PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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Reference :-
C.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPĤ—NOT TO
History of the Postal Union.
Pre-union postal arrange- ments.
British packet services.
Postal
59 a
No. 24A.
THE BRITISH COLONIES AND THE POSTAL UNION,
A brief account of the formation of the UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION, its gradual extension to the various parts of the BRITISH EMPIRE, and the reasons which have hitherto deterred the AUSTRALASIAN and SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES from joining the Union. 1. The question of the entry of the Australasian and South African Colonies into the Postal Union, so often referred to of late, is one of very long standing, having indeed been raised shortly after the Union was founded in 1974.
2. A brief statement of Postal Union principles and of their gradual application to the postal systems throughout the greater part of the world, will conduce to an under- standing of the present attitude of those portions of the British Empire which still
remain outside.
3. Before the Union was formed the postal relations of the world were regulated by a multitude of international treaties, conventions, and departmental agreements, displaying great variety; and even the fundamental principles at work were most difficult to define. It may be said in general terms that the means of communication were provided by those countries which found it most to their interest to set them up. No prescriptive right of transit existed; but transits through intermediate countries were the subject of special arrangement, as were also sea-transits performed by one country for another. Rates of postage were fixed according to circumstances, and were apportioned according to circumstances between the country of origin and the country of destination; and the international accounts were based upon the actual correspondence sent in each mail. In negotiating the numerous treaties and conventions framed to regulate all these matters, every country of course made the best bargain it could for itself on each occasion; and thus arose an endless variety of rates and apportionments, involving much labour in official correspondence and accounts.
4. Communications with British Colonies, as indeed with most important countries beyond sea, was provided to a very large extent by Great Britain; and in the case of regular packet contracts a service in both directions was provided as a rule. The cost of the packet services between England and her Colonies was mainly borne by the mother country; and the sea postage was usually retained by the Imperial Post Office.
5. The enormous development of the postal system under the auspices of steam development. communication had led, by about the year 1860, to an appreciation, among departmental chiefs, of the inadequacy of the means for regulating international postal relations. Paris Postal After some discussion by correspondence, a Conference was held at Paris in 1863, at the instance of the United States Post Office; and at that Conference delegates from most of the chief national post offices met to discuss the principles upon which the postal business between various countries should be conducted. No general agreement was come to on that occasion, and it was not till more than ten years later that the move- ment thus inaugurated came to maturity.
Conference of 1863.
Berne Postal Congress of 1874.
Postal Union principles.
Union founded in 1874. Treaty of Berne; ite scope.
6. On the second occasion the subject was attacked in good earnest in all its bearings. The principles which it was now desired to substitute for the status quo were—
1st. That a common régime should be accepted throughout the whole postal service,
to be regulated by a single treaty:
2nd. That the right of transit by land or by sea should be guaranteed by every
country to every other country:
3rd. That the onus of providing for the conveyance of mails should rest on the country of origin, all intermediate services used by such country being paid for at fixed rates, and upon the basis of periodical statistics :
4th. That every country shonld keep the whole of its postage collections, whether on prepaid or on unpaid correspondence, so as to sweep away the great mass of detailed international accounts.
7. Upon this basis the Postal Union was founded in 1874, under the title of the General Postal Union; and the relative International Treaty was signed at Berne on the 9th of October in that year. It did not at first embrace lands beyond Europe, with the exception of Asiatic Russia and Turkey, Egypt, and the United States of America. The treaty took effect from the 1st of July 1875, France being the only country of Europe which did not at once adhere to the Union, and even the British Post Office at Malta being included. Six months later, France, with Algeria and Monaco, entered the Union, as did also-Gibraltar.
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8. The conditions on which it was permissible for countries beyond sea to obtain Special admission were, in the first instance, somewhat restrictive. It was laid down by the conditions Treaty of Berne that such countries should at first submit to a settlement as to the cost beyond sea.
for places of sea conveyance in their proposed relations with the countries forming the Union, and also that an understanding between those particular countries having postal conventions or direct relations with the applicants should precede admission. And, oven after these preliminaries, it was open to any union country to raise objection to the proposed accession.
