The Sepoy Mutiny began at Meerut on the 10th May, 1857. From the 18th May, 1857, onwards telegrams and letters were received at the Director-General's headquarters in Calcutta from the postmasters at Allahabad, Benares, Umballa and other stations, reporting the stoppage of mail communication with places which had fallen into the hands of the mutineers. News was also thus given of the destruction of post offices and plunder of mails at Sitapore, Indore, Hirapore, Cawnpore, Shahazadpore, Daryabad, Saugor, Segombe, Hamirpur, Jaunpor, Azimgarh and many more places. On the 15th May, 1857, the Postmaster-General, North-Western Provinces, gave instructions to his postmasters to collect waggons and bullocks for the conveyance of troops. On the 21st May the Postmaster, Agra, reported to the Director-General that Dr. Clark, who had been specially vested with the authority of Postmaster-General in a portion of the North-Western Provinces, was safe and well at Muttra, and was trying to open mail communication. On the 26th May, 1857, the Postmaster, Benares, applied to the Director-General for authority to supply horses for conveyance of troops. Mr. H. B. Riddell, Director-General at the time, was fully alive to the situation and set a brilliant example to all ranks. He addressed the following letter to the Government of India from his camp at Sherghotty on the 30th May, 1857:—

"I have the honour to report that arrangements have been made or are in train which will, I trust, enable the Bullock Train establishment to convey daily without interruption one hundred men from Raneegunge to Benares. There will be fifty-six pairs of Bullocks at each stage between Sherghotty and Benares.

"The Bullocks procurable are of the smallest and most miserable description.... A workshop will be established at Dehree and, as the road over the sand of the Soane will be broken up in a day or two, the men of each detachment will be conveyed over in country carts, fresh waggons being ready on the other side. I shall probably have to stay to-morrow and make some arrangements at the Soane, but will, after doing so, move on to Benares and arrange for the despatch of troops from Benares to Allahabad. If the Commissariat bullocks are stationed along the line and they have any covered carts, large detachments can be sent every two or three days, but I will telegraph what can be done when I reach Benares. In the meantime Commissariat Gun bullocks should be stationed along the line."

The Director-General's efforts were ably seconded by Mr. C. K. Dove, Postmaster-General, and Mr. Garrett, Deputy Postmaster-General of Bengal, both of whom did all in their power to ensure the prompt despatch of troops up country, calling in the aid of the local magistrates to secure the best cattle and the services of the Engineering Department to facilitate the passage of carts over unbridged rivers along the Grand Trunk Road.

On the 2nd July, 1857, it was arranged to place the whole of the Bullock Train establishment north of Benares at the disposal of the military authorities. The transfer was made at the instance of General Havelock, who had just assumed command of the troops at Allahabad. He decided to use the Bullock Train entirely for the transport of stores and ammunition to the front and, when the rains had broken and the rivers became navigable, to convey troops by river steamers, a far more convenient and expeditious means than road conveyance. When it was necessary to use the roads, elephants were provided by the Commissary-General at Calcutta and by local zemindars (landholders).

On the 29th July, 1857, the Government of India published a notification authorizing the Chief Covenanted Civil or Military officer at every station throughout India where there was a post office under a Deputy Postmaster and no resident Postmaster had been specially appointed, to assume the office of Postmaster or to assign the office to some other Covenanted Civil or Military Officer at the station, reporting the arrangement in each instance for the information of the Postmaster-General of the Presidency. The Deputy Postmaster was to perform duties connected with the post office under the orders of the Postmaster so appointed. The functions of Inspecting Postmasters remained unaffected by this order, and post offices at places where there was no covenanted Civil or Military Officer were left in charge of the Deputy Postmasters. These orders were necessitated by the interruption of mail communication between many post offices and their head-quarters and the difficulty of control being exercised by Postmasters-General who were not always in a position to issue prompt instructions to their subordinates in matters of importance or emergency. At the same time no general power of censorship over correspondence was granted to officers, nor was anything done to diminish public confidence in the Government mail service.

Reports regarding the plunder of mails continued to come in from places as far removed as Kolhapur in the Southern Mahratta country and Bahraich in the United Provinces. Mails between Bengal and the United Provinces on one side and the Punjab on the other had to be diverted via Bombay, the Commissioner of Sind taking the responsibility for their safe despatch through Hyderabad (Sind). Many of the reports from postmasters referred to fresh outbreaks, and the movements of mutineers who did not hesitate to remove dak horses from relay stations on the mail routes whenever they had the chance. The information contained in these letters was duly passed on to the military authorities.

