanged was $13,112. In the first ten years the business expended to $58,712; in twenty years, its volume had increased thirteen-fold, being $174,740.

Though a steam vessel could make the voyage from the shores of Cape Breton to the south-west coast of Newfoundland in a few hours, the course of communication between the island and Canada and the United States was lamentably infrequent. As late as 1895, mails were exchanged with these countries no more frequently than once a week.

The completion, however, of the railway across the island in the autumn of 1896, changed the aspect of affairs. Trains travelled from St. John's to Port aux Basques, three times a week, touching in their course the bottoms of the great bays, which mark the coast lines on either side of the island. On each of the bays, steamers plied in close connection with the trains, thus giving all the settlements of the island the maximum of benefit to be obtained from a single line of railway. A steamer ran from the western end of the line at Port aux Basques to North Sydney in Cape Breton, and by a night's voyage, Newfoundland was brought into connection with the system of communications on the continent of North America.

The exchange of mails between Canada and Newfoundland remained at a frequency of three times a week until 1914 when it was increased to a daily service each way; and the inland service has been so improved that there is no district in the island, however remote, has not at least a weekly communication with the capital, while nearly all the towns and villages of any importance exchange mails with St. John's every day.

In the sphere of telegraphy the progress has not been less marked. Unlike Canada and the United States, but as in the mother country and most other countries, the telegraphs are under the control of the government, and administered by the postmaster general. Until 1901, this was not the case. By a concession granted by the legislature in 1854, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company obtained the exclusive privilege of communicating abroad by telegraphy, and of erecting and operating lines within the colony.

The system established under this privilege was naturally confined to the more populous districts, and indeed, it covered little beyond the peninsula of Avalon. The outlying parts of the island, embracing all the settlements on bays north of Trinity, and west of Placentia Bays were, in general, without the means of communicating with the capital by telegraph.

The company turned a deaf ear to all appeals which did not promise an augmentation of their profits. They had no objection to the government running lines to the remoter regions, as such messages as would be sent to St. John's from those parts must pass over the company's lines when they came within the system marked out by the company for themselves in virtue of their monopoly. The government would, in that case, bear the loss entailed by the maintenance of these lines, and the company would absorb the additional revenue arising from the transmission of these extra-territorial messages over their lines.

With the development of the fishing, mining and lumbering industries in all parts of the island, the extension of the means of telegraphic communication beyond the peninsula of Avalon became a necessity, and the government had no option but to provide these means, wherever the importance of the districts seemed to demand it.

Thus there grew up two systems, an inner and an outer one, the latter depending on the former for the means of access to the capital of the island. All messages to and from the outer system were subject to a double charge, for transmission over both systems. While messages circulating within the peninsula of Avalon had the advantage of the moderate charge of twenty-five cents for ten words, messages from outside the peninsula were subject to double that rate.

The government were helpless in the matter. They endeavoured vainly to come to terms with the company by which they might erect a line of their own from St. John's to Whitbourne, a village about sixty miles from St. John's, at which the lines of the outer system connected with those belonging to the company. The company, however, stood firmly on the letter of the bond, and it was not until the approach of the time when the monopoly, which was for a period of fifty years, would expire, that they became at all unbending.

An event of far-reaching importance took place in November 1901 in the arrival of Marconi to experiment as to the possibility of opening communication across the Atlantic by his wireless system of telegraphy. Early in December, he caught at his station on Signal Hill near St. John's some signals sent out from the Lizards in Cornwall, thereby establishing a new agency for conducting communication between Europe and America. When he had assured himself of the success of his experiments, he set about obtaining a site for a permanent station on Cape Spear. But no sooner had the Anglo-American company become aware of his intentions than they notified him that his proposed measures would be an infringement of their monopoly.

Thus blocked, Marconi resolved to return to England, but an opportune invitation from the Canadian government led him to turn his attention to the advantages that might be obtained on the eastern coast of Cape Breton. He was not long in selecting a site at Table Head, near Glace Bay, where he erected a station, and has demonstrated the feasibility of wireless communication across the Atlantic for commercial purposes.

