General Postal Union (later known as the Universal Postal Union, UPU) on 1 July 1875, and since at the time the postal services in Malta were deemed to be part of the British Post Office, the islands were effectively also part of the union. Malta claims to have been the first British colony to join the UPU, although due to its status as a colony it did not gain full membership until independence almost a century later. Malta Post Office (1885–1995) In 1879, Governor Arthur Borton made a proposal to transfer control of postal services to the Government of Malta. This occurred on 1 January 1885, when the Island Post Office and the Packet Office were officially merged into a single Post Office. At this point, the Halfpenny Yellows and British stamps were withdrawn and new Malta stamps and postal stationery were issued to replace them. On 17 May 1886, the General Post Office moved from the Banca Giuratale to Palazzo Parisio, also in Valletta. From 14 August 1889, letter carriers were given a numbered handstamp which they would apply to the mail that they were delivering. This created accountability since it made it easy to identify the postman responsible in the case of misdelivered mail. These markings, which are known as postmen's personal handstamps (), remained in use until 1949. By around 1891, police stations in various villages had begun to sell postage stamps. The postal system was reorganised in 1894, and this included the establishment of postal districts. Circular postmarks for various towns and villages were introduced in 1900, but most were withdrawn in 1921. Some of the larger post offices such as those at Cospicua, Notabile, Sliema and Victoria, Gozo retained their postmarks. Postal services in Malta were disrupted during World War II, and postal censorship was introduced at this point. Malta was heavily bombarded during the war, and several post offices were destroyed or damaged due to aerial bombardment. The Cospicua post office was hit in June 1940, and its staff and equipment were relocated to a temporary post office in Paola, which was itself bombed on 12 February 1942. It was relocated once again to Żejtun where it remained until 1946. Palazzo Parisio was bombed on 24 April 1942 and the GPO temporarily moved elsewhere in Valletta until returning to its former location on 16 January 1943. During this period, some of the GPO services