Читать книгу Antigua - Frederick John Melville - Страница 4
ОглавлениеEarly Postal Arrangements.
Antigua is one of the five Presidencies, and is the seat of government of the Leeward Islands Colony. Two lesser islands, Barbuda and Redonda, are Dependencies. Antigua has an area of 108 square miles, population 32,000; Barbuda, sixty-two square miles; and Redonda. The chief town is St. John's, with a population of 9,300.
Discovered by Columbus, in 1493, the island was named after the church of Santa Maria la Antigua in Seville; its first settlement was 1632, when a few settlers went there from St. Christopher. The island was bestowed by patent of King Charles II. on Lord Willoughby, in 1663, when a large number of colonists were sent out. In 1667, a French raid from Martinique took possession of the island, but it was restored to the British by the Treaty of Breda in the same year.; it has since remained a British Possession.
The comparative prosperity of the colony, chiefly producing sugar, with its extracts molasses and rum, and cotton, has suffered frequent and serious set-backs from hurricanes, earthquakes and fire, but has always made a good recovery. In 1854, the Treasurer of the island, Thomas Price, wrote, "Antigua is like a cat with nine lives; she somehow always lights upon her legs."
In common with other West Indian islands, the "Antegoa" is specified in the list of postage rates prescribed in the Act 9 Anne c. 10 (1710) and its early postal history runs parallel with that of Nevis, Jamaica, etc., already outlined in this series of monographs. Until May 1st, 1860, the postal arrangements of the colony were controlled by the British Postmaster-General from London. An internal post was set up by the island authorities in March, 1841, between St. John's and English Harbour, under the postmastership of Mr. Scotland, but this was a tentative arrangement, pending receipt of instructions from London, and it was probably interrupted by the destructive fire, which did extensive damage to the commercial quarters of St. John's on April 2nd, 1841.
The Rev. C. S. Morton has traced some interesting correspondence concerning local and official complaints against the postmaster, Mr. Scotland, a member of a noted family in Antigua. The Governor, through his Assistant Private Secretary, complained of delays in delivering despatches, and required the postmaster to transmit all letters immediately they were received to the office of the Assistant Private Secretary. Mr. Scotland courteously declined, and he was upheld by the Postmaster-General:
1.—The duties of Postmaster of this island are already sufficient to occupy his close attention.
2.—He cannot leave his office, and his income forbids him employing a clerk or messenger.
3.—There is no precedent in any Post Office in the West Indies for so doing.
On appeal to London, the Postmaster-General replied that "no provision was made or was considered necessary in any Colony for the delivery of letters and despatches otherwise than at the Post Office. If, however, the Governor specially desired, the Postmaster could employ a special messenger, but at His Excellency's expense."
The Postmaster's salary was £80 a year, a remuneration Mr. Scotland received from 1840 until his death in February, 1850.
Of this officer of the Posts in a distant Colony, a surveyor sent out on two occasions from London to investigate complaints concerning the postal service, reported: "I know no postmaster by whom the duties are performed more correctly or more creditably; the only cause of his unpopularity (as connected with the office of Postmaster) is his strict acting up to the regulations of the Department, and refusing to deviate therefrom in the smallest instance, this circumstance lays him open to the charge of causing inconvenience to the public."
At this period, letters arriving by the Mail Packets at English Harbour, were sent round to St. John's by boat, and there was an omnibus company which conveyed inland letters by road between the two towns. A proposal to establish an official postal route by road between the two places, involving as it would the setting up of a post office at English Harbour, with a postmaster in charge, was turned down as too costly. The omnibus company offered to undertake the conveyance of mails thrice weekly, in each direction, at a charge of £31 4s. per annum. This, with an allowance of £10 for the Postmaster at English Harbour, meant an expenditure of £41 4s., while the postage fees were estimated at fourpence per letter, to produce but £26.
Mr. Scotland's daughter, Mrs. Mary Cumming, succeeded to the office of Postmaster on February 15th, 1850, and in forwarding an application for an increased remuneration, the Governor, who stated she was "satisfactory and obliging," pointed out that the salaries of the post office of St. Kitts and Dominica were £120 and £100 respectively, while at Antigua, where the duties were more important and laborious, the remuneration amounted to no more than £80.
