GERMISTON: months in altered cancellers after the Boer War
When post offices re-opened after the Boer War, ZAR cancellers often remained in use, frequently modified by the removal of the letters "Z.A.R.", until they were replaced by new cancellers.
At Germiston, three ZAR cancellers were modified, probably in early February 1901. All these cancellers were of the same basic type: double-circle cancellers with "GERMISTON" at the top, "Z.A.R." at the bottom, and ornaments at the sides. The date appears in a single central line. Unlike British cancellers of that period, in which the date was changed by changing individual letter and number "slugs", in the ZAR cancellers the date was changed by rotating wheels which carried twelve numbers or, in the case of the month, twelve three-letter abbreviations: JAN, FEB, MRT or MRZ, APR, MEI or MAI, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT or OKT, NOV and DEC. Changing these was not trivial, and probably was most simply done by replacing the whole month wheel. How this was dealt with is interestingly variable, as set out below in the attached table, though the story is as yet fragmentary because of shortage of examples:
May was changed to MAY in 1901 in Put 5 and Add 6x, though not until after 1 MEI 01 in Put 5; when and whether it was changed in Put 4 is unknown.
October only needed to be changed in Put 4, and this was done in 1901.
March was changed to MR in 1901 in Put 5, and to MR. in 1901 in Put 4. In Add 6x it was left unchanged in 1901, but then changed to MR. by 1904.
If any member has postmarks which add to this story and fill the gaps, I would be most grateful for scans. This kind of detail seems trivial, but contributes to our understanding of change in the early post-Boer War period - what seems to be emerging is a picture of considerable local variation, in which individual postal officials were to a considerable extent left to deal with problems in their own way.
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