mails off Jubbel Teer in the Red Sea. The late
Mr. J. G. Hendy of the G.P.O. Muniment Room records[1] that, in April
1868, a direct weekly mail service was established between Suez and
Zoulla. The rates for letters under half an ounce were the same as to
India, _viz._:

_Vi[^a]_ Southampton. _Vi[^a]_ Marseilles.
Officers of Army or Navy, 6d. 10d.
Soldiers and Seamen, 1d. 5d.
For persons serving on board transports or
other persons not belonging to the naval
or military forces, 9d. 1s. 1d.

He also states that naval and military officers, when serving on
colonial or foreign stations, were permitted, under Treasury Warrant
of May 16, 1857, to send or receive letters at the reduced British
postage of 6d. per ounce, in all cases where the postage of ordinary
letters to or from the same place was higher than 6d. The privilege
was withdrawn on January 1, 1870, and then letters became liable to
the general rates of postage.

[Footnote 1: "The Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840." By J. G.
Hendy. London, 1909; p. 13.]

EGYPT. The organisation of an Army Postal Corps was authorised on July
18, 1882, for service in Egypt, and it was promptly completed. Colonel
du Plat Taylor was instructed to form the corps of two officers and
one hundred men from the Post-Office Volunteers (24th Middlesex)
for enrolment in the first-class Army Reserve. The men combined the
advantages of experience in postal work, as sorters and postmen, with
army training. The officers selected were Major Sturgeon (of the Money
Order Office) and Captain Viall (Receiver and Accountant General's
Department), the former taking command with the army rank of Captain,
and the latter seconding him, with the army rank of Lieutenant. The
men received their post-office pay, and, while on active service, in
addition to free kit and rations, the privates drew army pay of 1s.,
corporals 1s. 8d., and sergeants 2s. 4d. per day.

[Illustration: 22]

The famous blind Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett, inspected the
corps at the General Post Office on July 26, and the officers with 50
men sailed on August 8, disembarking at Alexandria on August 21. Their
first postal duties were undertaken at Alexandria and Ramleh, but
two days after disembarkation they re-embarked, joining up with Lord
Wolseley's main forces at Ismailia