Tiflis stamp

The construction of all postal stations in Georgia ended in 1837, and the postal rush could switch completely from the Cossacks to the postal landlords. This fact made it possible to temporarily take the stations of the Transcaucasia region in the Post Office and appoint station masters for them. To reduce the costs, it was planned to have one station master for two stations – every other station.

A special situation, in which the postal rush was in the region, was finally legalized by the decree to the Senate on April 10, 1840. In the decree “The institution for the management of the Transcaucasian region” the supervision over postal rush and improved maintenance of postal stations was entrusted to the district managers through the rural police.

“The provision on the postal station management” was approved on November 18, 1842. It provided the transfer of all the stations in Russia from under the supervision of the police to under the management of the Post Authorities. But the postal stations in the Transcaucasian region remained in the same affiliation. [25]

The new system of transfer of the stations under private maintenance (bidding) introduced in the early 30-ies, received a greater spread since 1841, because the Cossacks were released of the obligation to accompany the mail.

In Russia, the stations at the auction were taken under supervision by wealthy people who knew the station business and who were able to endure any difficulties – even a poor harvest of forages, mortality of horses. In the Caucasus, on the contrary, to “the trading” poor people came, among whom there usually were the merchants, who were ruined in trade, contractors who failed to find job, retired officials and other small entrepreneurs unfamiliar with the peculiarities of postal rush and with the station economy.