The comparative rarity of Natal's POA Cancellers
by Basil Kantey
SA Philatelist - March 1980 pp59-68
Continuing my attempt to establish the comparative
rarity of the postal markings of Natal, it seems logical to follow
up the Circular Date Stamps with the POA cancellers as these
probably represent the next most numerous type of cancella
tions. As stated in "The Postal Markings. of Natal" any study
of these cancellations presents many fascinating problems. First
and foremost is the question of the dates on which the cancellers
were in use in the various agencies. '
It has already been stated that Wright's researches indicates
that the Philatelic Society of Natal's check-list appears to be out
by one year, ie that it should Start in 1890 and not 1891, and
evidence -from POA 73, Merebank RS and POA107, van
Reenan RS, both of which were used quite extensively during
the Anglo-Boer War, seems to reinforce this'point of view.
However, again as previously stated, the compilation of the ''
check-list represents a mammoth research project and has been
accepted for a'sufficiently long period of time to warrant its
remaining the major reference work until such time as the
Society itself decides to update it in the light of the information
subsequently uncovered. While the discrepancies mentioned
should -be bore in mind by the student of Natal, these should .
have little bearing on comparative rarity. "
The second major problem posed by this canceller is due to
the fact that # POA number was often allocated to several .
different agencies during its period of usage. A number was
allocated. to an agency for anything from part of one year
upward and, when that particular agency closed down, the same
number was allocated to another agency. It must be apparent
that the origin of any POA cancellation except in the rare cases
-where a particular number was allocated to one agency only,
can only be truly established if the canceller is found on an
entire or postcard bearing the date and/or the place name of
'origin. To confuse the issue even further, in several instances a
particular agency was allocated more than one number while in '
some instances a particular place name was allocated to two
agencies.
A Post Office Agency was the official designation given to a
postal establishmmt carrying out certain limited postal func-
tions. FDA'S were most often situated at small country-stores
making it more convenient for the neighbourhood to use the
agency rather than send mail to and fetch mail from a more
distant post office. As the Colony developed and more towns
were established;- so did the postal services, and more post
offices opened. This resulted in the closing down of many
agencies while others closed down because the agent was
unwilling to continue.
On Figure I b shown the number of POA's open in any year,
from which it can be seen that there was.a marked increase in
such agencies during the period 1899-1902. This period coin-
cided with the Anglo-Boer War and it is logical to assume that
many such agencies were established to deal specifically with
the marked increase in mail during this period. As is shown
later, this aspect has influenced the rarity category rating. Many
were closed down after the war but Second sharp drop is noticed
for 1905. An examination of the opening dates of the various
Post Offices 2 will show that a large number, in excess of 500
Post Offices were opened around 1904-1905. Of these, many
resulted from an upgrading ofagencies to post offices and again
it seems logical to assume that this was a result .of a re-
organisation of the Post Office services in the post-war period.
The steep rise again in 1906 appears to have been occasioned by
over-enthusiasm as it h found that many of these post offices
were again down-graded to agencies.
No such clear-cut explanation can be found for the smaller
triugh between 1892 and 1896: Comparatively few new post
officw wwe opened during this period although some increase
can be noted for 1895, but it m#y well be that too many agencies
were «stabl$hed in 1892 which struggled 6n and gradually
closed down until a new demand was created in 1895/96.]
Finally, with the approach of Union in 1910 and the creation of
new post offices, a further drop-off is noted.
Several anomalies were noted in previous articles and
publications 2, 3 but a close study reveals a peculiar anomaly in
respect of four towns for which post marks are common. It
would be thought that the well established post office in these
following: .
| Charlestown | POA51 | 1892 |
| | POA96 | 1900/01 |
| | POA87 | 1902-1904 |
| | POA60 | 1907-1910 |
| Dundee | POA85 | 1900/01 |
| Mooi River | POA97 | 1903/04 |
| Newcastle | POA54 | 1900/01 |
The opinion can be ventured that Charlestown Started as an
agency in 1892 (1891 if the apparently correct date is used) and
was upgraded to a post office the following year. It is also
probable that POA 96 for Charlestown, 85 for Dundee and 54
for Newcastle were associated with the exigencies of war and
further, that POA 96 for Charlestown and 97 for Mooi River
were similarly used ior exigencies which developed in the
immediate post-war period as troops were being sent home but I
can find no explanation for the late usage of POA 60 in
Charlestown, 1907-1910 other than that an agency was established on the outskirts of Charlestown which was not associated
with the agent's name or address.