In connection with the correspondence for the army in the field, post offices were organized to accompany the movable columns under General Havelock, the Malwa Field Force and later the divisions commanded by General Outram and other distinguished leaders. During the campaign soldiers' letters were exempt from forward postage.

The large tract of country known as the North-Western Provinces and Oudh was the focus of the disturbance of 1857, and the strain put upon the postal officials in those provinces was greater than in other affected parts of the country. Most of the post offices and mail lines had to be closed at the beginning of the outbreak and were reopened one by one, as order was gradually restored by the British forces. A most interesting narrative of the interruption in the mail arrangements in the North-Western Provinces and Punjab subsequent to the outbreak at Meerut and Delhi on the 10th and 11th May, 1857, was supplied by Mr. Paton, Postmaster-General, and will be found in Appendix G.

As might be expected, the outbreak of the Mutiny caused a complete disorganization of postal communications, and the task of restoring mail lines in hostile territory was no easy one. The pay offered by the Department was not sufficient to induce men to risk their lives in isolated places, which were always open to attacks by the mutineers or by bands of armed villagers, and it is characteristic of the Indian Government at the time that they expected men to serve for salaries which were admitted to be inadequate even in times of peace. I will quote extracts from the reports of the Postmasters-General of the North-Western Provinces, Bengal and Bombay, which throw an interesting light upon the difficulties with which the Post Office had to contend in these troublous times.

Report of the Postmaster-General, North-Western Provinces, for the year ending the 31st March, 1858:

"In consequence of the rebellion, the Post Offices and lines of postal communication in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh were closed more or less, nearly throughout the year under review, and many of those in Oude and Bundelkund have not yet been reopened, owing to a portion of the above Provinces being still in the hands of the rebels, so that a report of the transactions of the present year is chiefly a narrative of the effects of the disturbances on the Post Office Department, The results shown herein cannot therefore be fairly compared with those of the previous years.

"The number of complaints of the loss and missending of letters during the year under review is comparatively greater than many of the previous years, which is chiefly owing to the frequent loss of the mails on different lines of road by rebels, their transmission by circuitous routes from the direct lines being closed or unsafe, and their irregular despatch by inexperienced hands employed in the Camp Post Offices.

"The proportion of bearing to paid or stamped letters is 0.974 to 1, which shows a progressive increase in the number of the former. This may be fairly attributed to the general habit of the natives, especially those in the army, and also among lower classes to despatch their letters bearing, more particularly at this period, when, from the constant movements of the troops from one place to another and the disturbed state of the country, they are undoubtedly liable to miscarry.

"I may also observe that a very large number of letters posted by the military and lower classes of the people are intended for places in the interior of districts, and, as the District Post establishments have not yet been fully reorganized, there is no guarantee for their punctual or safe delivery. Natives, being real economists, naturally prefer the despatch of their letters bearing, and so prevent any loss from prepayment of postage.

"The staff of the Department was much reduced by casualties during the late mutinies, and much difficulty has been experienced in procuring properly qualified persons to accept employment. A large number of offices having had to be hastily reopened, the demand for English-speaking clerks has been unprecedented, and, without raising the salaries, I could not fill up the vacancies in the Post Office.

"It is not a matter of surprise that extraordinary difficulty has been experienced in reorganizing the Post Office in such a crisis, when it is recollected that the salaries allowed to the officers of the Department are on a scale below that generally obtained in other Departments, that there are no holidays allowed them, and that leave of absence, excepting on medical certificate, is in a measure prohibited, owing to the establishment being generally on such a minimum scale as not to admit of any one being absent without providing a trained substitute.

"But notwithstanding an increase to the salaries of the officials having been generally granted to the extent that I have represented as necessary, I regret to have to record that I have not yet been able to complete the revision of all the office establishments to my satisfaction. There are still many incompetent officials in the Department, whom I am obliged to tolerate, until I meet with better qualified persons to take their places.

"As might be expected from an inexperienced or untrained establishment, working under great disadvantages, a comparatively large number of complaints of the missending and loss of letters have been received during the year under review, and, though every care has been taken to prevent mistakes, yet, from the circumstance of the direction on letters being often hastily and illegibly written, and the army, in numerous detached parties, constantly in the field, without their locality or destination being correctly known to the Post Office, the percentage of missent covers for the troops has unavoidably been great.

