* * * * * The Report of June 30, 1882 states that newspapers and periodicals published in Canada (under certain conditions as to form and manner of posting) are transmitted free by Post within the Dominion when posted from the office of publication to regular subscribers, from 1st June, 1882. This must have been due to a Department Order, as the Statutes of Canada reveal no such enactment at this time. The same Report announces the issue of reply post cards, but those will be dealt with later. Statistics make up most of the Reports until that of 1886, when an item of interest in connection with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway is found: "The first through train left Montreal on Monday the 28th June, 1885, and arrived at Port Moody, the Pacific terminus of the road on the 4th July. Mails for British Columbia commenced to pass over the Canadian Pacific Railway by this first train." This marked the independence of Canada from the United States in the matter of transcontinental transportation of mails. The distance from Montreal to Port Moody is given as 2892 miles. In connection with this event the following note may be of interest:[114]-- Up to the time the Canadian Pacific Railway was built, nearly all letters from the Northwest bore United States stamps. The Northwest mounted police took their mail to Bismarck, Dak., and others were sent to Fargo, from whence they were sent around to Detroit and thence into Canada. The pony express was used in the Canadian Northwest, but no system, no stamps and probably no stipulated charges were made to get a letter to the frontier of the United States. [114] =Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News=, II: 32: 2. The Report of 1887 says that:-- Provision has been made for the transmission by mail between all places in Canada, from 1st February, 1888, of small articles of ordinary goods and manufactures in packages, open to inspection, on payment of a postage charge of 1 cent per oz. Also a new convention with the United States Post Office providing that from the 1st March, 1888, the same class of matter will be admitted to pass between Canada and the United States, subject to Customs inspection. The Report of 1888 announces the extension of free delivery by letter carriers to Victoria, B. C. Since the list of free delivery offices given on page 133, there are to be added as well:-- London, Ontario 24th April, 1876. Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1st April, 1882. Kingston, Ontario, 1st July, 1882. The Report of 1889 states that "the Post Office Act of 1889 increased the limit of weight of a single rate letter from 1/2 ounce to 1 ounce. The rate on drop letters at the same time was fixed at 2 cents per ounce." The Act[115] referred to was an amendment to the Post Office Act, (assented to on the 2nd May, 1889), and the notice of the changes issued to the public was as follows:-- NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC.