On this point, then, the committee advised that the house should yield to the wisdom of the imperial parliament. They returned, however, to the question of a uniform fourpenny rate for letters, which in their opinion would facilitate intercourse, and ultimately carry the revenue far beyond the amount expended for the maintenance of the service. Since Hill made the use of postage stamps an integral and important part of his scheme for penny postage, the legislature, in again expressing its faith in the benefits and feasibility of the uniform fourpenny rate, directed attention to the merits of postage stamps.
The postmaster general was of opinion that this suggestion should not be entertained. Any proposal for allowing postage stamps to be used in the colonies had hitherto been resisted from a fear, amongst other objections, that forged stamps would find their way into circulation with little fear of detection. The solicitor of the post office was of opinion that if forgery were committed in the United Kingdom it could not be punished in the colonies, whilst on the other hand, if committed in any of the colonies, it could be visited with no penalty on parties in the United Kingdom.
With the acquiescence of the Nova Scotia legislature in the view of the general post office as to the desirability of maintaining a centralized imperial postal system, and the only outstanding question on which there was disagreement that of a reduction of postage rates, it will be expedient to bring forward the narrative of events with respect to the post office in New Brunswick. The information amassed by the royal commission makes this an easy task.
What strikes one at first glance is the little progress that had been made since 1825, when Howe made his official tour through the province.
In 1825, the population stood at 75,000, and in 1841 it had risen to nearly 160,000. The increase was distributed with considerable evenness over every part of the province, though the preponderance found its way to the outlying districts. The numerous settlements thus established would seem to call for a wide extension of the postal service.
But little was done to meet the requirements. There were nine post offices in the province in 1825: in 1841, when the population had more than doubled and was scarcely less than half what it is to-day, there were no more than twenty-three. Between Fredericton and Woodstock, a stretch of sixty-two miles of well-settled country, there were no post offices. The districts lying between Fredericton and Sussexvale, eighty-eight miles, and between Fredericton and Chatham, one hundred and fifteen miles, embracing many farming communities, were equally unprovided for, which is the more inexplicable since couriers travelled through all these districts to the several points mentioned, and the expense for post offices would have been more than covered by the revenues of the offices.
The system of mail routes can be described shortly. From Halifax there was a main post road, which entered New Brunswick a few miles west of Amherst, and following in its general lines the course of the inter-colonial railway passed the bend at Moncton, and continued its way on to St. John. At a point near the present Norton station, called the Fingerboard, there was a route to Fredericton.
Over these routes the courier travelled twice each way weekly. Between Fredericton and Chatham, there was a service of the same frequency.
Chatham was the distributing point for the line of settlements, skirting the shore, northward to Campbellton, and southward to Dorchester. On the former route, the trips were made weekly, and on the latter, twice a week. Mails were carried daily between Fredericton and Woodstock, Fredericton and St. John and St. John and St. Andrews.
Though, in comparison with the other provinces, the mail conveyance in New Brunswick was not greatly open to criticism in point of frequency, the post office was no more popular there than elsewhere. Steamers, which ran daily between St. John and Fredericton, were employed by the post office to carry the mails, but though the steamer carried many every trip, there were few of which the post office got the benefit.
There was a practice of taking letters to the steamer and tossing them on to the table in the cabin. On the arrival of the steamer in port, a crowd of messenger boys who were awaiting it picked up the letters from the table and delivered them through the town at one penny or twopence each.
The stage coaches were laid under contribution in the same irregular manner. Every passenger between St. John and Fredericton was expected to take with him all his friends' letters, which he either delivered to the persons to whom they were addressed, or deposited in the post office, the postmaster receiving a penny each for delivering them. A stratagem sometimes employed was to place letters in the midst of a bundle of paper and sticks of wood, the freight of the bundle being less than the postage on the letters it contained.
It was at this time that the legislature of New Brunswick began to manifest an interest in the management of the post office. In 1841, a special committee of the assembly reviewed the operation of the system, and among the questions discussed was the authority.
The committee expressed the opinion that no arrangement could be satisfactory which did not combine provincial control of the local post office with a general imperial oversight over the whole system; and they recommended that a deputy postmaster general should be appointed whose duty it should be to prescribe mail routes, open post offices, appoint postmasters, and generally to manage the business of the post office in the province.[277]
The question of local management the general post office proposed to solve, not in the manner desired by the assembly, but by separating New Brunswick from the jurisdiction of the deputy postmaster general at Halifax, and establishing a department in the province, under a deputy postmaster general who should be stationed at St. John, and who should be, as the deputies in the other provinces were, subject to the postmaster general of England.
