THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE
One of the most important branches of the Post Office is the Railway
Mail Service, which used to be called the Travelling Post Office. The
railways are the arteries through which the very life-blood of the
Department flows, and it is upon the arrangements for the conveyance of
mails by rail that proper postal administration depends. Before 1863
the mail bags were carried in the guard's van if the weight was small,
but when the mail was heavy a separate compartment in charge of a mail
guard was used. As there was no intermediate sorting, every post office
had to make up a packet or bag for every other post office in front,
and these various packets were received and delivered at each station
by the mail guard. In a short time the number of such packets became
quite unmanageable, and the inconvenience and delay in disposing of
them considerable, so that, in order to make it possible to sort the
mails between North-West India and Calcutta, long detentions had to be
made at Allahabad, Cawnpore and Benares, otherwise letters could not
possibly be sent direct to their destinations. In 1860 a solution of
the difficulty was proposed by Mr. Riddell, Director-General of the
Post Office, namely, the establishment of a Travelling Post Office
between Calcutta and Raneegunge, but the Government of India refused
to sanction it. In 1863, however, a sorting section was established
on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway between Allahabad and Cawnpore,
but no regular service was organized until 1870, when the frontier
Travelling Post Office was introduced under a Superintendent with
his head-quarters at Allahabad. In 1877 the designation of this
Officer was altered to Chief Superintendent, T.P.O., and in 1880
to Inspector-General, Railway Mail Service. The Inspector-General
worked as an Assistant Director-General in the Direction until 1890,
but in that year he was placed in a much more independent position
as an administrative officer. Owing to the large increase in the
mileage of the Railway Mail Service it was found impossible for one
man to exercise an efficient control over it, and in 1905 a Deputy
Inspector-General was appointed; but even with his assistance the work
was too heavy, and in 1907 the whole of India was divided into four
circles and each of them placed under the jurisdiction of an officer
designated Inspector-General, Railway Mail Service and Sorting, known
by the wits of the Department as an Inspector-General of sorts. The
gentlemen with this sesquipedalian title control the railways or
portions of railways in their own circles. In 1918 their number was
reduced to three by the abolition of the Southern Circle, and their
designation was altered to Deputy Postmaster-General, Railway Mail
Service.
The main conditions under which a railway should carry mails were laid
down in Clause 20 of the contract made with the East Indian Railway in
1849, and was as follows: "That the said Railway Company will at all
times during the said determinable term convey on the said Railway the
Government mails and post bags and the guards and other servants of
the Post Office in charge thereof free of charge." A similar condition
existed in the contract with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, but
the Companies contended that the conveyance of mails did not include
the haulage of sorting carriages in which sorters were employed. The
Post Office refused to accept this view and nasty things were said on
both sides. The Post Office seemed to think that railways had been
invented for the conveyance of mails without any regard to dividends,
while the railways regarded the Post Office as a confounded nuisance
and its officials as unscrupulous thieves. It was finally settled that
two compartments of a second-class carriage should be set apart and
specially fitted for the Travelling Post Office on ordinary mail trains
free of charge. If a special carriage was required in addition, then
the haulage rate of 1½ annas a mile would be charged, and the rate for
special trains was fixed at Rs.3-8 a mile. With respect to the cost and
maintenance of postal vehicles it was decided that, if they were paid
for by Government in the first instance, the charge for maintenance
only should be incurred, but, if the Companies had to bear the cost of
construction, then the charge should include the cost of maintenance,
the interest on capital and the cost of restoring the vehicles when
worn out.
The settlement between the Post Office and the Railways did not last
long. Despite their acquiescence in the regulations which had been
laid down, the Companies refused to abide by them and repeated demands
were made for the cost of hauling postal vans. On the Great Indian
Peninsula Railway everything possible was done to hamper the work of
the Department, parcel bags were deliberately left behind at stations,
postal vans were cut off at way-side places without any warning and
there never was any certainty that the whole mail would reach its
destination. In 1879 the nuisance became so intolerable that petitions
were made by the public for the interference of Government, and after
some deliberation a settlement was made with this Railway on the
following terms:--
(1) The Post Office was to pay Rs.6000 a month for the ordinary
services performed for it by the Railway, and for this payment a large
fitted van with a well and extra vans for weekly foreign mails would
be supplied.
