MAILS, 1763-1861

by Alison Ann Heckbert Make way for Her Majesty's mail.

n 9 January 1792, Major Robert From almost the first moment of their ished . . . . The day after the Major's O Gray, secretary to Lieutenant departure to the hour of their arrival at arrival, the Assistance, having first Governor Edmund Fanning, setoutfrom Murray harbour, they were incessantly been cut out of the ice, sailed with him Charlottetown with several companions, assailed either by tempestuous winds, for London. heading overland to Murray Harbour on dreadful torrents of rain, or heavy falls pressing business. He hoped to rendez- of snow, which not only rendered their Whatprompted Gray's arduous journey? vous with the ship Assistance lying at journey inconceivably difficult, but He was carrying the mails: in this case, anchor in Murray Harbour and sail with threatened them with immediate de- government dispatches bound for the her to London. The harbour at Char- struction, being obliged to encamp in colonial authorities in London. lottetown was already frozen fast, and the woods, without wigwam or other Such trials of strength and endurance the aptly named Assistance was until shelter from the inclemency of the as Gray's journey were not unique. spring Gray's last chance of a trans- At- weather, and sometimes passing frozen Indeed, they were typical of early mail lantic passage from the young colony. swamps that gave way almost every service on Prince Edward Island. The His party's ordeal was chronicled a few step, in which they frequently sunk so story of that service graphically illus- days later in Charlottetown's Royal Ga- deep as to require each other's assis- trates several factors that helped to de- zette and Miscellany: tance to get out, it is miraculous, that fine the developing colony: its slow in so perilous a situation, no one per- growth, its winter isolation, and the of-

22 ten precarious nature of its physical links with the outside world.

Chain Mail For the British colony of St. John's (later Prince Edward) Island, postal communi- cation with Great Britain and the neigh- bouring colonies was essential. Not only did it permit the essential exchange of -g~f "\ $ government correspondence, but it provided colonists with a flow of newspa- 's?T

23 brought back the bag he carried from waiting to be sent to London, but all and Callbeck, canoe trips to Nova Scotia hence on Wednesday. The mistake was shipping had been curtailed by the ice in the dead of winter were rare in the not discovered until the bag reached the conditions. In explaining to the Secre- early years. Mail-less winters were the Post Office.... The packet was imme- tary of State for the Colonies the delay in norm rather than the exception, and by diatelydispatched back toPictouforthe forwarding the dispatches, Patterson spring the thirst for news of the outside right bag. Yesterday she again re- advised, "I am endeavouring t o persuade world was consuming. Imagine, then, turned without it, as the Pictou Post- some Man, to attempt a passage in a the disappointment recorded in the Royal master had served the good folks of small Canooe [sic] to Nova Scotia, and I Gazette and Miscellany on 11 April 1792: Halifax precisely as he had done our- hope I shall succeed if the Weather selves, by returning them their own proves favourable." A fine new whale boat with Govern- bag. Apparently, this venture from Wbod ment Dispatches on board... was, on Islands to Pictou was successful, and Sunday morning last, dispatched by his Precisely the same thing had happened Walter Patterson is now credited with Excellency for the continent; but unable the previous summer. Despite such initiating the first winter mail crossing to to approach nearer than within a league problems, the mail packet provided a Nova Scotia. The crossing by canoe was of the land, owing to the shore being en- vast improvement in the postal service. successfully repeated in 1777 under the compassed with ice, she returned here Before long, its comings and goings had direction of Attorney General Phillips yesterday. become a routine part of Island life. Callbeck during the absence of the gov- By this unexpected circumstance, the ernor. Crossings with the mails contin- public... probably will be deprived of ued from these points for the next 50 intelligence for some weeks longer. The Winter Crossing years. When Major Gray carried the winter Matters improved but little with the Winter posed a far greater challenge to mail in January 1792, he was fortunate to century's turning. In a letter dated 1 the primitive postal system. When a sail direct to England from Murray March 1807, Lieutenant Governor J. F. trackless wilderness, deep in snow, Harbour; his ordeal was over once he W. DesBarres provides us with a thumb- separated the Island's settlements, and was safely on board the Assistance. But nail sketch of the winter mail system: treacherous ice flows cut the colony off it was more usual for any winter mail fromtheoutsideworld, carrying themails from Prince Edward Island to be routed Nearly five months have elapsed since became a perilous venture calling for through Halifax, and Patterson's courier a line from England had reached the Is- extraordinary measures. In the early followed what became for many years land; judge then how comfortable any decades of settlement, attempts to get the standard route. Island mail carriers intelligence from these will be to us. In mail in or out of the colony during winter trekked to Wood Islands, then under- this view chiefly, the Indians, who, with were uncommon, undertaken only in took the most dangerous part of the my public despatches, carry this, are emergency situations. journey, across the shifting ice to Pictou, lured to proceed in an ice-boat to the In 1775,an early freeze-up caught Gov- and from there travelled overland to Nova Scotia shore and thence to Hal- ernor Walter Patterson by surprise. He Halifax. ifax, where they are to deliver the bag of had important government dispatches Despite the experiments of Patterson letters to Mr. Charles Hall, merchant, there, who will put the letters in a course of being forwarded to their address. Mr. Hall is requested by the postmaster of this place, at my instance, to collect all the letters and packets, directed for this Island, for which pur- pose the Indians will be kept waiting during four or five days at Halifax, by whom such bag of letters, as may be made up, will be brought thither.

