On 30 January 1911, the name of the Canadian Naval Service was changed
to the "Royal Canadian Navy." This change reflected the growing
importance of the navy and Canada's increasing sense of national
identity within the British Empire. The "Royal" designation acknowledged
Canada's ties to the British monarchy. The Royal Canadian Navy played
significant roles during World War I and World War II, contributing to
Canada's naval efforts on the international stage.
The "Night Air Mail Service" was introduced on 30th January 1949 by the then Communication Minister, Mr. Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, to rehabilitate the deteriorating postal service. When the Railway Mail Service and Motor Mail Service had reached saturation point, the only option left was to introduce Air Mail Service for the First Class Mail. As day time air service were running with full loads, night air service were planned. Before this period, night flying was not safe in the absence of security measures and equipment at Airports. The Night Air Mail scheme was an experiment towards night flying in India and for the introduction of the "All Up Scheme". Initially only mail was transported on N. A. S.
Under the N.A.S., the 4 principal cities of Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and New Delhi, which are in 4 different corners of India, were linked with Nagpur. 4 night planes will leave, one each from these cities, for Nagpur, with a mail load from their region and will return to their home base in the early morning, after exchanging the mail at Nagpur.
The fight schedule was as follows as per Postal Notice No.65 dated 27.1.1949:
Night flying reduced considerably the time factor on mail from one place to another. Aircraft flying from Trivandrum to Srinagar used to make night halts at Madras and New Delhi. Now the mail can reach its destination on the next day.
It was decided that all classes of surcharged air mails will be forwarded by the Night Service wherever this provides acceleration in transit compared to other services. The Night Air Mail charges remained same which were prevailing that time viz., 1 anna for Envelopes and ? anna for Post Cards.
To give more volume of mail to N.A.S., it was decided to utilize, these special overnight services, for conveyance of Post Parcel by air ( to be introduced for the first time) in addition to Letter Mail, from the same date. The transmission by air of such parcels being restricted to these overnight services.
This scheme was strongly opposed by airline operators on various grounds. They wanted a guaranteed minimum payment, but the Government was not prepared to give such a guarantee, wishing to maintain the existing rates of carriage. Only Indian Overseas Airlines offered to work on the Government conditions.
The Air Transport Licensing Board granted a licence for operation of Night Airmail Service to Indian Overseas Air Lines Ltd.., for one month from 30th January 1949. At that time Indian Overseas Airline Ltd., had traffic offices at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta , Hyderabad, Jabalpur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Madras and Nagpur. The routes on which this Company was operating at that time were,
Bombay - Nagpur - Calcutta - Nagpur - Bombay.
Nagpur - Bangalore - Madras - Bangalore - Nagpur and
Nagpur - Jabalpur - Allahabad - Kanpur - Lucknow - Kanpur - Allahabad - Jabalpur - Nagpur.
source: https://stampsofindia.com/readroom/b016.html
World Leprosy Day is observed internationally every year on the last Sunday of January to increase the public awareness of leprosy or Hansen's Disease. This date was chosen by French humanitarian Raoul Follereau as a tribute to the life of Mahatma Gandhi who had compassion for people afflicted with leprosy. The day began to be observed in 1954.
Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world. It is an infectious chronic disease that targets the nervous system, especially the nerves in the cooler parts of the body: the hands, feet, and face. Pope Francis has spoken in support of the observation.
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England, where he spent much of the rest of his life. He became heir apparent to the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1612 upon the death of his elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. An unsuccessful and unpopular attempt to marry him to the Spanish Habsburg princess Maria Anna culminated in an eight-month visit to Spain in 1623 that demonstrated the futility of the marriage negotiation. Two years later, he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France.
After his 1625 succession, Charles quarreled with the English Parliament, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. He believed in the divine right of kings, and was determined to govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, and perceived his actions as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch. His religious policies, coupled with his marriage to a Roman Catholic, generated antipathy and mistrust from Reformed religious groups such as the English Puritans and Scottish Covenanters, who thought his views too Catholic. He supported high church Anglican ecclesiastics and failed to aid continental Protestant forces successfully during the Thirty Years' War. His attempts to force the Church of Scotland to adopt high Anglican practices led to the Bishops' Wars, strengthened the position of the English and Scottish parliaments, and helped precipitate his own downfall.
From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War. After his defeat in 1645 at the hands of the Parliamentarian New Model Army, he fled north from his base at Oxford. Charles surrendered to a Scottish force and after lengthy negotiations between the English and Scottish parliaments he was handed over to the Long Parliament in London. Charles refused to accept his captors' demands for a constitutional monarchy, and temporarily escaped captivity in November 1647. Re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, he forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648, the New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and the Commonwealth of England was established as a republic. The monarchy was restored to Charles's son Charles II in 1660.
As was the case with cricketers prior to commercial sponsorships, Jai was employed by the Imperial Bank of India, later State Bank of India, by way of a job for life. This helped to nurture his hobby, philately. He became an eminent philatelist, being in a position to "rescue" every stamped envelope that came to the bank every day. He specialised in British Empire stamps.
Jai died on 29 January 1968 in Bombay from cardiac arrest
Above Travelled cover and FDC addressed to Jai are a part of my collection
