Some Idea Of The Progress Made From 1760 To 1851, A Period Of
Ninety Years, May Be Obtained By Contrasting The Department Under Benjamin
Franklin And That Over Which Mr. Morris Was Called To Preside.
The
courier, who made monthly journeys on horseback between the military posts
of Quebec and Montreal, and whose safe
Arrival at either of those then
distant cities would no doubt cause the utmost satisfaction to the King's
lieges, male and female, had been replaced by the steamboat and soon would
be by the railway; and the two primitive post offices of Canada had
expanded into a network of 601 local offices, transmitting among them
letters to the number of 2,132,000 annually. In 1861 these figures had
attained to 1775 offices, and the number of letters transmitted to
9,400,000; in addition to a weekly line of ocean mail steamers to Europe,
over 1200 miles of railway doing mail service from one end of Canada to
the other, and a magnificent network of telegraphic wire supplementing the
postal system. What the number of offices and of letters carried may have
been for the last year ending July 1867, when the postal systems of the
Dominion were again placed under one head, we have not at hand, but we may
state that during the official term of Hon. Mr. Langevin, now Secretary of
State, the revenue from this source attained almost $900,000.
In the year 1851, the system of cheap postage was tried in Canada, the
rate being reduced from an average one of fifteen cents to a uniform rate
of five cents for prepaid and seven cents for unpaid letters. In the
following year this reform resulted in doubling the number of letters
carried, with the reduction of only one-third of the previous revenue; and
in a short time the receipts not only increased to the former figure but
greatly exceeded it. Under the new system we expect this reform in the
charge for postage will be greatly extended." - (Quebec Mercury.)
[See page 263.]
MONUMENT OF THE VICTIMS OF 1837-'38
"L'Ordre newspaper announces the completion of the monument in the
Cote des Neiges Cemetery to the memory of the victims of 1837-38. It
required many efforts and great energy to bring to a completion a work
which had unhappily encountered many difficulties. For some months,
furnished with sums collected either by a special or general subscription,
or the proceeds of concerts and pleasure excursions, the Committee applied
themselves to the work, and on Sunday they went to take possession from
Mr. T. Fahrland, architect, and Mr. L. Hughes, the constructor of the
monument. The inauguration will take place next summer.
Situated on the highest elevation of the Cemetery, this monument commands
the vast resting place of the dead. It is of octagonal shape, 55 feet in
height, the pyramid reposing on a base of 80 by 90 feet. The architecture,
stern and grand, strikes the beholder at a distance, and his admiration
will not cease as he approaches.
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