Half
a century ago, Benjamin Dunnett was Hamilton’s only letter carrier and he
covered the entire city. Now it takes a small army of carriers to do the work.
Probably in no department of the public service has greater advancement been
made then in the carrying and distribution of mails. A letter weighing one
ounce can be sent from Hamilton to the most distant parts of Canada or the
United States for two cents; and even at that low price the public is
dissatisfied and wants the government to cut it in two and carry the letters
for one cent. Don’t you remember, old boy, when it cost nine pence in Halifax
currency – equivalent to about eighteen cents – to carry a half ounce letter
from Hamilton to London, a distance of less than ninety miles? There were no
envelopes in use in those days, the letter being folded up into a sealing wax.
Men who could afford the luxury wore a seal on their watch guard or ribbon fob,
with a heraldic device on it, with which to seal their letters. There were not
many letters written in those days except on important business affairs, as it
was too costly for one to keep up a special correspondence. The tons of letters and other mail matter that
is now dispatched every twenty-four hours from Hamilton alone almost causes one
to wonder where it all goes to, and to whom it is sent. There is no branch of
the public service that is more carefully and honestly managed than is the
postal department. Millions of dollars are sent through the mails, and it is a
rare thing to hear of a letter being rifled of its contents or any valuables
being lost. No matter how great the temptation to the one handling the letter
or package, yet the sacredness of the gummed envelope or even the string that
ties the package is the safeguard that insures its safe delivery at the end of
the route. To make assurance doubly sure, however, some wise officials in the
postal service evolved the idea of the registry system, that insures the
carrying of letters or valuable packages with almost perfect security, for
which only a small fee of five cents is charged. And the money order system is
another method of security. For three cents one can send $5 to any part of
Canada or the United States, and larger amounts up to $200 paying a larger fee.
The government not only carries your letters, newspapers, books and small
parcels at a mere nominal cost, but it will also carry packages weighing as
high as eleven pounds at the rate of one cent an ounce for the first pound and
twelve a pound for the balance. More than this, the government has opened a
savings bank and pays three per cent interest on deposits, guaranteeing to the
depositor absolute security from loss.
And yet there are kickers who think
the postal service is not up-to-date. The government has given within the past
half century cheap postage, rapid transit of mails, prompt delivery by carriers
three or four times a day, a perfect and cheap system for the transmission of
money and valuable parcels, and yet the kickers want more. Now they want the
government to buy up the telegraph and telephone lines, so that they can get
all this service at little cost; indeed some have the idea that the government
should be a nursing mother and supply them with even a slice of the moon.
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But we started out to tell of the days
when Benjamin Dunnett was Hamilton’s only mail carrier, and here we have
wandered off into the field of what a paternal government has done for its
great Canadian family. Back in 1843, Hamilton had no real necessity for letter
carriers; as every family managed to send at least once a day to the post
office to enquire if there were any letters for them; not that they expected
any, for there were not many letters written in those days because of the high
postage.
Charley Howard was the first penny
postman in Hamilton, and he was appointed in 1843. The job was no sinecure for
many a day he did not make 50 cents, as he was only paid for letters delivered,
and the people could either authorize Charley to fetch their mail or go after
it themselves. In 1846, Howard was promoted to clerkship in the post office,
where he served till 1875, when he retired on a pension, dying a few years
later. Benjamin Lily succeeded Howard as the penny postman, and he held the job
for about eight years. Benjamin Dunnett settled upon the idea that to be a
postman would not be such a bad occupation even if there was not much money in
it, so he got the appointment from Edmund Ritchie, who was then postmaster. The
government had not then admitted packages as part of the mail service. Mr.
Dunnett worked up his route among a class of people who now and then received a
letter, and who would rather pay a penny to have it delivered at their home
than make frequent trips to the post office. He started out on his route early
in the morning and travelled till late in the evening, and so punctual was he
in making his rounds, that he was as correct in time as a clock. There was not
a fortune in the business, for some days his receipts would not be over sixty
cents, but he kept faithfully at it for more than twenty years. As the city’s
population increased, his route grew larger, and early in the ‘60’s, he divided
it with his son, E. H. Dunnett, who is now an employee in the post office. No
more faithful man ever discharged the duty of postman, and when the government
in 1875 appointed regular carriers on salary, the people who had for so many
years been accustomed to Mr. Dunnett’s rat-tat on the door knocker felt that
something was being dropped out of their daily lives. He always had a cheerful
word for everybody. Even in his most palmy days, the faithful postman’s income
rarely reached the salary now paid by the government, but he was happy as a
king; and even though he might be wearied and footsore after tramping over the
city for ten or twelve hours of the day, yet when evening came and there was a
prayer meeting or a choir meeting in the old First Methodist church, on the
corner of King and Wellington streets, Benjamin Dunnett was to be found in his
place. He was an active worker in the church, and for many years led the choir
or was a member of it. Tom White was the organist, and the two Misses Scott –
now Mrs. Joseph Walton and Mrs. Richard Butler – were the leading soprano and
the alto, and Mr. Dunnett sang tenor. In those days there were no paid singers
in the first church, nor did Tom White charge for his playing, but the music
was fine and the singers did not wobble their voices as though afflicted with
ague. Benjamin Dunnett died in the year 1878, at the age of 55, the last
volunteer letter carrier in Hamilton. Death came to him suddenly. He was
returning home with a party from a meeting in the country, and all were
singing, when he was stricken with heart disease.
