In Canada the same end was reached but with more deliberation. The rate charged at the close of the old regime—one-halfpenny per sheet—was continued until 1854. In that year this rate was reduced on general newspapers, and was abolished altogether on periodicals devoted exclusively to the furtherance of the special objects of agriculture, education, science and temperance. The postmaster general calculated that this measure would reduce the revenue by $32,000. In the year following, the final step was taken, and the charges on provincial newspapers circulating within the British North American colonies were removed altogether.
The money order system was established in Canada in 1855, on the plan of that in operation in the United Kingdom. The amount which might be sent by a single order was limited to $40, and there was a uniform charge of twenty-five cents for each order. In 1857, the amount transmissible by single order was raised to $400, but after a short experience, it was reduced to $100, and the charges were fixed at one-half of one per cent. for the smaller amounts, and at three-quarters of one per cent. for amounts above $30.
On the 1st of June, 1857, a money order exchange was established between Canada and the United Kingdom, the limit of a single order being fixed at $20. This was an accommodation which had been called for for a number of years.
The colonial secretary, as early as 1852, wrote to the postmaster general of England, pointing out the large increasing emigration to the colonies, and the desire of persons prospering there to assist their relatives to follow them. He estimated that over £1,000,000 was sent yearly through the agency of private firms for this purpose. This the colonial secretary declared to be worthy of encouragement, and he asked the postmaster general to consider the question of extending to the colonies the system of money orders which had proved so successful in Great Britain. This appeal produced no immediate result.
In 1855, a registration system was introduced. Long previous to this time, there had been a practice of entering money letters on letter bills accompanying the mails, but as receipts were not given to those posting such letters, nor taken from those to whom they were delivered, the practice was defective as a measure of safety. Under the regulation of 1855 receipts were given and taken, the charge being two cents.
The greatest advantage the post office was enabled to extend to the public during this period was due to the opening of railway lines. For some years progress in this respect was tardy. The first line built ran from Laprairie, opposite Montreal to St. John's. It was constructed in 1836, and its purpose was to improve the communications between the Canadian metropolis and the cities of New England and of the state of New York.
No further steps were taken in this direction until 1847, when another link was laid in the connections between Montreal and the eastern states by the building of a line between Montreal and Lachine. These two short lines, with one opened the same year between Montreal and St. Hyacinthe, were all the railway lines in operation in Canada until 1851.
During this and the following year, additional lines were laid, but their object was still the same, to improve the facilities for transportation between Montreal and the cities of the United States. The line from Montreal to St. Johns was extended to Rouse's Point, New York, on lake Champlain, and that to St. Hyacinthe was carried on to Sherbrooke and the international boundary, where it joined with the Atlantic and St. Lawrence railway (an American line), and opened a connection by railway between Montreal and the Atlantic seaboard at Portland. This city became the winter port of the Canadian steamship line, the operations of which began in the winter of 1853.
Until 1853, no part of what could be described as the Canadian railway system had been built. The lines then under operation were all for the purpose of bringing Montreal within the benefits of the American system. But this year—1853—three extensive schemes of communication were begun: the Grand Trunk Company started building the line running from Quebec to the western limits of the province at Sarnia; the Great Western Company built a line across the Niagara peninsula from the Niagara river to Detroit river; and the Northern Company, a line from Toronto northward to Georgian Bay at Collingwood. These lines brought the advantages of railway communication to every rising settlement in Upper and Lower Canada.
As construction progressed the new lines were utilized by the post office department until the completion, in October 1856, of the Grand Trunk from Brockville and Toronto brought Quebec into direct communication by means of the Great Western railway with Windsor at the western end of the province.