Page 244 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

218 Part III

107—198. Tho Nndhir on 27th April 1893 refuser! to give up to the post
office tho undelivered parcels, n9 he, ho said, had received no instructions
from Constantinople.*

(x) Insurance of Parcels to Baghdad,
199. Tho post offices in the Porsinn Gulf and Turkish Arabia have always
beon treated ns part of tho Indian Inland post and when the postal insurance
By stem was introduced in India in 1877 it was oxtended to these post offices.
At Baghdad, Jewish and Armenian traders eagerly availed thcmsolves of tho
insured parc-1 post for tho exportation of specie. Tho total declared value
insured rose from 11s. 26,677 in 1878*79 to Kb. 14,62,362 in 1884 and during
1882-83 it. was computed at two lakhs of rupees a month, eloquent testimony
to tho unbounded confidence placed by tho people in the British Indian Post
Office. With tho exception of an interruption during two months of 1882,
while the goneral question of parcel mails was under discussion, tho system
continued till its final abolition in 1886 which was decided upon for various
reasons.
200. In March 1884 the Agents, Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation
Company, addressed (he Consul-General, Baghdad, with a view to his bringing
to tho notice of the Indian Postal authorities their intention that the carriage
of specie under the guise of insured post parcels was not contemplated when
the mail contract of lb7o was entered upon, and that owing to the constantly
increasing valuo of the specie then remitted to India through tho channel of
the post office, they (the Agents) had represented to the Board of the Company
in London that the extent of tho liability if auy, which attached to the Com­
pany should he settled in the event of any parcel being lost. They further
pointed out that the Company was bound to carry specie free of freight only
“ for tho actual use of H. M.’s Government,” und that it was never contem­
plated that specie would be shipped by the post office as mails on behalf of the
general public. They pointed out that the loss of specie freight was severely
felt by the Company and bogged that tho insurance system might be abolished
in respect to the Baghdad post office.
201. In forwarding this letter to the Government of India, the Consul-General,
Mr. T. C. Plowdcn, brought tho whole
External A, December 1864, Nos. 146*169.
question of postal insuranco under review.
He was of opinion from the provisions of the contract of 1875 that the Company
could not be made liable for the loss of any parcel containing specie and
represented that tho transhipment from the river to the ocean steamer at Basrah
was attended with great risk. Tho Company’s contention that tho carriage
of specie in the mails constituted an injury to their trade was just, and on
this subject Mr. Plowden wrote:—'* I find that for the twelve months ending
31st December 1883 the total valuo of the insured parcels despatched from
Baghdad amounted to Rs. 18,38,062, aud that the whole of this sum except
about Rs. 10,000 was specie. In consequence of the competition of the Post
Office the Company’s charge for specie is £ per cent. At this rate tho freight
on the abovementioned sum (say, in round numbers, 18 lakhs) would amount
to Rs. 9,000. But if tho post office competition were withdrawn the rate
would of course bo raised. Thus during the two months of 1882 referred to by
the Agents, the Company’s charge for freight was immediately raised to 1J
ppr cent., a rate which on 18 lakhs would yield Rs. 27,000 per annum. • *
• # * I think that the Company’s complaint of injury
to their legitimate trado through tho operations of the post office has some
foundation and deserves consideration, because the operations in question are
not carried on within the jurisdiction of the Government of India, hut in the
Ottoman dominious where British merchants conduct their business under many
special disadvantages and risks.” It certainly was a hardship that the Company
should have to enter into competition with tho post office as well and the

*Vor liter history sec Chapter XII, Section (xrlii).