Page 84 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

mails in wartime, particularly when one considers that at this time mail
from Bahrain, of strategic importance with its oil refinery, was being
sent to Bombay and to Karachi by sea.
So far as the mail to Karachi is concerned, it would seem to be
impossible, even by air, for letters to be delivered in Karachi by noon
on the day following despatch from Dubai - including the time
required for Censorship on arrival in Karachi.
Apart from this transit-time factor, another aspect mitigates
against the K-46 canceller having been used in Dubai. Had this been
the case, the three letters to Bombay on which this canceller was used
would have been bagged before despatch; and it is known that bagged
mail for Bombay was, at this time, censored on arrival in Bombay.
These three letters were, however, censored in Karachi, and
would only have been censored there if they were landed as loose un­
bagged mail, or if they were included in bagged mail for Bombay which,
through war conditions, was landed at Karachi and sent on to Bombay
by rail (a Kuwait to Bombay surface cover of November 5th, 1941 was
landed at Karachi on December 6th, censored, and marked “Despatched
by Rail Route to avoid Detention”). In such circumstances it would
be quite impossible for letters to have reached Bombay from Dubai !
within the 5—6 days between cancellation and delivery date-stamps.
Finally, there is no record in Dubai P.O. of these Experimental
P.O. cancellations ever having been used there, nor could members of
the staff employed in the Post Office in 1941-1942 recall them.
Whatever the reason for their use, it appears likely that these
cancellations could only have been used in Karachi. Indeed, there is
some evidence to indicate that both Experimental P.Os were established
- possibly in conjunction with the Postal Censor Department — to
handle mail ‘in transit’ through Karachi; and it would be logical for
such an office to receive from the ship’s Purser, along with the bagged
mail, any loose letters which had been posted on board; and that
office would have to cancel the stamps, possibly after the letters had
been censored.

The most feasible explanation is that both these cancellations
were applied in Karachi to unbagged letters which mainly originated
in the Persian Gulf States and which had been posted on board the
B.I.S.N. Mail Steamers (mostly at Dubai) and landed at Karachi,

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