"I have again to remark the increase in the number of bearing letters; but considering the unsettled state of these Provinces, it is only what might be expected. I need not here repeat the reasons which induce the non-commercial class of natives to send their letters bearing postage.

"Taking into consideration the variety of languages in which native letters are generally written, and the very careless and illegible manner in which the directions and the names of addressees and senders are given, I am of opinion that the proportion disposed of at my office (being about 33 per cent on the whole number received) is satisfactory."

Report of the Postmaster-General, Bengal, for the year 1857-58:

"The mutinies which broke out in the North-Western Provinces in May, 1857, were also felt during the past year in the Bengal Presidency, and parts of the province were more or less affected by them, but, happily for Bengal, the interruptions and disorganization to her Postal Department caused by them were, by the adoption of prompt and vigorous measures, speedily restored. The Post Office Department, however, did not escape—a Deputy Postmaster and an Overseer were killed, a runner was wounded, a number of post offices, especially in Behar, were plundered, and a number of mails and mail packets were seized and destroyed by the mutinous sepoys.

"The rebellion of Koer Sing and the mutinies of the Dinapore sepoys interrupted and closed for a short time a portion of the Grand Trunk Road between Saseram and Benares, and the insurgents carried off some cattle belonging to the Department, and also burnt down some dak bungalows above Sherghotty.

"The revolt of the hill tribes on the southern line in the neighbourhood of Sumbulpore disturbed the communication with Bombay via Sumbulpore, which had been opened after the interruption of communication with Bombay by the Jubbulpore road, and the rebellion of the Ramghur Battalion disorganized the daks for a while in the South-West Frontier Agency between Chota Nagpore and Chyebassa.

"The mutinies of the Chittagong sepoys and the Segowlee insurgents caused only the destruction of some packets that fell into their hands, but passed off without any serious interruption to any mail line in Bengal."

Report of the Postmaster-General, Bombay, for the year 1857-58:

"The mutinies imperilled and interrupted almost every line in the Presidency; the foot lines were obliged to be strengthened, diverted, abandoned and reopened as circumstances required; those most severely tried were in Malwa, Rajpootana, Khandeish, Berar, the Southern Mahratta country and Guzerat, on some of which double pay and double numbers were scarcely sufficient to keep them open, and it was only by the activity, local knowledge, morale and reliance of the inspecting officers (always supported strongly by the Civil officers), whose powers were discretionally enlarged by me, that the lines were sustained.

"It is remarkable that in the midst of universal disturbance (especially in Malwa and Rajpootana), when distrust and confusion were at their height, and opportunities for plunder were frequent, and detection next to impossible, only one case occurred, or rather was brought home, in which the carriers of the mails either personally plundered or wilfully destroyed them.

"Although animosity was directed against the servants of the Post Office in common with every class of persons in Government employ, it was not especially so in this Presidency against the Post Office, unless where the collections offered temptation, as at Indore, Erinpoora, Neemuch and Mundessore, which offices were assailed and gutted.

"The knowledge that other lines of post either existed or would assuredly be established, and that no efforts would be left unemployed to effect free postal intercourse whenever required, possibly pointed to the futility of a general crusade against post runners. Nevertheless, both as a precaution against disappointment and as removing a source of temptation, banghy parcels were discontinued for four months, from July until November.

"The only lines which have been permanently closed are four branch lines in Malwa.

"That no coercion was used, and that the post was kept open (it is true by circuitous routes, but still open) all through this postal range, is strong evidence that the feeling of the country was not unfavourable to British authority; it was found that whenever a road was impracticable, it was rendered so only from fear of the acts of rebels, upon whose departure or overthrow the post line was again opened.

"Exempt as the post carriers have been from concurrence in the general insurrection, the conduct of the other descriptions of postal servants has been not less good, with the exception of those attached to the Indore post office. There the temptation of plunder excited an overseer and peon, and the people of the workshop, to join in plundering the post office and premises, and one kitmutgar (table servant), a Mussulman at Samwere, near Oojein, hounded on some miscreants to murder an European serjeant from Mahidpore, who took refuge in it, for which he was subsequently hanged, and the others transported.