_INDEX_

Allan, William, postmaster of York, recommended to be deputy postmaster general of Upper Canada, 104

Amherstburg, post office opened at, 101

"Anglo-Saxon" steamship of Allan line wrecked, 312

Annapolis, post office opened in, 178

Antigonishe, distributing office for all settlements to eastward, 180

Antill, (John), postmaster of New York, 69

Augusta, post office opened at, 89

Bache, Richard, appointed secretary of the revolutionary post office, 64

Baie Verte, post office opened at, 182

Barbadoes, postal arrangements for, 4

Barons, Benjamin, deputy postmaster general for southern division, 35, note 2

Belleville, post office opened at, under name of Bay of Quinte, 117

Bermuda, Canadian mails from Great Britain, sent to, 124

Berthier, post office opened at, 79

"Bohemian" steamship of Allan line wrecked, 313

Boston, post office opened in, 2; communication with New York, 6; postage between Philadelphia and, 10; postage from Virginia, 10; Cunard steamers land Canadian mails at, 225

Brantford, post office opened at, 117

"Britannia," Cunard steamer, makes first trip to Halifax, 219

British Columbia, beginnings of postal service to, 322; inland service, 324, 326; rates of postage, 325; incorporation into dominion postal service, 326; completion of Canadian Pacific railway, 326; expansion of service between Confederation and, 1914, 327

British North America, royal commission recommends postal systems in, be put under one superior, 235

Buchanan, James, British consul at New York, advocates communication between colonies and Great Britain by way of New York, 186

Canada, Post Office in-- _Pre-revolutionary Period._ Post office established by Franklin, 1; connected by mail service with New York, 1; arrangements under French regime, 39; postage rates as fixed by act of 1765, 43

_Revolutionary Period._ Connection with New York discontinued, 65; Americans make proposals for its continuance, 65; service between Montreal and Quebec resumed after expulsion of Americans, 72; Haldimand's objections to resumption of regular service, 72

_Post-revolutionary Period._ United States forbid Canadian couriers to carry mails over its territory, 80; Canadian post office obliged to send mails for England by Halifax route, 81; its disadvantages, 81; sketch of postal system in 1827, 155; financial statements to be submitted to legislatures, 206; fixed salaries to be paid, with exclusion of all perquisites, 206; difficulties in way of satisfactory arrangements for administration, 207; first financial statement laid before legislature, 210; legislature of Upper Canada demands surplus revenues, 211; Lord Durham's recommendations regarding post office, 212; defects of postal administration disclosed by royal commission, 234; legislature concurs in resolutions of interprovincial postal conference, 271; provincial governments assume control of post office, 273; great expansion of, 275; reduction in postage rates, 275; revenue from 1851 to 1867, 275

_Post-Office of Dominion of Canada._ Number of post offices in 1867 and 1914, 327; railway mail service expansion, 327; reductions in postage, 328; Canada becomes a member of the Universal Postal Union, 329; imperial penny postage introduced, 330; imperial scheme of newspaper postage proposed by postmaster general of Canada, 330; expansion of money order and savings bank system, 331

"Canadian" (the first) steamship of Allan line wrecked in St. Lawrence, 308

"Canadian" (the second) steamship of Allan line, wrecked, 311

Cape Breton, establishment of postal service in, 183

Cayley, William, inspector general of Canada, representative at postal conference in Montreal, 268

Cedars, post office opened at, 89

Chambly, arrangements for delivery of mails at, 79

Charlestown, delays in postal service of, 35; included in packet system, 35

Charlottenburg, post office opened at, 89

Chester, Pa., postal rate from Philadelphia to, 7

"City of Manchester" steamship of Inman line lost off Nova Scotia coast, 309

Colonial Postal Systems, in their relations to Great Britain, policy regarding extensions of service, 97, 100, 103; remonstrance of Upper Canada against excessive and illegal postage, 133; reply to these remonstrances, 134; legality of control of colonial systems by Great Britain, 135, 136; Great Britain refuses information as to revenues, 141; considerable profit on colonial service, 142; reception given to address from Upper Canada, 148; attack on administration of Canadian post office, 160; contentions against imperial absorption of surplus revenue from, sustained by law officers, 165; acceptance of decision by postmaster general, 166; course of procedure to establish proper relations, 169; act of imperial parliament, 4, William IV. c. 7, 170; draft act for adoption of legislatures, 170; accountant appointed, 171; how the British proposals were viewed in Maritime provinces, 188, in Upper Canada, 193, 202, in Lower Canada, 199; Stayner on British proposals, 200; Stayner's views accepted by legislative council of Lower Canada, 202; British government willing to amend proposals, 203; royal commission appointed to investigate conditions in colonial service, 233; commission recommends that postal system in British North America be put under one resident deputy postmaster general, 235; proposition of postmaster general to withdraw from control of, 263; conditions of withdrawal, 266; Lord Elgin instructed by colonial secretary on subject, 267; his message to Canadian legislature, 267; legislative committee in Nova Scotia consider the subject, 267; conference of provincial representatives in Montreal, 268; their report, as laid before governor general, 269; British treasury approves generally conclusions of report, 270; Nova Scotia legislature adopts terms of report in act, 270; Canada and New Brunswick concur, 271; act sanctioning arrangement passed by imperial parliament, 271; Prince Edward Island enters arrangement, 272

