APPENDIX B EXTRACTS FROM EARLY REGULATIONS REGARDING THE MAIL SERVICE
An extract from the Consultations, 17th January, 1774, gives in detail the arrangement made by Warren Hastings for the improvement of postal arrangements.
The President lays down before the Board the following plan for the better regulations of the Dauks and for forming a General Post Office:—
The present management of the Dauks is attended with many inconveniences. Private letters are exempt from postage and the whole expense of the establishment falls upon the Company. The Dauks from the same cause are loaded with packages of the most frivolous kind and of unreasonable weights. The privilege of sending private letters by the Dauks being confined to the European inhabitants, affords but a partial aid to the necessary intercourse of trade. The establishment is branched out into various departments, all independent and unconnected, the expense partly defrayed by ready-money payments and partly by taxes on the zemindars and farmers, who make an advantage of them in the deductions of their rents. From all these causes the establishment is involved in a labyrinth of obscurity, without checks and without system. The delays on the road are often greater than those of common cossids or couriers without a possibility of correcting them, because it cannot be known by whom they are occasioned. Of these delays the President himself has had repeated proofs insomuch that whenever he has had occasion for extraordinary despatch he has made use of express cossids, and these never failed to exceed the regular Dauks by nearly half the space of time employed by the latter for the same distance. The loose and irregular manner in which the letters are received and distributed exposes the correspondence of individuals and even the public despatches to great delays and to the risk of being lost or intercepted.
To remedy these evils, the following plan is submitted to the Board, for the future management of this office, in which it is attempted to limit the expense to provide a fund for its support by laying a moderate postage on private letters, to render it of more extensive use and to form the different parts into one uniform and general system.
Plan of a new Establishment of Dauks and of a General Post Office
1. That the Dauks be formed into four divisions as follows:—
First Division from Calcutta to Ganjam;
Second Division from Calcutta to Patna;
Third Division from Patna to Benares and to such farther
distance as may be hereafter determined;
Fourth Division from Calcutta to Dacca.
2. That no Dauks be appointed to the cross-roads (excepting Dinagepur) as hereafter mentioned, but cossids only occasionally employed by the Provincial Councils and Collectors to convey the letters to the nearest stages of the Dauks; the pay and other charges of these cossids to be transmitted monthly to the Postmaster-General, whose office will be hereafter described.
3. That as the military operations in Cooch Behar require a constant and regular correspondence, a cross-post be established between Dinagepur and Rajmehal, and that it remains for future consideration whether it will be necessary to establish a cross-post from Burdwan on the assembling of the Council at that place.
4. That three hercarrahs or dauks, one massalchy[8] and one drum be appointed to each stage, viz.:
Miles.
Furl.
Stages.
Harcrs.
Massl.
Drum.
From
Calcutta to Ganjam
358
2
42
126
42
42
"
Calcutta to Patna
398
6
48
144
48
48
"
Patna to Benares
165
4
19
57
19
19
"
Calcutta to Dacca
179
4
21
63
21
21
Cross-road from Dinagepur
to Rajmehal
77
2
9
27
9
9
——
—
—
—
—
—
1179
2
139
417
139
139
5. That a Munshi be fixed at each capital stage who shall have charge of a certain number of stages.
6. That two gurreewallas or time-keepers be appointed with each Munshi for the purpose of determining the arrival of each packet, which shall be written on the outside of the packet and an account thereof with the time of the last despatch kept by the Munshi.
7. That a deputy postmaster be appointed with the following establishment of servants at the following stations, who shall have charge of all the stages from the Presidency to the place of his residence, pay the Munshi's charges dependent on him, take an account of all letters received and despatched, receive and issue letters, transmit his accounts and reports to the Postmaster-General, and receive his orders:—
| Establishment at | Deputy. | Peons. |
| Moorshedabad | 1 | 10 |
| Patna | 1 | 10 |
| Benares | 1 | 2 |
| Ganjam | 1 | 2 |
| Dacca | 1 | 2 |
| Dinagepur | 1 | 2 |
| — | — | |
| 6 | 28 |
8. That a Postmaster-General be appointed at Calcutta with one Deputy, one merda or native assistant, seven sorters, one jemadar and fifteen peons for distributing letters. He will have the control of the whole establishment, and all the accounts will be brought into his office.
Bye-Rules
1. That all letters shall pay postage, excepting such as are on the public service.
2. That the postage on inland letters shall be paid when put into the office at the following rates:—
Single letters for every 100 miles, 2 annas. Double letters in proportion according to their weight.
3. That letters coming by sea, or from foreign settlements, shall pay on delivery and be rated at half postage.
4. That a table of postage, formed according to the above rules, be affixed at the different offices for the public inspection.
5. That the post office in Calcutta shall be open from 10 o'clock in the morning till 1 for the delivery of letters, and from 6 till 9 in the evening for the receipt of letters.
6. That a daily account of the number and weight of letters despatched, with the amount of postage, be kept at each office, that a monthly account be transmitted to the Postmaster-General by his Deputies and that a general abstract of the whole receipts and disbursements be laid before the Board every month.
7. That the letters when received into the offices shall be sorted and put up in separate bags for the different stations, together with a note of the number in each.
8. That all letters shall be stamped with the day of the month on which they are delivered into any chief office.
9. That for the facility of paying the postage on letters small copper tickets be immediately struck to be received at the rate of 2 annas each, but to pass only at the post office.