"In the higher grades, the conduct of the postal officers has been very exemplary; no instance has occurred in which a postmaster either deserted his post, or has been suspected of having made use of his position to give information, to open letters, or to favour in any way the rebel cause.

"Ten travellers' bungalows and seven post offices have been burned down, and ten evacuated, of which three only have remained closed. This does not represent the extent of injury done, or loss occasioned, the destruction of stamps, and in other ways by the carrying away of mail carts, destruction of property, and loss in postage collection, and compensation to people in postal employ for good behaviour, or for personal suffering."

The success of the postal arrangements during the Mutiny is largely due to the organization and example of Mr. Riddell, the Director-General, who attended to all important matters personally. He was assisted by the loyal devotion of the entire staff, and the men whose names may be mentioned for special services are Mr. Dove, officiating Postmaster-General, Bengal; Mr. Bennett, Mr. Wallace and Mr. McGowan, of the Bengal establishment; Lala Salig Ram in the North-Western Provinces; Dr. Clark and Mr. H. A. Brown in Agra; Captain Fanshawe and Babu Eshan Chander Mookerjee in Aligarh; Mr. Taylor in the Deccan and Babu Sheo Pershad in Delhi. Where so many did well it seems invidious to mention only a few names, and the President in Council, when thanking the Director-General for the work done by the Post Office during the crisis, expressed the high opinion which the Government entertained of the services rendered by all the officers of the Department, European and Indian, in circumstances of the greatest difficulty.

Enough has been written to show the nature of the help given to the Indian Empire by the staff of the Post Office during the Mutiny. It is a record of loyalty and devotion to duty of which the Department may well be proud.

CHAPTER XVII
THE INDIAN FIELD POST OFFICE

In a country where there is seldom perfect peace it is only natural that the Post Office must accustom itself to war conditions, and the Field Postal Service has been a feature of the Indian Post Office for more than sixty years. During that period there have been over forty wars and expeditions, extending from Burma to the Mediterranean, and, as postal arrangements were required for the forces engaged, the Field Post Office system in India has been gradually developed and perfected, and is now recognized as an important part of the military organization of the country.

Field Post Office arrangements used to be in the hands of the Postmaster-General of the Punjab, and he maintained lists of men willing to serve. In 1918, however, owing to the wide distribution of the postal staff in various parts of the world, it was found necessary to bring the Field Post organization under the immediate control of the Director-General. When an expedition is announced, the forces of the Post Office are immediately mobilized according to the strength of the field army, and, as the staff required for a brigade and division has been settled by long experience, no time is lost in getting the necessary number of men to the assembling stations.

The regulations for the working of Field Post Offices are laid down in the Indian Field Service Manual and the Postal Manual (War), two handbooks issued by the Indian Army Department; and a complete equipment of tents and furniture, sufficient for three base post offices, fifty first-class and twenty second-class field offices, and for the use of the supervisory staff, is kept at Lahore ready for immediate despatch. When the Department has to make its own arrangements for the carriage of mails between the base post office and the field offices, overseers are employed to supervise the transit. The establishment laid down for a base office is one postmaster, two deputy or assistant postmasters, fifteen clerks and ten menials, but these numbers must necessarily vary with the number of field offices required with the different units.

Postal officials in the field are subject to full military discipline under the Army Act. Superior officers wear field service khaki uniform with badges of rank and the letters "Post" in brass on the shoulders. A Deputy Postmaster-General or Assistant Director-General of the Post Office ranks as a Lieutenant-Colonel, and a Superintendent as Major, Captain or Lieutenant, according to his grade and length of service. Subordinate officials, if Europeans, are classed as Assistant Commissaries, Sub-Conductors or Sergeants, according to their pay, and Indians are given rank as Subadars, Jemadars, Havildars or Naiks. Field allowances, in addition to pay, are fixed according to a sanctioned scale, the rate for a Director or Superintendent being 25 per cent of his pay, subject to a minimum monthly allowance of Rs.100 in the case of the latter. Inspectors and Postmasters draw Rs.90 a month in addition to pay, other subordinates being remunerated at a lower rate. In virtue of the military rank held by them, officers and subordinates are entitled to all privileges and advantages for service in the field, such as wound pensions, family pensions, medals and compensation for loss of baggage.