By the following decade, couriers were being sent t o pick up the mail in winter as a matter of course, and not just at times of dire necessity. While these crossings j were made in something more sea-wor- W ; • /*•-•• thy than a canoe, they remained strenu- ous and dangerous undertakings. One such crossing was described in the Weekly Recorder for 8 January 1811:

This Messenger who had been sent to This rather fanciful engraving, which appeared in Harper's Weekly on 6 April 1867, Halifax for the Mails arrived in town is one of the earliest depictions on record of an ice-boat crossing. The boats are on Sunday last after an absence of up- inaccurately drawn but the illustration does capture the danger and difficulty of winter wards of six weeks. The hardships this communication. man has undergone in his return to this

24 to carry the mail to Amherst where it was forwarded to Halifax. This system was still in operation at mid- century; As- sembly debates for 1856 record a re- quest for payment from the postmaster at Amherst for his "extra care and at- tention in receiving and dispatching the semi-weekly mail" between Nova Sco- tia and Prince Ed- ward Island. The shorter "Capes" route did not eliminate the dangers of a winter crossing. In March 1831, a mail courier, his assistant, and a passenger were caught in a vio- lent snow storm while crossing to the Island. A "Fortunately, Mr. Smith and another gentleman with the Mails were saved, but the wave carried off their oars, leaving their horse was drowned before it could be extricated from the cariole." ice boat to drift helplessly through the night. About 10 o'clock the following Island, from Pictou, have been difficult Prince Edward Island Register for 31 morning they were sighted off Egmont in the extreme. Few seasons have been March 1825 shows: Bay and rescued "almost dead with cold known more severe at their setting in and two of them frost bitten." than the present, in which this man has On Tuesday morning, Mr. Smith left Concern for the safety of couriers, been several times exposed in thegulph town with the mails, but in attempting mail, and passengers eventually led to in an open boat, encountering every to cross the Hillsborough, the ice gave the passage of an act in 1834 "for the hazard that snow storms and fields of way about mid-channel. Fortunately, better conveyance of the mails in the floating ice could oppose to him, yet he Mr. Smith and another gentleman a winter season." The legislation provided has by perseverance, and the aid of di- passenger with the Mails were saved, specifications for ice boats (which must vine providence performed his duty to but the horse was drowned before it be at least 16 feet long), established the public, and is again restored to his could be extricated from the cariole. regulations forpassengers (no more than desponding family. four, with a maximum baggage of 20 The end of the decade brought a funda- pounds each), outlined the number of By 1816, a regular mail run had been mental change in the winter mail cross- crossings expected from the courier and established between Halifax and Pictou, ings. On a tour of inspection in 1827, what payment would be made. It also so that Island couriers needed only to Lieutenant Governor John Ready de- suggested that a compass should be part travel as far as Pictou to deliver and cided that a winter crossing between of ice-boat equipment. retrieve mail. Cape Traverse and Cape Tormentine, Passage of the 1834 legislation put the Little is known about the intrepid mail New Brunswick, was a shorter and, winter mail system on a solid footing, if couriers of these early decades. Local hence, safer passage than the Wood Is- not a completely safe one. Much has Micmac Indians, now anonymous, were lands-Pictou route. The first trial of the been written about the ice-boat cross- employed by Lieutenant Governor new route was made in December 1827 ings: the struggles and mishaps, the DesBarres. In the early 1820s, Peter (by either a Mr. McRae or a team of Neil boats and the courageous men who Smith was the mail carrier, travelling by Campbell and Donald Mclnnis — ac-, operated them. It is not necessary to packet in the open season and by ice- counts differ). The shorter route was repeat what has already been recorded, boat in winter. He received £5 per pas- preferred, and by 1829 all mails were only t o emphasize that carrying the mails sage for the packet trip, £15 for the more being carried by "the Capes" in winter. in winter was a hazardous but necessary arduous winter crossing. It was hard On the New Brunswick side, a runner journey. As Alexander Monro reflected earned money, as this account from the was employed by the Island government in 1855, "From the position of the island,

