125th Anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Home, The Collection, Go to Order Page, Mailing List

Release Date: 26 October 1999

HISTORY OF UPU
Postal services, which began simply in the form of messengers serving kings and emperors, evolved into a complex web of bilateral arrangements governing the transit of mail between countries following the establishment of the first international postal treaty in the seventeenth century.

National postal reforms started the process ofbringing order and simplification to the international postal services.There were three notable instigators. Sir Rowland Hill of England under whose leadership letters were to be prepaid using a uniform rate for all letters of a certain weight, regardless of the distance involved. Previously, postal charges were generally paid by the recipient. US Postmaster, General Montgomery Blair who initiated a conference held in 1863 in Paris, France to continue the process of postal reform at,the international level. And Heinrich von Stephan, a senior postal official from the North Gernian Confederation, who drew up a plan for an international postal union. At, his suggestion,the Swiss Government convened in Berne from 15 September 1874, a conference attended by representatives from 22 nations which was the foundation of the UPU.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) was established with the signing of the Treaty of Berne on 9 October 1874 - a day now celebrated throughout the world as World Post Day. Then named the "General Postal Union" with an initial membership of 22 nations, the title changed to "Universal Postal Union" in 1878 due to the rapid increase in membership.

The Treaty of Berne succeeded in unifying a conflicting international maze of postal services and regulations into a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of letter-post items.

Today, by virtue of its mission to promote and develop communication between the people ofthe world, the UPU is called upon to play an important leadership role in promoting the continued revitalization of postal services.

To commemorate the UPU's 125th Anniversary, Post Fiji is releasing four stamps with the theme "Railways of Fiji".

RAILWAYS OF FIJI
There was a time when the most well-known trivial fact about Fiji was that it offered the only free passenger train service in the world.
In fact, unusually for a South Pacific nation, steam locomotives in Fiji have a long and fascinating history, one that is intimately bound up with the islands major industry-sugar.

Fijians first learned of the power of steam from friends who travelled overseas to Australia or New Zealand, and by the 1850s steamships that were visiting the islands fairly regularly. They were called 'lacabuka' in Fijian, literally meaning 'sails of fire'.

Steam engines were in use in Fiji from the 1860s, being mainly used to power cotton gins and copra and sugar mills.

The first steam engine to run on a railway was a small four-wheeled locomotive with 2 cylinders 4" diameter by 8" stroke, with wheels 1'6" in diameter. It was set up in Vuna in southern Taveuni, then one of the leading cane-growing areas, in 1882, and first earned its keep hauling parts on 2'6" tramlines for a new sugar mill at Holmhurst Estate.

The locomotive was built by Falcon Engine and CarWorks of Loughborough, England, and carried an engine supplied by W & A McOnie of Scotland. A second, larger engine that arrived in Vuna in 1884 was built by Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock, Scotland. Its cylinders were 6" diameter by 12" stroke, and its six wheels had a diameter of 1'9". In its first full year of operations (1 885) it ran over 6,500 miles, even though there was only a total of 8.5 miles of track. Within a few years, however, there was a world slump in sugar prices, and the Vuna operations were closed down.

Subsequently, the Fiji railway system was developed almost entirely by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company of Australia as a means of getting sugar cane to the mill as soon as possible after it is cut, and at any rate in less than two days, after which it is unusable. As a result, railways are only found in the western sides of the two main islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, where the hot dry climate is suitable for the cultivation of sugar cane. All are narrow gauge (2 foot). At its greatest extent, there were 4416 miles of permanent railway lines. By the 1950s, steam engines were giving way to diesel,a change which is now long complete.

In return for numerous concessions from the colonial government, CSR was obliged to provide a free passenger service, which operated weekly (or twice weekly, according to season) over a 133-mile route from Kavanagasau near Sigatoka to Tavua. The leading carriage was enclosed and reserved for 'Europeans' and 'Part Europeans', followed by a number of trucks of cane or molasses, with Fijians and Indians filling two or three third class open carriages bringing up the rear. This service ceased in 1973 with the withdrawal of CSR, from Fiji. Since then there has been only one passenger service, a short trip for tourists from the Fijian Hotel at Cuvu in Nadroga to Natadola beach and back.

The set of four stamps depicts two FIJI Sugar Mills Diesel Locomotives, the Steam Locomotive and th Free Passenger Train.

Technical Details

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