Imagine an undeveloped area of 8,000 square miles, equivalent to twice the combined area of Devon and Cornwall, with only 12 miles of road and where the greater part of the very sparse and scattered population of 6,000 can only travel by river and forest trails and you have a thumb nail sketch of the North West District of British Guiana today.
In October 1890 when the first regular mail steamer service to MORAWHANNA, (then the Administrative headquarters), was inaugurated, conditions were probably even more primitive. A Travelling Postmaster was put in charge of the mails, and this can be considered the first T.P.O. service in the N.W. District. Later the service was extended to Mount Everard on the Barima River and additionally, from December 1896, a mail launch service was operated under contract by a local trader between Mount Everard and Arakaka.
The T.P.O. cancellation takes the form of a 26mm. double ring reading 'T.P.O. North West Str' with-two line date and fleuron in the double circle at the foot. So far as I am aware the mark is reasonably scarce and all my copies are dated some time in 1898. The fact that the cancellation includes the word 'Str' suggests that it was only used on the service- between MORAWHANNA and MOUNT EVERARD - probably at the latter and intermediate settlements. Mail from MORAWHANNA would have had no need of the cancellation as its Post Office was opened in September 1890. It also seems extremely unlikely that the mark would have been used on both steamer and launch services. Settlements on the latter route were few and the two major ones, ARAKAKA and KORIABO had by 1894 their own Post Offices; mail from which until 1896 would have been carried to MOUNT EVERARD by any private boat available. Although the necessity for carrying mail from ARAKAKA to MORAWHANNA persisted, the North West T.P.O. would seem to have ceased operating about 1902, and it was not until 1951 that a similar service was introduced.
In 1949 the Colonial Government decided to expand its medical services in the District and on 1st August 1951 the: Government Dispenser was additionally appointed Travelling Postal Agent, travelling with a boat crew of three in the Motor Launch 'Relief'
The postal duties of the Dispenser includes the conveyance and delivery of all mail, parcels, etc., clearance of all Post Boxes en route, maintenance of an adequate stock of Inland P.O.'s and stamps and giving receipts for registered letters. The launch is based on KUMAKA and regularly carries out four different journeys each month. On the first week it travels the Aruka and Koriabo Rivers and their tributaries. The next week 176 miles are covered up the Kaituma and Barima Rivers. The Waini and Barama Rivers and their tributaries are traversed on the third week a total of 200 miles. whilst the fourth week is given over to the 17 miles to the Imbotero Creek on the Barima River on the Venezuelan frontier. The cancellation used is of the large 31mm. single ring type with two line date and reads 'Mobile N.W.D. Agency'.