25 and the severity of the climate, there will postmaster, "the fees [being] unequal to for British North America, who was always be an uncertainty and some diffi- the expense." In 1812, both lawyer John technically responsible for the Island culty in keeping a regular postal commu- Lobban and Lieutenant Governor postal service. nication between it and the continent." DesBarres's son, James Luttrel DesBar- After Governor DesBarres's recall, There was a measure of truth in res, are identified as postmaster in sepa- Administrator William Townshend re- Monro's observation; nevertheless, the rate documents, presenting something stored Chappell to his post in November sometimes perilous ice-boat crossings of a puzzle for modern researchers. Nor 1812, ending the merry-go-round of served their purpose. Together with the were any of the appointments made or appointments. Thereafter, the Chappells mail packet that operated during the confirmed by the Postmaster General did dominate the postmaster's job. On navigation season, they provided a chain of communication between Prince Edward Island and the outside world. Meanwhile, the pace of change within the colony was prompting developments in internal postal communications.

Playing Post Office Although Charlottetown had no post- master until 1800, this is not to say that no one had been responsible for the mail. In 1787, Lieutenant Governor Fanning appointed printer James Robertson to look after his dispatches and such other mail as turned up. On Robertson's departure in 1789, another printer, William Rind, was given the appointment He probably handled the mail from his printing office. John Ross Oisted elsewhere as Clerk of the Coun- :,7 cil) succeeded him about 1798. Ross received official recognition on 23 July 1800 when he was appointed "Deputy C.B. Chappell's familiar sketch of the Chappells' post office. The drawing probably dates Post Master" by George Heriot, the newly from the late 19th century, but the building was still standing in the early 1930s. The fish- appointed Postmaster General of the shaped wooden weather vane seems to have gotten out of hand in Chappell's sketch. From Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Benjamin Bremner, An Island Scrapbook (Charlottetown, 1932) Brunswick and their dependencies. Ross died on 2 May 1802. The follow- ing day, 63-year-old Benjamin Chappell, craftsman, Methodist lay preacher, and diarist, was named deputy postmaster on an acting basis, an appointment con- firmed by Heriot the following October. Chappell, not Ross, is now remembered as the Island's first postmaster. The office of postmaster is usually said to have remained in the Chappell family for the next 40 years. In fact, this was not so. The position was a very small plum in a colony full of office-seekers, but a plum nonetheless, and it changed hands several times during the decade following Chappell's appointment. Al- though information about the appoint- ments is sketchy and sometimes con- flicting, it appears that Chappell was replaced in 1807 by James Chalmers. By 1809 Chalmers had given way to the flamboyant John Frederick Holland, a local politician and multiple office-holder. The dispatch listing him in that office Postal scale belonging to Charlottetown printer James D. Haszard. notes that Holland received no salary as

