Page 28 - Johnson_CapeOfGoodHope
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CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
Ship and Packet rate to Batavia [Dutch East Indies]
May 1875
•
h . y Jz. ~ Pr'* tra_ 1 PJ/L~ L ~
Main feature The combination of the 4d ship letter rate to Ceylon and the 1 Od packet
letter rate for the P&O packet service from Ceylon onwards.
The Cape ship letter rate was 4d for each Y2 ounce [if posted at the place of sailing of the ship, otherwise
6d]. The Cape Post Office had an arrangement with the British post office that provided 10d was paid by
the Cape Post office to the British Post Office ship letters arriving in Ceylon [and possibly Mauritius and
India] a letter could be transferred to the packet services to the east. This explains the' 10' credit in red
and the 1s 2d postage paid in Cape Town. The '20' was a delivery charge in Batavia .
This arrangement was necessary because of the paucity of regular services available to residents of cape
Colony on a regular and reliable basis. This also explains the change in the endorsement as otherwise this
item would have had to have been sent via the United Kingdom.
The item is backstamped Weltvreden 12th August 1875 and Batavia 13th August 1875. The letter is
addressed to a person on a Dutch Navy vessel. 
