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WEST INDIES INTER ISLAND MAIL

The packet charge for inter colonial mail of 4d existed in some colonies since early in
the Eighteenth Century. It is not known how much of this had to be accounted for to London
through the Colonial Packet office in Barbados. Originally this was a paid to destination rate
but with the introduction of the R.M.S.P. contract it was changed to represent just the ocean
crossing and was payable in its entirety to the U.K. When this happened, the colonies had to
absorb the inland costs at both ends but gradually, particularly after 1860 when they achieved
independence from the British Post Office, many of them took the opportunity to charge Id,
2d or 3d at the despatching end. This inequitable situation repeated itself when the Id rate for
printed papers was introduced, the Id being remitted to the U.K. to recover the cost of the sea
passage provided by R.M.S.P. It is believed that there was never a postal convention between
the independent colonies so that accounting between them did not exist, but there is some
suggestion that it may have existed when the Colonial Packet Office controlled the West
Indies on behalf of London. The use of black ink for unpaid and red for paid on pre adhesive
covers was not always adhered to, and the use of the two different colours as an accounting
mark to indicate whether the UK had been credited with the cost of the sea passage by the
despatching island means that the interpretation of the manuscript marks on covers is
sometimes difficult.

An envelope addressed to St Kitts from St John’s, Antigua which was paid in cash It was
back stamped on 27th November 1869 with Type PR after a period when a shipment of 6d adhesives
failed to arrive and the crown “Paid At Antigua” handstamp was re-used. This was first issued in
1850 and the cover is the L.K.D. There is no arrival back stamp but it was probably carried on the
“Mersey”. The cover carries a manuscript “4” in red; but it is not clear what this signifies.
Normally the use of the PR handstamp was accompanied by a manuscript mark in red being the
amount paid in cash, but on this occasion it is more likely, if its use had anything to do with a
shortage of 6d adhesives, that it was an accounting mark showing the credit to the U.K.