The application was not granted by the Postmaster-General, and Mrs. Cumming resigned the office after four years; William Mercer was appointed in her stead, May 1st, 1854.
The privilege of using English stamps was accorded to the British West Indian Colonies in 1858, and the 1d. rose-red of 1857, the 2d. blue of 1858, plate numbers 7, 8 and 9, 4d. rose of 1857, 6d. lilac and 1s. green of 1856 are known with the postmark "A02" of St. John's, Antigua. A sub-office was opened at English Harbour, and received the postmark "A18," but the only English stamp found with this postmark is the 6d. lilac of 1856 without corner letters, and this is of considerable rarity. The "A02" obliterator was sent out from England on April 17th, 1858, and the "A18" on June 1st, 1858.
Following upon Mr. Anthony Trollope's official visit of investigation to the West Indies on behalf of the British Postmaster-General in 1858, the policy of handing over the administration of the island post offices to the Colonial Governments, which had long been under consideration, was put into effect. The Colonial Governments were notified that the home Post Office Department would cease to charge itself with the management of the West Indian Posts from May 1st, 1860, from which date the local administration would have to take control.
The Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Colonies, forwarded on March 4th, 1860, to Lieutenant-Governor Eyre, a copy of the following letter (dated February 21st, 1860) respecting the transfer of the Post Office at Antigua to the control of the local government.
G.P.O.—February 21st, 1860.
"I have laid before the Postmaster-General your letter of the 14th inst. forwarding a copy of the despatch from the officer administrating the Government in Chief of the Leeward Islands, respecting the transfer of the Post Office at Antigua to the control of the Colonial Governments, and I am directed by His Lordship to offer the following observations with reference to the statement of Governor Eyre that the Colony accept the transfer on condition of one-sixth of the whole postage inter-colonial as well as between Great Britain and Antigua being allowed to the Colony towards meeting the cost of the local establishment.
"According to the arrangement originally laid down, one-sixth of the postage on letters sent from the Colony to the United Kingdom will belong to the Colonial Post Office, but the same proportion of the postage chargeable on inter-colonial letters despatched to and from Antigua by packet cannot be given up to the Colonial Post Office.
"The British packet rate of 4d. per ½oz. levied upon the latter class of letters represents the sea rate only and belongs wholly to the Imperial Post Office.
"Instead of one-sixth of such postage, however, the Colonial Post Office will be at liberty to levy its own internal rates upon the inter-colonial letters in addition to the British postage.
"With reference to the expense of conveying the mails by land from English Harbour to St. John's, I have to state that as this expense is incurred in consequence of a deviation on the part of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company from the terms of their Contract, it will continue to be paid by this Department and reclaimed from the Company.
"The Postmaster-General requests that the Duke of Newcastle will be so good as to cause a reply to the above effect to be made to the Governor of Antigua, at the same time pointing out to him that the date fixed for the transfer of the posts to Colonial control has been changed from 1st April to the 1st May next.
I am Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
F. Hill."
The Post Office Act of Antigua was passed on April 24th, 1860. It established the following rates: one penny the ½oz., twopence for 1oz., fourpence for 2oz., and heavier letters in proportion, and provided that all letters be prepaid by money or stamp affixed.
By virtue of this Act, William Mercer was re-appointed Postmaster at St. John's on April 30th, 1860, and his salary, increased to £100, was thenceforward paid from the Colonial Treasury, and Miss Ryding was appointed on May 17th, 1861, as Postmaster (in place of Mr. William Ryding) at £20 per annum and an allowance of £7 10s. for office rent at English Harbour.
William Mercer died at Christmas, 1861, and was succeeded by his wife, Dorothy Mercer, who had assisted her husband in the duties, on December 26th, 1861. Her daughter succeeded to the office in 1869, but ten years later was arrested, January 5th, 1876, for embezzling £712, but was acquitted owing to a defect in the Larceny Act. She was dismissed from the post office.
Miss Ryding continued to act at English Harbour until the office was abolished in 1879, when she retired with a pension. The last mail steamer calling at English Harbour arrived there on May 17th, 1878.