"Columbia" steamship of Cunard line lost off Nova Scotia coast, 309

Committees of Correspondence take measures to establish colonial post office, 60

Connecticut, terms of first post office bill in, 9

Cornwall, post office opened at, 89

Coteau du Lac, post office opened at, 89

Crane, William, urges direct steamship service between Great Britain and Halifax, 217

Crown Point, post office opened at, 65

Cunard, Samuel, awarded contract for transatlantic steam service, 218

Dashwood, secretary of colonial post office prisoner of war, 66; liberated by exchange, 69; appointed postmaster general of Jamaica, 79

Delancy, Peter, deputy postmaster general for southern division, 35 note 2

Delaware, Falls of, postal rate from Philadelphia to, 7

Deputy postmaster general, relations to governor, 96; limitations on his freedom of administration, 97; agent for collection of United States postage, 126; newspaper postage, perquisite of, 160; nomination of postmasters withdrawn from, 239

Detroit, postal communication opened with, 89

Digby, post office opened in, 178

Dongan, Thomas, governor of New York, endeavoured to establish postal service in colonies, 7

Dorchester, New Brunswick, post office opened at, 182

Durand, details of his journey between Quebec and Halifax with mails, 81

Durham, Lord, recommendations respecting Canadian post office, 212

Eastern Townships, mail communication opened between Three Rivers and, 117

Elizabethtown, post office opened at, 89

Fairbank, Richard, first postmaster in Boston, 2

Falmouth, Maine, defiance of post office monopoly at, 50

Finlay, Hugh, appointed postmaster of Quebec, 42; interferes on behalf of _maitres de poste_, 46; appointed post-office surveyor, 46; explores country between Quebec and New England, 47; inspects postal service from Maine to Georgia, 50; appointed joint deputy postmaster general of northern division of North America, 58; reputed author of account of siege of Quebec, 69; his activities outside post office, 74; appointed superintendent of _maitres de poste_, 76; loses position of deputy postmaster general of northern division of North America, and becomes deputy postmaster general of Canada, 79; report on route between Quebec and Halifax, 85; appointed deputy postmaster general of British North America, 86; removal from this position, 94; death, 74

Fort Edward, post office opened at, 65

Fothergill, Charles, postmaster of Port Hope, 144; attacks post office management, 144

Foxcroft, John, joint deputy postmaster general, 2, 27; prisoner of war, 66; liberated by exchange, 69; appointed British packet boat agent at New York, 79

Franking Act, passed by legislature of Upper Canada, 209; on Stayner's objections it was disallowed, 210

Franklin, Benjamin, postmaster of Philadelphia, 1; deputy postmaster general, 1, 2, 26; established post office in Canada, 1; increases postal facilities, 26; nature of his influence in administration of post office, 27; his views on post office revenues as taxes, 55; his dismissal as joint deputy postmaster general, 58; his continued good relations with officials of general post office, 59; appointed postmaster general of revolutionary post office, 64; his views on nature of postage quoted in support of imperial control, 145

Fredericton, post office opened in, 178

Gagetown, post office opened at, 182

Gaspe, slender postal accommodation in, 162

Goddard, William, labours for establishment of revolutionary post office, 60; his career, 60; draws up scheme, 63; unsuccessful candidate for postmaster generalship, 64; appointed surveyor, 64

Grand Trunk Railway, construction of, 278

Great Western Railway, construction of, 278

Grenville, post office opened at, 116

Guelph, post office opened at, 153

Halifax, post office established at, 33, 173; postage rates to, by sea, in 1765, 44; petition that Halifax be terminal port of transatlantic steamers, 217; British government agrees, 218; contract awarded to Samuel Cunard, 218; scheme for concentrating all mails from Great Britain for North America at, 219; its failure, 220; Nova Scotia asks that the post office at, should be maintained by imperial post office, 245; removal of post office to Dalhousie college building, 252

Hamilton, post office opened at, 117

Hamilton, Andrew, deputy of patentee for American post office, 9; his plans for establishment of postal service, 9; his death, 17

Hamilton, John, succeeds his father, Andrew Hamilton, as deputy postmaster general, 17

Hawkesbury, post office opened at, 116

Hazen, R. L. of executive council of New Brunswick, representative at postal conference in Montreal, 268

Head, Sir Francis Bond, orders dismissal of postmaster of Lloydtown, 213; demands authority to dismiss postmasters whom he deemed guilty of disloyalty, 214; orders removal of postmaster of Toronto, 214

