He also states that naval and military officers, when serving on colonial or foreign stations, were permitted, under Treasury Warrant of May 16, 1857, to send or receive letters at the reduced British postage of 6d. per ounce, in all cases where the postage of ordinary letters to or from the same place was higher than 6d. The privilege was withdrawn on January 1, 1870, and then letters became liable to the general rates of postage. [Footnote 1: "The Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840." By J. G. Hendy. London, 1909; p. 13.] EGYPT. The organisation of an Army Postal Corps was authorised on July 18, 1882, for service in Egypt, and it was promptly completed. Colonel du Plat Taylor was instructed to form the corps of two officers and one hundred men from the Post-Office Volunteers (24th Middlesex) for enrolment in the first-class Army Reserve. The men combined the advantages of experience in postal work, as sorters and postmen, with army training. The officers selected were Major Sturgeon (of the Money Order Office) and Captain Viall (Receiver and Accountant General's Department), the former taking command with the army rank of Captain, and the latter seconding him, with the army rank of Lieutenant. The men received their post-office pay, and, while on active service, in addition to free kit and rations, the privates drew army pay of 1s., corporals 1s. 8d., and sergeants 2s. 4d. per day. [Illustration: 22] The famous blind Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett, inspected the corps at the General Post Office on July 26, and the officers with 50 men sailed on August 8, disembarking at Alexandria on August 21. Their first postal duties were undertaken at Alexandria and Ramleh, but two days after disembarkation they re-embarked, joining up with Lord Wolseley's main forces at Ismailia on August 26. The base was at Ismailia, whence the post office corps sent out its branches, planting advanced base and field post offices connecting the base with the changing front, between which and the base a daily service was maintained. In September, shortly after the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, the Army and the Army Post Office reached Cairo, and re-embarked for home on October 7. The despatches gave high praise to the efficiency and useful service of the corps. Three years later, Major Sturgeon (promoted in recognition of his services in Egypt, 1882) again commanded a corps of twenty N.C.O.'s and men, in Sir Gerald Graham's Suakim expedition of 1885. The corps left England on March 3, and returned on July 28, after a more difficult experience with the Suakim garrison than they had met with in the first Egyptian campaign. DONGOLA EXPEDITION. Of the Dongola Expeditionary Force under General Kitchener in 1896 we have no record of the use of English stamps, but Mr. H. H. Harland has shown us an interesting envelope with the postmark of Wadi-Halfa camp, the letter not being prepaid as no stamps were available (_Fig._ 23).