The officer in charge of field post offices is attached to the head-quarters of an Expeditionary Force as adviser to the Military Authorities on all postal matters; he is required to visit the base and field post offices as frequently as possible, and is responsible for the proper working and efficiency of mail arrangements. He arranges with headquarters for carriage of mails between the base and the field, fixes the hours of despatch of mails from all post offices and the hours during which money orders are issued, and also settles the question of making over cash collections to the nearest Field Paymaster, Treasure Chest Officer, Regimental Accounts Officer or Post Commandant, as the case may be.

The development of the Field Postal System has been gradual and has undergone many changes. The earliest record of a regular Indian Post Office staff proceeding for active service with a military force is in connection with the Persian Expedition of 1856. The establishment consisted of two clerks, an interpreter (moonshee) and four peons, and, as no suitable departmental officer could be found to take charge of the arrangements, the Government of Bombay appointed the Military Paymaster of the Persian Expeditionary Force to take control.

The work accomplished by the Post Office during the Indian Mutiny has been described in a separate chapter. Every office situated within the wide area of the disturbances or on the line of march of the troops performed the functions of a field post office, the control of the arrangements devolving on the chief local civil or military authority in places where there was no departmental officer of sufficient seniority or rank to hold charge. The great services rendered by the Post Office horse transit and bullock train establishments to the Army were a prominent feature of the campaign. Separate field post offices accompanied the moving columns under Generals Havelock, Outram, Campbell, Hugh Rose, Hope Grant and other leaders. Twenty years later, when the Afghan war broke out, the Army had again to rely on the Post Office for the transport of mails and military stores for hundreds of miles through the Khyber and Bolan passes into Afghanistan.

The extension of the railways to the frontiers of India has put an end to this branch of postal enterprise. Mail tonga lines worked by contractors still flourish on routes where there are no railways, but they are being gradually supplanted by motor conveyances.

A scheme under which the Post Office should maintain a large number of motor mail vans, which could be used in time of war for military transport, has already been suggested, and it is one well worth consideration. An arrangement of this kind should go far towards solving the problem of maintaining transport in times of peace, and should prove advantageous and economical to both the Army and the Post Office.

The success of the Indian Field Post Office in the numerous wars and expeditions in which it has been employed can be vouched for by the reports of commanding officers. Experience has been bought by long practice, and the Department never loses an opportunity of training its staff for military service. At the great military manœuvres which are frequently held during the cold weather in India the troops engaged are always accompanied by field post offices fully equipped for war conditions, with the result that there is always a large body of men in the Post Office thoroughly trained in this kind of work. On field service the postal official is "Nobody's child." He has to fend for himself, and, although transport is told off for the conveyance of camp equipment and mails, it is seldom forthcoming when required. The Army Head-quarters Staff looks after its own post office, but is inclined to regard the others as an encumbrance, and this attitude has developed a faculty of "slimness" in the field postal officer, which he uses for defeating military regulations. He has become an expert in stealing transport; a mule, a cart, a few coolies, a motor lorry, even an idle railway train, all serve his purpose as occasion rises, and his motto is "Get there, if not by fair means, then somehow," and get there he generally does. He has an uncanny instinct for finding out the secret destination of his brigade and is often on the ground, sorting the mail, before the troops arrive.

Mr. Charles Sheridan, a very well-known member of the Department, used to tell an amusing story of the horror of a senior staff officer meeting him one day on a frontier road pronounced absolutely unfit for wheeled traffic. Mr. Sheridan was driving along merrily with the mails in a two-horsed tonga; it was the shortest road and he took it, and the staff had to reconsider seriously their strategic plans, simply because the Superintendent of the Postal Service would not act according to military instructions.

The heart of the field postal system in any campaign is the Base Office. It is there that all information concerning the movements of regiments and units is carefully recorded. Lists of officers are kept in alphabetical order, and these lists are kept corrected from day to day on information received from the various field offices. The Base Office controls the main routes of mails to the divisional and brigade offices, it issues instructions and is ready to supply reliefs. It searches for missing men, disposes of undeliverable correspondence and has a hospital for repairing articles damaged in transit; in fact, the smooth running of the whole organization depends on the work done at the Base.

The arrangements for conveying the mails between the base office and the field offices devolves on the supervising officers, and endless difficulties have to be faced in order to obtain transport. A great deal depends on the personality of the postal officer in charge. If he is a pleasant fellow and popular with the transport staff he can get most things done, but, if he is insistent on his rights and has not learnt the meaning of "give and take" on a campaign, he will get nothing but excuses and regrets, the mail bags will be left behind in the last camp, irate Colonels will write to their personal friend the Director-General and the promising career of a conscientious public servant will be seriously injured.