Heriot, George, succeeds Finlay as deputy postmaster general, 96; personal characteristics, 96; unsuccessful aspirant to seat in legislative council, and to superintendency of _maitres de poste_, 97; in disfavour with governor, 98; altercation with Sir Gordon Drummond, 109; retirement, 113

Heyman, Peter, appointed postmaster of Virginia, 13

Horton, post office opened in, 178

Howard, James, dismissed from postmastership of Toronto, on charge of disloyalty, 214

Howe, John, the elder, deputy postmaster general of Maritime provinces, 180; his capable management, 180; his retirement, 181

Howe, John, the younger, succeeds his father, 181; controlled majority of newspapers in Halifax, 187; criticism of, 251; his death, 251

Howe, Joseph, urges direct steamship service between Great Britain and Halifax, 217

Hudson's Bay Company, conveys the mails to and from Manitoba and North-West territories, 317; limitations on correspondence, 318

Hull, post office opened at, 116

"Humboldt" steamship of the American line lost off Nova Scotia coast, 309

Hume, Joseph, M.P., obtains information respecting Canadian postal service, 161

"Hungarian" steamship of Allan line wrecked, 309

Hunter, Peter, Lieutenant Governor, had road constructed from Bay of Quinte to York, 100; endeavours to secure mail service to Upper Canada, 100

Hunter, William, joint deputy postmaster general, 26

Huntingdon, Herbert, confers with general post office respecting Nova Scotia post office, 191

Illegal conveyance of letters in Canada, 150; in Nova Scotia, 249; in New Brunswick, 256

"Indian" steamship of Allan line wrecked, 309

Johnston, J. W., Solicitor General of Nova Scotia, representative at postal conference in Montreal, 268

Kennebec route, Finlay explores, 47

Kingston, Upper Canada, post office opened at, 89

Kingston, New Brunswick, post office opened at, 182

Knox, William, scheme of communications between England and North America, 87

Labrador, mail service opened between Newfoundland and, 342

Lachine, post office opened at, 89

Lancaster, post office opened at, 89

Lanoullier, Nicholas, obtained privilege to establish post office in Canada, 40; his plans, 41; failure, 41

Lanoullier de Boisclair, his difficulties in maintaining roads, owing to popular indifference, 78; his death, 78

Letters, mode of calculating postage on, 20

Lloydtown, postmaster of, dismissed for part in affairs of 1837, 213

London, post office opened at, 117

Lovelace, Francis, Governor of New York, arranged for postal service between New York and Boston, 6

Lower Canada, condition of route between Montreal and Quebec, in 1783, 78; mode of communication with Great Britain, 105; frequency of service between Quebec and Montreal, 105, 109; report of assembly on surplus postal revenues, 1827, 149; Stayner declines to give information to committee of assembly, 161; lack of postal accommodation in, 161, 196; address of assembly to King respecting post office, 163; report of legislative committee on postal affairs, 1836, 199; Stayner admonished to cease sending surplus revenue to England, 199; agitation caused in general post office over post office bill of Lower Canada, 205

Macaulay, John, former postmaster of Kingston, chairman of committee of legislative council on postal affairs, 207

Mackenzie, William Lyon, presented petition for investigation of post office, 143; interviewed Colonial Secretary respecting postal affairs, 167; his views on administration of post office, 167; evidence of, before Lower Canada committee on newspaper postage, 196; challenges action on underpayment, 197

_Maitres de Poste_, lack of regulations for, 45; Finlay's interference on behalf of, 46; unsuccessful efforts to assimilate their position to that of masters of post houses in England, 75; indispensable for the carrying of mails, 75; character of their service, 97; amenities on post road, 99

Manitoba, and North-West provinces, early postal arrangements in, 316-321; proposition for direct overland service with Canada, 320; Manitoba incorporated into Canadian postal system, 322; United States postal service utilized for communication with other provinces, 322; direct railway communication with Eastern Canada, 322; expansion of service between Confederation and, 1914, 327

Marconi, Guglielmo, proved success of transatlantic wireless system of telegraphy in Newfoundland, 345

Maritime provinces, early means of communication between places in, 175; with Great Britain, 176

Maryland, postal rate from Philadelphia to, 7; proceedings of legislature respecting establishment of post office, 12

Massachusetts, terms of first post office act in, 9, 10; postal rates to, 10; post office act of, disallowed, 10; rejects draft of new bill, 12

Matthews, Captain John, chairman of post office committee of assembly of Upper Canada, 143

Michillimackinac, postal communication opened with, 89

Miramichi, arrangements for delivery of mails at, 181; post office opened at, 182

