CHAPTER XII THE POST OFFICE IN INDIAN STATES

The continent of India is divided into territory of two kinds, namely, British India and Indian States. There are 652 States with varying degrees of independence according to the treaties that exist between them and the British Government. Except in three of these, Mysore, Travancore and Cochin, no proper postal system can be said to have existed before the Imperial Post Office of India was established. In Mysore the Anche, a local post, was a very old institution, and its extension to the whole Kingdom was one of the earliest measures of the reign of Chikka Devaraj Wadayar in the year 1672. A similar system known as Anchel has existed for many years in Travancore and Cochin, but its origin is not known. Other States had no Post Offices in the proper sense of the term, and when the Post Office of India was established it extended its operations to many of these without any question. From many of the larger States, however, the Imperial Post Office was rigidly excluded, with the result that there was great difficulty in maintaining any postal communication between them and British India. Gradually certain States began to develop postal organizations of a distinct and independent character with special postage stamps of their own and others had organizations without any postage stamps. All kinds of different arrangements existed and the position is well described by Sir Frederic Hogg, the Director-General, in his Annual Report of 1878-9:

"In some places the delivery of correspondence proceeding from the Imperial Post is effected by an agency independent of this Department, in other places this agency is subject to Imperial Post control; while sometimes again both descriptions of distributing agencies are employed. There exists an arrangement under which the Imperial Post is subsidized for the delivery of correspondence, and there are some localities in Native territory which are destitute of any postal organization, and where letters cannot be delivered at all. Nor is diversity of method the sole difficulty that has to be met. Beyond the limits of this Department information on postal matters can hardly be obtained. Native States issue no Postal Guide, print no lists of post offices and publish no postal matters for the information of the public. Postal information is not available. It is uncertain whether a letter will ever be delivered. Not only is prepayment to destination in many cases impossible, but correspondence is subject on delivery to arbitrary and unknown charges. Registration is often impossible. Postcards don't exist and the inhabitants of Native States, which oppose Imperial Post extensions, are debarred from the benefits of the Money Order, Insurance and Value-Payable systems and other facilities afforded by the Imperial post office to the public. Restrictions of correspondence must be the natural consequence of this diversity of system or absence of system, and the only real remedy lies in the gradual extinction of all post organizations and their supersession by the Imperial Post. Such a measure must entail great expense for several years, but uniformity of postage rates, rules and conditions would result and the cost involved would doubtless ultimately be more than covered by increased revenue."

The first case that came prominently to notice was that of the Patiala State with which there was considerable trouble regarding postal exchanges. A proposal was made in 1880 to extend the Imperial Postal System to the State, but it was not acceptable to the Council of Regency, and after much discussion it was decided to prepare a Convention according to which a mutual exchange of correspondence could be arranged. The Convention was ratified in 1884 and similar ones were made with Gwalior, Jhind and Nabha in 1885 and with Faridkot and Chamba in 1886, the last four constituting with Patiala the group known as the Phulkian States. The Conventions with these States are all similar and to the following effect:—

(1) There shall be a mutual exchange of correspondence, parcels and money orders between the Imperial Post Office and the post offices of the Native State, this exchange including registered, insured and value-payable articles, and being governed by the rules of the Indian Postal Guide, as periodically published.

(2) Certain selected post offices in British India and in the Native States shall be constituted offices of exchange, and these offices shall be the sole media of exchange for insured and value-payable articles and money orders, and shall be entrusted with the duty of preparing the accounts arising from the exchange.

(3) Indian postage stamps and postal stationery overprinted with the name of the Native State shall be supplied by the Government of India on indent at cost price, and shall be used for the purpose of prepaying inland correspondence posted in the State.

(4) The Government of India shall bear the cost of conveying mails over British territory, and the Native State shall bear the cost of conveying mails within the limits of the State.

(5) The Imperial Post Office shall establish no new post offices in Native State territory without the permission of the Durbar, excepting at Railway Stations or within British Cantonments, the Durbar undertaking the establishment of any post offices or letter-boxes required in State territory by the Imperial Post Office.

