Chapter VI: Act XVII: of 1854 marks the commencement of the organization of

the Indian Post Office upon its present footing. According to its provisions the whole department was placed under the control of a Director-General; the office of Postmaster-General was separated from that of Presidency Postmaster; Postmasters-General were appointed for the direct administration and supervision of the postal services in the larger provinces and Deputy Postmasters-General, at first designated Chief Inspectors, were appointed to the less important provinces and the principal Political Agencies. Postage stamps were first introduced in 1854 and rates were fixed for the conveyance of letters irrespective of distance.[5]

In this Act the postal monopoly of the East India Company was again laid down, and the three exceptions to that monopoly were legalized, namely (1) letters sent by a private friend to be delivered on his way or journey to a person, without any hire or reward for such service; (2) letters solely concerning the affairs of the sender or receiver thereof sent by a messenger on purpose; (3) letters solely concerning goods or other property sent by land or sea, to be delivered with such goods or property without any hire or reward for carrying the same.

It was important to include these exceptions in the Act, as under the Post Office Act of 1837 there was nothing to prevent a man who sent a letter to his friend by messenger incurring a penalty of Rs.50, a fine to which both the messenger and recipient were equally liable.

The great advance made in 1854 was the introduction of postage stamps and the fixing of postage rates for letters irrespective of distance.

The rates were as follows:--

On every letter not exceeding ¼ tola in weight, 6 pies.

On every letter exceeding ¼ tola and not exceeding ½ tola in weight, 1
anna.

On every letter exceeding ½ tola and not exceeding 1 tola, 2 annas.

On every letter exceeding 1 tola and not exceeding 1½ tolas in weight,
3 annas.

On every letter exceeding 1½ tolas and not exceeding 2 tolas in
weight, 4 annas.

And for every tola in weight above 2 tolas, 2 additional annas.

With respect to newspapers and engraved papers a distinction, similar to that laid down in the Act of 1837, was made between imported and locally produced matter. The former was charged with 2 annas for every 6 tolas or part thereof; the latter was charged at the following rates:--

Two annas for a weight not exceeding 3½ tolas.

Four annas for a weight not exceeding 6 tolas, and 2 annas for every
additional 3 tolas above 6 tolas.

This difference in postage encouraged the circulation of newspapers and printed matter imported from England, but the high internal rates must have greatly hampered the postal circulation of journals printed in India.

Reduced rates, but still varying with distance, were laid down for Bhangy Post according to the following scale:--

| IF NOT EXCEEDING IN WEIGHT. +------+------+------+------+------+------+------ FOR DISTANCES. |20 |100 |200 |300 |400 |500 |600 |tolas.|tolas.|tolas.|tolas.|tolas.|tolas.|tolas. ------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------ Miles. |Rs. a.|Rs. a.|Rs. a.|Rs. a.|Rs. a.|Rs. a.|Rs. a. Not exceeding 100 |0 2 |0 4 |0 8 | 0 12 | 1 0 | 1 4 | 1 8 Not exceeding 300 |0 6 |0 12 |1 8 | 2 4 | 3 0 | 3 12 | 4 8 Not exceeding 600 |0 12 |1 8 |3 0 | 4 8 | 6 0 | 7 8 | 9 0 Not exceeding 900 |1 2 |2 4 |4 8 | 6 12 | 9 0 |11 4 |13 8 Not exceeding 1200|1 8 |3 0 |6 0 | 9 0 |12 0 |15 0 |18 0 Exceeding 1200 |1 14 |3 12 |7 8 |11 4 |15 0 |18 12 |22 8

Books, pamphlets, packets of newspapers and of printed and engraved papers were charged at the following rates by bhangy post:--

Not exceeding 20 tolas 1 anna

Exceeding 20 tolas and not exceeding
40 tolas 2 annas

For every 20 tolas above 40 tolas 1 anna
provided that the total weight must
not exceed 120 tolas.

The postage on bhangy parcels was calculated by the most elaborate Polymetrical Tables which were supplied to all post offices in English and Vernacular. Many a grievous complaint was laid by members of the public against the strange methods employed by the Post Office in calculating the distance between two places. The sender of a parcel naturally considered that he should pay for the shortest distance between the place of despatch and the place of receipt, but not so the Post Office. It decided that the "postal route," however circuitous, was the one by which postage should be calculated.

Letters were ordinarily limited to 12 tolas in weight, but by Act XX of 1838 the weight had been raised to 30 tolas upon lines where no bhangy post existed; this limit was now raised to 40 tolas (1 lb.) and, where both a bhangy and letter post were conveyed in the same carriage, a special prohibition was made that letters or packets of newspapers of less than 12 tolas weight must not be sent by bhangy post under penalty of a fine of Rs.50 for each offence. This clause was evidently introduced on account of the charge made by the railway companies for the carriage of bhangy parcels.

The 600 tola limit for parcels was continued except in special cases which were laid down by the Governor-General in Council, but in no circumstances was the weight of any parcel to exceed 2000 tolas (50 lbs.). Ship postage was levied on parcels, when conveyed by the East India Company's post by sea, at the rate of 8 annas for each 100 tolas. When any parcel had to be conveyed by bhangy as well as by sea, this postage was levied in addition to bhangy postage. Letters and newspapers for Ceylon or any place where no postal communication was established by the East India Company were dealt with as unclaimed, unless the full postage was prepaid by means of postage stamps.

With the introduction of postage stamps we now find the first regulations for encouraging the prepayment of postal articles. In