"The following potted history of the T.P.O.'s on the Demerara River will, I hope, clear up the query which was raised at our meeting in October 1956 in relation to the cancellations of this service.
The T.P.O. on the Demerara River, strictly the Lower Demerara River to distinguish it from the launch service on the Upper Demerara River, was established on 1st March 1881 and originally ran from Georgetown to Lucky Spot on the Upper Demerara River just above Wismar, the present terminus and to which point it ran from 1901 and where a post office was opened on 4th May 1897. The Post Office Guide for 1884 recorded the times of departure and arrival and stated that mails for Mallali and places above Lucky Spot were conveyed by special mail boat. Since 1881 six different types of cancellation have been used by this T.P.O.
The Mail Boat service on the Upper Demerara River was established on an experimental basis on 1st July 1881 between Lucky Spot and Mallali on which day a Post Office was opened at the latter settlement. The launch service was discontinued from 1st April 1882 as the Contractor was unable to perform the service at the rates agreed. Postal matter for places beyond Lucky Spot was retained in the custody of the Mail Officer on board the River Steamer and could be obtained on application. The service was re-established on October 1st 1883, the first T.P. Agent being Wm. Forsythe who conveyed the mails in a canvas collapsible boat. By July 1st 1885 the renewed contract for the mail service to Mallali operated from Akaima which by that time had become the terminus of the Demerara River Steamer service. In 1887 the T.P. Agent was a coloured St. Lucian named Heshbon who used a similar type of collapsible boat.
The designation of the service changed in 1896 from Mail Boat Demerara River to Upper Demerara River Launch although this is not reflected in the cancellation used. Because of lack of transport facilities the mail service between Wismar and Mulluli was discontinued from October 1st 1929 and postal business for the district was attended to from Wismar and Mackenzie Post Offices and the Postal Agency at Seba. The original cancellation is a 24 mm. D.R. with two line date and reads 'Mail Boat, Demerara River'. My own copies range from May 17th 1888 to June 5th 1900. It was succeeded by a S.R. 28½ mm. type reading 'Mail Boat. B. Guiana' with three line date and I have copies between September 19th, 1902 and March 2nd, 1922.
The T.P.A. service on the Upper Demerara River was re-established in February 1941 between Wismar and Mallali and Mr. Wreford Allicock was appointed T.P. Agent. I have no evidence to support the issue of a date stamp to the T.P.A. in 1941. Whether it has operated continuously since then is also not certain, but it was running in 1950. From enquiries made locally I have been informed that immediately prior to August 1952 the T.P.A. did not have its own cancellation. From that date however the rarely seen large S.R. 31 mm. type date stamp with single line date and asterisk below reading 'T.P.O. Upper Dem Riv. Br. Gu.' was brought into use."