(6) On foreign correspondence posted in the State, postage shall be prepaid only by means of Imperial postage stamps not bearing the overprint, postage stamps with such overprint not being recognized for the purpose.

(7) Monthly accounts shall be kept of the amounts due to the Imperial Post Office by the Native State and vice versa upon the money order exchange.

No sooner had these Conventions been agreed to than Government began to regret the step that had been taken, and it was then seen that real postal unity in the country could only be effected by the abolition of separate systems in the different States, a policy directly opposed to that which had been adopted towards Gwalior and the Phulkian States. When, therefore, the Dewan or Prime Minister of Mysore asked for a Convention, he was met with a definite refusal, and an alternative proposal was made to the Mysore Government that the Imperial Post Office should undertake the postal service of the State. The proposal was accepted in 1887, and the Mysore Anche was abolished at the end of 1888. This measure of amalgamation, in which the Mysore Darbar rendered substantial assistance, was carried into effect from the beginning of 1889. The facilities afforded by the Indian Post Office, which were thus extended to the whole of Mysore, were fully appreciated by the people and resulted in a great development of postal business, the number of articles delivered having increased in the first year by no less than a million.

The case of Mysore was such a striking example of the benefits arising from the unification of a State Post Office with the Imperial system that Sir Arthur Fanshawe, the Director-General, used every endeavour to extend the policy to other States. The result was that the Kashmir State followed suit in 1894, and shortly afterwards Bamra, Nandgaon and Pudakottah. The efforts to win over Hyderabad, the premier State of India, were not successful. Although negotiations were extended over many years and every inducement was offered, the Nizam steadfastly refused to surrender the management of his own Posts as a separate system.

In 1906 Mr. Stewart-Wilson, who succeeded Sir Arthur Fanshawe as Director-General, started a fresh campaign for the unification of the Post Office all over India, and he succeeded in getting Indore and Bhopal to join in 1908. Since then Jaipur asked for a Convention, but this was refused in accordance with the policy that Conventions were undesirable as only tending to perpetuate the many diversities which Government were anxious to abolish. The position at present is that out of 652 States, 637, including Faridkote which voluntarily abandoned its Convention in 1904, have cast in their lot with the Imperial Post Office, The number of outstanding States is thus fifteen, of which only Hyderabad, Gwalior, Jaipur, Patiala and Travancore are of much importance.

GENERAL POST OFFICE. MADRAS

The policy of the Government of India has been clearly laid down in the correspondence dealing with the unification of the Hyderabad Posts with the Imperial Post Office. The Government is unwilling to take over the postal system of any State without the full consent of the Durbar or State Council, but it exercises the right of opening an Imperial post office or placing a letter-box anywhere in a State if Imperial interests require it. As a rule such offices are opened at railway stations or military cantonments, but they may be opened elsewhere in cases of real necessity. The aim of the Government is towards complete unification of the Post Office all over the country. The inconvenience of separate systems is keenly felt, and the inequality of Conventions on mutual terms between a great Empire and a small State is obvious. The principle upon which each country of the Postal Union retains its own postage on foreign correspondence is based on the theory that for every letter sent a letter is received, and that the transit charges are fairly apportioned, and in many cases the difference is slight when spread over a long period. When the principle is applied to a small State in a big country like India, the burden of handling correspondence is very unevenly divided. For every ten miles a letter has to be conveyed within the State, the Post Office of India may have to convey it a thousand miles or more at a cost altogether out of proportion to the postage receipts for half the correspondence handled. The difference is still more marked in the case of parcels and money orders and, despite all efforts to make the division of fees correspond with the work done by each administration, the position has never been satisfactory.

The postal future of the few States that still refuse to join the Imperial system is uncertain. All compromises have been rejected, and the arguments of prestige and prejudice are used to contest those of uniformity and convenience. As matters stand now the inconsistencies of small postal systems within the Indian Empire seem likely to continue until a firm hand on the one part and enlightened opinion on the other combine to abolish them.