A large and steady increase continued to take place yearly in the business and revenue of the post office. In 1838 there were 380 post offices, and 5486 miles of established post route. The annual transportation of the mail was 1,345,000 miles; the estimated number of letters carried, 1,000,000; the estimated number of newspapers, 1,250,000; and the gross revenue, $146,000. The following extract from the Quebec <i>Mercury</i>, published on the 18th July, 1829, conveys some idea of the postal communication with England at that period:-- "No later advices have been received from Europe since our last. Some further extracts from the London papers, to 31st May inclusive, brought to New York by the 'Corinthian,' will be found in another part of this number." The following extract from the Montreal <i>Courant</i>, of September 2, 1829, describes the improvement which had at that date been effected in the postal communication between that city and Prescott:-- "Expeditious Travelling.--On Saturday last the Upper Canada line of stages performed the journey from Prescott to this city in about 17 hours, leaving the former place at a little before 3 A.M., and arriving here a few minutes before 8 in the evening. Not many years ago this journey occupied two and sometimes three days, but owing to the great improvements made by Mr. Dickinson, the enterprising proprietor, by putting steam boats on the Lakes St. Francis and St. Louis, and keeping his horses in excellent condition, it is now performed in little more than one-third of the time." The following advertisement, which appeared in the year 1833 in the <i>Colonial Advocate</i>, published at Queenston by the late Mr. W. L. Mackenzie, will give some idea of the postal facilities in the Upper Province at that period:-- "POST RIDER WANTED IMMEDIATELY. "The proprietor of this newspaper wishes to contract with a steady man (who can find and uphold his own horse), to deliver it to the subscribers once a week during the winter, on the route between York and Niagara <i>via</i> Ancaster." Regular steam communication was established across the Atlantic in the year 1841, and about that time the rate of postage on letters between any part of Canada and any part of the United Kingdom was, on the recommendation of Mr. Stayner, reduced to a uniform charge of 1s. 2d. sterling, per half ounce. Thus, it is believed, was first recognized the principle of a uniform rate of postage--irrespective of distance--which has since been so universally adopted. In 1848 there were 539 post offices and 6895 miles of post route; the annual transportation of the mail was 2,225,000 miles; the estimated number of letters carried in a year 2,000,000; and the gross revenue $260,000.