Local control was partially effected, as in the other provinces, by vesting the appointment of all officials, except the deputy postmaster general and the inspector, in the lieutenant governor. On the 6th of July, 1843, a separate establishment was set up in New Brunswick with John Howe, the son of the late deputy postmaster general for Nova Scotia, in charge as deputy postmaster general.
The arrangement had, at first, only a qualified success. It was criticized by the legislature as having nearly doubled the expense of the establishment, and by the post office officials on the ground that it introduced the local politician into the system.
As illustration of the introduction of local political mechanics, Page reported to the secretary of the post office that the deputy postmaster general, having had to dismiss a postmaster for very gross mismanagement, applied to the lieutenant governor for a nomination for the vacant office.[278] The lieutenant governor nominated the dismissed man, and when the nomination was refused, he proposed to appoint the late postmaster's son. The explanation was that the postmaster was a leading politician, and his re-nomination had been insisted upon by the political manager, whom the governor consulted.
The lieutenant governor viewed with no favour the independent powers of the deputy postmaster general. In the course of a dispute over the dismissal by the deputy postmaster general of a person whom he had appointed, the lieutenant governor laid his opinions and desires energetically before the colonial secretary. He requested that the general post office should be removed from St. John to Fredericton in order that the latter might be more effectually under the control of the lieutenant governor; and that the post office surveyor or inspector should make his reports to himself and not to the deputy postmaster general. His views were held to be quite untenable, the postmaster general pointing out that if carried into effect, they would make the governor the deputy postmaster general.
St. John and Fredericton were the only towns in New Brunswick in which correspondence was delivered by letter carrier. In St. John there were two carriers, who covered the city together, one delivering letters, the other newspapers. They were paid a penny for each letter or newspaper.
In Fredericton there was only one carrier, who was in the employ of the postmaster, who retained the sums collected as his own perquisite.
New Brunswick was in no respect behind the sister provinces in its demand for the essential thing--a reduced rate of postage. The chamber of commerce of St. John, in 1841, petitioned the postmaster general to reduce the rate on letters exchanged between any of the post offices on the route between St. John and Halifax to threepence, arguing that British letters for places anywhere in the colonies were carried from Halifax inward for one penny (the rate was really twopence), and that letters were exchanged between the remotest places in the United States for one shilling and threepence.
To the point respecting the conveyance of British letters, the postmaster general replied that this part of the service was carried on at a heavy loss, which was only to be justified as an imperial measure.
A legislative committee sitting in the same year went beyond the chamber of commerce in its recommendations.[279] It was of opinion that there should be a uniform rate on letters circulating within the province, and that that rate should not exceed twopence. They, also, recommended that newspapers, legislative papers and small pamphlets, being for the political education of the people, should be exempt from postage altogether. They foresaw a temporary loss if their recommendations were carried into effect, but considered that any such loss should be made good by the legislature.
In 1843 the legislature took up the subject again, repeating their desire for free newspapers, and requesting that the rate on letters exchanged within the province be fixed at threepence a single letter.[280]
The assembly, in 1845, addressed the king on the whole question of the post office.[281] After remonstrating on the large increase in the cost of the provincial service, as the result of erecting a separate establishment, they complained that, in order to bring the expenditure within the revenue, the department had cut off several routes and reduced the frequency of the couriers' trips on others. The charges on letters and newspapers were so high as to impede correspondence.
The assembly in this address gave it as their opinion that if the charges on letters were reduced by one-half, and were abolished altogether as regards newspapers, the receipts would soon be greater than they were. The legislature had expended 145,000 on the main roads during the preceding ten years, and it was disheartening that the postal accommodation was less than it had formerly been.
In their requests in 1845 for reduction of charges, the legislature were more conservative than they had been in earlier sessions. Still maintaining that newspapers should circulate free of postage, they were content to ask that the charges on letters should range from sixpence to twopence, according to the distance they were carried. They asked that the deputy postmaster general be required to establish such additional service as the legislature might see fit to demand; that the accounts of the provincial system be laid annually, in full detail, before the legislature, and that any surplus revenue be devoted to extending the facilities for inter-provincial communication. In consideration of the foregoing requests being granted, the legislature pledged themselves to provide such additional sums as might from time to time be required to defray the current charges.
The colonial office replied to this address in October of the same year.[282] The principal points dealt with were the petition for free newspapers, and the complaint that the accommodation to the public had been diminished.
On the latter point, the colonial secretary stated that no services had been affected, except where they were unnecessary. As for the question of free newspapers, if New Brunswick could be dealt with separately from the other provinces, there could be no objection to meeting their wishes, but in view of the fact that the effect on the other provinces had to be considered, the request of New Brunswick could not be granted.
