Page 9 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

Sir Edmund Hilary was only enabled to climb Everest by the
great endeavours of the earlier climbers. Likewise, the Postal Historian
must, inevitably, dip his pen in the ink of earlier students - Renouf,
Eldon Ellison, Jal Cooper, Tomkins and Robson Lowe amongst them;
brave men who stepped out into the unknown and prepared a path for
others to follow. With hind-sight and increased knowledge, it is very
easy to see their mistakes; but, if it had not been for their foundations,
nothing further could ever have been written.
In like manner, future students will sec where 1 went wrong;
indeed, there will no doubt be present-day students of this fascinating
philatelic area who will immediately be able to point out the error of
my ways! Before they castigate me, however, let them consider that,
though lzaak Walton might write “The Compleat Angler”, nobody
will ever be able to write “The Complete Postal History”. Even as this
goes to press, a hitherto completely unk.iv ■ • and, almost certainly,
the first - Muscat datestamp, used in ■> . ‘ >67, has bet • found!
The Handbook has been large, i a series • . :icles
which appeared in ‘Stamp Collecting* >.■ ars 1970 they,
of necessity, did not record as much dct. ow includ . . I hope
that the inevitable change of Type Num- .. not incor.v; ..cnee
anyone.

Previous writers have covered the whole area under a general
title of‘India used in the Persian Gulf; but I am convinced that this
is too large a field to cover in great detail. There are three distinct
areas - Eastern Arabia, Persia and Iraq - all of which had Indian Postal
Agencies at one time or another and for very differing reasons; and 1
believe that they should all be considered separately. Moreover it
was only the first of these three areas which later had British Postal
Agencies.
■ ■'S
Geographers will query the inclusion of Guadur under the
heading of ‘Arabian Agencies’; but this has been done because it was,
until 1958, a dependency of Muscat - and certainly does not fall
within the sphere of the Postal Agencies in Persia. Indian and, until
September 1958, Pakistani stamps used in Guadur were very definitely
‘Used Abroad’, even though Guadur lay within the boundaries of India,

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