Money Order System, establishment of, in Canada, 276; in Nova Scotia, 280; in Newfoundland, 343; expansion of operations between 1868 and 1914, 330

Montreal, post office opened at, 1, 42; description of route between New York and, 37; post road between Quebec and, 38; mail service opened between New York and, 42; mail service opened between Quebec and, 43; frequency of service between New York and Montreal at outbreak of revolutionary war, 65; embraced in revolutionary postal system, 66; postmaster resents having soldiers billeted on him, 71; governor orders his dismissal, 72; Daniel Sutherland postmaster of, 114; conditions in post office at, 128; mean situation of post office, 194

_Montreal Gazette_, proprietor of, begins attack on Stayner respecting newspaper postage, 159

Neale, Thomas, given patent for American post office, 8; assigns his patent, 17

New Brunswick, postal system of, transferred to control of deputy postmaster general of Nova Scotia, 155; establishment of inland service in, 178; postal charges in, 178; changes in routes as result of war of 1812, 179; no additions to service until 1820, 181; communication with Great Britain by way of United States, 185; objections of Nova Scotia to arrangement, 186; condition of, in 1841, 255; report of legislature, 256; erected into separate department, 257; demands for reduced postage, 258; legislature concurs in resolutions of interprovincial postal conference, 271; provincial government assumes control of, 273; expansion of postal service, 281; rates of postage, 281; revenue and expenditure, 282; attitude of government towards deficits, 282

New Castle, Pa., postal rate from Philadelphia to, 7

New England, confederation of, postmaster appointed for, 7; direct route from Quebec to, surveyed, 47; Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire assists in establishment of another route to Canada, 49; Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts not encouraging as to route, 49

Newfoundland, post office in, early mode of communication with England, 333; postage rates to, 333; connection with England by Cunard steamers at Halifax, 334; inland postal system established, 336; efforts to secure direct service to England, 338; improvements and extensions of inland service, 339-342; railway available between St. John's and Harbour Grace, 342; communication with Labrador, 342; money order system established, 343; government telegraphs, 344

New Hampshire, terms of first post office act in, 9, 11; postage rates to, 10; act allowed by privy council, 11

New Haven, modes of evading post office monopoly at, 51

New Johnston, post office opened at, 89

Newspapers, transmission of, not provided for in imperial postal act, 61; arrangements for distribution of, by post, 61; defects in scheme, 62; agitation for change in method of collecting postage, 158; rates charged, 158; postage is perquisite of deputy postmaster general, 160; attack on this system, 160; Stayner advises change of system, 165; question of postage in Maritime provinces, 186; W. L. Mackenzie's evidence on evasions, 196; Stayner's defence of his practice in taking perquisites, 198; abolition of postage, as perquisite, and establishment of fixed rate, 241; postage after provinces take control of post office, 276; imperial scheme of postage proposed, 330; rates between 1875 and 1914, 332

New York, city of, earliest postal arrangements for, 4; communication with Boston, 6; postage rates from Philadelphia, Boston and Virginia, 10; headquarters of colonial postal system, 19, 60; John Antill postmaster of, 69

New York, colony of, terms of first post office act in, 9; postage rates to, 10; act allowed by privy council, 11

Niagara, postal communication opened with, 89

North American Colonies (now United States), extent of postal system, 1; first post office, 2; mode of communicating with England, 2, 5; early attempts at postal service between, 6, 7; patent for postal service granted to Thomas Neale, 8; line of posts established in 1693, 15; revenue of postal system, 1693-1697, 15; proposed arrangement for exchange of mails with England, 15; effect of imperial act of 1711 on status of colonial post office, 18; deficient revenues from postal system, 25; evasion of postmaster general's monopoly, 25, 50; increase in facilities under Franklin, 26, 29; prosperous condition of postal system, 26; sailing packets established between England and, 29, 34; arrangements for service to southern colonies, 35; establishment of southern division of the postal system, 35; summary of packet service in 1764, 36; summary of whole postal system, 44; surplus revenue in 1764, 44; unpopularity of the post office, 45; inspection report of system from Maine to Georgia, 50; New York, administrative centre, 60; proposition to suppress colonial post office, 64; post office ceases its function, 65; Foxcroft and Dashwood, prisoners of war, 66

