5/5 Kevin L. 5 years ago on Google • 82 reviews
Sri
Lanka
Post
has
a
long
history
of
209
years,
dating
back
to
1798,
when
the
colonial
Dutch
rulers
started
five
post
offices
in
the
Maritime
Districts
under
their
control.
In
1799,
they
published
the
first
postal
regulations
and
postage
rates.
The Dutch
East
India
Companyoperated
the
Postal
service,
which
was
not
meant
for
the
public
but
for
official
use.
The
British
took
control
of
the
country
in
1815,
when
E.
Bletterman
was
the
Postmaster
General
for
the
whole
island.
Mr.
Lewis
Sansoni
succeeded
Bletterman
as
the
second
Postmaster
General
in
1817.
The
third
Postmaster
General
was
Major
G.
Stewart,
who
extended
the
postal
services
to
major
towns
in
the
country.
They
re-organised
the
postal
service
and
others
eventually
established
a
permanent
Post
Office
in
Colombo
in
1882.
Postage
stamps
The
only
evidence
of
a
British
postal
service
before
1815
is
a
"Colombo
Post
Free"
handstamp
used
on
a
soldier's
letter
in
1809,
when
British
Royal
Artillery
troops
were
engaged
to
subdue Sri
Vikrama
Rajasinha,
the king
of
Kandy (1798–1815),
whose
inland
territory
had
never
been
under
the
influence
of
the
Dutch.
The
first
adhesive
stamps
(the
six-pence
purple-brown
stamps
on
blued
paper)
were
issued
on
1
April
1857,
seventeen
years
after
Britain
had
introduced
the
adhesive
postage
stamp
to
the
world.
The
first
stamps
in
local
denominations
of
rupees
and
cents
were
issued
on
1
February
1892.
TheGeneral
post
Office
The
General
Post
Office
was
housed
in
different
places
in
Colombo.
By
1895
it
acquired
its own
building,
opposite
the Governor
General's
residence
-
the Queens's
House on Queen's
Street,
currently
the
Janadhipath
Mawatha
(President's
Street).
During
the disturbances in
the
country,
the
GPO
was
moved
out
of
its
former
building
and
into
the
present Postal
Headquarters.
The
new
building,
consisting
of
9
floors
of
modern
facilities,
is
the
center
of
operations
and
administration.
The
Postal
Museum,
too,
is
housed
in
this
building.
Transportation
Over
the
years,
different
modes
of
transport
have
been
used
for
the
transportation
and
delivery
of
mail.
In
a
bygone
era,
delivery
was
first
by
foot
(in
the
hills
and
remote
places
it
is
not
uncommon
to
see
postmen
delivering
letters
on
foot,
even
today!),
then
bicycles
were
added.
Sri
Lanka
Post
was
the
first
to
inaugurate
a
mail
coach
service
in
Asia.
The
mail
coach
service
began
operations
in
1832,
between Colombo and Kandy.This
was
extended
between Galle and
Colombo
in
1838.
The
year
1892
saw
the
first
"Travelling
Post
Office"
doing
its
run
between
Colombo
and Peradeniya,
a
suburb
of
Kandy.
"Bedford"
vans
made
in
England
were
used,
even
during
the
'70s.
Today
Sri
Lanka
Post
uses
a
fleet
of
Japanese
vehicles
painted
in
the
traditional
red.
During
the
'50s
and
'60s
postmen
on
British
made
BSA
-
Bantam
motorcycles
were
a
familiar
sight.
When
the
postman's
beat
becoming
smaller
in
the
cities,
the
motorcycles
gave
way
to
the
bicycles.
The
mails
are
carried
today
by
railway,
public
and
private
omni-buses,
and
the
department's
fleet
of
vehicles.
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