Post Office

Regular postal service in Funchal appears to date from 1662, the year in which a deputy chief postmaster (tenente correio-mor) was appointed for Madeira, charged with the ‘regulation and execution of the carriage of letters’. It is to be believed that this official was subordinate to the chief postmaster (correio-mor) of the Kingdom (reino, i.e. mainland Portugal) and took orders from him alone, since at that time the administration of the postal services was not in the hands of the government.

The office of chief postmaster was abolished in 1797, and on 13 May 1798 the Madeira post office was created and placed under an administrator (administrador do concelho, government-appointed head of the municipality). It yielded 251,630 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) in that year, 312,500 in 1800, 381,550 in 1810, 691,120 in 1820 and 1,160,830 in 1823. From 1798 to 1824 the post office yielded a total of 14,606,066 réis.

On 8 April 1805 a decree ordered that the post offices of Madeira and the Azores be annexed to the General Postal Administration (Administração Geral dos Correios). This annexation, however, apparently did not take place, since on 18 April 1838 a new decree appeared calling for full compliance with what had been laid down in the earlier enactment.

For many years the postal services in Funchal were in the charge of an assistant postmaster (correio assistente), subordinate to the General Postal Administration, but we cannot state precisely the year in which this post was created.

The post of assistant postmaster was awarded to whoever would fill it on terms most advantageous to the State. The appointee held office for three years, after which a new tender was opened.

The assistant postmaster lodged a surety with the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal). He collected the legal postage on all correspondence and the premiums on items he insured against the risk of loss, and he was obliged to set up subordinate post offices as the service required. In all other respects he was governed by the provisions of the regulations (regimento) of 5 April 1805 and the instructions annexed to them.

The highest bid (lanço) offered in 1839 for the post of assistant postmaster of Funchal was 1,030,000 réis a year in strong currency (moeda forte, i.e. mainland coinage), this sum to be paid quarterly in arrears at the General Postal Administration in Lisbon.

The decree of 27 October 1852 abolished the posts of deputy postmaster and placed all postal establishments under the direct administration of the State; it was then that the post of director of the Funchal post office was created.

The same decree introduced postage stamps, but made this method of prepayment optional for internal correspondence exchanged between the mainland of the Kingdom and the Adjacent Islands (Ilhas Adjacentes), or between the islands and the mainland. Stamped letters paid 25 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) for up to 3 oitavas in weight; printed matter paid 10 or 20 réis for up to 1 ounce in weight, depending on whether or not it was prepaid with stamps. Mail for England was formerly dispatched through the British consulate on this island, which was also responsible for receiving the mail that arrived from that country and forwarding it to the Funchal post office, once the letters had been separated from the newspapers and other printed matter. The British consulate took charge of delivering the printed matter and the Portuguese post office of delivering the letters. It should be noted that these letters paid nothing in Funchal, since the senders had already paid the postage at the British post offices. The postage on letters to England was paid at the British post offices, not at the British consulate in Funchal.

The postal convention concluded with England on 5 June 1859 regularised the service for correspondence exchanged with that country and reduced the postage charged for carrying letters.

Home delivery of mail in the city of Funchal began in 1877. In Lisbon this service already existed in 1805, when the postage on letters was paid by the recipient. Since 1866 the Funchal post office has issued money orders payable on the mainland, and since 1852 it has had branch offices in the seats of the municipalities (concelhos). For some time the Municipal Council of Funchal subsidised the carriage of mail between the city and certain places on the island.

On 7 July 1880 the telegraph and postal services were reorganised, and the posts, telegraphs and lighthouses were then brought together. In each administrative district the service was run by a department called the Telegraph and Postal Directorate (Direcção Telegrafo-Postal), and offices were set up in the localities that were not district seats.

The telegraph and postal services underwent further changes in 1886, 1892 and 1899, but the reform of 7 July 1880 is without doubt the most valuable and important carried out to date.

The revenue of the Madeira post office in the financial year 1921–1922 was 832,043.00 escudos and its expenditure 268,083.37 escudos.