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Postal network

During the Ottoman period, the mail in Dobrudja was delivered by the Austrian post. Since the 1860s correspondence was sent from Cernavodă to Constanţa by train, and official and private mail was sent to different places by mounted couriers. By sea, mail got to Constanţa with the postal steamers of the Austrian Lloyds and the French Messageries Maritime, both having agents in the growing port on the western coast of the Black Sea [1].

The Romanian postal service was active after 1878, but mail communications with the rest of the country only boomed after 1895, when the bridge across the Danube was completed and the province of Dobrudja was better linked to Romania. The conclusion of a postal and telegraphic convention between Romania and Germany in March 1899 greatly favoured the significance of the Constanţa postal office. According to the agreement, a daily train was introduced between Bucharest and Berlin, via Bukowina and Galicia, which was to have connections, at least twice a week, between Buzău and Constanta, where it was linked to the Romanian postal steamers. At the same time the two parties lowered fees for parcels sent via this route from Germany and Northern Europe to Constantinople and the Near East [2].

At the beginnings of the 20^th century there were postal offices in 20 localities from Dobrudja. The offices along the way from Bucharest (Cernavodă, Medgidia, Murfatlar) were served by trains, and the rest by coach: daily to Tulcea, three times a week to Mangalia. In rural communes notary offices were also used as post offices, being provided with all necessary facilities (stamps, printers etc.). There were at the moment 27 postmen and 71 postal agents in Constanţa County [3].

The post, telegraph and telephone office in Constanţa was housed in an improper headquarters, a private building rented for a rather large sum, and served by an insufficient number of staff. Thus, correspondence was only distributed with delays, with significant losses for trade. The income of the service was 243,161 lei in 1903–1904, more than in the previous years: 206,809 lei for 1902–1903 and 183,091 lei for 1901–1902 [4]. The statistical data below is the only available for the activity of the Constanţa office.

Table 4.2.5.1_1

Domestic correspondence sent (1903–1904) [5]

Regular correspondence	No.
Letters	211,900
Postal cards	227,682
Newspapers and other prints	55,848
Business papers	4,602
Merchandise samples	5,928
Registered correspondence	No.
Simple	16,093
With advice of delivery	849
Registered official correspondence	2,051
Official correspondence (envelopes)	107,298

Table 4.2.5.1_2

International correspondence sent (1903–1904) [6]

Regular correspondence	Sent	Received
Letters	138,736	169,624
Postal cards	65,650	66,664
Newspapers and prints	10,270	73,840
Business papers	442	78
Merchandise samples	19,734	12,922
Registered correspondence	Sent	Received
Simple	14,789	15,713
With advice of delivery	556	1,211
Official and service correspondence	1,691	1,911

The business papers presented headed towards the following countries: 208 to Hungary, 78 to Greece and England and 26 to Austria, Italy and European Turkey. Those received came from England (52) and Austria (26) [7].

Table 4.2.5.1_3

Merchandise samples (1903–1904) [8]

Countries	Sent to	Received from
Austria	1,326	1,352
Belgium	3,042	364
England	6,422	1,872
France	2,652	2,288
Germany	1,664	1,144
Greece	546	598
Italy	1,326	1,040
European Turkey	1,378	2,002
Hungary	598	494
Other states	780	1,768
Total	19,734	12,922

Table 4.2.5.1_4

Domestic Parcel Traffic (1903–1904) [9]

Private	No
Letters with a declared value	2,152
Money parcels	234
Parcels without value up to 5 kilos	1,991
Parcels with a declared value	860
Parcels without a declared value	2,927
Total	8,164
Official	No
Letters with a declared value	359
Money parcels	1,861
Parcels with a declared value	1,209
Parcels without a declared value	2,233
Total	5,662

Table 4.2.5.1_5

International Parcel Traffic (1903–1904) [10]

Type	Sent	Received	Transited
Letters of up to 10,000 lei, according to arrangement	254	266	1,912
Value boxes, idem	6	8	49
Valueless boxes, according to convention	263	10,052	38,847
Value parcels, idem	123	599	3,689
Letters or money parcels, taxed according the the tarrifs of parcel traffic	74	152	685
Packages, idem	48	125	523
Total	768	11,202	45,705

Table 4.2.5.1_6

International Parcel Traffic by Country (1903–1904) [11]

Countries	Sent to	Received from
Austria	86	3,108
France	63	1,526
Germany	53	4,119
Hungary	94	1,272
Italy	29	352
Switzerland	23	337
Turkey	139	197
Other states	281	291
Total	768	11,202

Table 4.2.5.1_7

Postal Orders, Returns and Trade Effects Received [12]

Type	No	Value
Postal orders issued	21,137	770,205.67
Postal orders paid	15,092	624,066.74
Paid letters with returns	151	2,876.45
Unpaid letters with returns	88	1,256.05
Paid parcel traffic with returns	4,361	254,169.80
Unpaid parcel traffic with returns	182	11,958.55
Trade effects received and paid	86	1,180.35
Trade effects received and unpaid	26	308.80

Table 4.2.5.1_8

International Postal Orders, Returns and Trade Effects Received [13]

Type	No	Value
Postal orders issued	12,028	587,774.55
Postal orders paid	879	80,054.15
Returns received and paid	1,530	31,300.25
Returns received and unpaid	313	8,299.10
Trade effects received and paid	539	9,307.55
Trade effects received and unpaid	290	4,630.50
Presented returns	1	20.00

Table 4.2.5.1_9

International Postal Orders, Returns and Trade Effects Received [14]

Country	Returns	Value	Trade effects	Value
Austria	455	5,680.85	38	1,953.53
Switzerland	53	411.75	210	2,001.10
France	334	5,355.80	426	6,060.30
Hungary	471	11,395.45	140	3,543.90
Germany	147	3,907.10	5	195.20
Egypt	19	267.05	6	119.00
Other countries	364	12,581.35	4	65.20
Total	1,843	39,599.35	829	13,938.05

[1] M. D. Ionescu, Dobrogia în pragul veacului al XX-lea. Geografia matematică, fisică, politică, economică şi militară (Bucharest: Ateliere Grafice, I. V. Socec, 1904), 699.

[2] G. Christodorescu, Portul Constanţa. Mişcare comercială şi maritimă în anul 1903 (Constanţa: Tipografia Ovidiu, 1905), 267–269.

[3] Ionescu, Dobrogia, 700.

[4] Christodorescu, Portul, 280.

[5]Ibid.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Ibid., 282.

[8]Ibid.

[9]Ibid.

[10]Ibid., 283.

[11]Ibid.

[12]Ibid.

[13]Ibid., 284.

[14]Ibid.

References

Christodorescu, G., Portul Constanţa. Mişcare comercială şi maritimă în anul 1903 [The Port of Constanţa. Its Commercial and Maritime Movement in 1903] (Constanţa: Tipografia Ovidiu, 1905).

Ionescu, M. D., Dobrogia în pragul veacului al XX-lea. Geografia matematică, fisică, politică, economică şi militară [Dobrudja at the Beginning of the 20^th Century. The Mathematical, Physical, Political, Economic and Military Geography] (Bucharest: Ateliere Grafice, I. V. Socec, 1904).

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