I am much indebted to Mr. R. W. Hanson and Mr. F. F. Shout, Assistant Directors-General of the Post Office of India, for their assistance in producing this work. Mr. Hanson is responsible for the chapter on "The Post Office in Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf," and Mr. Shout for the chapter on "The Sea Post Office" and the paragraphs dealing with the District Post, as well as for the Index.
The chapter upon Indian stamps is based largely upon The Postage and Telegraph Stamps of British India, by Hausburg, Stewart-Wilson and Crofton, published by Messrs. Stanley Gibbons, and I am greatly indebted to Messrs. Stanley Gibbons for the loan of their blocks and for permission to use them in this book.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | The Post Office of India | [1] |
| II. | The Origin of the Post Office | [10] |
| III. | Early Postal Regulations | [26] |
| IV. | Later Postal Regulations | [38] |
| V. | Parcel Post | [48] |
| VI. | The Railway Mail Service | [58] |
| VII. | Money Orders | [71] |
| VIII. | Savings Bank | [81] |
| IX. | The People and the Post Office | [88] |
| X. | The Indian Postman | [97] |
| XI. | Post Office Buildings | [106] |
| XII. | The Post Office in Indian States | [112] |
| XIII. | The Overland Route | [119] |
| XIV. | The Sea Post Office | [127] |
| XV. | The Post Office in Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf | [137] |
| XVI. | The Post Office during the Indian Mutiny | [151] |
| XVII. | The Indian Field Post Office | [165] |
| XVIII. | The Indian Field Post Office during the Great War | [171] |
| XIX. | Indian Postage Stamps | [178] |
APPENDICES
| PAGE | ||
| A. | Personnel of the Post Office | [189] |
| B. | Extracts from the Early Regulations regarding | |
| the Mail Service | [191] | |
| C. | Methods of Travel in Early Days | [195] |
| D. | Statement Showing the Work of the Post | |
| Office Savings Bank from 1882 to 1918 | [197] | |
| E. | Statement of Inland Money Orders issued | |
| in India since 1880 | [198] | |
| F. | Historical Associations of the Calcutta | |
| General Post Office | [200] | |
| G. | Extract from the Narrative of the Interruption | |
| in the Mail Arrangements in the | ||
| N.-W.P. and Punjab subsequent to the | ||
| Mutiny at Meerut and Delhi on the 10th | ||
| and 11th May, 1857, by Mr. G. Paton, | ||
| Postmaster-General, North-West Provinces | [204] | |
| H. | The Work of the Field Post Office between | |
| 1867 and 1912 | [210] | |
| J. | The Post Office Insurance Fund | [232] |
| INDEX | [241] |