The postal arrangements had to be maintained till the end of June, when the column having been considerably reduced, two field offices were abolished and only one was retained till the 15th July, 1898.
The Mishmi Expedition.
In November, 1899, the Director-General was requested to open a field branch post office at Bonjur and connect it by a runners' line (twenty-four miles long) with Sadiya, where there was a civil post office. This place was made the base of operations of the Mishmi Field Force. About 200 military police and 1000 regular troops operated in this expedition, which began in December, 1899, and ended in January, 1900. The Bonjur office was opened on the 1st December, 1899, and closed on the 9th February, 1900.
The China Expeditionary Force.
At the request of the Home Government, a force entitled "The China Expeditionary Force" was mobilized in India for service in China under the command of General Sir A. Gaselee. The first intimation of the despatch of the army was received on the 29th June, 1900. This, however, referred only to one brigade of troops of all arms; but on the 25th June intimation was received that a force of two brigades with divisional troops were under orders for China. The control of the field postal arrangements was in the hands of Mr. Stewart-Wilson, Postmaster-General, Punjab, under whose orders the postal staff was mobilized and equipped. At first it was decided to fit out twelve field post offices to accompany the force. Mr. W. T. van Someren was appointed Chief Superintendent, and Mr. A. Bean and Mr. A. B. Thompson were selected to work under him.
By the end of August, 1900, the force in China was strengthened by a cavalry brigade, one infantry brigade and three large coolie corps, and the postal staff had to be supplemented. Thus by the end of the year there were in China:
| 1 | Chief Superintendent. |
| 4 | Superintendents. |
| 4 | Inspectors. |
| 1 | Postmaster. |
| 2 | Deputy Postmasters. |
| 20 | Sub-Postmasters. |
| 53 | Clerks. |
| 76 | Followers. |
On the 29th June, 1900, a notification was issued regarding the conditions under which postal articles could be exchanged with the China Expeditionary Force. The Indian Base office was at first opened at Linkung-tao (Wei Hai Wei), but was shortly transferred to Hongkong. Articles for the force were despatched by the steamers of the B.I.S.N. Company, the Messageries Maritimes and also by the Opium steamers to Hongkong. The Colonial post office at Hongkong had an arrangement with all merchant vessels binding them to carry mails as far as Shanghai, and owing to the courtesy of the Postmaster-General, Hongkong, this concession was made use of to carry the mails of the Field Force. North of Shanghai the mails were carried by transports and men-o'-war. Later on the Chinese Imperial Postal Authorities carried our mails from Shanghai to Taku and back free of charge until the latter port was closed by the winter ice. Another route had then to be chosen for the North China mails, and once more we had to resort to the kindness of the Imperial Chinese Post Office, who agreed to supply transport from Chifu to Chaingwantao twice a week on condition that half the cost of the coal used should be paid. Thus the mails were conveyed from Hongkong to Shanghai, from Shanghai to Chifu and from Chifu to Chaingwantao and thence to Tientsin. The chief postal land routes were (1) Taku to Pekin and (2) Tientsin to Shanhaikwan.
Dollar currency was used in the field offices, the rate of a dollar being fixed at 1s. 11d., equivalent to Rs.1.7.0. The first postal detachment took with them a full supply of postage stamps, postcards, etc., but it was found inadvisable to use them owing to the fact that it would be impossible to sell them at a price exactly equivalent to face value. At Hongkong the postal equivalent for 10 centimes, i.e. 1 anna, is 4 cents. It followed, therefore, that twenty-five 1-anna stamps could be bought for a dollar and that the purchaser would be able to make 2 annas for every dollar spent on stamps, and it was feared that advantage would be taken of this to buy up Indian stamps wholesale for remittance to India. The postage stamps were therefore overprinted with the letters "C.E.F.," i.e. "China Expeditionary Force," so that their use would be localized, and the surcharged stamps came into circulation about the middle of August, 1900. In order to confine the use of field offices to the members of the force, orders were issued that our postage stamps should not be sold except to soldiers and officers in uniform. The rates of postage fixed for all purposes were those in force in India, the postage to India being reckoned at Indian inland rates.
Difficulty had all along been felt in supplying postal facilities to the small bodies of troops stationed at or near railway stations where there were no post offices. Mr. van Someren removed this difficulty by introducing a combined Post and Railway Mail Service between Pekin and Taku and Tientsin and Shanhaikwan, a scheme which was a new one in the history of the field postal service. Postal clerks had not only to sort letters in the trains, but also to receive and deliver letters and sell postage stamps at each railway station. By August, 1901, there was a reduction of the number of troops in China and fourteen field post offices were closed, the supervising staff being reduced to a Chief Superintendent and an inspecting postmaster in North China and a Superintendent and an inspecting postmaster at Hongkong. Mr. van Someren left China on the 5th August, 1901, leaving Mr. Thompson in charge.