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| Johore is the second biggest state in West Malaysia but was at one time
an independent State under British protection. It is the nearest mainland
state to the island of Singapore, with which it is connected by a Causeway
for railway and vehicle traffic. The railway from Singapore to the northern
part of Malaysia traverses this causeway and proceeds for about 120 miles
through Johore. The area of Johore is 7678 square miles and, like the rest of
Malaysia, the population is multi-racial. It was independent, by virtue of a treaty of 1885, but its foreign relations were directed by Great Britain. Since 1910 at the request of the Sultan, a British Adviser to the Johore Government was appointed. Johore joined the Federation of Malay States rather late, an omission which was probably much to its disadvantage in those days. It was, however, included in the Straits Local Penny Postage and the Imperial Penny Postage arrangements. Through the Straits Settlements, which acted as intermediary, it enjoyed the privileges of the Universal Postal Union, but did not join that international convention until 1 July 1928, at the same time as the Federated Malay State of Trengganu. The spelling of the name, which has puzzled stamp printers as well as collectors, may be accepted as either Johor or Johore, the latter being generally adopted officially in the earlier days. (Presently, the official spelling is Johor.) The erudite Mr. Winstedt adopted the earlier official spelling for the title page of his: A History of Johore (A.D. 1365-1895). In it he wrote: "Elsewhere I have preferred Johor partly because it is scientific and I cannot bring myself to write Johore Lama, and partly because the shorter word costs less to print, and reminds me of the story (I suppose by Arnold Bennett) of the man who won a fortune in business by cutting one letter off the description of a Railway Company and so saving it thousands of pounds a year." The philatelic era in Johore began during the reign of the remarkable Sultan Abu Bakar, born 3 February1833 and died 4 June1895. He had succeeded his father Temenggong Ibrahim on 1 February 1862, and was well known in his time and a favourite of Queen Victoria. In Malaysian history, Sultan Abu Bakar is known to be one of the most forward-looking among the early Malay rulers. He was succeeded by his son Sultan Ibrahim, who was born in September, 1873, and succeeded his father in 1895. The earliest written record of a suggestion to establish a postal service between Singapore and Johore is in the report of the Straits Postmaster-General (the late H. Trotter) dated Singapore, 25 May 1872, Paragraphs 38 and 39: "The Maharajah of Johore has consulted me respecting the establishment of a postal service with Johore, and as I am informed a good many letters are now sent by the coaches running daily between Singapore and Johore I would recommend that I be authorized to afford His Highness every assistance in my power towards carrying out his wishes, and that this Government enter into a postal convention with him, with the view of ensuring an interchange of correspondence by compulsory prepayment with free delivery at each end. "The rates of postage might be two cents for every letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight, one cent on every printed paper under 2 oz. in weight, and a parcel rate at 4 cents for every 2 oz., or fractional part of 2 oz." The coaches referred to in the above extract were subsidised by the Maharajah of Johore to run daily in both directions between Singapore and Johore. Letters posted at the Singapore G.P.O. for Johore were sent to the coach office for conveyance to their destination. However, at that time, many native letters were conveyed to and from Singapore by passengers. The subject of a regular postal service was raised again in 1873 and in 1875. In the Straits Postmaster-General's report for 1875 Paragraph II says "The question of a Post Office in Johore remained in abeyance last year (i.e. 1875) but it has lately been revived and satisfactory arrangements are now about to be carried into force." This duly resulted in the Straits Settlements-Johore Postal Convention of 1876 which came into force on 1 July 1876. The Convention is given in full below:
The whole of the foregoing document is important, but we need only stress here the specific references to the stamps in Paragraphs 6 and 12 which provide for the following: · Ordinary Straits stamps for letters from the Colony to Johore. · Straits Settlements stamps, bearing thereon "a special mark," for use on letters originating in Johore. Such specially marked stamps to be sold to Johore at one-half their face value. · Ordinary Straits stamps also supplied, but at the ordinary commission to stamp vendors, to the Post Office at Johore to enable persons to prepay letters from Johore to places beyond Singapore. Apparently, it was necessary to use a distinctive overprint on the Straits stamps sold to Johore at half face. They could not be permitted to be confused or allowed to be interchangeable for those supplied at full face, less the vendor's commission. One thousand 2-cent Straits stamps were prepared and sent to Johore in time for the coming into force of the Postal Convention on 1 July 1876. No doubt these were the 2 cents brown (S.G. Type 5) overprinted with the star and crescent in black. The supply lasted three for months. In October 1876, further five hundred 2-cents stamps "impressed with the star and crescent" were delivered to Johore. The quantities of stamps were so small that it is clear the service was not extensively used from Johore, bearing in mind that mail still used to be delivered by people traveling to and from Johore. This lack of enthusiasm in the post service is reflected in the Straits Government Gazette of January, 1877. It carries a POSTAL NOTICE which reads: Until further notice the mails for Johore will close at the General Post Office at 7.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. daily. It was only in January 1877, that the third lot of stamps was sent. They were plainly specified as "500 two cent stamps impressed with the star and crescent." Intermittent supplies were sent at increasingly long intervals in 1877 and 1878. The following is (probably) a complete schedule of the overprinted stamps: 1876 July - 1000 stamps. 1876 October - 500 stamps 1877 January - 500 stamps 1877 March - 500 stamps 1877 May - 1000 stamps 1877 November - 500 stamps 1878 February - 500 stamps Total: 4500 stamps This pioneer postal service of Johore languished through another four months. It dwindled away during the absence of the Maharajah, who was in Europe, until there was no authorised person in Johore Bahru to receive or forward mails. The Straits Post Office ceased to forward mails to Johore in September, 1878. After the Maharajah's return to his capital, the subject of a postal service was again raised by him. However, a proposed agreement in 1879 came to nothing. The Straits Postmaster-General in his report for that year says: "I attempted, in February 1879, to establish a postal system with Johor, but without success. A large number of Tamil letters are received here for Johor, and when such correspondence is unpaid there are no means to recover the postage due. Sooner or later a Post Office will have to be opened there, and it is a pity the planters do not take the matter up at once." The postal service between Johore and the Straits was reestablished only in June 1884 and on a different basis. The transport of the mails in both directions was then at the expense of Johore, and the Straits stamps overprinted with the name of the State were provided free of cost (not at half face as in 1876-78) for use on correspondence for the Straits Settlements or Native States. Straits stamps, without overprint, were purchased from the Straits P.O. at full face value for affixing to mail for destinations beyond the Straits and Native States. It is interesting to record that Mr. Howard E. Bentley, who was entrusted by the Sultan with the organisation of the postal system of Johore, apparently had no knowledge of the earlier service of 1876-78. He gave a brief history of the Johore Post at a ceremony on November 16, 1891 in the presence of the Sultan to inaugurate the first definitive stamps of Johore, the 2 c., 4 c., 5 c., 6 c. and $1 of the Sultan Abu Bakar type (listed under date 1892 in S.G.). This history begins with 16 June 1884 and was included in an elegant little album containing examples of the stamps, which had been specially prepared by Messrs. Thomas De La Rue & Co., Ltd. This album, which also contained the portrait of the Sultan (and which was used as the engraver's model) was formally presented to His Highness as a souvenir of the occasion. |
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