80 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
It took some time for the arguments advanced to bear fruit. At 
length, however, in 1897, a correspondence passed between the Bri- 
tish Post Office and the Postal departments of Canada and the several 
colonies, upon the question of reducing the rate from two pence half- 
penny (5 cents) to two pence (or four cents.) At a certain stage in 
this correspondence, the Postmaster-General of Canada (Mr. Mulock) 
announced the intention of his department to reduce the rate on let- 
ters from Canada to Great Britain, and to all the colonies, to the 
Canadian domestic rate, which was then three cents per ounce. Mr. 
Mulock gave his reasons why the reduction should take place, and 
proposed that it should take effect on the first of January, 1898. The 
British Post Office authorities were unwilling to assent to the proposal 
until the question of rates between the several parts of the Empire 
should be fully considered, and, in consequence, action on the part 
of Canada was postponed. 
In the summer of 1898, a conference was held in London to dis- 
cuss the matter, when the principle of penny postage for the British 
Empire was accepted, and on the 25th of the following December, 
“penny postage came into operation between the United Kingdom, In- 
dia, Canada, Newfoundland and certain Crown Colonies. 
The principle has since been generally adopted in the postal ser- 
vice of other portions of the Empire. | 
We have the authority of the Duke of Norfolk, late Postmaster- 
General of the Home Government, for stating that the establishment 
of Imperial penny postage was largely due to the progressive spirit of 
Canada. On a public occasion, when the Duke was being congratu- 
lated on the sucessful accomplishment of the movement, he frankly 
conceded “that it would be unfair if he did not at once shift the cre- 
dit from his own shoulders to those of his brother Postmaster-Gen- 
eral of Canada.” In an equally generous spirit, Mr. Henniker Hea- 
ton, by letter expresed to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian first Min- 
ister, his appreciation of the enlightened policy of the Canadian Gov- 
ernment. “To you and your colleagues,” he said, “and above all, to 
Mr. Mulock, Postmaster-General, we are indebted, not only in these his- 
toric Islands, but in every land inhabited or ruled by men who are 
free subjects of Queen Victoria, for the realization of Imperial penny 
postage.” 
