"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٤‎٥‎٠] (١٢٦٢/٩٦٧)

2450
Karachi, Bushehr and Basrah for the staff of the British telegraph station
at Fao, are regularly delivered there hj the mail steamers in passing.
The Bombay-Karachi sea office and the Karachi office bags were insti
tuted in 1904 to prevent delay at Boshehr; only paid unregistered corre
spondence is enclosed in them, other articles being still bagged at Bushehr.
The postal service at Fao began in 1867, in which year the place was
made a port of call for the mail steamers. Until 18«6 letters, both paid
and unpaid, for the Turkish officials at Fao and occasional letters for
residents of Arab villages on the opposite bank of the Shatt-al- ; Arab
were included in the bag sent from Basrah to Fao; but, as the telegraph
officials had no means of distribution at their command and difficulty
was experienced in recovering postage on unstamped letters, the practice
was discontinued, except in the case of letters and packets for Turkish
officials and departments entitled under agreement to free postage.
The establishment of the office opened at Basrah on the 1st of
January 1868 was among the results of Mr. Vears^s tour in the preced
ing year; it w^as not however made permanent until July 1869. The
management of the Basrah office was at first undertaken by the British
Vice-Consul, with the assistance of a native clerk ; but by the end of
1870 public confidence had been attracted, and the work had increased to
such an extent that a regular postmaster with a sufficient staff was
appointed from India.
In 1872, the ^ ice Consulate, which had hitherto been located at
Kut-al-Farangi, was removed to its present site lower down the Shatt-
al-^Arab, and the post office was transferred with it; but a branch
office, which the Postmaster had opened without sanction at his private
residence in the native quarter, continued to serve the town of Basrah.
On the arrival of a mail the letters for the European settlement, adjoin
ing the new V ice-Consulate, were distributed first, and the remainder were
carried by the Postmaster to his office in the town for distribution; the
outgoing mail also^ was dealt with in a similar fashion. The existence
of the post office in the town was not apparently discovered bj the
Postal Department until 1882, in which year an inspecting officer from
Bombay, oblivious of the consular character of the post office, caused a
pillar box for letters to be set up in the Suq Kadhim Agha and so further
complicated the situation. The Turkish Government were at this time
trying to obtain the suppression of the British post offices in Turkey
and specifically requested the abolition of the Basrah town office; as,
however, the office had existed for 15 years without objection, it w as
deemed inexpedient that it should be closed on the mere demand of the
Turkish Government; but the pillar box was removed in 1883 by the
Vice-Consul of his own motion.
In 1882-83, the Consul having to some extent dissociated himself
from the affairs of the post office, the postmaster assumed airs of inde
pendence, corresponded direct with Turkish officials, and for some time
earned a red ensign at the stern of the boat which he employed; these
proceedings led to his summary removal and to the passing of orders by
the Government of India in 1884, which we have already described
elsewhere. In 1887, suitable quarters for the postmaster having been
tound m the neighbourhood of the Consulate, the town-office was closed