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Till the year 1853, the postal service
of Canada was under the administration of the service in Great Britain. In that
year, it was transferred over to the Canadian government. The first post office
in Hamilton of which we have any record was in a frame building that stood near
the corner of King and John streets – about where Waugh’s store is. From there
it was moved to James street, between the Sun Life building and the Masonic
block, where it occupied a frame building that looked very disreputable even in
those days of Arcadian simplicity in Hamilton. The authorities were ashamed of
the building, and sometime in the early 1850s, the office was moved into the
room at the corner of James and Rebecca streets, and there it continued till
the government built a handsome stone building on the lot now owned by the Sun
Life. Henry A. Eager was the second clerk appointed after the Canadian
government assumed control, his commission dating Jan. 1, 1854, and he now
ranks as the oldest postal employee in the service, having served for nearly
half a century. Don’t think from this that Mr. Eager is an old man, for he has
only turned the threescore and ten mile post, and if there is anyone waiting
for his official shoes on account of his years in the service, they may just as
well hunt for another job. Officeholders rarely die, and they never resign. Mr.
Eager is credited with being one of the best postal men in Canada, and he is as
bright and active as when he began a low-priced clerk to work his way up to
being the assistant postmaster. He has seen all the changes in the postal service
from the time the sending of letters by poor people was almost prohibiting,
because of the high rate of postage, down to the present when one can send a
letter for 2 cents to almost any country in the world. Mr. Eager learned the
printing business in the Canadian office in Hamilton, and when he left the case
and the old hand press, he entered the government service.
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On the 17th of May, 1875,
the present letter carrier system was put in operation in this city, eight men
being employed. Now there are 44 carriers, and they make from three to four
deliveries a day. The wages of the carriers range from $1.50 to $2.25 a day.
From their pay is deducted 5 per cent to provide a retiring allowance when they
leave the service, the amount they pay in and 4 per cent interest being all
they receive. Prior to 1893, the employees of the postal service were paid a
pension during life when superannuated; now they only get a retiring allowance,
and the money belongs to themselves because it is held out of their pay. Those
now in service, and who were appointed prior to 1893, are entitled to a pension
when superannuated. There are now connected with the Hamilton post office 83
clerks and letter carriers and all except 14 were in the service prior to 1893.
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In 1862, it only required ten men,
counting postmaster, assistant and clerks, to attend to the mail service in
Hamilton; now it takes 83, and every one of them earns the salary he receives.
There is no loafing in a post office as everything must be done on time, and
from Postmaster Brown down to the men who load and unload the sacks from the
mail wagons, each has a duty to perform that must be attended to without delay.
From the time he enters the building in the morning till the moment he leaves
in the afternoon, Mr. Brown is here and there and everywhere, seeing that each
department is on time. He is one of the most affable of men, and always can
spare a moment to answer questions connected with the postal service. As Mr.
Brown is a perfect encyclopedia of the history of Hamilton, it takes quite a
bit of his time to answer letters of inquiry sent to him as postmaster. Mr. Brown
was appointed in 1891, and has made a study of the requirements of the service
in every branch.
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About the only change in the post
office work from what it was fifty years ago ids the dating of letters and canceling
the stamps on all mail matter. Till a few years ago, this work had to be done
by hand, and in an office that handles as much mail as here in Hamilton, it
would require the services of no less than half a dozen quick men to do the
canceling. It has also been required of late years for the postal officials to
stamp the date and hour on the back of each letter received by mail so that the
party intended can tell whether or not there has been any delay in the delivery.
The old, slow method would not work nowadays. A few years ago, an ingenious
Yankee post office clerk conceived the idea of a machine that would do this
canceling and dating, and the result is to be seen in Hamilton, where an electric
machine is at work that will date and cancel the stamp on 100 pieces of mail in
one minute. A woman can attend to the machine, and do more work in an hour than
a half dozen men with the old hand dater and canceler.
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