THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 1ST SEPTEMBER, 1894. 737
two Contract Mails, say the Canadian and the French, closing simultaneously. Branch Offices would tend, I believe, to greatly diminish, if not entirely remove, this inconvenience, as people would naturally go to the nearest Post Office to buy their stamps and post their letters. Moreover, I think it not unlikely that, if there were Branch Offices in the town, much of the Chinese correspondence for other than places in China that at the present time is sent from the Colony through illicit Chinese Post Offices would in process of time find its way to the Branch Offices and thereby add to the Postal Revenue.
14. Mr. C. M. BARRADAS resigned his duties as Marine Officer and Mr. A. J. REED was appointed in his stead on the 21st June.
The health of the Staff has been fairly good.
15. Mr. STEPHENS resigned the Agency at Hankow in September last and was succeeded by Mr. W. B. FITZGIBBON. Mr. PITZIPIOS was succeeded at Canton by Mr. H. GOFFE, in February, and Mr. FERRIER was relieved at Swatow by Mr. E. F. BENNETT in December.
16. A good deal of inconvenience has been felt by the public through the want of 7 and 14 cent stamps. The question of rates of postage came under the consideration of the Government on receipt of information that the Singapore Office proposed to alter its rates of postage. If the present rate to England is to be maintained, it is desirable that the convenience of the public should be met by the issue of 7 and 14 cent stamps. The dies of former issues have no doubt been preserved by the Crown Agents and there should be no difficulty in printing a supply of stamps from them with the surcharges of 7 cents and 14 cents in the same manner as in the case of the 20 cent and 50 cent stamps at present in use.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
The Honourable J. H. STEWART LOCKHART,
Acting Colonial Secretary, &c., &c., &c.
British packets,
French
*
German
G. STAFFORD NORTHCOTE,
Acting Postmaster General.
Table A.--Approximate Results of Statistics taken in November, 1893.
Totals,....
DESPATCHED,
RECEIVED.
. Letters.
Papers.
Letters.
Papers.
Grammes.
Grammes.
Grammes.
Grammes.
378,455
520,055
418,348
4,534,170
272,970
386,946
397,067
4,307,166
38,782
42,835
54,825
76,876
690,157
949,836
870,240
8,918,212
General Post Office, Hongkong, June 30th, 1894.
G. STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, Acting Postmaster General.
Table B.-Correspondence received from and despatched to the Peak District and Kowloon during the Year 1893.
1892.
1893.
Increase.
Received,
498
1,604
1,106
Peak,
Despatched,
5,390
9,806
4,416
Recei ved,
1,282
2,675
1,393
Kowloon,......
Despatched,.
3,346
6,779
3,433
General Post Office, Hongkong, June 30th, 1894.
Decrease.
G. STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, Acting Postmaster General,