"North Briton" steamship of Allan line wrecked, 311

Northern Railway, construction of, 278

"Norwegian" steamship of Allan line wrecked, 312

Nova Scotia, establishment of inland postal service, 178; postal charges in, 178; changes in route as result of war of 1812, 179; difficulties of deputy postmaster general in complying with demands for increased service, 179; his success, 179; state of postal service in 1817, 180; legislature assisted in maintaining mail service, 180, 244; legislature determines to take control of postal service, 190; bill to that end disallowed, 190; satisfactory arrangement arrived at, 191; mail service between Pictou and Halifax improved at greatly augmented cost, 223; friction with Canada over maintenance of this service, 223; defects in postal service disclosed by royal commission, 234; characteristics of post office as compared with the Canadian post office, 243; demand of legislature that Halifax should be maintained by imperial post office, 245; deficit in revenue of, 246; investigated by British post office official, 248; findings of investigation, 248; salary of deputy postmaster general, 250; interference of local government with, 250; Arthur Woodgate succeeds Howe as deputy postmaster general on death of latter, 252; agitation for reduced postage, 252; legislative committee discuss question of provincial control, 267; legislature adopts conclusions of interprovincial conference, 270; provincial government assumes control of, 273; expansion of service, 280; mode of communication with Canada, 280; postage rates, 280; registration, and money order system introduced, 280; revenue and expenditure, 281; railway mail service in, at Confederation, 281

O'Callaghan, Dr. E. B., chairman of legislative committee on postal affairs, 198

Ormonde, Marquess of, makes proposals for ocean steamship service, 127

Osnabruck, post office opened at, 89

Ottawa, first known as Richmond landing, 115

Ottawa River, steamer on river between Long Sault and Hull, 116

Pennsylvania, beginnings of postal service in, 7; terms of first post office act in, 9; postage rates to, 10; act allowed by privy council, 11

Pensacola, included in packet system, 35

Perth, opening of post office at, 114

Philadelphia, postal arrangements between, and outlying places, 7; postage rates from Boston, New York and Virginia, 10

Postage Rates, in former colonies (now United States), 7, 8, 10, 13, 16, 20, 22; mode of calculating postal charges, 20, 178; in Canada under act of 1765, 43, 133; under revolutionary postal system, 66; general practice to collect on delivery, 71, 238; mode of collection between Canada and United States, 91, 125; Governor Simcoe's view as to disposal of surplus postage, 93; between Canada and Great Britain, under post office regulations, and by private ship, 122, 123; postage rates in New Brunswick, 178; great reduction in rate between Canada and Great Britain, 227-229; royal commission report on inland rates, 236; weight system introduced, 240; agitation for reduction, 242, 252, 258; recommendations of Nova Scotia legislature, 268; recommendations of interprovincial conference, 270; reductions in Canada, 275, in Nova Scotia, 280, in New Brunswick, 281; rates in British Columbia, 325; imperial penny postage, 330; imperial newspaper rates, 330; inland rates two cents per ounce, 331; between St. John's, Newfoundland, and England, 333; inland postage in Newfoundland, 334; rates under colonial postal system, 337

Postage Stamps, introduced in Canada, 275

Postal Revenues, from 1693 to 1697, 15; surplus in 1764, 44; surplus from Canada in 1822, 142; average surplus from Canada for seven years ending 1825, 148; average surplus from Canada for 1825 and 1826, 161; imperial act of 1834 to transfer revenues to provinces, 170; reception of act in Maritime provinces, 188, in Upper Canada, 193; surplus for period ending 1834, 199; governor general declines to stop remitting to England, 205; legislature of Upper Canada petitions for surplus, 211; surplus from Canada, 242; expansion of revenue, 1868-1914, 331

Postmasters, exempt from billeting, 71; postmaster at Montreal represented that he had been excepted from regulation, 71; nomination of, removed from deputy postmaster general to governor general, 239; Stayner's fruitless objections thereto, 240

Post Office Commission, personnel, and duties, 233; report of, 234

Post Office Convention, between Canada and United States, 90; between Great Britain and United States, 283

Post Office Surveyorship, established, 47; Finlay appointed to, 47; two appointed, 171

Post Road, between Montreal and Quebec, account of, 38; constructed by Lanoullier de Boisclair, 41

Post Roads, arrangements with _maitres de poste_ for conveyance of post office couriers, 43

Prince Edward Island, early arrangements for postal service, 185; condition of postal service, 1827-1841, 260; post office managed by provincial government, 261; legislature concurs in resolutions of interprovincial postal conference, 272

Quebec and Halifax mail service, details of route, 76; trip by Durand in 1784, 81; measures to open communication by land, 83; improving New Brunswick section of route, 84; proposition to follow Bay of Chaleurs route, 107; conditions of service in 1840, 220

Quebec, post office opened at, 1; post road between Montreal and, 38; mail service opened between Montreal and, 43; route from, to New England surveyed, 47; account of earlier explorations of this route, 47; expense of journey met by subscription in Quebec, 48; post office building in, destroyed by fire, 239

