Why were the first steel date stamps produced ?

[admin]

While looking through the various Postal Acts and regulations which passed through the Tasmanian Parliament in 1864 - 65 I came across the following para in the "Act to establish Post Office Savings Banks 29 Sept 1865":
"2. Every Deposit received by any Officer ... shall be entered by him at the time in the Depositor's Book and the entry shall be attested by him and by the date stamp of his Office."
Two things strike me about this requirement to use date stamps:
1. It has been more or less assumed that the major impetus for the provision of the long-awaited date stamps( they were foreshadowed in 1861 or 62 when the second allocation numerals were introduced) was the introduction of the Money Order system which was enacted in 1862 but implemented on 1 May 1865
2. The requirement to use date stamps to certify deposits was written into the Savings Bank Act itself rather than regulations.

On re-reading the Money Order Act and Regs ( 1862 and 1865 respectively) the only reference I can find to a requirement to use date stamps for processing Money Orders is in the regs:
"4. ... and the date stamped or written .. etc "
The general regulations for Post Offices of 1864 only refer to the requirement to write the date and post office name on the envelope when the letter etc is received by the Post Office "... until stamps are provided with moveable dates, which will be done as soon as possible."
It seems fairly clear then that the need for date stamps was driven much more by the introduction of the Post Office Savings Bank.
When you think about it, there was a major risk of fraud against the Bank if deposit entries were able to be endorsed in manuscript. How easy would it be for a person to copy the handwriting of a Postal Clerk. Forging a date stamp would be much more difficult.
The significance of the new Post Office Savings Bank system in relation to the need for date stamps is particularly evident given the use of date stamps was a formal Legislative requirement whereas the Money Order system allows the use of written endorsements as well as date stamp endorsements.
I would be interested if there is any other evidence or opinion regarding the driving forces for the issue of date stamps ?

[John Hardinge]

Both were in 1865. Probably a combination of both. At the wend of the day both would reqire security that was not easily furnished with just manuscript endorsements. This is probably why, later on you see MRH offices receive only a BN, no CDS, as they were neither MOO or Savings Bank offices