26 Benjamin Chappell's death in 1825, carry the mail to Princetown. The serv- Richard Chappell, his son, became post- ice was discontinued in 1818 after a master. When h e died in 1835, his daugh- House of Assembly committee appointed ter Elizabeth succeeded to the position, to consider the public accounts reported and when illness incapacitated her in that "the advantages arising therefrom April 1841, her husband, John Williams, was trifling in comparison with the briefly took over. Finally, in November Expenses incurred." 1842, Thomas Owen, Sr. was appointed A change of heart was, perhaps, inevi- -<-:] deputy postmaster. table. As the colony's population in- The post office was initially situated in creased, spreading into previously unin- Benjamin Chappell's own home on the habited regions, and new roads were northwest corner of Prince and Water constructed, internal mail distribution Streets. Chappell had another building became necessary and, for the first time, constructed on the rear of this property, possible. In his speech from the throne Seal used by facing King Street, and apparently moved at the 1827 session of the Legislature, ^£fiS& Thomas Owen Sr. the post office into it around 1812. When Lieutenant Governor John Ready re- between 1845 and Thomas Owen took over the position, he marked, 'The establishment of an In- 1852 as "Deputy moved the post office to a location under land Post cannot fail to be of essential Postmaster- the Customs Office (possibly Mr. Peake's benefit, as affording the means of a ^ ^ General" of building on Water Street, possibly on speedy and safe communication with %\ Prince Edward Queen Square). Evidently, there was our more distant population, and of ••) Island. some feeling against Owen's decision. conveying to them a knowledge of the In 1843, the Assembly (sitting as a Laws and proceedings of the Govern- committee of the whole) declared that ment, which, while it contributes to the "the Post Master of Charlottetown should security of the people, serves also to The mails for each route were to leave reside in the building in which the Post guard them against the effects of mis- Charlottetown on Wednesdays at 12 Office is kept, for the purpose of afford- representation and misconception." Six o'clock noon with the southeastern and ing security to the mails while in his weeks later, the Assembly asked Ready western carriers returning to town by charge, and also in cases of emergency to iitiate a mail service within the colony. Friday at noon and the eastern carrier at to provide access to the office at all The House suggested that the mail be noon on Saturday. Two-pence postage hours."* The recommendation seems carried once a week in summer and once was charged on each single letter and a not t o have been acted upon. In 1851, the a fortnight in winter along three routes. halfpenny on newspapers. legislature would reverse its stand, en- On 17 July 1827, the Prince Edward Is- On this basis, tenders were called for acting that the post office be moved into land Register carried Postmaster Richard carrying the mails. Richard Bagnall, the old courthouse. Chappell's announcement, establishing whose tender for the western route was the exact routes, along with the areas accepted, advertised that he intended, they were to serve and the locations of "should sufficient encouragement offer, The Inland Mails the various post offices: to establish a stage wagon between Charlottetown and Prince Town as soon It was not until 1827, 50 years after the Western Route: For the south side of as the new line of road and bridge are first winter mail crossing, that the Island New London, to Richard Bagnall's on completed. Fare - 10s." government addressed the question of the Prince Town Road; for the west side In July 1828 there was another call for providing mail service within the colony. of New London, Cascumpec, Tignish tenders, and the following August Before that date, the internal postal serv- andMalpeque to Mr. Fowle, at George changes were made to the summer ice was quite straightforward: all mail Bearisto's, Prince Town, for St. schedule for each route. Henceforth, the came to Charlottetown, and anyone Eleanor's, Miscough [sic] and West carriers were to travel weekly, with the expecting a letter came there to get it, Point to John Townshend's Traveller's western and eastern mails leaving each alerted by word of mouth or by the local Rest; for the Bedeque (south side), Wednesday at noon and returning at newspapers, which published from time William Baker's; for Cape Traverse, Friday noon and Saturday noon respec- to time lists of letters waiting t o be picked Crapaud and Tryon River, James tively. The carrier for Vernon River and up. Bulpitt's Tryon. Three Rivers was to leave Monday There had been at least one exception Eastern Route: For the head of morning at 9 o'clock and return Tuesday to this method. For a brief period in Hillsboro River and Tracadie to Mr. evening. 1817, a modified system of internal mail Lodge's; for St. Peter's, Morell and Sav- As the colony continued to grow, the distribution was attempted, when John age Harbour to James Burke's, near St. internal postal service grew with it. Post Stowe was hired to carry the mail to Peter's Mill; for Naufrage, East Point, offices opened and closed as routes Three Rivers and Richard Bagnall to etc. to Alexander MacDonald's, St. Mar- changed and settlement spread. How- garet's, Lot 44; for Bay Fortune, Rollo ever, the number of post offices increased Bay, Souris, and Grand River to Mr. steadily from 10 (not including Char- *The same committee recommended that the Aitken's, Bay Fortune. lottetown) in 1827 to 27 at the beginning post master extend his hours of attendance at the of 1841. By the beginning of 1855, there post office, "at least from 8 o'clock in the forenoon South-eastern Route: For Vernon to 7 in the evening." River to J. R. Bourke's;forThree Rivers were upwards of 48 post offices in the to John Norton's. colony.