Railways, beginnings and development in Canada, 277; economy of time effected by use of, 278; postal cars employed on, 278; augmentation of expenses through using, 279; rates of payment for mail service on, fixed by royal commission, 279; railways in Nova Scotia at Confederation, 281; uninterrupted line between Atlantic seaboard and Chicago and New Orleans, 302

Randolph, Edward, postmaster of confederation of New England, 8

Rebellion of 1837, effects of, on post office, 213

Registration, introduced in Canada, 277

Revolutionary Post Office, suggested, 60; scheme for, 63; Franklin made postmaster general, Bache, secretary, and Goddard, surveyor, 64; extended to Montreal, 66; postage rates to Canada, 66; arrangements for mail service, 66

Revolutionary War, mails taken possession of, by Commanders-in-Chief, who direct their distribution, 69

Richelieu River, efforts to obtain mail service to settlements on, 79

Richibucto, post office opened at, 182

Richmond, Upper Canada, post office opened at, 115

Roads, between Montreal and Quebec, 38, 41; between Bay of Quinte and York, 100; between York and Kingston, and York and Ancaster, 103 (see Quebec and Halifax).

Robbery of mail, between Montreal and Toronto, 171; curious disclosure by robber, 171; by sympathizers with disaffected, 215

Robinson, John Beverly, defends imperial control of Canadian postal service, 144, 147

Rolph, Dr. John, correspondence with deputy postmaster general about opening post office at Delaware, 133; advocates provincial control of postal system, 145

Roupell, George, deputy postmaster general for southern division, 35, note 2

St. Andrews, Lower Canada, post office opened at, 116

St. Augustine, Fort, included in packet system, 35

St. Eustache, post office opened at, 116

St. John, N.B., post office opened in, 178

St. John's, Newfoundland, post office opened at, 333; embraced in imperial system, 334; objections of merchants to regular post office, 335; revenue from 1841 to 1849, 336

St. John's, Quebec, arrangements for delivery of mails to, 79

St. Stephen, post office opened at, 182

St. Thomas, Upper Canada, post office opened at, 117

Sault Ste Marie, post office opened at, 264

Savings Bank, post office, opening of, and expansion of operations, 331

Sherbrooke, post office opened at, 118

Sorel, arrangements for delivery of mails at, 79

Stanstead, post office opened at, 117

Stayner, Thomas Allen, succeeds Sutherland as deputy postmaster general, 153; gains confidence of superiors and a freer hand in administration, 154; declines to give information to committee of Lower Canada assembly, 161; sustained by governor general and postmaster general in his refusal to give information, 162; convinced that arrangement by which newspaper postage became his perquisite should cease, 165; compelled to disclose information regarding post office, 194; disregards admonition of Lower Canada legislative committee to cease sending surplus revenue to England, 199; his income from newspapers and other sources, 200; powers curtailed by governor general, 230; his character 230; nomination of postmasters withdrawn from him, 239; perquisites abolished, and fixed salary substituted, 241; relinquishes control of post office in Canada, 273; his administration characterized, 273

Steamboats, illegal conveyance of letters by, 150; no action taken upon, 152

Sussexvale, post office opened at, 182

Sutherland, Daniel, succeeds Heriot as deputy postmaster general, 114; retires, 130, 153

Sydney, Cape Breton, post office in, 184

Telegraphs in Newfoundland, sketch of system, 344

Three Rivers, post office opened at, 1, 42

Toronto, postmaster of, dismissed by Bond Head for lack of loyalty, 214 (see York).

Transatlantic Mail Service-- _Old Colonial Period._ Earliest arrangements for exchange of correspondence with England, 2; regular packet service established, 29, 34; service between England and West Indies, 30; re-arrangement, 35; summary of system in 1764, 36

_Revolutionary Period._ Packets withdrawn from regular routes, 67; attacked by privateers, 67; "Lord Hyde" attacked, 67; "Sandwich," 68; "Harriott," 68; "Swallow" captured, 72; "Weymouth" captured, 72; "Le Despencer" captured, 73; "Duke of York" captured, 73; "Harriott" and "Eagle" captured, 73; number of packets captured or damaged, 73

_Post-revolutionary Period._ Packet service resumed between England and New York, 80; merchants in Canada demand re-opening of service to England by way of New York, 80; established between England and Halifax, 85, 86, 173; winter arrangements for British mails to Halifax, 87; elaborate scheme proposed by William Knox for communications between England and North America, 87; conditions of service between 1806 and 1819, 118; proposition of Marquess of Ormonde for ocean steam service, 127; communication between colonies and Great Britain almost entirely through United States, 156; comments of W. L. Mackenzie upon, 168

