“The Colonies complained that the English Post Office took a large amount of revenue, derived from the postal service, which the Colonies were not able to lose out of the country. The English officials said that there was an annual deficit in Nova Scotia alone of £2,000 per annum. This state of things existed for years, and every annual report of the Post Office Commissioners which was laid on the table of the local Legislature was full of complaints under this head. To give a specimen from one of the reports of these Post Office Commissions, the following is extracted from their annual report for the year 1844 in Nova Scotia. After speaking in favour of a large reduction in postal rates, they say: ‘This, with the use of post stamps from dies authorized by the proper authorities, would render the transit of Letters and Papers less complicated, and give the relief required by the people.’ “To this no answer was returned till some time in 1845, when a long despatch was received from the Postmaster-General of Great Britain, Lord Lonsdale, who thus gives his Department’s views of the issue of postage stamps for Nova Scotia as follows: ‘The suggestion that postage stamps for Letters should be introduced into Nova Scotia is one which I cannot recommend your lordship (Viscount Falkland, then Governor of Nova Scotia) to entertain, as I cannot but consider that considerable objections exist to such a measure, and particularly from the facility which it would afford to the circulation of forged stamps, with but little chance of detection; while it is believed that the offence, if committed in the United Kingdom, could not be punished in the Colony, while on the other hand if committed in the Colony it could be visited with no penalty on parties in the United Kingdom.’ This will give some idea of the narrow-mindedness of the English postal administration of that time. “As a specimen of the postal accommodation of the province, see this: From Halifax to Truro, by the coach road, was a distance of eighty-three miles, and between those two points there were only two post-offices for all the people between these places. The mail couriers were not allowed to deliver mail on the way. “At last by a united effort of all the Colonies (Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and P. E. Island), the English Government turned over the postal administration to the different provincial governments. From this date (July 1st, 1851), the interesting part of the postal history of these provinces commences. “In the Post Office Department’s Letter Book the first reference to postage stamps is in the following letter: “‘HALIFAX, _April 21st, 1851_.