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File 1912/897 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf:- British post offices’ [114v] (233/456)
The record is made up of 1 volume (222 folios). It was created in 1914-1919. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
£££
2. Since the year 1903 Union rates of postage have been applied in the
case of correspondence posted at all the Indian Post Offices in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
,
and in 1911 Sir Charles Stewart-Wilson decided, on a reference made by the
Postmaster-General, .Bombay, that articles posted in the letter boxes on
board the British India mail steamers while they are in Persian ports
should be treated as if posted in the local Indian Post Office. The demand
made by the Persian administration is that the postage on articles posted in
letter boxes on board the mail steamers, while at anchor in a Persian port,
should be prepaid hy means of Persian postage stamps. According to Article
11 of the Principal Convention of Borne
•SubEncio.4 below. an extracfc * from whic h i s sub
mitted, for information, articles posted on board a steamer at any port of call
should be prepaid by means of the postage stamps and according to the tariff
of the country in winch the port is situated, and under Union Regulations the
claim appears therefore to be reasonable.
3. The posirion in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
is however one to which Union
P-egulations cannot properly be applied. There is an Indian Post Office at
each of the ports in question, and the mail steamer service is subsidised
entirely by the Government of India. The letter boxes on board the mail
steamers, 'which anchor a long way from shore, are a great convenience to the
varims ships in the anchorages and also to the general public and business
firms, for whom they provide the means of posting correspondence up to the
last moment. If ihe concession of posting on board were withdrawn, all
correspondence now posted on board the mail steamers would be sent to the
Indian Post Office on shore, and in my opinion the Persian administration have
no real grounds for complaint as they have for years acquiesced in the arrange
ment, under which Indian Post Offices in Persia accept articles for despatch
which bear Indian stamps in payment of postage. It is, therefore, quite
reasonable that articles posted in letter boxes on board the mail steamers while
at a Persian p:>rt should be stamped in exactly the same way as if they had
been posted in the local Indian host Office.
4. With respect to the question now raised bv the Persian Administra
tion regarding the status of the Indian Post Offices in the Gulf, 1 beg lo
request the orders of Government as to the reply to be given by me. So far
as I am aware, there are no treaties or agreements concerning the establish
ment of these Post Offices in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
: they have been established
from time to time since 186i and the Persian Government are well aware tf
their existence, while the conveyance of mails by sea between the Gulf ports
has long been arranged and paid for exclusively by the Indian Government.
Sub Encio. 1 in Encio. No. 1.
Copy of the translation of a letter from the Director-General of Posts, Persia, to the Director-
General of Posts and Telegraphs, No. 12374, dated the Gth July 1913.
I have the honour to inform you that the Agents of the British Indian
Post Othce on board t.he mail steamers who effect the postal exchange with
correspondence prepaid with British Indian stamps which are made over to
them by the public.
This rule, prejudicial to the interest of the Persian Treasury, not being in
conformity with the express provisions of the last clause of paragraph 6 of
Article 11 of the Principal Convention of the Universal Postal Union, which
prescribes that, if the posting of correspondence on board the steamers takes
place during the stay at one of the two terminal points of the voyage or at
any intermediate port of call, prepayment can only be effected by means of
the postage stamps and according to the tariff of the country in the waters of
which the packet happens to be, I shall be much obliged if you will kindly
take * necessary measures without delay in order that the provisions in question
may be strictly observed in future.
About this item
- Content
The volume comprises copies of printed correspondence, handwritten correspondence, notes and other papers. This relates to the operation of British Indian post offices in Persia, and in particular in the region known as Arabistan [Ahvāz] by British officials. The file is a direct chronological continuation of File 1912/897 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf. British post offices [also in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. ]’ (IOR/L/PS/10/242). Principal correspondents in the volume include: HM Minister in Tehran (Sir Charles Murray Marling); India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. staff (John Evelyn Shuckburgh; Arthur Hirtzel); the Deputy Chief Political Officer at Basra (Captain Arnold Talbot Wilson); the Chief Political Officer at Basra (Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); and the Officiating Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Major Stuart George Knox).
Subjects covered in the volume include:
- a printed copy of the Convention of Rome (dated 26 May 1906), created by the Universal Postal Union, incorporating detailed regulations for its execution, in French and English, printed in 1907 by HM Stationery Office (ff 160-224);
- office notes relating to protests from the Persian Government at the opening of Government of India post offices at Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām] and Charbar [Chābahār], and the anticipated post office at Ahwaz [Ahvāz] (ff 153-159);
- a copy of a letter from Knox to Sir Walter Beaupré Townley, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at the Court of Persia, dated 21 June 1914, countering complaints made by the Persian Government about British Indian postal service activities in southern Persia, by pointing out the perceived inadequacies in the Persian postal system (ff 130-133);
- complaints made by HM Consul at Kerman (Lieutenant-Colonel David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer), of deficiencies in the existing Persian postal service at Kerman. The Consul emphasises insecurities and delays on routes to Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] and Tehran, the inefficiency of staff, and the importance of the service to Kerman’s European community (ff 135-136, ff 77-78);
- a memorandum written by Wilson to Cox, dated 21 July 1917, giving a detailed account of the prevailing political situation (including Anglo-Persian relations) in Northern Arabistan (ff 41-44);
- the proposal, put forward by Cox in 1916, to open a British Indian post office at the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s (APOC) concession at Maidan-i-Naphtum [Meydān-e Naftūn]. It provokes much discussion between British officials in the Gulf, Government of India officials, and officials from the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the Foreign Office, chiefly relating to the likely response of the Persian authorities to such a move, and whether the move could be justified. A useful précis of the differing opinions of officials involved in making the decision can be found at ff 14-18.
Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (222 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 897 ( Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. : British Post Offices) consists of 4 volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/242-245. The volumes are divided into 4 parts with each part comprising one volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 226; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: an original printed pagination sequence is present between ff 160-224.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 1912/897 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf:- British post offices’ [114v] (233/456), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/243, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026393900.0x000022> [accessed 16 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/243
- Title
- File 1912/897 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf:- British post offices’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:159v, 225r:225v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence