ut, if their lives
depended on it, they could not state who is the Prime Minister of Great
Britain to-day. I give that as an indication of the great advance the
people of Canada have made in intelligence; and the thorough knowledge
which the mass of the people here have in respect of the political
issues, and all other questions of that kind, as well as general
information, rests largely on the fact that newspapers have so largely
increased in circulation until they now reach almost every individual in
the country."--Sir Charles Tupper, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_),
13th May 1898.

[322] In Great Britain the figures are in very different proportion.
While the letters are 3,500,000,000, the newspapers are only some
200,000,000. The circumstances of the two countries are in such contrast
that the figures afford no basis for argument as regards the relative
postage rates: but they illustrate very effectively a fundamental
difference in the general character of the two postal services. In Great
Britain the number of separate newspaper mails is extremely small
proportionately to the number of letter mails. In Canada the proportions
are almost reversed. The postmen on delivery in Great Britain carry
their letters and packets in a light canvas bag, and the number of
newspapers taken out by any one postman is quite small (the proportion
is about one newspaper to twenty-five packets of other description). In
Canada the letter-carriers are weighted with newspapers, carried either
strapped in a bundle or stuck in a satchel which is full to overflowing.
In effect, the general practical arrangements in Canada must be made
largely with a view to the handling of vast quantities of newspapers,
while in Great Britain the arrangements are in general based on letter
traffic, and, except at the largest offices, the arrangements for
newspapers are incidental. Letters, however, receive first consideration
in Canada, and the discrimination in their favour against the newspaper
matter, in point of promptness of handling, is carried to much greater
lengths than in Great Britain.

[323] Cf. _supra_, p. 57.

[324] "I trust that after the reimposition of postage on newspapers has
been fairly in working order, we shall then have the Post Office a
self-sustaining department."--Sir William Mulock, Postmaster-General,
_Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 1st April 1898.

[325] Sir William Mulock, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 1st Apr