In 1842 a member of the headquarters staff of the British office (Mr. W. J. Page) was commissioned to examine and reorganize the service in the Maritime Provinces, with the object more especially of introducing such measures of reform as should bring the expenditures of the department in those provinces within the revenue. His reports throw a flood of light on the state and methods of the service.[120] He found extraordinary anomalies in the methods of charging postage, in the methods of remunerating the Deputy-Postmasters, the couriers, and the Way Office keepers, and in the relations subsisting between the Post Office and the local Legislatures. The financial arrangements of the office were in a condition which can only be described as chaotic. Postage was, of course, chargeable on the total journey of the letter. But in Nova Scotia letters were charged with a new rate at each office through which they passed, and postage became an excessive charge on all letters which passed through two or three offices. Deputy-Postmasters were paid a percentage, usually 20 per cent., on the amount of postage collected by them, but their chief remuneration in many cases arose from the right which they exercised of franking all their private and business correspondence, a consideration which they had principally, if not exclusively, in view in taking up their appointments. Many of the deputies were lawyers or other professional men. The privilege was nominally subject to the limitation of four single letters, or two double letters, or one packet of an ounce by each mail; but this limitation was very generally disregarded. To such an extent was this the case that one-half of many mails consisted of free letters.
Couriers received fixed wages, which were either paid by the Deputy Postmaster-General out of the general funds of the department, or from grants in aid, given by the Legislature specifically for the support of the respective routes. Way Office keepers received no remuneration from the department: in many instances the existence of the Way
Offices was unknown at Halifax. This was explained in great part by the manner in which such offices were usually established. A courier travelling a particular line of road received from the despatching postmaster a number of "way letters," or letters for persons living on or near his route. Partly for his own convenience, and partly for the accommodation of the persons addressed, the courier would leave packets of the letters at some house on the route, and the occupant would collect the postage on behalf of the courier. In course of time the courier induced the postmaster to make up the letters for this particular place separately, and to open a private account with the householder, who thus became an agent for the postmaster, and the house became a Way Office. The keepers of these Way Offices usually charged a fee of 2d. on each letter received or sent. The Post Office was not in any way concerned in the transactions, except that in some cases, where it was not always possible for the Way Office keeper to obtain his fee in advance, the practice grew up, with the co-operation of the Deputy-Postmaster, of charging forward the unpaid Way Office keeper's fee as unpaid forward "postage." Some of the Way Office keepers also claimed and exercised the same rights of franking as the Deputy Postmasters. Others were paid on the basis of a percentage of 20 per cent. of the postage collected; and in such cases some of the keepers still collected their fee of 2d., and some did not.
When letters were sent from one Way Office to another—as was frequently the case, since often there were several Way Offices in succession—a fresh fee was charged; and a letter might be charged four or five twopenny fees and no postage, the fees all being appropriated by the Way Office keepers and nothing finding its way to the Post Office revenue. Indeed, the Post Office department received scarcely any revenue from the Way Offices, and no sort of control over them was even attempted.
The House of Assembly was in the habit of establishing post routes, and of voting increases in the salaries of existing couriers, the resulting expense of which was to be paid by the Post Office. The action of the Legislature was often taken on the presentation of memorials from persons interested, or on the initiative of a member specially interested
in Post Office matters with some axe to grind. The Legislature would vote, say, £10 or £20, for a courier to some remote place, for which the number of letters was negligible—perhaps a dozen in a year, perhaps two a week and a few newspapers. The resolution of the House would then be forwarded to the Postmaster-General, who by virtue of his delegated authority established the route, the cost over and above the amount voted by the House being drawn from Post Office funds. The whole system was permeated with jobbery, and the House used to become more than usually active in these matters as the elections approached. In Cape Breton, in 1841, the expenses of the couriers amounted to some £604, and the revenue, after deducting the commission of the three postmasters in the island, was some £308—the explanation being that the member for the island was one of the leaders in Post Office matters in the Legislature.
Internal correspondence was at this time literally nonexistent, many of the couriers conveying only newspapers (which in general went free), and fee letters (that is, letters charged only with the Way Office keeper's fee, and no postage). Except in five towns (Halifax, Yarmouth, and Picton in Nova Scotia; and St. John and Fredericton in New Brunswick) there was no provision for the delivery of letters except at the post office window. In those towns, delivery was made in the first instance at the post office, but all letters which were not called for within a short time after the arrival of the mail, were sent out for delivery throughout the town by letter carrier. An additional charge of 1d. per letter was made by the carrier, and retained by him as his remuneration. In some cases 1d. was charged also for the delivery of newspapers; in others this penny was charged only where the receivers could be induced to pay; and in some cases newspapers were delivered free. At Halifax two letter carriers were employed, and their total weekly earnings were estimated at £4 10s., indicating 1,080 as, approximately, the weekly number of letters and newspapers received. At Fredericton a charge of 1d. was made on letters and on newspapers, but the amount was taken by the postmaster, who paid a weekly wage to the carrier. The postmaster estimated his annual receipt at about £19 10s., corresponding with a weekly
average of 90 letters and newspapers delivered in Fredericton. He paid the carrier £14 10s. per annum.
Up to 1827 there were no internal posts in Prince Edward Island. The only post office in the province was at Charlottetown. In 1827 the Legislature resolved to establish an inland service, and appointed couriers to travel weekly for the conveyance of letters. Way Office keepers were also nominated at various places. A uniform rate of 2d. for single letters, and ½d. for newspapers published in the island, was fixed for transmission within the island, and, in consideration of the whole expense being borne by the Provincial Treasury, the Deputy Postmaster-General of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick agreed to the retention by the province of the net revenue. The Way Office keepers received as their remuneration 20 per cent. on the postage collected, with the privilege of franking for transmission within the island. The province made a small grant, at first £20 per annum and later £30, in aid of the administration of the posts.
The first wish of the Home authorities was to bring the expenditure within the revenue, and after he had been in the colony some two months Mr. Page submitted a scheme which should remove the deficit in Nova Scotia, then over £1,000 a year.[121] This scheme, which was not lacking in boldness, proposed the discontinuance of no less than twenty-four couriers, and reduction of the frequency of the mail in two other cases, involving towns of some importance.