No special provision for the transmission of newspapers had been made in the Act of 1765 which first prescribed rates of postage for the Canadian territories. Consequently, if sent in the mails, they were, in strictness, liable to postage at the ordinary rates for letters and packets. Those rates would generally have amounted to at least a shilling a copy, and would therefore have prevented altogether the distribution of newspapers by post. Postage was in practice waived, newspapers being allowed to pass by post on payment of a small charge quarterly to the Deputy Postmaster-General, who retained the proceeds as a perquisite of his office. The amount was at first a mere trifle; but in later days it formed the greater part of his emoluments. The precise date at which this arrangement was established is uncertain. It certainly existed in Nova Scotia in 1770, and probably commenced on the first publication of a newspaper in Canada.[310] The rates charged were low, and were varied from time to time at the will of the Deputy Postmaster-General. The following, which were charged in Canada in 1840, may, however, be regarded as typical:—
| For a | weekly | paper | 1s. 0d. | currency | a quarter |
| " | bi-weekly | " | 1s. 3d. | " | " |
| " | tri-weekly | " | 1s. 6d. | " | " |
| " | daily | " | 2s. 3d. | " | " |
In the Maritime Provinces the rates were somewhat lower, the charge for a weekly paper being only 2s. 6d. a year.
These amounts were payable by the proprietor of the paper, and were accepted only in respect of papers sent regularly.
Papers mailed casually by persons other than publishers, and denominated "transients," were charged 1d. currency each. The publishers thought even these moderate charges objectionable, and the feeling against them was increased when it became known that they rested on no legal authority, but solely on the custom of the office and the sanction of Sir Francis Freeling; and that the proceeds, instead of being accounted for as part of the general Post Office revenue, were appropriated by the Deputy Postmaster-General. They were also objected to as arbitrary and inequitable, since papers were charged the same rate whether they were conveyed 20 miles or 200 miles. As letters were at that time charged on a scale of rates graduated according to distance, the application of the principle of uniformity to the newspapers was naturally not appreciated; and in view of the heavy charges incurred for transportation it could not have been justified on economic grounds.
The resentment against the charge first took definite form in the Lower Provinces. In 1830 a Mr. Ward, a publisher, petitioned the Nova Scotian House of Assembly to be relieved from the charges on his newspapers. A Committee of the House, which considered the matter, found that under the Imperial Acts it was no part of the duty of the Deputy Postmaster-General to receive or transmit newspapers, other than those received from Great Britain, and that the Deputy was therefore justified in making the charge complained of. They found also that sixty years earlier the Deputy made a yearly charge of 2s. 6d. on each newspaper sent by post, and that at that time all editors acquiesced in the charge. At the same time the Committee regarded the charge as so undesirable that they recommended the House should grant a sum to remunerate the Deputy for his services in transmitting newspapers, in order that the charges might be abolished.
The Deputy Postmaster-General in the Lower Provinces was himself a publisher, and it was alleged that he was interested directly or indirectly in every newspaper published in Nova Scotia, with the exception of two, with the result that, while all the newspapers in which he was interested passed free of postage, the two outsiders were made to pay. The Deputy Postmaster-General himself seemed to think
the arrangement was best kept in the background. When questioned by the House of Assembly, he adopted a reticent attitude and made equivocating statements. He gave particulars purporting to show the amounts paid as postage in respect of certain newspapers controlled by him, and on further interrogation by the House of Assembly admitted that the journals paid no postage.
Meanwhile, publishers in both Lower and Upper Canada also were working for the abolition of the Deputy Postmaster-General's privilege. In December 1830 a publisher of Montreal, Mr. R. Armour, approached Sir Francis Freeling, declaring that the subject might eventually involve a question of high constitutional importance, viz. "to what extent the Post Office of Great Britain is authorized by law to regulate the internal Post Office establishments of the Colony, and to draw a Revenue therefrom." He received no satisfaction from Sir Francis Freeling, who replied that the charges were "the long established and authorized perquisite of the Officer in question (the Deputy Postmaster-General) and that all Newspapers circulated by post in British North America otherwise than under his privilege are liable by Law to the charge of the full rates of Postage."
Mr. Armour then petitioned the local Legislature, and towards the end of the year a Committee of the House of Assembly was appointed to consider the whole question of the management of the Post Office in the province of Lower Canada. The Committee found it impossible to obtain any useful information concerning the finances of the service from the Deputy Postmaster-General, Mr. T. A. Stayner, whose attitude was a source of much irritation, resulting in great intensity of feeling both against the privilege of the Deputy and the administration of the service from London.