Page 30 - Cameo 83

Nigeria Advice of Receipt Card

Rob May

Following Philip Quirk's fine article In Cameo (Ref 1) and earlier speculation about the AR service in
Cameo (Ref. 2) members might be interested to see a later example of a Nigerian pro-forma AR return form
used in 1937 to acknowledge receipt of an "ordinary letter" sent by the Lagos Timber Company, Ebute Metta
("E.B.") to an addressee at the Police Training Depot, Kaduna. The 3d AR fee has been prepaid by the sender
by way of the 3d KGVI Coronation stamp affixed to the stationery card, type "P&T Pm's 23A", which is
printed in red on pink card.

I do not have access to a copy of the pre-war Nigerian Postal Regulations to confirm that this has been
handled in accordance with the postal regulations of that time, and my copy extracts from the 1973
regulations by then no longer refer to such a service at all. It is my understanding that the stamp was correctly
to be postmarked only when the outbound letter had been delivered. The pre-paid return form was then to be
posted back to the sender; in this case first cancelled by the post office at Kaduna North on 7 October 1937
then by an Ebute Metta registered oval of (I think) 10 October. When these forms were used internationally
they became an example of the stamps of one territory being valid for postage in another, like the reply paid
postcards of the late Victorian era.

Frank Walton tells me he has never seen one of these AR forms for Sierra Leone of any period. Their
survival rate must be poor in any territory, as their purpose is ephemeral.

References
1. Quirk, P., "Three Sierra Leone AR covers from the 1890s", Cameo, Volume 12, pp11-14, WASC, January 2011. see
also his extensive list of references, especially three by D Handelman
2. Walton F., "Sierra Leone: Payment of Advice of Receipt Fee", Cameo, Volume 8, p107, WASC, January 2004.