9. In 1876, British India and the French Colonies standing for admission to the India and
Entry of Union, a special conference was held at Berne to settle the terms upon which they French should be admitted. The price payable by one country to another for sea conveyance Colonies. over distances exceeding 300 miles was then fixed at 25 franes a kilogramme for letters Berne special and post cards, and 1 franc a kilogramme for other articles; and all preliminary arrange of 1876.
Conference ments being settled among the post offices concerned, British India and the French Cost of sea- Colonies entered the Union in July 1876. On the 1st of April 1877, a large extent of transit fixed. British territory beyond sea was added to the Union on the same special conditions, Entry of viz, Ceylon, Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements, Labuan, Mauritius and the Seychelles, Colonies cast Jamaica, Trinidad, British Guiana, and Bermuda.
other
and west.
10. In 1978 a second full Congress was held at Paris; and the Union was renamed Paris Postal the Universal Postal Union on the occasion of the door being thrown open to the whole Congress of world by means of a revision of the treaty, under which any state, country, or colony 1878. could claim admission simply by giving assurance that it was prepared to carry out the The Union stipulations of the Convention as revised at Paris.
becomes potentially
11. The maximum amount payable for sea conveyance over long distances was on universal. this occasion reduced from 25 to 15 francs a kilogrammet for letters and post cards, the Cost of sea- payment for other articles being left unaltered.
transit
Entry of Canada; foundland.
12. The new Convention was signed on the 1st of June 1878, and came into force reduced. on the 1st of April 1879. In the meantime the Dominion of Canada had adhered to it, Paris
Convention of and had actually entered the Union on the 1st of July 1878; in the following December Cyprus New the island of Cyprus entered under British auspices; and in January 1879, Newfound- British Hon land, British Honduras, the Falkland Islands, and the West African Colonies of Sierra Sierra Le Leone, Lagos, the Gold Coast, and Gambia were added.
duras, Falklands;
Lacos, Gold Const, Gambia.
hamas, Wind-
Islands, Barba
all America:
güese, Buteli,
Colonies; Persia,
Hayti; 8. Domin. Republic, Sand-
13. In July 1879, the Leeward Islands (Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, Leewards. By St. Kitts, and the Virgin Islands) became a part of the Union; a year later the Bahamas wards, Turks were added; on the first of February 1881, the Windward Islands of Tobago, St. Lucia, dos, St. Vincent; and Grenada, as well as Turk's Islands, adopted the new system; and in the following Spanish, Portu September the entry of the West Indies into the Union was completed by the adherence and Danish of Barbados and St. Vincent. Outside British dominions the movement has been so Japan, Siam: rapid and steady that, at the present moment, the whole continent of North, South, and go: Hondur Central America, the whole of the colonial possessions of Spain, Portugal, Holland, and wich Islands Denmark, the empires of Persia, Japan, and Siam, the Republic of Hayti, the Dominican Liberia; Congo Republic, the Sandwich Islands, Liberia, and even the Congo Free State, are included in the Union.
British
14. Immediately on the formation of the Union in 1874, steps had been taken to Special make the British Colonies generally aware of the conditions under which it would be conditions competent to them to apply for admission. Her Majesty's Government considered that of entry for the entry of the Colonies would be inore beneficial to the Colonial communities than to Colonies. those at home; and, while not wishing to enforce at first a rigid adherence to the Union system as to division of expense, the Treasury laid down in the first instance that any additional loss incurred by Great Britain through the reduction of postage consequent on such entry should be evenly shared with the mother country by any Colony entering.
15. These terms were very widely accepted by the Colonies, and the Union system Disappear- has worked so well in our Colonial Empire that most of the Colonies with which ance of communication is maintained by means of British contract packets now carry out the special con- Union principles in their integrity, and bear their estimated share of the loss on the ditions, and packet service. By this means there has grown up within the Union a kind of postal strict Union aloption of federation of a very large part of the British Empire; for, in this important matter of principles. mail communication, the mother country, India, Ceylon, Hong Kong, the Straits Settle- A British inents, and the West Indies, may now be said to support by partnership the great lines Federation, of packets connecting those portions of the Empire.
• This sum is about equivalent to 24d. a letter of average weight.
† The rate of 15 francs a kilogramme is equal to about 14d. a letter of average weight.
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Postal