The Postage Stamp in War Part 3

Tientsin to Peking 12.00

Tientsin to Tongku 7.20

Tongku to Tientsin 9.10

Tongku to Tongshan 9.50

Tongshan to Tongku 8.30

Tongshan to Shanhaikwan 7.30

Shanhaikwan to Tongshan 8.47

J. R. L. MACDONALD.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 69]

About the same period India had military post offices with the troops engaged on the Swat frontier and against the Waziris. Field Post Office No. 25 was the office at Camp Khar on the Swat Frontier, Nos.

5A and 22 were respectively at Zam and Jani Khel in connection with the blockading of the Mahsud Waziris (_Type of Fig._ 70).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 70]

Indian stamps were also used by the forces engaged in the Somaliland campaign of 1903-4, at first without overprint, of which the following are types of the postmarks (_Figs._ 71, 72):

[Ill.u.s.tration: 71 72 73 74]

and during 1903 stamps of India appeared overprinted for use in British Somaliland (_Fig._ 73).

Colonel Younghusband's mission to the Tibetan Government was accompanied by army postal service which set up its base in the Chumbi valley, and during the occupation of the forbidden city a field post office was set up at Lha.s.sa. Indian stamps used on this mission are recognisable by the postmarks of Lha.s.sa, including two mis-spellings of the name LAHa.s.sA (_Fig._ 74), and LAHSSA (_Fig._ 75).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 85A]

The Indian forces in South Africa also had their own postal establishment, with a special series of postmarks.

In the present campaign the Indian forces are accompanied by fully-equipped field postal arrangements, and following up the precedent of the China Expeditionary Force, the Indian Expeditionary Force in Europe is furnished with a set of current Indian postage stamps, cards, etc., overprinted I.E.F. (_Figs._ 76-85). The Indian troops enjoy free postage on unregistered letters and postcards posted to the United Kingdom, France, and India, but correspondence to all other countries, such as Switzerland, Holland, Scandinavia, and the rest of the world has to be prepaid with I.E.F. stamps, as also the parcels and registered letters for all countries.

The next figure (85A) ill.u.s.trates the type of base post office mark used in France, and no doubt similar marks are being used on these stamps supplied to the Indian forces engaged in Egypt and elsewhere during the present war. _Fig._ 85B although not definitely identified is probably an Indian army postmark in use in France.

The first instalment of the "I.E.F." Indian stamps issued to troops included:

3 pies, grey (Fig. 76), 230,400 stamps.

anna, green (Fig. 77), 768,000 "

1 anna, rose-carmine (Fig. 78), 422,400 "

2 annas, mauve (Fig. 79), 204,800 "

2 annas, ultramarine (Fig. 80) 51,200 "

3 " orange-brown (Fig. 81), 51,200 "

4 " olive (Fig. 82), 51,200 "

8 " purple (Fig. 83), 25,600 "

12 " dull claret (Fig. 84), 25,600 "

1 rupee, green and brown (Fig. 85), 9600 "

and the following supplies of postcards and envelopes.

anna inland postcard, single, 1800 reams anna inland postcard, reply, 700 "

1 anna international single postcard, 100 "

anna envelopes, small size, 1100 "

[Ill.u.s.tration: 85B.]

CHAPTER III.

SOUTH AFRICAN WARS.--Transvaal--Orange River Colony--Krugersdorp-- Kuruman--Lydenburg--Mafeking--Pietersburg--Rustenburg--Schweizer Renecke--Volksrust--Vryburg--Wolmaranstad--The Union--South African War of 1914.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 86 87]

TRANSVAAL. The stamps of the Transvaal ill.u.s.trate the important changes through which the country has pa.s.sed during the past forty years. _Fig._ 86 represents an early stamp of the Republic, while the next figure (_Fig._ 87) is just one example of several denoting the annexation of the country by the British in 1877. There are several types of the "V.R. Transvaal" overprint, as in _Figs._ 88-90.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 88 89 90]

These were followed by stamps bearing the portrait of the British Sovereign (_Fig._ 91). A great blow to British prestige was struck in 1881, and the result of the disaster of Majuba Hill was the establishment of a Second Republic which in its turn overprinted the Queen Victoria stamps with a Dutch inscription "Een Penny"

(_Fig._ 92), subsequently returning to the original Arms design of South African Republic stamps (_Fig._ 86).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 91 92 93]

Just before the outbreak of the last South African War in 1899 the ascendancy of President Kruger had led to the ambition to see his features depicted upon the postage stamps of his country, and a new stamp design (_Fig._ 93) was prepared for this purpose, and a special paper was manufactured watermarked Z.A.R. (Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek) as ill.u.s.trated in _Fig._ 94. But the stamp was never issued, and the quant.i.ty of the "Z.A.R." paper was sold and used for purposes very different from that for which it was prepared. In 1900, after the late Lord Roberts' march to Pretoria, the contemporary South African Transvaal stamps came under British control again, and were issued at first with the overprinted initials of Queen Victoria, V.R.I. (_Fig._ 95), and later of King Edward, E.R.I. (_Fig._ 96).

These were superseded in due course by the London printed issue of Transvaal stamps bearing the portrait of King Edward (_Fig._ 97).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 94 95 96 97]

ORANGE RIVER COLONY. On March 17, 1900, Field Marshal Lord Roberts issued the following

PROCLAMATION.

"Whereas it is deemed expedient and necessary for the welfare of the Orange Free State that the Postal Service shall be resumed in the aforesaid Republic as far as circ.u.mstances permit.

"Now therefore,

"I, Frederick Sleigh, Baron Roberts of Khandahar, K.G., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., V.C., Field Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in South Africa, do hereby nominate and appoint David George Amosi Falck Administrator of the Civil Posts in such portions of the Orange Free State as have been or may hereafter be occupied by British troops.

"And I do hereby order that the Postal and Telegraph Services shall be resumed in the portions of the aforesaid Republic already referred to, from the nineteenth day of March, 1900, under the existing Laws and Conventions of the Orange Free State, subject to such alterations as may from time to time be notified.

Given under my hand at Bloemfontein this seventeenth day of March, 1900.

G.o.d SAVE THE QUEEN.