27 Routes and delivery times also were to be made up changed over time, sometimes causing every Tuesday dissatisfaction. A government decision morning at 9:30, as to cany the mails on Sunday inspired would the mails for this item from the Royal Gazette for 24 the western inland July 1832: route. The eastern route was to be James Kelly, Lot 48, begs leave to re- made up every turn his sincere thanks to the inhabi- Wednesday at 10 tants of Three Rivers and those on the a.m., with the mails way leading thereto for their kindness for Georgetown, and hospitality to his son during the Belfast, and Murray <*P 4 1P two years he has carried the Mail to Harbour to leave v *•....* W .«*^<»T»*»**H« HU-W,.""- -\ and from Georgetown. And now, since every Saturday the mail is ordered to return from thence morning at half past on Sunday, he can carry it no longer, nine. for reasons already assigned at the The Warrant proper quarter. Being convinced that Book for 1843 rec- Nineteenth century postal scale. many of the inhabitants will feel indis- ords the names of posed to take passage, or send packages the Island's mail carriers and their wages strapped. Inside the coach and sleigh or parcels on that day, he has to an- for 13 trips each. Thomas Crabb, who there was room for six or eight passen- nounce that, in compliance with their carried the western mails, including gers. Attached to the conveyance there wishes, he has commenced running a Sunday branch trips, received £39.5.6; were easily two and sometimes three or Gig, which leaves the Ferry on Wednes- Patrick Feehan earned £16.7.6 on the four horses. The driver carried from his day morning at 10 o'clock and Three eastern route; and Samuel Lane received shoulder strap a tin trumpet which he Rivers on Thursday morning at 8, and £19.10.0 for his run to Georgetown, in- blew frequently to warn ordinary trav- will continue to do so for the summer if cluding Sunday branch trips. ellers to get out of the way of Her he receives sufficient encouragement. Majesty's mails.

The fate of Kelly's venture into the mail By Steam and By Stage Sleigh and stagecoach were not the only service is not recorded. means of carrying the inland mails. In In December 1842 Deputy Postmas- By mid-century, carrying the mails was May 1854, an Act "to encourage steam ter Thomas Owen announced further becoming an increasingly sophisticated communication between Charlottetown adjustments in the mails. Henceforth, proposition, and the sight of the mail and certain parts of the Hillsborough the mails for England and Nova Scotia coach rumbling down Island roads had and Elliot rivers" provided for the con- become a common veyance of mail by river steamer. sight. A newspaper Steam was also facilitating postal com- HP H E STEAM-BOAT article based on an munication with the mainland. In 1832, x address by W. L. the Island government passed an act POCAHONTAS will regulating "the conveyance of the mails teave Pictou every Wcdnei- Cotton gives a won- v derful description of by a steam vessel." Accordingly, the d *yf at 6 o'clock, A. M. and steamer Pocahontas was engaged to arrjive at Charlotte-Town, at 1 o'clock, J\ M. travel on the mail stage: make two crossings a week between name day: will return with the Prince Edward Charlottetown and Pictou in return for Island Mail }o Pictou on Thursday, and leave I came to Charlotte- an annual subsidy of £300. She made her again on Friday, at 6 o'clock, A. M. With the town in the month first crossing with mail and passengers Mills for Charlotte-Town; which place she will of February 1853. on 11 May 1832. The act was allowed to leave for Pictou, on Sa urday, at 6 o'clock, A. M. The means of con- expire in 1836, but by the early 1840s The.Rates! of Passage and Freight are as fol- veyance to and from there was a weekly steamship service lows:— j the City to which oc- between Pictou, Charlottetown, and Kor Cabin Passengers •• 12s. each casional passengers Miramichi, with calls at Bedeque and Steerage Passengers • 6s. do. usually resorted Georgetown once a week. Freight of i puncheon, otlier was then the mail The service was expensive and met packages in proportion 5s. stage coach in sum- with difficulties at either end of the navi- 1 Horse, 2ds.; Hon e and Carriage 80s. mer and the mail gation season. Nevertheless, the Assem- Cattle, per head • •« • 15s. stage sleigh in win- bly continued to pursue the idea, and in Sheep.• J* ^ ••lD.6d.each. ter. In the rear end 1852, £200 was awarded Hammat Nor- Parcels to be lift at the Office, 6n Mr. Smiths of both coach and ton of Pictou "provided he will run a Wharf, Pictoa, and paid for when entered. For sleigh there was steamer between Quebec and Pictou Passage at Charlotte-Town, apply to M S .Des- attached a sort of calling at Charlottetown, Shediac and briaay, or Capt. pavidson, on hoard. | hurdle to which Miramichi, coming and going, once a the mail bags and fortnight in accordance with his peti- From the Royal Gazette, 10 July 1832. other baggage were tion." By 1855, Alexander Monro could

