Another red letter day

FOR THE Chennai General Post Office, June 1, 2001 was yet another milestone crossed as it marked the completion of 215 long years of service as a public utility.

The second General Post Office in the country was set up at the Fort. St. George, in Madras on June 1, 1786, exactly 12 years after the postal communication system was launched in the sub- continent with the opening of the Calcutta GPO.

Records available with the Tamil Nadu Archives mention how John Burlton, a civilian working with the East India Company, suggested to the Governor the establishment of "a regular tapall upon a plan similar to that of Bengal for receipt of letters which may from thence be conveyed to every part of this settlement." Till then, all letters of the company's employees were despatched free of cost by the Government.

Burlton suggested that the employees ought to pay for the service so that the expenditure incurred on this count could be saved. Thereupon, the Governor obtained information about the "dawk establishment" in Bengal and directed Thomas Lewin to submit a proposal for establishing 'tappies' in the Fort St. George premises. Accordingly, three divisions were formed - one originating from Madras to Ganjam (700 miles), another from Madras to Anjengo (500 miles) and the third to Vellore (100 miles).

For every stage of 12 miles, three harcaras (relay runners) were appointed with a masulohy (torch-bearer) and drummer to scare away wild beasts. A Postmaster General (PMG) was also appointed to take charge of the administration. The budget allocated for the operations during the initial years was 2233 pagodas (Rs. 7,000) annually. The first PMG of the Madras GPO was A.M. Campbell, while the Deputy PMG was Robert Mitford. They were assisted by a writer ("native assistant), five sorters (clerks) a head peon and 10 postmen. Deputy Post Masters were also appointed at Masulipatnam, Ganjam, Tanjore and Anjengo. By 1790, regular weekly despatches were introduced, enabling letters to be conveyed to Bombay in 17 days. The postage for a single letter of two-and-a-half tolas (about 25 grams) was then one fanam (about seven paise) per 100 miles.

With the volume of mail increasing, bullock carts and horse coaches replaced the relay runners. According to a Fort St. George gazette of December 17, 1885, hackney carriages were first introduced between Madras and Elluru, a distance of 300 miles. About 160 horses were hired for this operation at Rs. 16 a horse. In those days, this constituted the largest "mail coach line." Mail to Bangalore was conveyed by jhatka (pony carts) while a bullock cart service operated between Palghat and Calicut.

From the very beginning, the Madras GPO came to be recognised as being exceptionally efficient and oriented towards public service. Its charges were lower than that of Bengal and Bombay, till 1837 (when uniform rates were introduced in all the presidencies). It also has the distinction of introducing "window delivery" in the GPO in 1850. Its staff strength was much bigger than that of the Bombay GPO.

A bold experiment undertaken by the Madras PMG in 1844 relates to the provision of postal facilities to rural areas through what came to be known as "talook tappals and district tappals. "At the village level, tehsildars managed the postal service and district-level collectors or military officers served as ex- officio postmasters in the absence of departmental postmasters. According to a gazette notification, the Collector of South Arcot, the First Magistrate of Cochin and the Military Officer of Trichnopoly acted as ex-officio postmasters in 1850.

By 1854, "receiving houses" were opened in the Vepery, Royalpetta, Triplicane, Black Town and Mount Road areas of Madras city. The GPO maintained a hectic delivery schedule inasmuch as three deliveries were effected between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. These were in addition to the "window delivery" service.

The Madras PMG adopted an innovative measure for announcing the arrival of foreign mail. According to a Fort St. George gazette, a flag (No.7) was raised to make this announcement, later to be replaced by the firing of gunshots. Further, as the gunshots could not be heard in farflung areas on account of expansion of the city, the PMG hit upon the idea of placing placards at various post-offices.

On the introduction of the railways, mail began to be despatched by train from Madras to Bombay, a journey which took 75 hours.

In 1837, the Madras GPO shifted to an old bank building in Fort St. George. It subsequently shifted premises three times before moving to its present red brick premises.

The site was known as Aber Crombie Battry, named after a British nobleman. Today, the building stands out as a symbol of India's progress in the development of postal services.

M. M.INAMDAR

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