One of the most important branches of the Post Office is the Railway Mail Service, which used to be called the Travelling Post Office. The railways are the arteries through which the very life-blood of the Department flows, and it is upon the arrangements for the conveyance of mails by rail that proper postal administration depends. Before 1863 the mail bags were carried in the guard's van if the weight was small, but when the mail was heavy a separate compartment in charge of a mail guard was used. As there was no intermediate sorting, every post office had to make up a packet or bag for every other post office in front, and these various packets were received and delivered at each station by the mail guard. In a short time the number of such packets became quite unmanageable, and the inconvenience and delay in disposing of them considerable, so that, in order to make it possible to sort the mails between North-West India and Calcutta, long detentions had to be made at Allahabad, Cawnpore and Benares, otherwise letters could not possibly be sent direct to their destinations. In 1860 a solution of the difficulty was proposed by Mr. Riddell, Director-General of the Post Office, namely, the establishment of a Travelling Post Office between Calcutta and Raneegunge, but the Government of India refused to sanction it. In 1863, however, a sorting section was established on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway between Allahabad and Cawnpore, but no regular service was organized until 1870, when the frontier Travelling Post Office was introduced under a Superintendent with his head-quarters at Allahabad. In 1877 the designation of this Officer was altered to Chief Superintendent, T.P.O., and in 1880 to Inspector-General, Railway Mail Service. The Inspector-General worked as an Assistant Director-General in the Direction until 1890, but in that year he was placed in a much more independent position as an administrative officer. Owing to the large increase in the mileage of the Railway Mail Service it was found impossible for one man to exercise an efficient control over it, and in 1905 a Deputy Inspector-General was appointed; but even with his assistance the work was too heavy, and in 1907 the whole of India was divided into four circles and each of them placed under the jurisdiction of an officer designated Inspector-General, Railway Mail Service and Sorting, known by the wits of the Department as an Inspector-General of sorts. The gentlemen with this sesquipedalian title control the railways or portions of railways in their own circles. In 1918 their number was reduced to three by the abolition of the Southern Circle, and their designation was altered to Deputy Postmaster-General, Railway Mail Service.
The main conditions under which a railway should carry mails were laid down in Clause 20 of the contract made with the East Indian Railway in 1849, and was as follows: "That the said Railway Company will at all times during the said determinable term convey on the said Railway the Government mails and post bags and the guards and other servants of the Post Office in charge thereof free of charge." A similar condition existed in the contract with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, but the Companies contended that the conveyance of mails did not include the haulage of sorting carriages in which sorters were employed. The Post Office refused to accept this view and nasty things were said on both sides. The Post Office seemed to think that railways had been invented for the conveyance of mails without any regard to dividends, while the railways regarded the Post Office as a confounded nuisance and its officials as unscrupulous thieves. It was finally settled that two compartments of a second-class carriage should be set apart and specially fitted for the Travelling Post Office on ordinary mail trains free of charge. If a special carriage was required in addition, then the haulage rate of 1½ annas a mile would be charged, and the rate for special trains was fixed at Rs.3-8 a mile. With respect to the cost and maintenance of postal vehicles it was decided that, if they were paid for by Government in the first instance, the charge for maintenance only should be incurred, but, if the Companies had to bear the cost of construction, then the charge should include the cost of maintenance, the interest on capital and the cost of restoring the vehicles when worn out.
The settlement between the Post Office and the Railways did not last long. Despite their acquiescence in the regulations which had been laid down, the Companies refused to abide by them and repeated demands were made for the cost of hauling postal vans. On the Great Indian Peninsula Railway everything possible was done to hamper the work of the Department, parcel bags were deliberately left behind at stations, postal vans were cut off at way-side places without any warning and there never was any certainty that the whole mail would reach its destination. In 1879 the nuisance became so intolerable that petitions were made by the public for the interference of Government, and after some deliberation a settlement was made with this Railway on the following terms:—
(1) The Post Office was to pay Rs.6000 a month for the ordinary services performed for it by the Railway, and for this payment a large fitted van with a well and extra vans for weekly foreign mails would be supplied.
(2) The price for additional reserved accommodation was raised from 18 to 30 pies a mile on each vehicle.
In 1882 the Government of India prescribed definite sizes for postal vans and called them standard full and standard half vans, and arrangements were made with the East Indian and Madras Railways to accept 8 annas a mile as the haulage of a standard van. Various agreements were made with the other railways, some of which claimed payment not for haulage but for the conveyance of bhangy parcels, and in some cases lump sum payments were made annually to cover all services. For instance, the Darjeeling Steam Tramway was given a fixed sum of Rs.10,260 annually, which represented exactly the cost of the old tonga line between Siliguri and Darjeeling.
