Tilley to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

The Postmaster General having had before him your letter of the
26th of September last, enclosing a Minute of the Acting
Colonial Secretary of British Columbia, transmitted by the
Governor of that Colony, I am desired to state for the
information of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, with
reference to the first of the three questions dealt with in the
Minute, that, whereas the arrangement under which the Colonial
Government undertook to pay a monthly subsidy of $1,000 for the
conveyance between San Francisco and Victoria of the Mails to
and from the United Kingdom took effect on the 1st June last,
the arrangement for collecting and retaining the whole postage
upon letters so despatched to, and charging nothing on letters
received from, the United Kingdom took effect on the 17th of
January last; and that it is not stated what was paid for the
sea-conveyance between the two dates.

In order, therefore, that the accounts between the Mother
Country and the Colony, may be adjusted, I am to request that
the Governor may be called upon to supply this information.

The arrangement proposed by this Department, and agreed to by
the Colony was, as the Minute states, that the Mother Country
should pay half the cost of conveying the English Mails between
San Francisco and Victoria. But, on the other hand, the Colony
was to repay to the Mother Country half the cost of conveying
those Mails across the Atlantic and through the United States.

The adjustment of these several charges will be made by the
Receiver and Accountant General of this Department on the
receipt of the information required.

I am, at the same time, to request that it may be pointed out to
the Government of British Columbia that it was not intended that
the prepayment of postage upon ordinary letters sent to the
United Kingdom should be made compulsory, and that all letters
not prepaid should be detained. Such a course might occasion
much inconvenience to the Public; and the Postmaster General
considers that it will be better to send all letters whether
paid, unpaid, or insufficiently paid. As the same rule will be
followed in this country the arrangement will be in no way
opposed to the agreement that each office shall retain the
postage which it collects.

With regard to the second point adverted to in the Minute,
vizt: the exchange of correspondence between British Columbia
and the United States—the existing arrangement is that the Mails
are conveyed at the expense of the Colony; but a postage of 10
cents (5d) is levied upon each single letter by the United
States Post Office, that Office, however, paying no part of the
cost of sea conveyance. Upon this point the Acting Colonial
Secretary is of opinion that each Office should retain the
postage which it collects, but it appears to the Duke of
Montrose that, to make the arrangement just, each Office should
contribute a fair proportion towards the cost of conveyance;
and, as the Colonial Government is desirous that this Department
should endeavour to obtain better terms for the Colony with the
United States Post Office, His Grace will at once place himself
in communication with the Postmaster General of the United
States and suggest a more equitable arrangement.

Thirdly, the Colonial Government is anxious to exchange closed
Mails with Canada through the United States, and thus to reduce
the charge to which the correspondence to and from Canada is at
present subject.

There is no provision in the Convention between the British and
United States Post Offices for an exchange of Mails between two
British Colonies through the United States Territory; but, as
the Canadian Post Office has a separate postal agreement with
the United States, it is not improbable that, in that agreement,
there may be a provision of this nature; and, as a first step,
enquiry will be made upon this point of the Postmaster General
of Canada.