IOR/L/PJ/3/1070 No.71

The collection contains the following Post Office papers:

• Coll 1, Correspondence reporting the almost complete re-establishment of postal communication on all the main lines in India, January to March 1858. Includes a copy of the Post Office letter received from India, No.3 of 1858, dated 11 March 1858.
• Coll 2, Report by H B Riddell, Director General of the Post Offices in India, on the effect of the disturbances of the previous year [Indian Mutiny] upon the operations of the Post Office in India, with related correspondence, March 1858. Includes a copy of the Post Office letter received from India, No.7 of 1858, dated 31 March 1858.
• Coll 3, Report by W Grey, Officiating Director General of the Post Office in India, on the subject of including official correspondence in the arrangements for rendering compulsory the pre-payment of postage on letters passing between England and India, with related correspondence, February to December 1858. Includes a copy of the Post Office letter received from India, No.15 of 1858, dated 17 September 1858.
• Coll 4, Correspondence regarding the exemption of soldiers' letters from the operation of the rule rendering compulsory the prepayment of postage on letters addressed to the United Kingdom, September 1858 to March 1859. Includes a copy of the Post Office letter received from India, No.2 of 1858, dated 13 December 1858.
• Coll 5, Correspondence with W Grey, Officiating Director General of the Post Office in India, in which it is proposed to charge 8 pence per pound on newspapers sent to and from France and Her Indian settlements in closed packets, January 1857 to January 1859. Includes a copy of the Post Office letter received from India, No.1 of 1859, dated 6 January 1859.

Coll 6 to Coll 31 are the collections to a Despatch from the Government of India to the Secretary of State for India, in the Home Department (Post Office), dated the 10th January 1859, No.2 (extracts from the Despatch are included with each collection):

• Coll 6, Claim of Ensign M O'Donnell, Quarter Master General, 10th Foot at Dinapore, to remuneration for discharging the duties of Post Master at that station, October 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 7, Inquiry by E Impey, Post Master General of Bombay, whether any remuneration was to be granted to officers appointed to the charge of Post Offices under the Notification of the 29th July 1857, August 1857 to February 1858.
• Coll 8, Proposal by H B Riddell, Director General of the Post Offices in India, declined for the restoration of the old line of horse dak from Nagpur to Calcutta via Sambalpur and Midnapore, in consequence of the establishment of the weekly communication with England, and the arrangements adopted instead for strengthening the establishments on the present line along the Grand Trunk Road to Benares, and also on the Benares to Nagpur, and Poona to Nagpur lines, November 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 9, An allowance of 5 rupees per mensem passed to each Inspecting Post Master and Superintendent of Mail Carts for the purpose of providing themselves with stationery, January 1858 to January 1859.
• Coll 10, Entertainment of an Establishment at each of the Post Offices of the three Presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay for the purpose of assisting in the distribution of Mails to the private boxes, February 1858 to January 1859.
• Coll 11, Application for authority to write off to Profit and Loss the sum of rupees 194-4, stated to have been stolen from the persons of two Peons attached to the Office of the Collector of Ganjam, who were conveying the money to be disbursed to the mail runners in the Ganjam District, August 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 12, Difference of opinion between the Madras Government and H B Riddell, Director General of the Post Office in India, as to the authorities to whom subordinates in the Revenue, Police and other Departments were authorised to send letters on the Public Service without payment of postage, December 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 13, Exemption of mail-carts from the payment of tolls at Toll Bars established under Act VIII of 1851, June 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 14, Sanction solicited by the Government of Bombay to certain arrangements proposed by the Commissioner in Sind relative to the time of despatching the mail to and from Karachi, September 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 15, Contract entered into with Dhunjeebhoy Eduljee for three years, from the 1st November 1858, for the supply of horses for the accelerators employed at the General Post Office at Bombay, at a cost of 584 rupees, August 1856 to January 1859.
• Coll 16, Sanction given to an extra expenditure on the several mail lines in the Bombay Presidency to the end of September 1857 on account of the late disturbances, November 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 17, Expenditure of rupees 699-5-4 granted as a bonus for speed to the manjees [master or steersman of a boat or rivercraft] and crew of the mail-boats which conveyed the mails across the Gulf of Cambay from Dandi, near Surat, to Gogo [Gogha], December 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 18, P W Hewett removed from the Office of Inspecting Post Master in Sind and declared incapacitated for holding any appointment under Government, June 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 19, Disbursement of rupees 210-2 incurred on account of an Establsihment which was entertained experimentally at Karachi in Sind, from November 1855 to May 1856, with the view of ascertaining the practicality of establishing a palankeen [palanquin] dak for the conveyance of travellers between Karachi and Tatta, November 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 20, Allowance granted of 150 rupees a month for three months passed to Lieutenant J T Prichard while in charge of the Post Office and Postal lines in the neighbourhood of Jodhpur, July 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 21, Further memorial from Frederick Glen Harrison praying to be restored to his late appointment of Inspecting Post Master in Berar, August 1856 to January 1859.
• Coll 22, Correspondence regarding a disbursement on account of an experimental Camel Goods Train established in Sind, which was stated to have been abolished at the close of April 1856, November 1855 to January 1859.
• Coll 23, Proposition submitted by the Government of Bombay for the establishment of steam communication between that Presidency and Gujarat for the conveyance of mails, May 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 24, Papers relating to a private dak maintained between Calcutta and Murshidabad by His Highness the Nawab Nazim of Bengal, September 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 25, Irregularities in the Post Office at Mymensingh, August 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 26, Question raised by C K Dove, Officiating Post Master General of Bengal, as to whether he was entitled to the occupation of the house attached to the Post Office, his substantive appointment being that of Deputy Post Master, January 1858 to January 1859.
• Coll 27, Correspondence regarding disbursements from May to December 1857 connected with the Bullock Train in Bengal, January 1858 to January 1859.
• Coll 28, Claim at the rate of sixteen rupees a Beegah advanced by Baboo Govind Prosad Pundit for the rent of a piece ground belonging to him, occupied by the Post Office at Satgram, in Zillah Burdwan, August 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 29, Correspondence regarding the good services rendered by Lalla Salig Ram, Head Writer of the Post Master General's Office at Agra, and Baboo Eshan Chunder Mookerjee, Deputy Post Master at Aligarh, during the late rebellion [Indian Mutiny], January 1858 to January 1859.
• Coll 30, Repairs to eight staging bungalows in Rajputana which had been destroyed or damaged by the rebels, December 1857 to January 1859.
• Coll 31, Application by Messrs Mackinnon, Mackenzie and Company for the grant of river frontage and sites for warehouses at each of the ports of Akyab, Rangoon and Moulmein for the use of the mail contract steamers, January 1858 to January 1859.