(2) The price for additional reserved accommodation was raised from 18
to 30 pies a mile on each vehicle.
In 1882 the Government of India prescribed definite sizes for
postal vans and called them standard full and standard half vans,
and arrangements were made with the East Indian and Madras Railways
to accept 8 annas a mile as the haulage of a standard van. Various
agreements were made with the other railways, some of which claimed
payment not for haulage but for the conveyance of bhangy parcels,
and in some cases lump sum payments were made annually to cover all
services. For instance, the Darjeeling Steam Tramway was given a fixed
sum of Rs.10,260 annually, which represented exactly the cost of the
old tonga line between Siliguri and Darjeeling.
The question of haulage of postal vans and of payment for the carriage
of mails was finally settled in connection with State Railways. In 1877
it was ruled by the Governor-General in Council that the conveyance
of mails over State Railways should be paid for. The question was
raised with reference to the conveyance of mails on the Hathras-Muttra
(Provincial) Railway, and it was decided that the actual cost of
carrying the mails on all Imperial and Provincial railways should be
borne by the Post Office. The rules regarding payment on all State
lines, both broad and metre gauge, were:
(1) Eighteen pies per vehicle per mile to be levied in proportion to
the space occupied by the Postal Department.
(2) For mail bags and parcels sent in luggage vans in charge of
railway guards, the amount to be paid was fixed at 1½ pies per maund
(80 lbs.) per mile.
(3) Accounts to be settled half-yearly and the space as well as weight
charged to be adjusted for the six months on the basis of actual space
allotted (as above) and actual weight carried on the 1st June and the
1st December of each year.
(4) All officers and servants of the Postal Department travelling in
the mail compartment to be carried without passes. All officials of
the Travelling Post Office not travelling in the mail compartment to
be carried free on being furnished with passes under the revised free
pass rules. All other officers of the Postal Department to pay usual
fares.
(5) A list to be kept of all free passes issued.
(6) These arrangements to have effect from the 1st April, 1877, and
to remain in force until the 1st April, 1884. All claims against the
Postal Department to be settled in accordance therewith without
delay, and adjusted in the accounts of the current official year. No
arrear adjustment to be made in respect of any claims other than those
arising out of the vehicle charge at 18 pies a mile.
Some misunderstanding seems to have arisen on the State Railways
regarding the half-yearly calculations mentioned in paragraph 3, and
the question of ferry charges upon Railway steamers was also raised.
There was also a certain amount of disagreement about the construction
and maintenance of Post Office vehicles, and on the 23rd May, 1884,
Government issued a Resolution to the following effect:--
(1) That from the 1st April, 1884, and until further orders the
following rules shall determine the payment for the haulage of Post
Office vehicles, etc., on State Railways, and for the conveyance
of mails by State Railway ferry steamers, and that they shall be
applied to the East Indian Railway under the terms of Clause 18 of the
Company's contract.
(2) With reference to the ruling laid down by the Government of
India Public Works Department Circular No. 7R, dated the 3rd April,
1877, that the actual expenses incurred for the carriage of mails
on all Imperial and Provincial Railways shall be paid by the Postal
Department, the charges on all State lines, both broad and metre
gauge, for the carriage of mails shall be based on a fixed rate of
18 pies per vehicle per mile, and shall be levied in proportion to
the space actually allotted to the Postal Department on its own
requisition.
(3) For mail bags and parcels sent in luggage vans in charge of
Railway guards the amount to be paid by the Postal Department shall
be 1 pie per maund per mile. Under this rule mails may be despatched
either
(_a_) as a regular daily service according to lists supplied to the
Traffic Managers for each half-year; or
(_b_) as occasional despatches not provided for in the list, a voucher
being given for each despatch; occasional despatches should be
restricted to a weight of 5 maunds for each despatch.
(4) In addition to the above, a charge equal to 4½ per cent per annum
on the original cost shall be paid by the Postal Department for all
vans or parts of carriages, built or altered on its own requisition
since the 1st January, 1878, for the exclusive use of the Post Office.
