e posts were again set up, and
Finlay was appointed Deputy Postmaster-General of Canada, Nova Scotia,
and New Brunswick. The mails for Canada were still sent by way of New
York, as before the war, but for military reasons it was important that
a mail route should be established from Halifax, the military
headquarters, to run altogether within British territory. In 1787 a
fortnightly post (monthly in winter) was accordingly established between
Quebec and Halifax.[107] The mail went by River du Loup, near the Grand
Portage, where the courier from Quebec handed over his mail to the
courier from Fredericton; by the Madawaska to the Grand Falls; thence by
boat to Fredericton. A fresh courier went by boat from Fredericton to
the mouth of the St. John's River. Here the mail was transferred to a
sloop of about 34 tons burthen for conveyance across the Bay of Fundy to
Digby, whence the route lay by Annapolis. The total distance from Quebec
to Halifax was 633 miles, and the time required for the trip varied from
twenty-one to thirty-one days.

A mail route from Montreal into Upper Canada was also established, but
this was rather a military post, intended to serve the military stations
and frontier settlements. The mail was despatched only once a year and
was, in consequence, known as the "yearly express." The route followed
was by the St. Lawrence from Montreal to Matilda, Augusta, and Kingston;
across Lake Ontario to Niagara; thence to Detroit Fort, at the base of
Lake St. Clair, and across Lake Huron to Michilimackinac, at the head of
Lakes Huron and Michigan. After continuing some six years this post was
curtailed and went no farther than Niagara.[108]

In 1800 Finlay was succeeded in the deputy ship by John Heriot. The
population had now increased to 450,000, but there were only twenty post
offices in the whole of the five provinces. Heriot's patent gave him
authority to establish new routes and offices, but, in accordance with
the general policy, only when in his opinion their establishment would
be likely to benefit revenue. The rates at this time were, of course,
nominally based on the Act of the 5th George III, but as the routes had
never been properly measured, the distances on which the rates were
actually based were largely a matter of conjecture. The posts were
said, however, to have paid their way and even to have yielded a surplus
revenue, which was transmitted to England.[109]

The administration of the posts res