THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 25TH MARCH, 1876.
151
number of counterfoil receipts. The letters, with a copy of the list, are then placed in a scaled bag or packet, which is not opened until it reaches the Office of destination. Thus there can be no doubt that all the Registered Letters were despatched.
46. The Officer who opens the mail makes it his first business to look for the bag of registered letters, the total number of which he finds also entered on the general Letter Bill. He counts them, ticks the total if correct, and hands them, with the list, to a colleague whose duty it is to prepare the receipts for signature by the addressees. Each receipt has its counterfoil, and, as cach is attached to the letter to which it relates, the address is inarked off on the original list. An entry is then made of the name of the carrier who will deliver the letter, and who is responsible for it until the transaction is concluded by his bringing back the addressee's receipt. A special acknowledgment is sent, to the despatching office. Thus there can be no doubt that all the Registered Letters were received.
47. Such are the main features of the Registration system. It may happen that the process described above has to be repeated several times, as when a registered letter passes from Shang- hai to Hongkong, Hongkong to London, London to Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh successively to a market town and a village. But, with differences of detail, the essential principle remains, that every Registered Letter must be traceable from hand to hand through every part of its course, and it is difficult to see what further precautions could be taken.
48. The security thus attained used to be attended, in the case of Hongkong, with a drawback. in the shape of delay, for, while the correspondence by the English Mail arrived sorted and ready for delivery, it took about two hours to prepare and enter the Registered Letters. It was determined to try whether this could not be done at sea with safety and accuracy, and it is found to be both possible and advantageous. By the last few English Mails the Registered Letters have arrived ready for delivery, but the system must for sometime yet be regarded as on trial.
49. The English Mail twice arrived unsorted, the first time because the Marine Sorter, going down to Singapore in the homeward Mail, just missed the outward steamer; the second, because he fell ill and was unable to proceed. His Excellency the Governor of the Straits Settlements has kindly consented to make arrangements to prevent, when possible, the rccurrence of a disaster like the first. In this case the Mail arrived in the middle of the night, and no inconvenience was sustained by the community.
50. The other instance was that in which the Agamemnon (private steamer) arrived here in the afternoon with the Mails from the Kashgar, which had broken down. This was a singularly heavy Mail, consisting of 80 bags instead of the average 66-68; it included an Australian Mail (a very unusual circumstance) which always makes the work laborious, as there are many small packets to open and to weigh, and matters were not expedited by the simultaneous arrival of the two contract Mails from the North and a private ship Mail from Singapore. One or two other Mails also arrived or were closed at the same time. About two hours and a half had been allowed for the sorting, and though this estimate was exceeded by only a quarter of an hour, some signs of public impatience were observed.
The heavy Mails of former years used to take four hours to sort, and then four more for the newspapers. It should be mentioned that Mr. WILDING, the master of the Agamemnon, brought the Mails on from Singapore without any charge whatever.
51. In April last the Gwalior broke down within a few hours' run of Hongkong, and did not land her mail till four days after the arrival of the Lombardy with the next, having in the meanwhile drifted down to Hainan. The Sunda ran on a rock, and was subsequently beached in Haitan Straits, the mails were saved, but were considerably wetted. The Mails from the Hector (private steamer lost off Amoy) were saved uninjured.
52. The usual Tables with regard to the passages of the Contract Steamers will be found below (Appendix B and C.) The following are the Best Passages of the year, counting to and from London:-
Homeward, Anadyr, left January 14th,..
.......
32 days.
Outward, Malwa, arrived July 29th,..
35 days.
Outward, (Fr. Packets) Ava, arr. June 12th; Anadyr, arr. Sept. 4th,
37 days.
Homeward, (Br.) Kashgar, left Mar. 4 and Nov. 11; Sunda Mar. 18,
38 days.
To San Francisco, Oceanic, left June 5th,......
25 days.
From San Francisco, Occunic, arrived August 11th,
28 days.