THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30TH APRIL, 1881.
307
21. Mr. JEFFERY also explained to the Committee that stolen letters in which nothing remunera- tive is found (handfuls of 20 or so being taken on speculation as stated above) are generally destroyed, and that, in 1876, 7,000 letters containing Money Orders were stolen. Although the thieves only realised 120 of these, and were traced and convicted in 40 cases, the payees of the remaining 6,880 Orders must have been subjected to an amount of inconvenience, delay, and correspondence, from which Registration would have effectively saved them. Had the 7,000 sums of money been in Stamps or Bank notes, every one would have been lost; in the forty cases which were detected the forged signature to the Order would probably form the sole clue.
22. Table 4 gives a return of the Revenue, &c. of this Department for the year. It had been hoped that the gross sum collected would still have been a little above $100,000, but such is not the case. It must be remembered that we have closed one of our main offices, that, namely, in Yokohama. The balance accruing to the Colony is, however, more than double what it was last year.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
The Honourable F. STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary,
&c.,
&c.,
Your most obedient Servant,
ALFRED LISTER,
Postmaster General.
&c.
* Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Money Order System of the Post Office, &c., 1877. Minutes of Evidence.
APPENDIX.
(A.)—COMPARATİVE STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, 1880 & 1879.
Imperial and Foreign Share, Conveyance of Mails and Contribu-
tion towards P. & O. Subsidy,
Expenditure,
Balance,..
Gross Revenue,.
1880.
1879.
$33,430.74
$40,293.96
Decrease,...
$6,863.22
} 20,501.87
20,235.13
Increase,
266.74
33,084.87
36,663.78
Decrease,..
3,578.91
*9,486.09
4,594.16
Increase,
4,891.93
$96,503.57
$101,787.09
Decrease,..
$5,283.46
· (B.)—SALE OF POSTAGE STAMPS.
1880.
DENOMINA-
TION.
Number.
-Amount.
1879.
Number.
Amount.
INCREASE.
DECREASE.
Number. Amount.
Number.
Amount.
C.
C.
C.
C.
1 Cent (Cards).
2 Cents.
19,562 419,718
""
3 (Cards).
6,429
51,380
213,293
195.62 8,394.36 192.87 2,055.20 10,664.65
278,908 3,584 213,883
1,721
6,430
385.80
17,338
5,578.16 107 52 8,555.32 86.05 1,040.28
19,562 140,810
2,845
195.62 2,816.20 85.35
162,503
6,500.12
211,572
10,578.60
...
10,908
57,600
4,608.00
219,796
17,583.68
162,196
654.48 12,975.68
2292****
10
333,498
33,849.80
333,498
33,349.80
12
24,697
2,963.64
123,613
14,833.56
98,916
11,869.92
16
""
7,840
1,254.40
37,728
6,036.48
29,888
4,782.08
18
1,900
342.00
"3
4,717
849.06
2,817
507.06
24
22
9,310
2,234.40
35,413
8,499.12
26,103
6,264.72
28
120
""
30
27
17,963
48
""
8,505
33.60 5,388.90 4,082.40
98
27.44
3,751
1,125.30
22 14,212
6.16 4,263.60
12,313
5,910.24
3,808
1,827.84
96
5,192 4,984.32
6,358
6,103.68
1,166
2 Dollars.
1,020
1,119.36
2,040.00
1,037
2,074.00
17
34.00
3
10
500 47
1,500.00
406
1,218.00
23
470.00
26
260.00
21
៩៧
94
282.00 210.00
Total,.......
$85,139.96
$79,887.89
Deduct Decrease, Total Increase,..
$51,787.33
46,535.26
$ 5,252.07
$46,535.26