The legislature in the following session took issue with the colonial secretary on this point. It was quite open to Nova Scotia or any of the other provinces to adopt the same policy as New Brunswick considered advisable. The legislature took a course, which had not hitherto been pursued by the other provinces. They besought the co-operation of a sister province in an effort to have their desires carried into effect.
They sent a copy of the address of the previous session to Canada and suggested a joint effort to secure reduced rates for the North American colonies, by guaranteeing a sufficient sum in proportion to the business of the respective provinces to make up any deficiency of a temporary nature that might be caused by such reduction.
The post office in Prince Edward Island was involved in none of the controversies, which agitated the people of the other provinces. It owed its immunity to its low estate. Its revenues were never equal to the cost of its maintenance, and consequently it was not a subject for exploitation. A post office was opened at Charlottetown in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and until 1827 it was the only institution of the kind in the island.
Letters addressed to persons dwelling outside of Charlottetown, no matter how far, remained in the post office in that town until called for. This state of things led to many inconveniences, but it was not until 1827 that it received official attention.
Lieutenant governor Ready, in the course of his speech at the opening of the legislature in that year, pointed out the necessity of establishing a postal system in the island, "as affording the means of a speedy and safe communication with our distant population, and of conveying to them a knowledge of the laws and proceedings of the government, which, while it contributes to the security of the people, serves also to guard them against the effects of misrepresentation and misconception."[283]
The legislature having expressed their concurrence in these views, the postmaster of Charlottetown was directed to open a number of post offices, and establish the necessary courier routes. The system began operations on the 1st of July following.
There were three routes established. The western courier exchanged mails at New London, Malpeque, Traveller's Rest and Tryon River, his route being nearly ninety miles in length. The eastern courier served St.
Peter's Road, St. Peters, Bay Fortune and Grand River. This route was upwards of one hundred miles. The south-east courier travelled fifty-three miles, and exchanged mails at Seal River and Three Rivers.
The couriers performed their services weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter. The rates of postage were fixed by the legislature without regard to the postmaster general of England, and were twopence a letter and one-halfpenny a newspaper. The report of these proceedings rather disturbed the deputy postmaster general at Halifax, whose jurisdiction included Prince Edward Island and who expressed his disapproval of the course pursued by the authorities. He notified the postmaster of Charlottetown that there was no power possessed by the government of any colony of Great Britain to establish post offices and set up couriers, and demanded to be furnished with the orders under which the postmaster had acted.
The secretary of the general post office, in a letter to the postmaster general, pointed out that the measures taken by the legislature of Prince Edward Island were entirely illegal, but that it was a question how far it might be expedient or politic to interfere in a settlement where the deputy postmaster general had not thought it necessary to establish internal communications; particularly when the communications, if established, would probably not produce revenue sufficient to cover the expenses.
He therefore suggested no interference be made for the present with the arrangements in the island, and that Howe, the deputy postmaster general, should watch the financial results of the system. If it should appear that a revenue should arise, then the local authorities might be advised that the postmaster general would take the arrangements into his own hands, under the powers given by his patent, and by various acts of parliament.
The postmaster general concurred, and Howe was duly instructed. As it appeared at the end of the first year's operations, that the revenue derived from the posts set up by the legislature amounted to 268, while the expenses were 383, the postmaster general decided to leave the service in the charge of the legislature, with instructions to Howe to keep his attention alive to the subject in case a change in the financial results might make it desirable for the postmaster general to assert his authority.
The outcome of the negotiations was that the revenue collected by the post office in its internal system was passed over to the provincial treasury, which defrayed the cost of maintaining the couriers. The situation remained unchanged until 1851, when the control of the post office was formally transferred to the colonial legislature. The financial results of the system were at no time of any considerable magnitude, and the expenses constantly outran the revenue, though not sufficiently to make the post office a serious burden on the provincial revenues. In the year 1850, the total net receipts were 1441, and the expenditure was 1528.
FOOTNOTES:
[269] Howe to Lawrence, September 2, 1839 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).
[270] _Report of Committee of Assembly_, February 25, 1842 (enclosure in Howe to Maberly, April 4, 1842, Br. P.O. Transcripts).
[271] Falkland to colonial office, April 30, 1841 (Br. P.O.
Transcripts).
[272] _Journals of Assembly_, Canada, 1846, App. F. (E).
[273] Howe's death took place on January 18, 1843.
[274] Watson to secretary, G.P.O., July 17, 1844 (Br. P.O. Transcripts).
[275] _Journals of Assembly_, 1844.
[276] _Journals of Assembly_, 1846, and Br. P.O. Transcripts for 1845 and 1846.