In Appendix H is given a list of the most important expeditions in which field post offices have been employed, with a brief account of the arrangements made on each occasion. Most of these were small frontier wars and little difficulty was felt in providing the personnel. The Great War, however, was a very different matter. It necessitated the despatch of large numbers of post offices all over the world, and the demand on the resources of the Post Office of India was on such a vast scale that an account of it has been reserved for a separate chapter.

CHAPTER XVIII
THE INDIAN FIELD POST OFFICE DURING THE GREAT WAR

In 1914, when war broke out, a large postal contingent accompanied the troops sent to France. It was under the control of Mr. Pilkington, Assistant Director-General of the Post Office, who had the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and it comprised one Base Office and 22 field offices, with a staff of 13 supervising officers, 22 field postmasters, 84 clerks and 78 menials. During the early years of the war the work performed by this staff was very heavy. Frequently over 23,000 letters and 2000 parcels would arrive for the Indian contingent in one day, while newspapers published in England were regularly received for delivery to the troops. At the end of 1916 the Indian field postal staff in France was considerably reduced, as large numbers accompanied the Indian troops transferred to Egypt and Mesopotamia, and at the end of the war only one or two field offices remained to serve some Labour Corps units which had been left behind.

At the end of 1916 Mesopotamia was the most important theatre of war so far as the Indian Post Office was concerned. A small field postal contingent was sent in 1914 and was steadily increased as the operations extended. Mr. A. B. Thompson, Deputy Postmaster-General, was the first Director of Postal Services. He was succeeded in 1917 by Mr. A. J. Hughes, who had been Deputy Director in Egypt. By the end of 1917 the army was so large and the work of the Post Office so extensive that it was decided to place an officer of the rank of Postmaster-General in charge, and Mr. H. A. Sams, Postmaster-General, Central Circle, was selected to be Director of Postal Services in Mesopotamia. By 1918 the staff consisted of 17 superintendents, 45 inspectors, 2 base postmasters, 7 deputy postmasters, 79 field postmasters, 542 clerks and 797 menials. The Field Post Office in Mesopotamia had not only military work, but also a great deal of civil work. The magnitude of the business may be gauged by the following monthly figures:—

Large numbers of British postal orders were also sold and Savings Bank business was freely transacted.

During the year 1916 a great deal of difficulty was experienced in Mesopotamia in dealing with returned letters, the addressees of which could not be traced. To dispose of these a Returned Letter Office was established at Basra, for which a staff of 165 permanent base men was employed. Subsequently, as these men were released or recalled to military duty, their places were taken by Anglo-Indian boys recruited in India. The establishment of the Returned Letter Office put a stop to very many complaints regarding loss of letters. The office used to deal with about 200,000 articles a month and worked very efficiently under the supervision of the Base Postmaster, Basra.

Upon the fall of Kut the field post office there shared the fate of the garrison, and a number of postal officials were taken prisoners of war by the Turks.

From the beginning of 1918 to the end of the war the postal service in Mesopotamia was extremely good, and both in Basra and Bagdad a regular local post was established and deliveries by postmen were introduced. At the end of 1918 a number of civil post offices were opened and steps were taken to close down field post offices wherever possible. From the 1st May, 1919, the postal administration of Mesopotamia was finally handed over to the civil authorities and almost all the field post offices were withdrawn, but a very large proportion of the Indian Field staff remained in the country and took service under the new Iraq Government.

Next in importance to Mesopotamia came the Indian postal services in Egypt, Palestine and Salonika, and in these places the Indian field post offices worked side by side with the British Army Postal Corps. In 1915 they were under the control of Mr. A. J. Hughes as Deputy Director, who was succeeded later by Mr. S. C. Sinclair. In 1915 Indian field post offices were sent to Gallipoli, and the work done by them there won the warm appreciation of the military authorities. The extension of operations to Palestine necessitated the despatch of a number of field post offices to that country. In 1918 it was found necessary to separate the postal contingent at Salonika from the control of the Deputy Director in Egypt, and the force was placed in charge of Mr. A. Gillespie as an independent Assistant Director, with a staff of 1 base postmaster, 2 inspectors, 28 field postmasters and clerks and 36 menials. The Salonika postal service extended to Baku and Constantinople, where there were Indian field post offices.