28 report that for at least six months of the Palmer's fee was £1.2.0 per trip for tak- year the mails were carried by steam- ing the mail from St. Eleanor's to Cas- boat twice a week to and from the Island cumpec, Tignish, and points west, and by way of Pictou. bringing the return mails to Bedeque b y way of Summerside. The external postal service had Stamp Acts also expanded, bringing the rest of the world closer than ever before In 1851, the same year that Prince — in summer, at least. In 1858, Edward Island won responsible mails for New Brunswick, Can- government, Britain surren- ada, and the United States were dered its control over the postal made up three times each week, system in British North Amer- on Monday morning, Tuesday ica. "An Act for enabling Colo- and Friday evenings. The mail nial Legislatures to establish to Nova Scotia went via Pictou inland posts" gave colonial gov- on Tuesday mornings and ernments authority over the Thursday evenings. Each "establishment, maintenance Tuesday morning the mail left and regulation of posts or post for Newfoundland, and on al- communication." Moreover, ternate Tuesdays, for England, the Island legislature could set Bermuda, and the West Indies. the rates of postage within the While Island postage rates colony and keep the revenue de- could not match the British penny rived. post, they had come down some- In turn, the House of Assembly what since 1841, when trans-Atlan- vested this new authority in the Lieu- tic postage charges in British North tenant-Governor-in-Council through America were the equivalent of two or "an Act to provide for the transfer of the three days wages for a labourer. In 1858, management of the inland posts within postage on inland letters was 2 pence; to Prince Edward Island." Briefly outlined, the British North American colonies, 3 this bill gave the government authority pence; to the United States, 6 pence, and over post offices, postmasters, rules and the United Kingdom, British West In- regulations. It established rates of post- This photograph is thought to be of dies, Bermuda, and Newfoundland, 9 age on letters and packets (exempting Postmaster General Thomas Owen, Sr. pence. newspapers, parliamentary and similar and his wife. Owen's son, Thomas Jr., By 1858, postage had become a bone papers); provided a reduced rate for succeeded him in the position. PAPEI of contention between Britain and the Is- books, periodicals, and pamphlets; and land. Postage rates were not the issue, allowed for certain exemptions for sea- but who would pay them. Though the men in Her Majesty's navy. Letters were years later, provision was made for a sec- practice had been dropped in Britain, to be the first item unloaded from a ond assistant. postage on Prince Edward Island was vessel, and compensation was available Meanwhile, newpostal routes and new still paid by the recipient, not the sender, for vessels carrying mails that were not post offices were added to the inland in 1858. In that year the Colonial Office regular post office packets. Conditions postal system. The 1858Almanac identi- began to press the Island legislature to of employment for postmasters and let- fies the postmasters of a few country adopt pre-paid postage. The Island re- ter carriers were outlined, including post offices in eastern Prince Edward sisted. Citing a report from Postmaster salaries. There was also a description of Island: L. Chasson at Rollo Bay, J. General Owen, Lieutenant Governor felonies and punishments relating t o mail McDonald at Souris, A. McVean in Lot Dominick Daly argued against prepay- tampering. Finally, provision was made 47 (East Point), and William Underhay ment, inferring that the expense would for altering or modifying the regulations at Bay Fortune. The proprietor of the discourage the comparatively poor Is- in order to carry out or complete ar- mail coaches on this eastern run was landers from writing to their kinsmen in rangements with the United Kingdom James Hughes. Government accounts Britain, who could better afford to pay or other colonies. for 1852 give names to some of the mail the postage on letters arriving from the The new system, which remained in carriers; they also suggest that salaries colony. effect for nine years, quickly proved suc- had risen sharply. At £1.1.0 per trip, Unswayed by the arguments of Daly cessful. As population, prosperity, and PatrickMooney earned £52.12.0thatyear and Owen, the Colonial Office continued literacy all boomed, the postal system's for taking the mails once a week from to insist on compulsory pre-payment. infrastructure was adjusted accordingly. Charlottetown to St. Peter's, Bay For- Accordingly, the necessary legislation The Prince Edward Island Almanac for tune, Souris, and East Point. Richard was enacted in 1859, only to have it fall 1854 lists "P. DesBrisay" as clerk to Tho- Bagnall, whose route led from Char- prey to politics. The appointed Legisla- mas Owen, who was now titled postmas- lottetown to St. Eleanor's via New Glas- tive Council, which was dominated by ter general. In 1855, Owen was given an gow, Cavendish, New London, Park Reformers, defeated the postalbill passed assistant at an annual salary of £250, but Corner, and Princetown, received by the Tory majority in the elected House even this proved insufficient, and two £76.1.0, or £1.9.6 per trip. George of Assembly. In rejecting the act, the

