Moorshedabad 1 10 Patna 1 10 Benares 1 2 Ganjam 1 2 Dacca 1 2 Dinagepur 1 2 -- -- 6 28
8. That a Postmaster-General be appointed at Calcutta with one Deputy, one merda or native assistant, seven sorters, one jemadar and fifteen peons for distributing letters. He will have the control of the whole establishment, and all the accounts will be brought into his office.
1. That all letters shall pay postage, excepting such as are on the public service.
2. That the postage on inland letters shall be paid when put into the office at the following rates:--
Single letters for every 100 miles, 2 annas. Double letters in proportion according to their weight.
3. That letters coming by sea, or from foreign settlements, shall pay on delivery and be rated at half postage.
4. That a table of postage, formed according to the above rules, be affixed at the different offices for the public inspection.
5. That the post office in Calcutta shall be open from 10 o'clock in the morning till 1 for the delivery of letters, and from 6 till 9 in the evening for the receipt of letters.
6. That a daily account of the number and weight of letters despatched, with the amount of postage, be kept at each office, that a monthly account be transmitted to the Postmaster-General by his Deputies and that a general abstract of the whole receipts and disbursements be laid before the Board every month.
7. That the letters when received into the offices shall be sorted and put up in separate bags for the different stations, together with a note of the number in each.
8. That all letters shall be stamped with the day of the month on which they are delivered into any chief office.
9. That for the facility of paying the postage on letters small copper tickets be immediately struck to be received at the rate of 2 annas each, but to pass only at the post office.
The dak or travelling system prevailing in India in the year 1857 was almost wholly arranged by the Post Office and was available for private individuals as well as for officials. When a traveller contemplated a journey he applied to the local postmaster for means of transport, giving, as a rule, two or three days' previous notice. Horse daks, i.e. wheeled conveyances drawn by horses, were available only on the great trunk roads, which were metalled. On other roads, the journey, when not performed on horseback, was accomplished in a palanquin or palkee, a kind of wooden box, about six feet in length by four in height, fitted at the sides with sliding shutters and suspended on two poles borne on the shoulders of four men. The pleasures of travelling in this fashion have been described by Bishop Heber and other writers. The traveller provided his own palanquin, and the postmaster supplied the palkee-burdars or palanquin-bearers, eight in number, as well as two mussalchees or torchbearers and two bhangy-burdars or luggage porters. The charges, about one shilling per mile for the entire set of twelve men, had to be paid in advance, the traveller notifying the time and place of starting and the duration and localities of halts. There was also an extra charge for demurrage or delays on the road attributable to the traveller himself. For these charges the postmaster undertook that there should be relays of dak servants throughout the whole distance, and, to ensure this, he had to write in advance to the different villages and post stations ordering relays to be ready at the appointed hours. The stages averaged ten miles each and were accomplished in three hours, at the end of which time the twelve men retraced their steps, having been succeeded by another twelve; for each set of men belonged to a particular station. The horse daks were established on the same system, several pairs of horses or ponies being kept at the different stages as relays. The bullock train, which was intended chiefly for baggage and parcels, was largely used for conveyance of troops during the Mutiny. There were one or two private companies in existence, but the public as a rule preferred to use the Government vehicles, as they were considered more reliable.