The Registration fee, or charge, has, therefore, under the influence of this consideration, been maintained at 2 cents, though it is doubtful whether such a rate of charge covers the actual cost of the process; the address of the Registered Letter having, in the course of transmission, to be entered on an average not less than six times, and forms of certificate or receipt, and Books in which to preserve permanent records at each Post Office, to to supplied.
From the above it is evident that the domestic rate of registration was 2 cents in 1860, the equivalent of the 1 penny rate already noted as being in force in 1857, and doubtless the original rate when the system was inaugurated in 1855—certainly a remarkably cheap fee for the service. Of course the rate for letters to the United States, which had been fixed at 3 pence in 1856, was held at the equivalent of 5 cents upon the change to decimal currency in 1859.
Nothing further of special interest is found until the Report of 1864, in which the following dissertation occurs:—
When a letter is registered, that is to say marked and recorded in the Post Office so as to individualize it from the bulk of ordinary letter correspondence, its presence in the Post Office can be identified
and its course of transmission traced, and a registered letter is thus secured from the chance of abstraction by an unfaithful messenger employed to post it (as it is always open to proof whether the letter was posted for registration or not), from risk of loss by accidental misdirection on the part of the sender, and from mistakes in the Post Office—such as mis-sending or delivery to a wrong party. Against actual dishonesty on the part of the Post Office employés, a registered letter is incomparably more secure than an unregistered one, for an unregistered money-letter leaves no trace behind it whilst passing in the great stream of ordinary correspondence, though its presence as a money-letter and the nature of its contents are, to any person accustomed to handle letters, as manifest as though the letter had been singled out and marked by the registered stamp. Moreover, the safety of an unregistered letter in dependent on the integrity of a Post Office Clerk during the whole time that it remains in his custody, frequently for hours or even days; whilst a registered letter will almost invariably have to be acknowledged at the moment of its passing into an officer's hands, and cannot thereafter be suppressed without leaving him individually accountable for its disposal.
In the Report for 1865 it is stated that "there has been a reduction in the charge on Registered letters" between Canada and the United Kingdom, but we are left in the dark as to the amount of the reduction or the new rate, as far as the Report goes, but in a Post Office Directory for 1866 (dated October 1, 1865) we find the following table which gives us the information desired:—
REGISTRATION OF LETTERS.
The charge for Registration, in addition to the Postage, is as follows, viz.:
| On Letters to any other place in Canada, or British North America | 2 | cents |
| On Letters for the United States | 5 | " |
| On Letters for the United Kingdom | 12½ | " |
| On Letters for British Colonies or Possessions, sent via England | 25 | " |
| On Letters for France and other Foreign Countries, via England, an amount equal to the postage rate. |
Both the postage charge and registration fee must in all cases be prepaid.