Portuguese India – Postal Tax (Assistęncia Publica)

The Portuguese Indian Government issued Postal Tax stamps with a new design of a mother breastfeeding her child in 1948. These stamps were issued to raise money for the charitable organisation Assistęncia Publica which worked to help the poor and those in distress. The stamps were designed by João Franco and printed locally using the lithography technique.

After the issue of the first Assistęncia Publica set in 1948, two stamps with red overprints were issued in 1950 and 1951. A design in black appeared in 1952 and was followed by yellow and orange in 1953 and blue and deep green in 1956. There was a change in design after this issue, and the new design in green came in 1956 and 1957. A rose-coloured version came in 1958 and with a surcharge in 1959. The last of this series was issued in 1960. The 1961 print could not be issued as Goa was annexed by India.

Article 1 of order number 4754, dated 14th October 1948, stated that for identical stamps of the same value, the colours should be red. Accordingly, a government directive number 5029, dated 19th January 1950, issued a new stamp surcharged 1 Tanga over the six reis stamp.

In 1951, stamps were issued with the overprint ‘Revalidado” and P.A.P. as per the government directive number 5226, dated 5th April 1951.

A new stamp arrived in 1952, with the inscription PROVEDORIA De ASSISTENCIA PUBLICA as per the government directive number 5407, dated 3rd June 1952. This stamp was printed at Litografia Costa Valerio, Lisboa.

The 1953 stamps of Assistęncia Publica were issued as per the directive 5858 that came on 17th September 1953.