India has derived much advantage from the Value-Payable Post, or, as it is sometimes spoken of, the Cash on Delivery system. The Post Office undertakes to deliver an article, and recover from the addressee the amount specified by the sender, and to pay this amount to him, after deducting commission. When it was proposed, some years ago, to adopt the system in Great Britain, there was considerable objection raised by the trading community, and the idea was abandoned as far as this country is concerned. But it is being extended to certain colonies, and certainly the example of India goes to show that it supplies a demand in our colonies and dependencies. It has created in India a new kind of retail business, and several large firms have sprung up at the Presidency towns which trade with constituents mostly residing in the country.
In India letters containing dutiable articles undeclared must be opened by the addressee, possibly in some remote up-country stations in presence of the local postmaster, and then reported to Bombay or Karachi for assessment of duty before final delivery. The delay caused by this rather clumsy procedure often causes great annoyance to the public, and I have been told of a vigorous protest made by a peppery colonel, who had received back a set of false teeth from home which had gone away for repairs. When he was informed they must go to Karachi for assessment of duty he became livid with rage, slapped the teeth into his mouth, and bade the Empire to do what it could to get them out. He had been in practical retirement while the teeth were away, and he was now going into society again, duty or no duty.
The Post Office in South Africa works in some respects under conditions similar to those in India. Here also the railways are mostly trunk lines, and here also the runner is a feature of the service. His difficulties are sometimes as great as those of his colleague in India. A lengthy detention of the mails took place in one district because the native runner who had charge of them was attacked on his run by two ostriches. He had to take refuge in a small bush which the ostriches guarded all day, and it was not until the night had set in, and the ostriches were perhaps, like other sentries, getting sleepy, that he escaped in the dark. Like their colleagues in India, the South African runners do not trouble themselves with much clothing; they arrange the mail bag on the end of a stick, and on the other they fasten their blanket, sandals, “tin billy” for cooking, and some mealie tied on a piece of cloth, the stick being put on the shoulder.
Among the correspondence brought into a town by a runner was found a large scorpion measuring seven inches in length. Flooded rivers and heavy rains interrupt the mail service, while on the other hand severe droughts are often a trial, and we read in the Postmaster-General's report of seven camels having to be withdrawn from service because of exhaustion from this cause. It is not surprising to learn that motor cars are likely to be substituted.
While excavating for the new railway buildings at Capetown recently some workmen found a considerable number of curious old Post Office stones. Years ago it was the regular practice with the commanders of the English and Dutch East India Companies' fleets to leave a package of letters under large stones on the shore to be taken to Europe by the next home-going fleet. These stones all bear rudely carved inscriptions asking the passer-by to “look hereunder for letters.” Then follow the names of the commander and of the ship, with the dates of arrival and departure. Three hundred years ago there was, of course, no settlement of Europeans on the shores of Table Bay, but our own fleets and those of the Dutch East India Company called there regularly.
The picture which appears on this page is of one of the stones under which the ships' letters were placed.
I am only dealing in this chapter with special features of the postal service which belong to each country, and I cannot, therefore, talk at any length concerning the fine service of posts, and of activities connected with the posts, which are administered by the South African Government. The business, especially in the Transvaal, is of great magnitude. Much of this would simply be the story of the British Post Office over again.
In British Central Africa the Post Office has developed much of recent years. Sir H. H. Johnston, K.C.B., has said of the district that it is interesting to note the extent to which the postal service is used by the natives themselves, who directly they are able to write in their own language have a passion for correspondence, and they develop a childish pleasure in affixing postage stamps. Nowhere are there such faithful postmen or runners; they will stick to the mail bag to the point of death. Negroes are admirable imitators, and in consequence they make excellent Civil Servants, whose duty it is to write reports and letters in the style of their official superiors. Here is a letter from a Gold Coast postman to his postmaster:—
“Dear Master,—I have the pleasure to regret to inform you that when I go bath this morning a billow he remove my trouser. Dear master, how can I go on duty with only one trouser? If he get loss where am I? Kindly write Accra that they send me one more trouser, and so I catch him and go duty. Good-day, sir. My God, how are you? Your loving corporal.”