Postai és Távközlési Múzeumi Alapítvány Évkönyve, 1998

Rövid tartalmi összefoglaló angol nyelven

coach service carrying 5 passengers night and day between Vienna and Buda. The former rapid coach continued to operate as a letter transport post coach 3 or 4 times weekly, but no new services were introduced, and extra demands were met by private companies. A famous private carrier in North Hungary was Károly Mattheidesz, who ran his coach between Pest and Eperjes and along the Pest-Miskolc-Putnok-Rozsnyó-Igló-Lőcse route. In competition with the Mattheidesz Rapid Coach Institute, the Post Office increased the number of its postal coach services and reduced their journey time and fares.

By the 1830s, Miskolc had become one of the area’s main crossroads towns, held a national St. Urban day fair from 1838 onwards, and held weekly fairs on Wednesday and Saturday with trade surpassing that of the Pest fairs. The correspondence involved in industry and trade gave a boost to the Post Office’s development, and in 1834 a connecting postal road was built from Miskolc, through Sakazinc and Putnok, to Tomalyai.

National ambitions during the reform era were manifested through adoption of Hungarian as the official language of the Post Office, and the use of postal documents and forms in Hungarian instead of German. Act II of 1844 provided that the language of legislation and administration was to be Hungarian, and this also applied to postal administration and post offices.

However, the Hungarian Post Office only became completely Hungarian for a very short period, in 1848. Postal affairs were handled in the government by Gábor Klauzál, Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Trade, or under his direction by secretary of state Ágoston Trefort.

During the rule of the National Defence Committee, government commissioner László Madarász dealt with postal affairs. One of the main measures was promulgated on 12 January 1849, setting up the Debrecen administration and regulating postal transport. Upper Hungary postal routes were ordered to send official letters to the government or any section of a ministry to Miskolc, from where they would be taken via Ónod to Debrecen.

A great proportion of General Damjanich’s legendary 9th battalion came from Miskolc, and in addition the town set up four companies of national guards, in one of which served the head of the Post Office, Alajos Duronelli.

After the failure of the War of Independence, the Austrian imperial postal law was extended to post offices in Hungary, the imperial crests reappeared, and new regional postal administrations were set up. The postmasters were frequently dismissed and foreign “Bach hussars” put in their place. Hereditary postmasterships with rights of sale were abolished without compensation. Posts were advertised, absolute political reliability had to be proved, an oath of allegiance taken, and an examination in the German language taken. Furthermore, granting of the post was conditional on making a deposit of an amount greater than the annual pay.

The head of the imperial transport ministry, Baron Bruck, took several measures that accelerated the development of post offices: by regular use of public works labour, he set about restoring the roads, he reduced postage rates and introduced the postage stamp (1850). The speciality of the first joint Austro-Hungarian stamp was the Homonna-Tokaj stamp perforation, which first appeared in 1852.

The postal order system was introduced for money transfers, and postage and newspaper stamps were made compulsory. The Post Office undertook home deliveries from 1855

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