_Steamship Service._ Steamers "Great Western" and "Sirius" carry mails from British ports to New York, 216; petition that Halifax be terminal port for steamers, in North America, 217; British government agrees, and contract is awarded to Samuel Cunard, 218; comprehensive scheme for concentrating all mails from Great Britain for North America at Halifax, 219; its failure, 220; advantages of Boston as terminal port for Canadian mails, 224; Boston substituted for Halifax, 225; arrangements with United States post office for transit across its territory, 225; Cunard steamers make New York principal port of call, 284

_Canadian Ocean Mail Service._ Canada invited to join imperial scheme for colonial service, 284; objections of Canada, 285; beginnings of, 286; contract made with Hugh Allan, 286; comparison in speed of Canadian, Cunard and Collins lines, 287; unfriendly attitude of British government towards Canadian line, 287; views of Canadian government on this attitude, 289; negotiations for employment of Canadian steamers for conveyance of British and United States mails, 290; favourable treatment accorded to Cunard line, 292; report of select committee of house of commons, on steamship service, 293;

## partiality to Galway line at expense of Canadian and Inman

lines, 295; condemnation of government of Great Britain by select committee of house of commons, 297; disingenuous conduct of British government towards postmaster general of Canada, 297; weekly service of steamers between Quebec and Liverpool, 302; postmaster general of Canada negotiates with governments of Great Britain and France for use of improved facilities, 302; and with governments of France, Belgium and Prussia, 304; difficulties owing to hostility of general post office, 304; great proportion of mails between Canada and Great Britain carried by Canadian line, 307; series of disasters to steamships of Canadian line, 308-313; parliamentary investigation, 310; new contract with Allans, 314

United States Post Office, postal convention with, 90; goodwill of, towards communication between Canada and Great Britain, 120; cordial relations with, 283; convention of 1848 with, 283; its services utilized for conveyance of mails to Maritime provinces, 280, to Manitoba, 322, to British Columbia, 323; dependence on, for interprovincial correspondence, 327

Universal Postal Union, Canada becomes member of, 329; beneficent results of, 329

Upper Canada, opening of post offices in, 89; Simcoe's plan for separate post office department in, 92; regular mail service established in, 99; arrangement between Amherstburg and Niagara, 101; increased service to, 102, 104; deputy postmaster general recommended for, 104; difficulties of correspondence in, 105; postal conditions in, in 1824, 132; legislature begins agitation for improvements, 133; exorbitant charges on letters circulating in, 133, 134; protest of legislature, 134; raises question of legality of imperial control of Canadian postal system, 135; report of assembly on subject, 136; report of committee of assembly in 1825, 143; recommendation that postal system should be controlled by province, 144; lieutenant governor opposes pretentions of legislature, 145; report of assembly in 1829, 156; proposition for high administrative officer in, 156, 157; continues agitation against postal administration, 163; legislature rejects imperial act respecting disposition of surplus revenues, 193; lack of postal facilities in, 195; legislative assembly of, draw up scheme for provincial post office, 203; report of legislative council on post office, 207; address to King on post office, 208; legislature passes franking act, 209; legislature demands surplus revenue, 211; time occupied in conveying British mails to, by Halifax and by New York, 221

Victoria, British Columbia, extreme isolation of, 323

Viger, Denis Benjamin, interviewed Colonial Secretary respecting postal affairs, 167

Virginia, proposition to establish post office in, 4; rates of postage to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, 10; proceedings of legislature respecting establishment of post office, 12; early arrangements, 13; efforts to attach to colonial system, 22; frustration of scheme to impose act of 1710 in, 23; included in colonial system, 24

Way Offices, a peculiarity of Maritime provinces, 248; explained, 249

West Indies, packet boats established between Great Britain and, 31; large postal revenues of, 31; packet service restored, 34

Windsor, Nova Scotia, post office opened in, 178

Wolfville, post office opened under name of Horton, 178

Woodgate, Arthur, succeeds Howe as deputy postmaster general of Nova Scotia, 252

York, first post office at, 94

York, Duke of, claim of, on American postal revenues, 7

Young, William, confers with general post office respecting Nova Scotia post office, 191

* * * * *

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.

2. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved from the middle of the text to the end of the chapters in which they appear.

3. Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired.

4. The following misprints have been corrected: "Temiscoueta" corrected to "Temiscouata" (page 83) "Horten" corrected to "Horton" (page 178) "govenorship" corrected to "governorship" (page 202) "inofrmation" corrected to "information" (page 234) "be a hugh" corrected to "be a huge" (page 312) "that that of either" corrected to "than that of either" (page 331)

5. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained.