The Post Office of India and Its StoryClarke, Geoffrey
History
The Post Office of India and Its Story
Clarke, Geoffrey
Postal service -- India
On the 18th March, 1895, Mr. P. Sheridan, Postmaster-General, Punjab,
was requested by the Director-General to arrange field post offices,
and by the end of the month the postal staff, who were collected at
Nowshera, were in readiness to start. Mr. A. Franks Ryan was the
senior Superintendent in charge. In the early stages of the campaign
considerable difficulty was experienced by the supervising officers
in organizing lines for the conveyance of mails. Mule transport being
very limited, pack bullocks had to be used for the first few days, and
when those were withdrawn a temporary runners' line had to be opened.
Information, however, was shortly received that the country was open
as far as Durgai, a distance of forty-one miles from Nowshera, and
arrangements were made with Messrs. Dhanjibhoy to open a tonga line.
On the 30th March the force moved out to Mardan and the head-quarters
field post office went with it. On the 22nd April, 1895, information
was received that Colonel Kelly had succeeded in reducing the Chitral
fort from the Gilgit side, and a further hasty advance of troops was
therefore no longer necessary. With the occupation of the Chitral
territory by the 3rd Brigade the expedition practically came to an end.
The Abbottabad Force was broken up on the 31st May, 1895.
_Suakim Expedition, 1896._
In May, 1896, under orders from the Home Government, an Expeditionary
Force, 3000 strong, was sent to Suakim under the command of
Brigadier-General C. C. Egerton, C.B., D.S.O., and a field post office
was ordered to accompany it. The chief of the postal staff was Mr.
Bennett, who, however, did not hold the rank of Chief Superintendent
as the Force was too small. It started on the 22nd May, 1896, and
arrived on the 1st June at Suakim, where the Base office was opened.
Subsequently a sub-office was opened at Tokar, and the exchange of
mails between this office and the Base office was carried on by camel
dak twice a week. There was fortnightly communication between India and
Suakim by Egyptian steamers, and parcel and letter mails were conveyed
by these and by P. & O. steamers. The field post office was closed on
the 8th December, 1896.
_The Malakand Field Force._
On the 31st July, 1897, the Adjutant-General in India forwarded to the
Director-General a scheme for operations in the Malakand country, and
Mr. P. Sheridan, Postmaster-General, Punjab and N.-W.F., was requested
to make special postal arrangements for the force. Mr. H. C. Sheridan,
Assistant Director-General of the Post Office, was placed in charge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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