29 Council claimed, "the necessity of pre- a northern climate payment of a letter, would, in all proba- had posed physical bility, put an end to all correspondence problems for the between the poorer inhabitants of the postal service, even Island, and their relatives and friends...." as being an infant Charlottetown and Georgetown The Address from the Throne opening colony posed finan- the 1860 session of the Island legislature cial ones. But the MAIL STfAGE. rpiIK SUBSCRIBERS ftEG TO I N F O R M T H E TitA- noted that pre-payment of letters was frustrations that 1 YELLING P U B L I C that having taking the contract for standard in the rest of British North these caused were lH« conveyance of Her Ma je s t ' s Muils between CHARLOTTE- America "and is productive of much metfor the most part TOWS; & GEORGETOWN, they will carry PASSENGERS convenience; I therefore feel assured by action and ex- thrnojh with despatch, leaving Cliafflnttetnwn every TUESDA Y you will give the matter your considera- perimentation. The & FRIDAY Morning* at half-p-i-j^ine a.m., and Georgetown postal system clear- *'*ry WEDNESDAY & S A T U R D A Y Mornings at half-pa*! tion, with the view of complying with the nine a.m. , wishes of Her Majesty's Government, ly kept pace with the HORSES 6i VEHICLES on hire at Southport, Vernon River, that it be adopted in this Colony." The development of the *nd Georgetown, on the- ino*t reasonable term*. thinly veiled order was obeyed, and an colony. By 1861, t y PARSELS 6i, ORDERS punctually attended to. amendment was passed t o the 1851 postal Prince Edward Is- JOHN ADAMS, J R . . land had reached co- EDWARD CHANDLER. act, rendering "compulsory the prepay- oKricEi ; ment of postage" on letters leaving the lonial maturity; by CHARLOTTETOWN. — Victoria Hotel and Gloho Hotel. Island for the United Kingdom. By 1862, 1861, so had its GEORGETOWN.—Opt. John McDonald's, & D.Gordon, Esq. the principle of pre-payment had been posts. Sou r H PORT. — Edward Chandler's. extended to include the inland mails and October 10th, 1857. All papers 4w __ the rest of British North America (ex- *SJ"O"TIITE^TTIETSTTBSC RIBER TAKES~TIlisj cept Newfoundland). Sources opportunity of returning his sincere thank* to thei TRAVELLING PUBLIC, for tne very liberal patronage1 The legislation of 1860 also stipulated he has received since his commencement in Pusines* at that, "Stamps, with their value printed This article began as the HALF-WAY HOTEL, VERNON RlVElt, and trusts by on them, were to be sold and used as a term paper for osing hii best endeavour* to accomirtodnte Travellers, at moderate postage." The first postage stamps were Father F.W. P. Bol- charges, to merit a continuance of public patronage. issued on 1 January 1861 in denomina- ger's Island history j y Liquors, Wines, Ale and Porter, of the bestMcsciij tion, course atthe Univer- wholesale and retail. - ; tions of 2, 3, and 6 pence. Oct. 9. 1857. JOHN ADAMS. sity of Prince Ed- ward Island. The From the Charlottetown Islander, 9 October 1857. Postscript sources for this re- construction of early postal history are Edward Island (Halifax, 1855); Benjamin The issuance of postage stamps and the diverse and sometimes conflicting. The Bremner's An Island Scrapbook (Char- advent of pre-payment of postage marked more important sources include refer- lottetown, 1932); and various Prince another watershed in the development ences in the newspapers of the period Edward Island Almanacs. A number of of the Island postal system. In terms of (most of them noted in the text); specific specific collections in the Public Archives carrying the mails, the period from the bills contained in the collected acts of of Prince Edward Island contain sugges- establishment of Prince Edward Island the Island legislature; the Assembly/

tA

Two-, three-, and six-penny stamps were issued by the Island government in 1862.

30