The only other item to quote from the report of 1867 is the following:--"On 1st July, 1867 the Union Act came into operation, and brought under one central administration the Postal Service throughout the Dominion." With this statement we close the account of the Postal history of the Province of Canada, and in the next chapter open up the larger one of the Dominion of Canada, whose later issues, though not without interest, still lack the charm that time can never tear from the simple, yet dignified and beautiful stamps of the Province. CHAPTER VII THE DOMINION OF CANADA PRELIMINARY. As outlined in our Introductory Chapter, the union of Upper and Lower Canada into the single Province of Canada had been so manifestly advantageous that it started an agitation for the union of all the British North American provinces. The result was a convention, held at Quebec in 1864, which drafted a proposed Constitution that was later embodied by the British Parliament in "An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the Government thereof,"[85] which was passed on the 29th March, 1867. The preamble recites that "the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom." The Act is cited in brief as "The British North America Act 1867," and provides that the Dominion of Canada shall be divided into four provinces named Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; that there shall be a Governor General who may select his own Privy Council; that there shall be a Parliament consisting of a Senate, with members appointed by the Governor General for life, and a House of Commons of elected representatives; that the seat of Government shall be at Ottawa; that each Province shall have a Lieutenant Governor appointed by the Governor General and a local legislature similar to the Dominion Parliament; and making provision for the admission of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia and Rupert's Land and the North-western Territory. The Act took effect on the 1st July, 1867, which day is annually observed as "Dominion Day." [85] 30^o--31^o Vict. Cap. III. The first Parliament of Canada, which convened at Ottawa on November 6, 1867, was naturally largely concerned in revising and consolidating the laws of the various Provinces, and among these of course appeared the Post Office Laws. A number of changes were introduced, but many of the provisions of former Acts were embodied almost as they stood in the new statute. We reproduce its most important features in our line of inquiry. 31^o Vict. Cap. X. An Act for the regulation of the Postal Service. [_Assented to 21st. December_, 1867.] Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: