The General Post Office (GPO) the headquarters for all postal services from the colonial era to date. It is the headquarters of the Ghana Postal Service. The colonial architecture has been maintained unlike others which have been demolished for modern edifices. The road on the side of the structure used to be called Horse Road and opposite it were the offices of Staveley importers and distributors of the British vehicle Commer
It was a thing of joy to write a letter and receive replies to such correspondences.
Gradually though letter-writing is fading out and most of our youth today are likely to know that some years past the post office played an important role in the lives of the Gold Coasters and later in post independent Ghana until the advent of social media.
Post offices played crucial roles in communications and its workers were held in high esteem.
Places without post offices had alternatives called postal agencies.
Many individuals and corporate bodies still rent postal boxes for which an annual fee is payable to the Ghana Postal Service today.
Going to the post office to buy a postage stamp for the purpose of dispatching letters was a pastime, as well as a necessity.
In schools pupils began collecting postage stamps which depicted important landmarks of the Gold Coast, historical personalities, the flora and fauna. Postage stamp collection, known as philately, used to be a pastime of many Gold Coasters in the educated class.
The late Kwame Nkrumah’s images used to be common on many postage stamps after independence.
Post offices were not existing for letters only although that was arguably the most crucial roles of these structures.
Many persons in those days were introduced to savings through the post offices’ savings department. Interested persons could open accounts at such places under certain conditions.
Account holders held passbooks in which deposits and withdrawals were made accordingly.
Another important role of post offices was their use for sending monies around the country.
Postmasters, the officials in charge of post offices, were important personalities.
I wonder whether we shall have postmasters in the country. In Britain the Royal Mail which relied on earlier on horse carriage and later railway system is not pronounced or active as it used to be.
The telephone booths with their striking red colours are having their roles changed as the importance of post offices even in the origin of the system fades.
An international organization to which the Gold Coast was a member, International Postal Union was the hub of the harmonization and standardization of postal issues around the world. Our postal issues conformed to international standards even during our colonial period.
Direct mails were exchanged with the United Kingdom, United States, the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Togoland and the French Ivory Coast in the Gold Coast days.
Mails destined for other West African countries and other parts of the world had to be forwarded through Great Britain according to the Gold Coast Handbook, 1928.
There was also a direct dispatch and receipt of parcels between the colony and Great Britain and the British West African colonies.
Such parcels from and to other countries were received and sent through Great Britain.
Postal rates were categorized according to their weights and destinations such as whether they were for inland and to the United Kingdom and British Possessions and Egypt for which the rate was I penny for I oz of a fraction of it.
There was provision for postcards, book packets, samples and printed papers.
Correspondences could also be registered to ensure security.
For registered mails addressees were notified through a slip with which they received the letters. Important documents usually went through such channel.
The registration fee for the United Kingdom, all British Possessions and foreign countries went for three pence.
Registered letter envelopes with stand enclosed for the registration fee were supplied at standard rates.
There was a thrice weekly overland mail service between all coastal towns from Accra to Axim according to 1928 records as there were daily week-day services by railway between (a) Accra and Kumasi (b) Sekondi and Kumasi (c) Tarkwa and Prestea and (d) Huni Valley and Kade, which collect and deliver at the stations en route.
Letters may be posted at the traveling post offices on these trains on payment of certain fees in addition to the ordinary postage.
There was an opening on the side of the some coaches where letters could be dropped for onward delivery to the destinations marked on them.
A weekly service was maintained between Kumasi, Tamale and Kintampo by motor van, except during the wet season, when carriers were employed on sections of the routes.
Ho in the Mandated Territories of Togoland, was served by a weekly service. In parts of the Northern Territories the service was maintained by the Political Service, but all important places have a service at least once per week.
In the next installment I shall consider telegrams. The receipt of telegrams in those days was scary as they usually conveyed messages about death.
BY A.R. Gomda