USE OF PC.90 TAPE

[Ross Debenham]

I hope I haven't posted this before. I attach 2 scans of an envelope posted from East African Army Post Office 57 on 28 October, 1941. It is initially censored using Indian Base Censor Number X275. It was subsequently censored again using civilian PC.90 PASSED BY EXAMINER tape tied by Indian Field Censor 65 which was quite common on East African covers. My questions for fellow members are:
1 Why would the civilian PC.90 tape be used by a military field censor; and
2 Has the "463" cachet adjacent to the post marker at the top of the front of the envelope have anything to do with the censorship process.

[Peter Harvey]

Hi Ross,

I hope that you are well.

Not sure I can answer any of the questions, but in looking at the cover I wondered if the left hand EA APO date stamp was under or over the stamp?

The question of PC90 labels used by military units came up at the FPHS zoom meeting yesterday and we had no definitive answer really. Your cover clearly illustrates this and to add to the mystery, the Unit cachet ties the label, which may indicate the censor and unit were at the same location?

The number must be related.........need to ask a Ceylon collector.

Peter

[Ross Debenham]

Thanks Peter, one day when all the cards fall in the right place I'll have to sit in on one of the zoom meetings. With regards the PC.90 tapes I have found use of PC.90 tapes on two covers from EA APO 78 in Burma later in the war. Who knows.

[Graham Mark]

Hello
This closure LABEL looks like CCSG type 12B on which the print size of approx 100x6mm.  On civilian mail they are know used late in the war at Bombay and Peshawar.  A very similar label with smaller print size 64x4mm was widely used in India (20 censor stations) from mid 1942.  Neither of these fit well with your cover.
Stationery reference PC90 came into use in UK in mid 1940 after the censorship was taken over by the Min of Information from the War Office (aka Battle Shack).  That stationery ref was adopted widely through the Empire with some exceptions.
So I can see that an India Military Base censorship office may well have indented for a supply of labels for occasions when it had been considered necessary to examine a letter at the Base Office.  I would not consider the earlier date of this letter cf the records we have of civil mail usage to be a disqualifying point.
Note: the Civil Censorship people regard a pre-cut, usually gummed paper for closing a cover to be a label.  A roll of printed, gummed paper, cut to size by the censor is a tape.  PC90s come in both label and tape formats.
Sorry I have not answered your question why? but I do hope this explanation is helpful otherwise.
Graham (longtime editor and librarian of CCSG)

[Ross Debenham]

Thank you Graham. I totally agree with your identification of the censor marker. After studying the cover I believe it was in point of fact posted from India later in the war. Apparently Ceylonese stamps were used in India until supplies were exhausted. I believe it was actually post in 1944, which would fit better with the Indian PC.90 tape. I agree with you that the censorship was done in Bombay. I have also attached a scan of air mail letter card sent from a member of 306 (EA) Field Company posted from No. 16 Advance Indian Base P.O., located at Imphal on 5 December, 1944. Indian stamp used this time. So it looks like these PC.90 tapes were only used in 1944.