Field post offices were sent to East Africa in 1914 under the control of Mr. K. A. Appleby, who was subsequently made a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. The organization consisted of a base office, 25 field post offices, with a staff of 4 superintendents, 6 inspectors, 1 base postmaster, 25 field postmasters, 76 clerks and 67 menials. About a million letters and parcels were handled monthly by this staff, and work had to be carried on under the most trying conditions, as many of the mail lines traversed country covered with thick jungle. In 1917 and 1918 the whole postal service of German East Africa was carried on by the Indian Field Post Office, and the greatest credit is due to Lieutenant-Colonel Appleby for the excellent arrangements made by him.

In 1918 Lieutenant Kilman was sent to take control of the field post offices attached to the East Persian Cordon between Meshed and Dalbandin. The East Persian Cordon was subsequently known as the Force in East Persia, and the postal organization consisted of 1 Base post office and 13 field post offices, with a staff of an Assistant Director of Posts and Telegraphs, 1 inspector, 1 base postmaster, 13 field postmasters, 31 clerks and 54 menials.

A field post office contingent was also sent to Bushire in 1918 in connection with the operations between Bushire and Shiraz. This was placed under the control of Mr. C. F. Quilter as Assistant Director, who was also given control of the postal arrangements of the British Mission Escort in South Persia operating from Bunder-Abbas to Kerman and Shiraz. The British Mission Escort commenced its operations early in 1916 and its postal arrangements were in charge of Captain Greene, R. E., Superintendent of post offices, prior to their being taken over by Mr. Quilter. Up to March, 1919, the postal organization of the Bushire Force and British Mission Escort consisted of 2 Base post offices and 18 field post offices, with a staff of an Assistant Director, a Deputy Assistant Director, 2 inspectors, 2 base postmasters, 18 field postmasters, 49 clerks and 86 menials. From April, 1919, the Force was considerably reduced and a large portion of the field postal staff was withdrawn.

The operations in the neighbourhood of Aden led to the establishment of a few field post offices under the postmaster of Aden, who carried out this work in addition to his own.

The total number of officials of the Indian field post offices serving with the various Expeditionary Forces in 1918 was about two thousand, and with this large contingent serving abroad the Department in India had to undertake the difficult task of equipping and despatching regular reinforcements to the several theatres of war. In order to deal with the enormous quantity of Army mails, both originating in India and received from abroad, two special base offices were established, one at Bombay and one at Karachi. The Base Office in Bombay was converted in 1918 into a Base Postal Depot, and in addition to dealing with the mails for the troops it was also assigned the duty of recruitment and mobilization of postal reinforcements. The establishment of the Base Postal Depot in Bombay solved many of the difficulties which attended the organization of field post offices and the disposal of mails for armies in the field. The depot was divided into four main sections for Enquiry, Sorting, Mobilization and Correspondence. The chief duty of the Enquiry section was to ensure the correct delivery of correspondence for the troops that had returned or had been invalided from the field. This section was in charge of a lady Superintendent with forty lady clerks, and their duty was to keep up to date a regular record giving the names, designations and addresses of officers and men who had returned to India. The Enquiry section kept its records by means of index cards, of which there were over 133,000 when the armistice was declared. About 330,000 letters monthly were disposed of in this section.

In the Sorting section the average number of postal articles dealt with in a month was about one million. The sorting of mails for all the forces was done by units, separate bundles or packets being prepared for the officers and men with each unit. These mails were then forwarded ready sorted to the base offices at the various fronts, where they were distributed to the field offices serving the units in question.

The Mobilization section dealt with all matters relating to the mobilization of the staff recruited in India for service overseas. Only men who had volunteered for field service were taken, and on receiving orders these men reported themselves to the Officer Commanding, Base Postal Depot, Bombay, who arranged for their kit, uniform and transport to the force for which they were detailed. The Correspondence section dealt with all complaints regarding postal articles for the field forces, and, by being in close connection with the Enquiry branch, it was able to dispose of a large number of complaints without delay.

The Base Postal Depot, Bombay, was thus the most essential factor in the whole postal organization, and the smooth working of mail arrangements for the Expeditionary Forces depended very largely upon its efficiency. The Depot was directly under the control of the Director-General of Posts and Telegraphs and in charge of Captain Love, a pensioned officer of the Department, who had retired as Presidency Postmaster, Bombay.

