Note 118 — I THE RATE FOR LETTERS

"We have failed to discover reasonable grounds for hoping that the several Colonial Legislatures will soon (if indeed they ever will) arrive at such uniformity in their enactments for the management of the Post Office within their respective localities as would ensure the establishment of a practicable system, more especially since it is admitted that the Bill of one Legislature, in order to become effective, must correspond in all its material provisions with the Bills of all the other Legislatures, and that after these Bills have been found to correspond with one another, and had in consequence thereof become Laws, no alterations in them, however expedient it might be deemed by one Legislature for the improvement of the system, could be carried into effect, until agreed to by each separate Legislature."—Joint Address, Legislature of Upper Canada, March 1837, p. 11.

An example of the difficulties likely to be encountered, and some justification for the reluctance of the Imperial authorities to yield control of the service, is afforded by a dispute which occurred at about this time between Canada and Nova Scotia concerning the arrangements for the transmission of the British mails between Quebec and Halifax. Nova Scotia refused for the first time to make good the deficiency in the Post Office revenue. The authorities in London thereupon ordered the Deputy in the province to discontinue all unremunerative services, a course of action which proved effective.