Page 106 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

From the opening of the Post Office in January 1915 Indian stamps
without overprint continued in use and their origin can only be recognised
by the cancellation. That shown as Type 1 was in use from early 1915;
and the other (Type 2), which was probably intended as a Delivery back-
stamp, is known cancelling stamps from 1916; these arc almost certainly
the ‘seals’ brought by the Postal Peon in 1904. The wide central bands
were intended to accommodate time, as well as date, of posting and this
accounts for the high or low position of the date within these bands:
Type 1A illustrates one of the very rare occasions on which someone
bothered to put the time slugs in! Despite their use during the war years,
when it could be expected that Kuwait’s proximity to the Mesopotamian
Campaign would have led to greatly increased postal business, neither of
these cancellations is easy to find and arc rare on cover.

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The stamps used were the Indian K.G.V. Single Star watermark
issue without overprint; but it is unusual to find values other than Yl
anna, 1 anna and Ir. and 5r. postally used. Indian Service stamps of
K.E.VII and K.G.V, are known postally used but are exceedingly scarce.
Indian postal stationery items were also used without overprint.

During the 1914-18 War a telegraph line was erected between
Kuwait and Basra (it still stood until about 1950); it was, undoubtedly,
originally a military telegraph line but must have later become available
to the public, possibly after the war. A telegraphic cancellation (Type
3) is known only in 1919 cancelling thirty-two 2a. Indian stamps on the
reverse of an application for registration of the telegraphic address of

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