In attempting to establish the comparative rarity of these
canccllatiom some guidance can be obtained where the number
of letters handled by such agencies are recorded in the Annual
Reports of the Postmaster General of Natal from 1882 to 1898
as before. When dealing with the Circular date stamps, the
highest rarity classification proposed was that of Very Rare
when less than 10000.letters were 'recorded. For the Agencies,
however, it is found that because such agencies naturally
handled far less mail than a post office, it is necessary to break
this particular category down even farther and the following '
has been decided upon:
| ER - Extremely Rare | 0 - 2500 | letters recorded |
| DR- Decidedly Rare | 2500 - 5000 | letters recorded |
| VR- Very Rare | 5000 - 10000 | letters recorded |
| R - Rare | 10000 - 25000 | letters recorded |
| VS - Very Scarce | 25000 - 50000 | letters recorded |
| S - Scarce | 50000 - 75000 | letters recorded |
The last 3 categories, R to S are as previously used, but it will
be found that, on occasion, I have also used the category FC,
Fairly Common for such agencies 'as Inanda, POA 15 and
Marionnhill, POA 51, which are known to have processed lots
of mail while still remaining POA's.
Where a record of the number of letters processed is not
available, it is once again necessary to fall back on judgement
and impressions gained through many years of building up a
collection of these cancellations. As always, I have sought the
assistance of Dr Mark Chutter. The number of years that an
agency had been in use provides some guidance and this factor
has been used as a first approximation.
| VS | 25000 - 50000 | (8 Years) |
| R | 10000 - 25000 | (6 Years) |
| VR | 5000 - 10000 | (4 Years) |
| DR | 2500 - 5000 | (2 Years) |
| ER | less than 2500 | (1 Year) |
Where FDA'S were only opened during the period 1899-1901
and there are 43 of these - the general tendency has been to
down-grade these to a. less rare category, dependent on location
with reference to possible Anglo-Boer War troop movements.
For example, POA 73, Merebank RS was only open for one year
but many Anglo-Boer War covers are found with thin cancellation and the cancellation is consequently down-graded consi-
derably. Similar for POA 107, Van Reenan RS which was open
for 3 years. It is the latter part of the Edwardian period that has posed.
some problems. In many years of collecting these cancellations.
I have lost no known opportunity to acquire any missing from
my collection. Of course it is common experience that it can be
quite exasperating to find how difficult it often is to acquire a
comparatively common stamp to complete a collection. Yet I
find that I am missing several Edwardian cancellations for
POA's which were- open for 5-6 years form 1905-1910. It seems
possible that with the growth and development of Natal,
agencies were being issued to stores in comparatively remote
places handling very little mail and, as a result, such an agency
in use for even as much as 8 years might have handled
comparatively little mail. In deciding on whether or not to
upgrade such agencies into a higher rarity classification, I have
consequently taken into account the location of the agency.
Publication of the results of studies of postal history generally
results in more information coming to light which can affect the
information provided. This can only be of value and, untiI such
further information does come to light, the table presented
below should serve as a useful practical guide to the comparative rarity category not only to the place name with which
the agency is associated, but also to the POA number itself. As
stated above, in most cases the origin of a POA cancellation can
only be determined if found on cover. Naturally, covers are far
rarer than individual stamps with recognisable cancellations
but I doubt if this should have much bearing on a comparative
rarity table such as the presented.
References
- B A Kantey. The Comparative Rarity of the Circular Date Stamps of Natal, SA Philatelist, July 1978.
- W R Hart, B A Kantey and A Leslie Leon. The Postal Markings of Natal. Creda Press, 1977. ,
- AA- KanterJoatal Post Offices before Union. SA Philatelist, October and December 1975.
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