The difficulties Finlay found in maintaining correspondence between Canada and Great Britain by way of the New York packets have been related. The Nova Scotia post office had no less difficulty. There were few British vessels running between Halifax and the ports of the United States, and consequently the delays to the correspondence were often intolerable. The complaints of the officials and of the merchants in Halifax were incessant.
A memorial was presented to the government in 1785 by the merchants of Halifax, pointing out the great injury to their trade from the faulty arrangements. Lieutenant governor Parr, in forwarding the memorial, expressed his entire concurrence in its terms, and added that the mails which left England by the November packet did not reach Halifax until the 11th of April following.
But fortunately Canada was now adding an insistent voice in support of the demand of the Maritime provinces. Before peace was declared, the governors of Canada and Nova Scotia were canvassing the possibilities of facilitating communication between their provinces. Despatch couriers passed between Quebec, fort Howe and Halifax, and efforts were made to overcome the obstacles to travel, particularly on the portage between the St. Lawrence and lake Temiscouata.
The results had not been specially encouraging, but the determination of the Americans to exact the last farthing that could be got out of the exchanges between Canada and Great Britain, which passed over their territory, and their unwillingness to assist in expediting the exchanges in any way, compelled the Canadian government to keep before it the question of the connections by way of Halifax.
In 1785 the legislative council of Quebec discussed the question. Finlay, who besides being deputy postmaster general, was a member of the legislative council, impressed on his colleagues the necessity of liberating Canada from its dependence on the United States in its correspondence with the mother country. The refusal of the postmaster general of the United States to allow Canadian couriers to travel to New York, although there was no regular exchange between New York and any United States post office on the road to Canada, led to delays and exorbitant charges, which were unendurable.
Finlay urged as a first step that Canada should make a passable road as far as the New Brunswick border, believing that the home government would see that the governments of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia would provide the facilities for travel within those provinces. Dorchester, the governor general, who had taken much interest in the question, sent Finlay in 1787 to make a survey of a route from Quebec to Halifax, and to arrange for couriers to pass monthly between the two places. The British government gave its approval to his efforts to establish a connection between the British provinces, and on its part, arranged that, commencing in March 1788, the packets which ran between Falmouth and New York should call at Halifax during the eight months from March to November of each year.[226]
The call of the packets at Halifax, and the exchange of the mails between Great Britain and Canada at that port marked the commencement of the inland services in the Maritime provinces. Post offices were opened at the important points on the route between Halifax and Quebec.
The couriers passed through Fredericton and St. John in New Brunswick, and Digby, Annapolis, Horton (now Wolfville) and Windsor in Nova Scotia.[227] St. John post office was opened in 1784, the office of postmaster and king's printer being combined. The courier between St. John and Fredericton travelled over his route fortnightly, and a service of the same frequency was maintained on the route in Nova Scotia.
In order that the post office should have the advantage of conveying the military despatches between the posts on the route, the expresses which had been employed in this duty were suppressed, much to the distaste of the military authorities, who would henceforward have to pay the very high postal charges on their letters.
These charges were prohibitive for all but very urgent letters. A letter consisting of a single sheet cost twelve cents to carry it from St. John to Fredericton if it weighed less than an ounce. If it weighed over an ounce the charge was quadrupled. The following are the rates charged by the postmaster at Halifax to the several post offices in Nova Scotia: to Windsor fourpence; to Horton sevenpence, and to Annapolis and Digby ninepence.