Page 80 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

covers despatched from London to Sharjah (postage 7!4d.) on
September 29th and 30th arc back-stamped at Dubai “6 OCT 32”
and ‘‘2 NOV 32” (return flight). Covers sent on the return first flight
from Dubai carried 6% annas postage, normally covered by five of the
then recently-issued King George V Indian la. 3p. stamps. Only 12
covers were carried on this first flight to London and, due to an over­
sight, the stamps were uncanccllcd. The covers were subsequently
returned to Dubai and the stamps were eventually cancelled ‘15 NO
32’ - more than a month after the flight actually took place! At this
time, the original Dubai cancellation was still in use but generally
struck on air mail in violet ink instead of black.

A B.O.
3IJAN.40
-O’

£/AN Si

Type 2

The next cancellation (Type 2) appeared in 1933: it also is
known with the whole date-line inverted (17.1.37). The lower values
of the New Delhi Inauguration issue of 1931 and the Silver Jubilee
issue of 1935 are occasionally found with this cancellation, and it was
also used on the later KG V Indian definitives and on the low value
KG VI definitives of 1937.

THE WAR-TIME EXPERIMENTAL POST OFFICES
Postal Censorship was never established in Dubai and outgoing
mail - which was almost entirely merchants’ letters to Bombay and
Karachi - was censored on arrival at these ports. On Censor marks
and labels ‘C’ indicates Bombay and ‘B’ indicates Karachi.
Nevertheless, between May 6th, 1940 and August 28th, 1942, a
number of covers, which - from the evidence of senders’ addresses —
definitely originated in Dubai or in nearby Sharjah (which had no Post

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