28
SUPPLEMENT TO THE HONGKONG GOVE GAZETTE OF 9TH JAN, 1886.
of the thousands of letters which arrived in, London every morning containing Postage Stamps. People advertised. Send thirteen stamps for this; Send five shillings' worth of stamps for that.
A sorter or postman who stole a bundle of letters at random was certain to find several of them containing stamps. This Office has had to struggle hard not to suffer in the same way from the persistence with which residents at the Ports, chiefly Canton and Swatow, will, in spite of all remonstrances, pay their small bills here by means of bank notes sent in unregistered covers. Chinese do not steal bundles of letters at haphazard, they select those that feel tempting, and unfortunately it is not only or even chiefly the people that enclose bank notes in letters who suffer, the correspon dence of others is taken. At one time it seemed to be rapidly becoming the rule that even a sample of calico or cloth put into a letter marked it for immediate theft.
18. The whole work of a Post Office is organised on the supposition that ordinary letters will contain nothing of intrinsic or immediately convertible value. If it were certain that every letter would contain bank note, each letter as posted would have to be entered on a list, and to be recorded throughout its entire transit, just as a registered article is. The number of officers employed would grow to that of a standing army. If therefore a portion of the public will persist in throwing on the Post Office a responsibility which it notifies on every opportunity its organisation does not enable it to accept, they must be left to take the consequences.
19. An endeavour has been made to establish three regular deliveries, at 9, 12, and 3. As steamers arrive here at any hours, a system of this kind cannot be carried out very strictly, at least without greatly increased staff, but it answers fairly well for the slacker days when no contract mails arrive. It is unfortunate that, as a general rule, the postmen have to leave for their afternoon rounds before the Canton steamer is in. They are not back till late, and the half-dozen letters from Canton may not be distributed till after dark. It is really impossible to make the whole arrangements of the Office depend on this tiny handful of correspondence. Those who may have felt aggrieved about Canton letters will perhaps accept this explanation. During the war the inconvenience was particularly marked, as it was never known whether the steamer was to be expected or not.
20. The Franco-chinese war was not a happy period in Postal matters. The regular packet service to Shanghai was suspended, the mails being carried by private ships which often started after a very short interval. On one occasion the Shanghai mail had to be sent up unsorted. Correspondence for Formosa was forwarded with difficulty, and for considerable periods not at all. Pakhoi suffered from the same difficulties, but only for a short while. The alarm of a blockade was raised at Swatow, and arrangements were in readiness to transport the mails overland. Fortunately they were not called into requisition. Ningpo was blockaded during several weeks.
21. The French packets now call at Kobé both on their upward and downward passages, which much simplifies the conveyance of mails to that Port. The mails for Japan were sent on with fair regularity throughout the year, no serious detention for want of connecting steamers having taken place.
22. The attention of both the British and French Post Offices has been called to the inconvenience caused by the English and French mails arriving, as they did during all the first half of the year, almost together. The remedy lay in the hands of the French Post Office. As the representation to it was made by its own Agents, not by this office, it is not known what view has been taken of the subject, but the evil has for the present disappeared.
23. Perhaps a more serious inconvenience to the community is the frequent departure of the American mail on the same day as the mail for Europe. This is a most unfortunate arrangement, and one that surely cannot be absolutely necessary. In the Post Office its results are very trying. The verandahs and the windows are blocked up with Chinese purchasing stamps and posting their letters, Europeans find it almost impossible to get what they want, and, two days' work being compressed into one, neither mail can be despatched with the desirable care and accuracy.
24. The trans-Pacific steamers ceased for some weeks to bring mails from San Francisco. The effect on the outward mails to that port was very marked; as far as the Chinese community is concerned correspondence almost ceased to be posted. It would seem to be certain that Chinese haye again discovered some way of smuggling their correspondence into the United States, or else the vigilance of the Customs Officers has been relaxed. The outward mails for San Francisco are nothing like what they were a year ago. No doubt the same number of letters are sent, but they are sent otherwise than through the Post Office. The inward mails from San Francisco are at present being brought by the steamers of the O. & O. Co. only, the Pacific Mail steamer not bringing any.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
The Honourable FREDERICK STEWART, EL.D.,
&c.,
Acting Colonial Secretary, &c.,
&c.
ALFRED LISTer,
Postmaster General.
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