The question of haulage of postal vans and of payment for the carriage of mails was finally settled in connection with State Railways. In 1877 it was ruled by the Governor-General in Council that the conveyance of mails over State Railways should be paid for. The question was raised with reference to the conveyance of mails on the Hathras-Muttra (Provincial) Railway, and it was decided that the actual cost of carrying the mails on all Imperial and Provincial railways should be borne by the Post Office. The rules regarding payment on all State lines, both broad and metre gauge, were:
(1) Eighteen pies per vehicle per mile to be levied in proportion to the space occupied by the Postal Department.
(2) For mail bags and parcels sent in luggage vans in charge of railway guards, the amount to be paid was fixed at 1½ pies per maund (80 lbs.) per mile.
(3) Accounts to be settled half-yearly and the space as well as weight charged to be adjusted for the six months on the basis of actual space allotted (as above) and actual weight carried on the 1st June and the 1st December of each year.
(4) All officers and servants of the Postal Department travelling in the mail compartment to be carried without passes. All officials of the Travelling Post Office not travelling in the mail compartment to be carried free on being furnished with passes under the revised free pass rules. All other officers of the Postal Department to pay usual fares.
(5) A list to be kept of all free passes issued.
(6) These arrangements to have effect from the 1st April, 1877, and to remain in force until the 1st April, 1884. All claims against the Postal Department to be settled in accordance therewith without delay, and adjusted in the accounts of the current official year. No arrear adjustment to be made in respect of any claims other than those arising out of the vehicle charge at 18 pies a mile.
Some misunderstanding seems to have arisen on the State Railways regarding the half-yearly calculations mentioned in paragraph 3, and the question of ferry charges upon Railway steamers was also raised. There was also a certain amount of disagreement about the construction and maintenance of Post Office vehicles, and on the 23rd May, 1884, Government issued a Resolution to the following effect:—
(1) That from the 1st April, 1884, and until further orders the following rules shall determine the payment for the haulage of Post Office vehicles, etc., on State Railways, and for the conveyance of mails by State Railway ferry steamers, and that they shall be applied to the East Indian Railway under the terms of Clause 18 of the Company's contract.
(2) With reference to the ruling laid down by the Government of India Public Works Department Circular No. 7R, dated the 3rd April, 1877, that the actual expenses incurred for the carriage of mails on all Imperial and Provincial Railways shall be paid by the Postal Department, the charges on all State lines, both broad and metre gauge, for the carriage of mails shall be based on a fixed rate of 18 pies per vehicle per mile, and shall be levied in proportion to the space actually allotted to the Postal Department on its own requisition.
(3) For mail bags and parcels sent in luggage vans in charge of Railway guards the amount to be paid by the Postal Department shall be 1 pie per maund per mile. Under this rule mails may be despatched either
(a) as a regular daily service according to lists supplied to the Traffic Managers for each half-year; or
(b) as occasional despatches not provided for in the list, a voucher being given for each despatch; occasional despatches should be restricted to a weight of 5 maunds for each despatch.
(4) In addition to the above, a charge equal to 4½ per cent per annum on the original cost shall be paid by the Postal Department for all vans or parts of carriages, built or altered on its own requisition since the 1st January, 1878, for the exclusive use of the Post Office.
(5) In the event of the mileage run on the requisition of the Post Office officials by any special postal vans and compartments specially fitted for Post Office work (so as to be unuseable with convenience for ordinary traffic) being in any half-year greater in one direction than in the other, the charge for haulage shall be made, not on actual distance run, but on double the highest run in one direction. For this purpose the Railway Administration will keep a register of the up and down daily mileage of all special postal vans or compartments as aforesaid, but this mileage is not to be used as the basis of a charge against the Postal Department in supersession of the procedure laid down in paragraph 8 below unless there is a considerable difference between the requisitioned up and down mileages.
(6) With respect to the conveyance of mails by State Railway ferry steamers where the distance traversed is 10 miles and less, an addition on account of the ferry should be made to the bill for railway service, calculated at the same mileage rate as the railway charge laid down in paragraph 2, but the addition shall not be less than 8 annas for each trip across the river.
(7) When the ferry service is over 10 miles and reserved sorting accommodation is not required or provided on board, the charge shall be separately calculated at the rate of 1 pie per maund per mile. If reserved accommodation is required, the rate of charge will be the same as for a whole carriage, viz. 18 pies per mile.
(8) Accounts are to be settled half-yearly, and the space as well as weight to be paid for shall be adjusted for the six months on the basis of actual space allotted (paragraph 2) and actual weight carried (paragraphs 3(a) and 7) on the 1st June and the 1st December of each year, or on such other date as may be mutually agreed upon. It is to be assumed that the actual service, inclusive of mileage, rendered on these dates is constant throughout the six months. Payments under paragraph 3(b) will be made monthly on bills supported by vouchers.