General Instructions for the Guidance of Post Office Inspectors in the Dominion of Canada | Page 8

time to time fixed by the Postmaster General.

VI.
NEW POST OFFICES.
1. In each report on an application for a new Post Office describe the
locality in which it is proposed to establish the office, giving name of
the township, number of lot and concession stating whether front or
rear of the concession, and county in which situated. In places where
land is not so divided give such particulars as may serve to indicate the
exact position. State further the number of churches, schools, mills,
stores, houses or other buildings in the immediate neighborhood; the
character of the surrounding land, whether well settled, and the
estimated number of families that the office applied for would
accommodate; its distance from all neighboring offices; its estimated
postal revenue; the mode and frequency of the service proposed; the
estimated annual cost; whether any previous application for a Post
Office in the same locality has already been reported on, and such other
information as may bear on the matter.
2. With each report on an application for a new Post Office should be
sent a sketch or tracing (from the map of your Division) shewing as
nearly as can be ascertained the position of the proposed office and
mail route, and the offices and mail routes already in operation in its
neighborhood.

VII.
MAIL ARRANGEMENTS.
1. The principal object of all mail arrangements is to ensure the transit
of the letters and papers to destination with the utmost possible
despatch.
2. The main routes throughout the Provinces should connect with each
other as closely as it is possible.

3. The branch routes should be so arranged as to form as close a
connection as possible with the main lines.
4. Through bags should be exchanged by all offices between which
pass a large number of letters and papers, including Travelling Post
Offices on different routes.
5. When, as a general rule, an office has a large number of registered
letters for another office with which it does not exchange a direct mail,
the registered letters may be enclosed in a sealed registered packet,
addressed to the office for which the letters are intended. The address
of the packet, however, should, in all cases, be entered in the Letter Bill
with which it is despatched.
When a packet is sent as above, it should be accompanied by a Letter
Bill containing at foot an acknowledgment for registered letters. This
acknowledgment should be filled up by the receiving office and
returned to the despatching office by the first post.
6. Where large numbers of registered letters pass between two offices,
it is desirable that bags secured with the lead seal should be used.
7. An Inspector should always be on the watch to ascertain what
improvements can be made in the postal arrangements in his Division.
It should be his aim to anticipate the wants of the general public, and to
combine, as far as practicable, efficiency of service with economy of
expenditure.

VIII.
MAIL SERVICE.
1. It is very essential that a strict supervision should be maintained over
the performance of the mail service; that all delays and irregularities
should be promptly checked, and, when necessary, fines imposed and
enforced.

2. On all the important routes there should be suitable Time Bills, in
which should be entered the hours of arrival and departure at each
office, the names of the couriers, and the No. of the mails received and
delivered.
3. These Time Bills should be carefully checked and fyled away, the
check clerk affixing his initials to each bill.
4. You should be ready at all times to receive suggestions for
improvements in the Mail Service, and, if desirable, submit them for
the consideration of the Postmaster General.
5. Leather bags should, as a general rule, be used on stage routes.
On the outlying routes, where the mails are exposed to the weather,
waterproof canvass bags should be used.

IX.
ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW ROUTES OR ALTERATIONS IN
ROUTES ALREADY IN OPERATION.
1. In making reports on proposed new mail routes, or alterations of
existing routes--state clearly--
Advantages to be obtained;
Additional cost per annum to be incurred;
Present revenue of the offices to be served;
Increased revenue which it is estimated would result from proposed
additional mail facilities;
Give tables also of the present and proposed routes, showing offices
served and intermediate distances. State, also, dates on which contracts
which it is proposed to discontinue would terminate provided previous

notice were not given by the Postmaster General.
2. With each report send a sketch or tracing from the Post Office Map
of your Division, showing all the offices affected by the proposed
arrangements, denoting the lines of existing routes which it is
recommended should be discontinued in blue, and the new routes
which it