hands of
the British, but it was under the control of a Board consisting of a
British director and two deputies, one German and the other Japanese.

At this period the Allies had about 100,000 men in Chihli, but the
British troops were stationed at various stations on the line. To
facilitate the prompt delivery of the letters of these British troops,
the postal superintendent of the British force applied for a sorting
van to be attached to the train so that letters could be dealt with
_en route_.... To this application the reply was that no concession
could be given to the British which was not given to all the other
forces, and that as the service was then restricted to one train a day,
such a concession might result in the train consisting largely of mail
vans. But to meet the general convenience, subject to the British
postal authorities undertaking to receive and deliver the letters of
all nationalities posted at the stations or in a box attached to the
van, thus making the service international, a van was placed at their
disposal from April 20, 1901. The new facilities were announced in the
circular, of which a facsimile is given (_Fig._ 68), and the extra fee
was collected by surcharging and selling a number of 1/2 cent Chinese
stamps "B.R.A. 5 Five Cents" in black or green (_Fig._ 69). The B.R.A.
stands for British Railway Administration.

[Illustration: 68]

DIRECTOR OF RAILWAYS: CIRCULAR No. 15 d/ 15: 4: 1901.

BRITISH RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION.

RAILWAY POSTAL SERVICE.

1.--In order to allow of letters being posted up to the latest
possible time, it has been arranged, with effect from the 20th
April, 1901, to open post offices at the Railway Stations
at Peking, Tientsin, Tongku, Tongshan and Shanhaikwan. These
offices will open an hour before the advertised time of
departure of the trains carrying the mails and will close ten
minutes before the trains leave.

2.--Only ordinary letters will be accepted at these post
offices. Registered or insured letters cannot be accepted, nor
can newspapers or parcels.

3.--The letters should in all cases have affixed to them the
same stamps, or be franked in the same manner, as if they
were going through the post in the ordinary way. The Railway
Postmaster will therefore accept letters stamped with the
stamps of any nationality with post offices now in Northern
China, and the stamp will indic