(5) In the event of the mileage run on the requisition of the Post
Office officials by any special postal vans and compartments specially
fitted for Post Office work (so as to be unuseable with convenience
for ordinary traffic) being in any half-year greater in one direction
than in the other, the charge for haulage shall be made, not on actual
distance run, but on double the highest run in one direction. For
this purpose the Railway Administration will keep a register of the
up and down daily mileage of all special postal vans or compartments
as aforesaid, but this mileage is not to be used as the basis of a
charge against the Postal Department in supersession of the procedure
laid down in paragraph 8 below unless there is a considerable
difference between the requisitioned up and down mileages.
(6) With respect to the conveyance of mails by State Railway ferry
steamers where the distance traversed is 10 miles and less, an
addition on account of the ferry should be made to the bill for
railway service, calculated at the same mileage rate as the railway
charge laid down in paragraph 2, but the addition shall not be less
than 8 annas for each trip across the river.
(7) When the ferry service is over 10 miles and reserved sorting
accommodation is not required or provided on board, the charge shall
be separately calculated at the rate of 1 pie per maund per mile. If
reserved accommodation is required, the rate of charge will be the
same as for a whole carriage, viz. 18 pies per mile.
(8) Accounts are to be settled half-yearly, and the space as well as
weight to be paid for shall be adjusted for the six months on the
basis of actual space allotted (paragraph 2) and actual weight carried
(paragraphs 3(_a_) and 7) on the 1st June and the 1st December of each
year, or on such other date as may be mutually agreed upon. It is to
be assumed that the actual service, inclusive of mileage, rendered
on these dates is constant throughout the six months. Payments under
paragraph 3(_b_) will be made monthly on bills supported by vouchers.
Regarding interest on capital outlay (paragraph 4) and the mileage of
special postal vans (paragraph 5), the accounts should be rendered for
the half-year ending the 31st May and the 30th November. The bills for
the services rendered to the Postal Department by State Railways should
be made out as above, submitted for acceptance in the months of January
and July and adjusted in the accounts for February and August in each
year, excepting bills for occasional despatches (paragraph 3_b_) which
will be adjusted in the month after presentation of the bills.
(9) All officers and servants of the Postal Department travelling in
the Post Office vans or compartments shall be carried without passes.
All officers of the Railway Mail Service and the officers and employés
named in Government of India letter No. 2604R of 16th January, 1879,
not so travelling will be carried free on being furnished with passes
under the State Railways Free Pass Rules. All other officers of the
Postal Department will pay the ordinary fares.
(10) A list shall be kept of all free passes issued and periodically
recorded in the minutes of official meetings.
All the larger railways in their renewed contracts with Government have
agreed to accept these State Railways Rules for the conveyance of mails.
In 1886 the Government of India Public Works Department issued the
following addenda to the above:
(1) In addition to the above the Postal Department shall hereafter
pay, in the first instance, the original cost of building or fitting
up all vans or parts of carriages required for its use as well as the
cost, when no longer required by the Post Office, of reconverting them
for railway purposes.
(2) The Postal Department shall also pay interest at 4½ per cent on
the original cost of all vehicles now in use, built or altered on
its own requisition since the 1st January, 1878, for the exclusive
use of the Post Office until such time as it may desire to repay the
aforesaid original cost.
These are the rules that still govern the dealings between the Post
Office and railways, and at the risk of being wearisome I have quoted
them _in extenso_. In 1910 the Railway Conference Association started
an agitation that the haulage rates paid were insufficient, and that by
comparison with those paid for goods they were performing the work of
the Post Office at a considerable loss. The result of an inquiry into
their demands for an increase was an offer from the Director-General
to increase the rate on broad-gauge lines to 24 pies a mile and to
retain the existing rate of 18 pies on narrow-gauge lines. This offer
was accepted provisionally by the Railway Conference Association in
1913, but the narrow-gauge railways were not very enthusiastic about an
arrangement which put four hundred thousand rupees annually into the
pockets of their colleagues and gave them nothing but the honour and
glory of having deprived the Post Office of a portion of its earnings.