Further Post Office papers:

• Coll 32, Correspondence reporting on the result of the experimental establishment of a camel banghy post between Karachi and Multan, May 1858 to January 1859. Includes a copy of the Post Office letter received from India, No.3 of 1859, dated 10 January 1859.
• Coll 33, Correspondence with the Officiating Director General of the Post Office in India stating that receipts arising from the sale of the Sind postage labels were included in the Bombay Post Office accounts, and measures had been taken for recalling and destroying those stamps, February 1857 to January 1859. Includes a copy of the Post Office letter received from India, No.4 of 1859, dated 12 January 1859.

Coll 34 to Coll 53 are the collections to a Despatch from the Government of India to the Secretary of State for India, in the Home Department (Post Office), dated the 4th April 1859, No.7 (extracts from the Despatch are included with each collection):

• Coll 34, Question of travelling allowances to officers, the head quarters of whose offices were not confined by any rule or order of Government to any particular place, March 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 35, Reports furnished by the Superintendent of Stamps on the contents of some of the cases of postage stamps received per ships Hougomont, Nile, Marlborough and Ardbeg, May 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 36, Correspondence regarding orders requiring Commanders of every vessel of Her Majesty's Navy to give early intimation to the Post Master of Calcutta of the destination and probable date of departure of their vessels, and to receive on board the mails that may be sent to them, April 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 37, Request of the Madras Government that the Native troops of the Madras Army be permitted to send letters to their wives and families in India free of postage, also letters from the families of European soldiers, under the signature of the Officer Commanding the Depot, January 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 38, Correspondence regarding the increased monthly charge for horses on the line between Madras and Bombay, March 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 39, Correspondence regarding the grant of an allowance of 100 rupees per mensem to Lieutenant W Rose, from the 9th July to the 28th November 1857, while officiating as Post Master of Neemuch, April 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 40, Compensation claimed by Messrs W Keep and Co of Calcutta, on account of loss sustained by them in the destruction of two packages despatched in May 1857 by bullock train from Calcutta to Aligarh, February 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 41, Complaints by E G Chapman, a Merchant of Darjeeling, regarding the delay in the transit of parcels through the Post Office between Calcutta and Darjeeling, and the damaged state in which they were received, May 1856 to April 1859.
• Coll 42, Application from the Director General of the Post Office for the transfer to the East India Railway Company of the right of the Government in a piece of land at Raneegunge, originally taken possession of for the purposes of the Post Office Department, but which had been built upon by the Railway Company, August 1857 to April 1859.
• Coll 43, Correspondence regarding the question as to whether the order of the Government of India of the 9th May 1856 granting an allowance of 100 rupees a month to Mr Dove, the Deputy Post Master General of Calcutta, for the management of the Bullock Train Department, was intended to have retrospective effect from 1st May 1854, March 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 44, Proposal by H B Riddell, Director General of the Post Office of India, to discontinue the practice observed by Post Masters in Bengal, of sending their stationer's bills to the Superintendent of Stationery for audit, and to allow in lieu thereof a small monthly charge to be drawn by the several Deputy Post Masters in the fixed abstract of their offices, March 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 45, Papers containing the explanation submitted by T Garrett, Officiating Deputy Post Master General, and the orders passed thereon, regarding the delay which occurred in the transmission to the Governor General at Allahabad of two boxes containing the thanks of the Houses of Parliament, May 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 46, Renewal of the contract entered into with Nilmoney Coar for the supply of wax cloth, oil, candles, dammer, gunny, gum, and other articles to the General Post Office at Calcutta, for a monthly payment of 741 rupees, March 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 47, Representation by G Paton, Officiating Director General of the Post Office of India, of the large and increasing number of parcels of stamps sent under official frank by the Letter Mail from the office of Superintendent of Stamps, December 1856 to April 1859.
• Coll 48, Bills submitted by W Grey, Officiating Director General of the Post Office of India, on account of disbursements connected with the bullock train in Bengal for the months of January and February 1858.
• Coll 49, Papers relating to the temporary occupation of the Post Office building at Shergotty [Sherghati] by the Naval Brigade at that place, June 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 50, Extension of the bullock train from Bombay to Indore, to Goona [Guna] and ultimately to Gwalior and Agra, as a temporary measure, February 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 51, Application by Dr W Crozier, late Post Master of Jubbulpore, to be relieved of further payment on account of a sum of money embezzled by the Head Writer, April 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 52, Donation of 500 rupees granted to W H McGowan, Post Master of Lahore, in recognition of his services during the disturbances in 1857, April 1858 to April 1859.
• Coll 53, Appeal from W Twemlow, former Inspecting Post Master in Pegu, against a refund of 1,401 rupees, which was exacted from him on account of travelling allowance improperly drawn, January 1855 to April 1859.