"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٤‎٦‎٥] (١٢٦٢/٩٨٢)

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regarding the delivery of a registered letter posted at the Indian post
office at Basrah, the Indian postmasters at Baghdad and Basrah were
directed not in future to accept for registration letters addressed to
places in Turkish territory, if deliverable through a Turkish office.
In 1903, when the Indian post to and from Persia was made 1903.
subject to the rates and rules for foreign correspondence, the Indian
poet offices in Turkish ■'Iraq were brought under the same regime ; but
British official correspondence and parcels continued to be charged at
the Indian inland rates.
What has gone before relates chiefly to letter mails, and we may Questions
now deal separately with the political history of the Indian parcels post, specially aff-
Soon after the foundation of the Indian post office at Baghdad in
1868, it was discovered that native traders were making use of the eel post in
British parcel post to evade the payment of customs duty. The parcel Turkish 'Iraq,
service was thereupon temporarily suspended, and, on resumption, two 1868-190,
new regulations were introduced: (1) that parcels should not be received
for despatch unless accompanied by a pass from the Turkish Customs
House and (2) that parcels arriving from elsewhere should only be
delivered to the addressees in the presence of a Qawwas of the British
Residency, by whom the addressees were to be at once conducted to the
Customs House.
In 1881, at the request of the Turkish authorities, a trifling altera- 1881.
tion was made in the procedure; and delivery to addressees thereafter
took place in the presence of a messenger of the Turkish Customs
House.
In 1882 a change in the management of the Baghdad customs led 1882 -
to complaints by Turkish officials against the established parcel post
usage, and it was modified. The parcel bags were still landed with the
letter bags at the Indian post office; but from that place they were now
conveyed by the Indian postmaster to the Customs House and made
over to the Customs authorities, a list signed by a Customs official
being taken by way of acknowledgment. Delivery was made by the
Customs House on production by the addressees of certificates signed
by the Indian postmaster. The procedure at Basrah before 1892
is not ascertainable, but it was probably much the same as at Baghdad.
In 1892 the procedure was once more revised, and since then it has not 1892.
been changed. The offices of exchange at Bombay, Karachi and Bushehr
now prepare detailed parcel invoices, one copy of which is sent in a
closed cover to the head of the Turkish Customs House at Basrah or
Baghdad, as the case may be, and another to the Indian postmaster.
The parcel bags are opened in the Indian post office, in the presence of
a Turkish Customs officer who takes charge of them, conveys them to
the Customs House, and signs the postmaster's copy of the invoice by
way of receipt; afterwards the parcels are delivered to the addressees by
the Turkish Customs on presentation of delivery orders obtained from
the Indian postmaster. At Baghdad, since the abolition of insur
ance, attempts are frequently made to smuggle precious stones and
jewellery into the country by means of registered letters j and to prevent
this suspected letters are now opened at the post office in the presence of
the addressees, and, if found to contain dutiable articles, are either mads