The committee believed, therefore, that the deputy postmaster general was fully justified in the charges he made, but they were much in favour of having newspapers transmitted free. In accordance with this idea, the committee suggested that the assembly should take on itself the charges due for the conveyance of newspapers. They found that there were seventeen hundred newspapers of local origin distributed by post each week, and three hundred British or foreign newspapers. The assembly did not act on this suggestion. Though the deputy postmaster general was fortunate enough to have the support of the legislature in his contention with the publishers, his position was by no means free from criticism. Indeed, there were certain features in his case, which were peculiarly exasperating to the publishers. Howe was not only deputy postmaster general, but was king's printer, and had in his hands the whole of the provincial printing. He was also interested either directly or through his family in most of the newspapers published in Nova Scotia. _The Nova Scotian_, _The Journal_, _The Acadian_ and _The Royal Gazette_, were all controlled by the Howe family, and it appeared in the examination that all these newspapers were distributed by the post office free of postage. There were two other newspapers published in Halifax--_The Acadian Recorder_ and _The Free Press_--and the publishers felt, not unnaturally, that in being compelled to pay two shillings and sixpence for each copy transmitted by post, while their rivals had the benefit of distribution by the post office free of charge, they were being subjected to an unjust and injurious discrimination. The publishers of _The Recorder_ and of _The Free Press_ presented a petition to the king, asking that they, also, might be relieved from the burden of paying postage on their newspapers.[240] Just as their claim appeared to be, it had no support from the authorities in the colony. The lieutenant governor in sending the petition to the colonial office, took occasion to speak of the high character of Howe and of his father, the preceding deputy postmaster general, and to express his opinion that the small fee collected on newspapers could not be regarded as an extravagant compensation for the trouble the deputy postmaster general had in the matter. The case of the publishers came before the postmaster general in 1834. Freeling, the secretary, then reminded him that there was no urgency in the matter, as they were engaged at the time in adjusting the relations between the colonial governments and the post office, and if the provincial legislatures accepted the settlement proposed by the home government, the question of newspaper postage would be satisfactorily disposed of.