As the chief objection to the Nova Scotia bill for the regulation of the post office was that it would give the government of that province control over the posts to the provinces in the interior, the delegates lost no time in disclaiming any desire to exercise control over any but their own inland service. They were willing that the great through lines should remain within the jurisdiction of the postmaster general of Great Britain, and that the provincial authority should be confined to the management of the side or cross posts. This proposed dual control was, of course, obviously impracticable, as the whole provincial service, with its main lines and cross lines, was so blended together, that any attempt to treat them as under two different administrations could not fail to lead to unfortunate results. The mission of the delegates was, however, far from fruitless. The fact that the legislature had without complaint paid out considerable sums each year for the maintenance of the service, appeared to the British government to entitle Nova Scotia to liberal treatment, as these payments would not have been demanded if the post office had understood the matter. The treasury, therefore, decided that so long as the revenue from the inland post office was sufficient to meet the expenditure for the inland communications, no demand for that purpose should be made upon the provincial funds. Should, however, the legislature deem it advisable to add to the lines of communication, the treasury would rely upon the legislature to defray the expenses of such additional communications, so far as these were not covered by the augmented postage receipts. There was no more than justice in this decision, but the concessions of the treasury did not stop at this point. It also intimated its willingness to allow all the packet or ocean postage collected in the colonies to remain at the disposal of the local government, whenever the imperial act of 1834 should come into operation. The British government did not desire to force the imperial act upon the colonies, if, as appeared to be the case, there were valid objections to it. It was prepared to consider any amendments which might be proposed to meet those objections. The packet postage, it should be explained, belonged entirely to the British government which provided and paid all the expenses of the packet service, so that the offer to allow the local governments to retain for their own use the packet postage they collected, was a real concession. FOOTNOTES: [225] _C. O. Rec._ (_Can. Arch._), N.S., A. 103, p. 134. [226] See p. 86. [227] _Quebec Gazette_, December 13, 1787. [228] _Winslow Papers_, 1776-1826 (printed under the auspices of the New Brunswick Historical Society, 1901). [229] Heriot to Howe, August 30, 1812 (_Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.). [230] Howe to Freeling, June 20, 1816 (_Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, III.). [231] _Can. Arch._, Br. P.O. Transcripts, April 4, III.