Part 2 (1/2)
That all Provincial Postage received within the Province shall be retained as belonging to it, and that all Provincial Postage received within any other Colony of the British North American Colonies may be retained, as belonging to such Colony. That no privilege of franking shall be allowed as regards the Provincial Postage. That Provincial Stamps for the prepayment of postage may be prepared under the orders of the Governor in Council, which stamps shall be evidence of the prepayment of Provincial Postage to the amount mentioned on such stamps; and that such stamps, prepared under the direction of the proper authorities in the other British North American Colonies, shall be allowed in this Province as evidence of the prepayment of Provincial Postage in such other Colonies respectively, on the letters or packets to which they are affixed and which have been mailed there.
The pa.s.sage of the above Act and its approval by the Imperial government was followed by a notice to postmasters which gave the date at which the transfer of the postal system from Imperial to Provincial authority was to take effect, gave more explicit instructions with regard to rates of postage, and stated that postage stamps were being prepared. Mr. Howes gives the chief provisions of this Notice as follows:--
NOTICE TO POSTMASTERS.
GENERAL POST OFFICE.
MONTREAL, _14th March, 1851._
Sir:--
I am commanded by His Excellency the Governor General, to communicate to you the following instructions, for your guidance in the performance of your duties, under the New Post Office Law of the 13th and 14th Vict., chap. 17, pa.s.sed at the last Session of the Provincial Parliament, which will take effect, and supersede the Imperial Post Office Acts, hitherto in force in Canada, on and from the 6th day of April next:
1.--From the above date, all Letters transmitted by the Post in Canada, with the exception of Packet Letters to and from the United Kingdom, will be liable to a uniform rate of _Three Pence_, currency, per half-ounce for whatever distance conveyed: prepayment will be optional: the charge increasing according to the weight of the Letter, one single rate for every additional half-ounce, counting the fraction of a half-ounce as a full rate, thus:
A Letter, weighing not exceeding 1/2 ounce, will be liable to 3d postage.
A Letter, weighing more than 1/2 ounce, and not exceeding 1 ounce, will be liable to 6d Postage.
A Letter, weighing more than 1 ounce, and not exceeding 1-1/2 ounces will be liable to 9d Postage, and so on.
It will be observed that the above scale differs from that now followed, in advancing one rate for each half-ounce after the first ounce.
2.--The single Packet rate for Letters by the Atlantic Steam Packet Mails to and from England, via the United States, of 1s 2d sterling, if _unpaid_, and 1s 4d currency, if _prepaid_, as also the rate on Letters, by those mails, via Halifax, of 1s sterling, if _unpaid_, and 1s 1-1/2d currency, if _prepaid_, remain unaltered, and the present scale of weights is to remain in force as regards such Letters.
Post Masters must be very careful to observe this distinction when taxing letters, weighing over one-ounce, intended for the English Mails.
3.--The regulations now in force with regard to Letters to and from Soldiers and Sailors in Her Majesty's Service, by which under certain conditions such Letters pa.s.s through the Post on prepayment of a penny only, remain unaltered.
5.--Letters addressed to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, or Newfoundland, are to be rated with the uniform rate of 3d per half-ounce.
6.--Letters to and from the United States will be liable to the uniform rate of 3d per half-ounce, between the Frontier line and the place of posting or place of destination in Canada; and until further arrangements can be made, this charge on Letters from Canada to the United States must be prepaid at the time of Posting.
9.--The charge on Letters posted at an office for delivery in the same City, Town, or Place, and any additional charge made on Letters delivered at the residence of parties to whom they are addressed, are to remain as at present, until further instructions.
10.--No Franking Privilege is allowed under the New Act, except with regard to Letters and Packets on the business of the Post Office, addressed to or transmitted by the Post Master General.
13.--Stamps for the prepayment of Postage are being prepared and will be distributed for the use of the public at an early date.
T. A. STAYNER.
_Deputy Post Master General._
Shortly afterwards a Notice, or Department Order, dated April 2nd, 1851, was issued to postmasters regarding the rates of postage between Canada and the United States, California and Oregon. It is hardly necessary to reproduce this in its entirety and it will suffice to state that the rate on single letters to the United States was sixpence currency, equivalent to ten cents in United States money, while to California and Oregon the rate was nine pence currency per half-ounce. On newspapers, pamphlets, etc., the rates were the same as those for Canada itself with the stipulation that all such mail must be prepaid. Certain offices were named for handling the mail between Canada and the United States, viz: Post Sarnia, Windsor, Fort Erie, Queenston (the channel of communication with the United States for the country west of Toronto), Niagara, Toronto, Cobourg (a communication during summer only, by steamer to Rochester), Kingston, Brockville, Prescott, Montreal, St. John's, Dundee, and Stanstead.
On the 21st of April, 1851, an Order was issued from the Post Office Department referring to the issue of stamps. The most interesting paragraphs from this order are:--
Postage Stamps are about to be issued, one representing the Beaver, of the denomination of Three pence; the second representing the head of Prince Albert, of the denomination of Six pence; and the third, representing the head of Her Majesty, of the denomination of One s.h.i.+lling; which will shortly be transmitted to the Post Masters at important points, for sale.
Any Letter or Packet, with one or more Stamps affixed, equal in amount to the Postage properly chargeable thereon, may be mailed and forwarded from any office as a prepaid Letter or Packet; but if the Stamps affixed be not adequate to the proper Postage, the Post Master receiving the Letter or Packet for transmission will rate it with the amount deficient in addition. This Regulation concerning Letters short paid has reference only to Letters pa.s.sing within the Province.
Stamps so affixed are to be immediately _cancelled_ in the office in which the Letter or Packet may be deposited, with an instrument to be furnished for that purpose. In Post Offices not so furnished, the stamps must be cancelled by making a cross (X) on each with a pen. If the cancelling has been omitted on the mailing of the Letter, the Post Master delivering it will cancel the stamp in the manner directed, and immediately report the Post Master who may have been delinquent, to the Department. Bear in mind that Stamps must invariably be cancelled before mailing the Letters to which they are affixed.
It is rather interesting to note that the series comprised only three values, though the postal rates, as shown in the Notice quoted above, and further amplified in a lengthy set of ”Regulations and Instructions”