William Mulock (Minister of Labour; Postmaster General)
Liberal
Sir WILLIAM MULOCK.
The old post office department paid out nothing whatever for carrying it on. Any mail service they maintained was carried on without expense to the department, and therefore there could be no item in their accounts in respect to the Atlin and Yukon services. There were no post offices there and no people to speak of only a few scattered people. After the discovery of gold and the rush to the Yukon a short time after this government came into office, then for the first time it became necessary for the government to establish a service there. That service is a losing service, and to all appearances will so continue for many years to come. It was not deemed reasonable for purposes of comparison that that extra service should be included in the general account of the revenue and expenditure of the department, but for the purpose of comparing the results of the service throughout all Canada, as served under the old and the present administration, it was thought best that there should be a separate account kept for the financial results of the Atlin and Yukon services.