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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30TH MARCH, 1878.
3. It had been settled that the Union arrangements should commence on April 1st, but up to little more than a fortnight before that time this Department was in absolute ignorance of any details whatever. Not even the rates of Postage to be charged were known. Detailed instructions from the London Office arrived on the evening of March 12th. It may be imagined that the task of re-organising almost every detail of the service in so short a time was not light, and indeed the amount of work imposed on the Department has been such as to tax all its resources for the remainder of the year. For although the Union arrangements seemed to work at once smoothly and effectively, as far as the public were concerned, yet as far as concerns International organisation many points are even yet far from being decided.
4. The great advance effected by the Treaty of Berne may be said to be this;-that whereas before that Treaty the transmission of correspondence was practically subordinated to the keeping of accounts, the keeping of accounts is now subordinated to the real business of the Postal service, transmission. This Department, for example, would not have ventured to send the Postmaster at San Francisco a single letter for Canada, without first enquiring whether he could arrange to receive and forward it. The Office of the United States would probably have replied (as would any other Office) How do you propose to bring such correspondence to account? and the absence of any special arrangement for this purpose, or the fact that the few, but possibly important letters to be forwarded were not numerous enough to justify a complicated and perhaps expensive system of accounts, was everywhere regarded as a conclusive reason why such letters should not be sent.
5. Now, however, every Union Office is bound to forward as a matter of course all Union corres- pondence received by it, whether in closed Mails or à découvert, by the best route open, leaving questions of account for subsequent consideration. In other words, the principle of the service has become, Transmission first, questions as to payment afterwards.
6. The weak point of the old system was that the development of new and speedier routes for correspondence was checked by incessant difficulties presented in the complicated system of paying sea-conveyance on each letter. The weak point of the new seems to be that a good deal of sea-convey- ance will probably never be paid for at all, which, however, inflicts no inconvenience on the public. The great marine services of England and France, and the Railway systems of the old and new con- tinents cannot, of course, be availed of by all comers without any attempt at payment, and therefore Periods of Statistics have been devised, during which a careful account is kept of the weight of cor- respondence forwarded, and from these observations it is thought that an approximation may be obtained to the sums due for the entire year.
7. The selection of these periods, and the fixing of their duration has given rise to voluminous correspondence. The Berne Congress originally selected a week in August and a week in December. However well these periods might answer in Europe, where there are several departures by Railway each day, they were obviously useless in determining anything as to sea-transit effected only at fort- nightly intervals. The month of June was then agreed on, but the observations taken during that period with much care and labour were cancelled, fortunately for this Colony, for, June being in the height of the Tea and Silk season, the results must have been greatly exaggerated. Finally, statistics were taken during the first 28 days of December. It is proposed that in future the statistical periods be May and November, which, except by limiting them to 28 days each, are perhaps not susceptible of improvement.
8. It is greatly to be hoped that a few years' experience will lead to what must be regarded as the only satisfactory solution of the question, viz., that each Union Country shall pay a commuted annual sum to a common fund for reimbursing the Governments which provide transit, this payment ensuring liberty to forward all the correspondence there may be to send, anywhere within the Union, by any route, and thus almost realising the popular idea, that there is nothing to do with letters but to put them into bags and send them off.
9. The Period of Statistics for 1877 having been fixed so late as December, it is not possible to speak with any certainty of the financial result of the year. With one exception, all claims of the London Office have been paid to date, but as regards other countries, this Department has been receiving the entire Postage on correspondence despatched since April 1st, and paying nothing for contract convey- ance, nor is it yet known what there will be to pay to France, Italy, &c., on this account. The balance at the end of the year, after paying working expenses and all claims which have been received, is $37,919.39, but out of this there is the Crown Agents' account to settle, sea and other conveyance by foreign countries to be paid for*, and nine months' proportion of the annual sum of £3,150 due to the London Office to be provided. Bearing this in mind then, the financial position on December 31st was as follows:-
1877.
1876. Imperial Share of Revenue, ...$109,044.68 $ 54,615.21
$109,044.68 $54,615.21 Decrease $54,429.47 138.43 Colonial Expenditure,.. $ 37,934.34 $ 38,072.77 Increase S
$13,828.13 $37,919.39 Increase $24,091.26
Balance in hand, .
Gross Revenue,.......$160,807.15 $130,607.37 Decrease $30,199.78
* Since writing the above, $43 has been paid to Batavia for sea-conveyance of correspondence originating in Hongkong or its Agencies between Singapore and Batavia by Netherlands packets from May 1st to December 31st,