From His Evidence, Also, We Learn That The
Mail Communication Between Quebec And Montreal Was Not More Frequent Than
Once A Month.
For not having established intermediate post-offices between
the two towns, Franklin alleged the great distance between the settlers on
the banks of the St. Lawrence, the isolation of the Canadian villages, and
the excessive difficulty of intercommunication in his day.
The fact is,
however, that Benjamin Franklin was a great enemy to Canadian prosperity,
and always looked with aversion upon the people of the newly-acquired
colony. In 1774, war having broken out between the mother-country and the
English colonies, Franklin was deprived of his office, and Mr. Hugh
Finlay, a subordinate of the great republican philosopher, was appointed
Deputy Postmaster General for Canada. Mr. Finlay had been given great
proofs of capacity under the previous regime, and being a man of
very high character and probity, he was armed with large discretionary
powers to put the mail system of Canada on a better footing, and to make
its operations more extended and regular. Until 1790, there were added but
two intermediate post-offices between Quebec and Montreal; in the year
following, offices were opened at Three Rivers and Berthier. Every month,
however, a mail messenger was sent by way of Halifax to England. At this
date the local mail betwixt Quebec and Halifax was bi-weekly in summer,
and once a week in winter; the local mail between Quebec and Montreal had
increased to twice a week. In 1800, Mr. Hugh Finlay was succeeded in
office by Mr. George Heriot. This gentleman, being also commissioned as
Deputy Postmaster General for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as
for the two Canadas, had to oversee the service throughout all these
provinces and to visit them from time to time. In the four first years of
his administration he opened but one new post-office in Lower Canada, and
five in the Upper Province. Matters progressed slowly enough until 1816,
when Mr. David Sutherland succeeded Mr. Heriot. In 1817 be opened six
additional offices of delivery in Lower Canada which made the total number
of offices in operation thirteen. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
were placed under the management of independent offices, and in that year
the mails were still expedited but weekly to New Brunswick. In 1824, Mr.
Sutherland was succeeded by Mr. Thomas Allen Stayner, and it was in this
year that New Brunswick was endowed with an independent postal department.
Mr. Stayner administered his important office for the space of twenty-
seven years, with great zeal and giving entire satisfaction to the public.
He greatly increased the number of local offices, and inaugurated many of
the reforms which have since developed into that vast and safe system of
communication with which our people are so familiar. On the 6th of April,
1851, the Canadian Mail Department was transferred from the Imperial to
Provincial control, the first Postmaster General being the Hon. John
Morris.
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