To reward the good work done by the Indian postal staff in the field, no less than fifty-two personal distinctions were granted and over three hundred men were mentioned in despatches. The Department may well be proud of its achievements during the war. Volunteers were always ready to come forward for service in the worst places and many lost their lives. The best proof of their work, however, is the high reputation which the Post Office of India has earned among all branches of the Army.

CHAPTER XIX
INDIAN POSTAGE STAMPS

The first issue of postage stamps in India was made by Sir Bartle Frere in the Province of Scinde (now spelt Sind) in 1852. At that time the post offices of Scinde were administered by the Local Government, and it was not until 1855 that they were placed under the control of the Postmaster-General of Bombay. The Scinde District dawk stamps are very rare. There were three kinds: (1) the design embossed on white paper without colour; (2) blue embossed on white paper; (3) the design embossed on vermilion wafers. The design is shown in the accompanying illustration (Fig. 1), and the central portion consists of a modification of the broad arrow used by the East India Company. The issue was a comparatively small one, and the stamps were withdrawn from use in September, 1854.

The early postal system of India was solely used for official purposes, and it was not until 1837 that a public post was established. Postage rates varied with distance, and the charge was levied in cash, the lowest rate being two annas for every hundred miles. For this purpose copper tokens of the value of two annas were struck which were available for the prepayment of postage.

In 1850 a Commission was appointed to inquire into the working of the Post Office, and among its recommendations were the formation of an Imperial Post Office of India under a Director-General, the abolition of franking and the employment of stamps in prepayment of postage.

There was a great deal of discussion between the Indian Government and the Court of Directors in London as to where the stamps should be manufactured; the former desired to procure them from England, but the latter, on the ground of economy, decided that sufficiently good stamps could be made in India. The first effort was a design of the "Lion and Palm tree" made by Colonel Forbes of the Calcutta Mint. This essay (Fig. 2), however, was never used, as the Mint could not promise a sufficient supply. Subsequently the manufacture of stamps was entrusted to the Survey Office, and after many failures Captain Thuillier, Deputy Surveyor-General, succeeded in producing nine hundred sheets of red half-anna stamps by means of lithography. These stamps are known as the red ½ anna stamps "with 9½ arches" and were printed in sheets of one hundred and twenty, consisting of twelve rows of ten labels. They were sent to Bombay on the 5th April, 1854, but after despatch it was found that the stock of vermilion was exhausted, and as the same quality of ink could not be procured in India a new ink was prepared and at the same time a fresh design was made. Owing to the fresh design, it was decided not to issue the "9½ arches" stamps. It is disappointing to think that this first and historic set of Indian stamps was never used postally; but the omission does not seem to have detracted from their philatelic value. Good specimens are very rare, and command a high price in the market.

The design for the ½ anna stamp that was finally accepted was one of eight arches, and it was printed in blue. There are three distinct shades of blue in the 1854 issues, varying from deep to pale. These stamps were prepared by engraving on copper plate and transferring to stones. The sheets consisted of twelve horizontal rows of eight stamps on paper watermarked with the arms of the East India Company. The sheets, dated May and July, 1854, were evidently made up of blocks of twenty-four stamps, repeated four times on each sheet. This is apparent from the fact that the fifth stamp in each of the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth rows is slightly out of alignment, and the sixth stamp in each of the first, fourth, seventh and ninth rows has had the chignon redrawn (Plate facing p. 180). The sheets are not perforated, and are without gum: 333,399 sheets were printed in 1854 and 48,831 in 1855.

The 1 anna stamp was printed in vermilion-red, and 26,897 sheets were ready by August, 1854; there were further supplies of 54,961 sheets in November, 1854, and 15,834 sheets by November, 1855.

The colour selected for the 2 annas stamp was green, and the printing was completed in October, 1854. There is no record of the number printed.

The need for a 4 annas stamp was badly felt for postage to the United Kingdom, which cost 1 rupee 4 annas an ounce in 1854. A design was prepared in two colours, blue and red, and the first sheets contained only twelve stamps (Plate facing p. 178), and the first supply consisted of 17,170 sheets delivered on 14th October, 1854; in all 61,580 sheets were printed. In April, 1855, a new setting was adopted with twenty-four stamps on a sheet, and two arrangements of this setting were made, one with the stamps much closer together than the other.