Until the last few years the Railway Mail Service was by far the most
unpopular branch under the administration of the Post Office. The
pay was bad, the hours of duty were long, the work was trying and
the discomfort of the old postal vans baffled description. In the
hot weather they were like ovens and, being closed in with sorting
cases, it was difficult to get a through current of air. The lighting,
provided by indifferent oil lamps, was injurious to the sight and
did not lend itself to accurate sorting. The sorters started life on
Rs.15 a month; they could not ordinarily hope for more than Rs.60 at
the end of thirty years' service, and the result was an inefficient
and discontented body of men with not a small proportion of rogues.
Since the beginning of the present century the immense importance
of the Railway Mail Service to the proper working of the Department
has been recognized. Salaries have been greatly increased, and the
best sorters are picked for appointments as inspectors and Assistant
Superintendents. The vans have been improved, and the bogies in which
the large sections work are comparatively comfortable. They are fitted
with electric light and fans, and work is carried on in them under
the most favourable conditions. In the old days a continuous duty of
twelve hours in the train was an ordinary occurrence, and it is not a
matter for surprise that men, exhausted by hard work and travel in a
temperature of 110 degrees, made absurd mistakes. The length of the
beats has now been reduced, rest houses have been provided at the
out-stations and every man gets a sufficient time off duty upon his
return to head-quarters. The new conditions have attracted men of much
higher qualifications and position, and it has now been found possible
to entrust the R.M.S. with almost the whole sorting of the Post Office.
In important offices sorting for the outward mail is usually performed
in a mail office at the railway station, the great advantage being
that skilled men are employed and that, by concentrating the work in
one place, economy both in staff and bags is effected. For instance, if
the Calcutta G.P.O. and its sixty-three town sub-offices each perform
their own sorting they must each make up separate bags or bundles for a
large number of important towns and R.M.S. sections with which they are
in postal communication; but if they despatch their mail to a central
sorting office, that office, as it deals with a far greater number
of articles, will be in a position to make up direct bags for a very
much larger number of places, like Bombay, Cawnpore, Agra, Lucknow and
Delhi, thereby saving labour in handling and sorting articles in the
running sections. It is an axiom of the Post Office that no work should
be thrown on a running section which can be performed in a stationary
one, the expense being in the ratio of 3 to 1 in staff alone, not to
mention the cost of haulage.
Concentration of sorting, although admirable for large towns, is not
without its drawbacks. Where the system exists, postmasters are no
longer answerable for the disposal of the outward mail, and they are
unable to make any direct inquiry into public complaints regarding
the loss or missending of articles. As all the sorting is thrown on
one mail office, it is necessary for the various post offices which
serve it to close their mails sooner than they would if direct bags
were prepared for the travelling sections, so that the latest time of
posting has to be fixed at an earlier hour and the public suffer some
inconvenience, especially in places remote from the station. A certain
amount of double handling also occurs in towns with a large local
delivery, in which case the mail has to be overhauled before despatch
in order to pick out the local articles. Despite these drawbacks, the
system is undoubtedly a good one whenever the postings of a number of
offices can be concentrated in one mail office, but in small towns it
is preferable for the post office to do its own sorting. Supervision is
better, and the sorters can be used for other work. A solution of the
difficulty might be found by placing the control of all the important
through services under one Director of Mails with a few assistants
to help him in supervision, and it has been suggested that probably
the best results would be obtained if the Postmasters-General were
responsible for both the sorting arrangements and the discipline of the
staff upon all the railways within their circles. The present system
of having different officers in charge of R.M.S. circles has caused
a great deal of correspondence and not unfrequently means divided
counsels. It has estranged the heads of postal circles from one of the
most important branches of postal work, namely, the conveyance of mails
by railway. At the same time, the Railway Mail Service work requires
expert knowledge, and it is important that each railway should have
to deal with only one man in the matter of the conveyance of mails
within its system. This could not be done if Postmasters-General were
in charge, as many railways pass through several postal circles. The
question is full of difficulties, and after careful consideration it
has been decided not to interfere with the existing arrangements, but
to provide a closer co-ordination between the officers in charge of
Railway Mail Service circles.