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twopenny fees and no postage, the fees all being appropriated by the Way
Office keepers and nothing finding its way to the Post Office revenue.
Indeed, the Post Office department received scarcely any revenue from
the Way Offices, and no sort of control over them was even attempted.

The House of Assembly was in the habit of establishing post routes, and
of voting increases in the salaries of existing couriers, the resulting
expense of which was to be paid by the Post Office. The action of the
Legislature was often taken on the presentation of memorials from
persons interested, or on the initiative of a member specially
interested in Post Office matters with some axe to grind. The
Legislature would vote, say, [L]10 or [L]20, for a courier to some remote
place, for which the number of letters was negligible--perhaps a dozen
in a year, perhaps two a week and a few newspapers. The resolution of
the House would then be forwarded to the Postmaster-General, who by
virtue of his delegated authority established the route, the cost over
and above the amount voted by the House being drawn from Post Office
funds. The whole system was permeated with jobbery, and the House used
to become more than usually active in these matters as the elections
approached. In Cape Breton, in 1841, the expenses of the couriers
amounted to some [L]604, and the revenue, after deducting the commission
of the three postmasters in the island, was some [L]308--the explanation
being that the member for the island was one of the leaders in Post
Office matters in the Legislature.

Internal correspondence was at this time literally nonexistent, many of
the couriers conveying only newspapers (which in general went free), and
fee letters (that is, letters charged only with the Way Office keeper's
fee, and no postage). Except in five towns (Halifax, Yarmouth, and
Picton in Nova Scotia; and St. John and Fredericton in New Brunswick)
there was no provision for the delivery of letters except at the post
office window. In those towns, delivery was made in the first instance
at the post office, but all letters which were not called for within a
short time after the arrival of the mail, were sent out for delivery
throughout the town by letter carrier. An additional charge of 1d. per
letter was made by the carrier, and retained by him as his remuneration.
In some cases 1d. was charged also for the delivery of newspapers; in
others this penny was charged only where t