100
the afternoon. The American mail, we will say, is leaving at three, the English mail at four, and an Australian mail at five. In a word, within three hours mails have to be despatched to every part of the world. Meanwhile the Coast steamer has arrived, with half a dozen others, from Saigon, Hoihow, Manila, the Straits, &c., &c. The Canton resident's correspondent considers it very hard if his unpaid letter is not brought to him and the postage collected in time for him to answer it by the return boat which leaves at half past five. That is, he must receive it within half an hour at most from the time of its reaching the Post Office. The above is not at all an extreme or exceptional case, but fairly embodies the general view here as to local delivery, and the problem the Post Office has to solve. When an occasional failure occurs in solving it, it may be permissible to repeat as some grain of encouragement, "It is often found possible to secure the delivery of a letter in the town within two or three hours after it has been posted."
I have the honour to be,
The Honourable W. H. MARSH, C.M.G.,
Colonial Secretary.
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
A. LISTER,
Postmaster General.
APPENDIX.
(4.)—APPROXIMATE STATISTICS FOR THE YEAR 1884. Supplied to the International Bureau of the Postal Union, Berne.
INTERNATIONAL.
LOCAL.
COMPARISON WITH 1883.
DESCRIPTION OF CORRESPONDENCE,
TOTAL
De- spatched.
Received.
De- spatched.
Received.
Total in 1883.
Increase. Decrease.
Ordinary paid letters,
Unpaid and short paid Articles...
562,000 437,000 43,000
13,500 21,000
2,000
53,000 9,000
1,095,000
903.600
91,400
45,500
37,600
7,900
Letters on Postal Business,
1,400
1,000
1,000
700
4,100
5,300
1,200
Post Cards,
10,000
6,100
1,000
1,100
18,200.
14,400
6,800
Do. with prepaid reply,.
Newspapers and Periodicals,
177,000 350,000
30,000
11,000
268,000
Books, Circulars, Prices Current, &c.,
155,000
106,000
8,000
9,000
Patterns,
1,000
14,000
260
100
278,000
15.460 16,360
471,000 97,000 340,000
22,000
940
Commercial Papers,
3,800
4,000
780
400
5,980
4,940
1,040
Registered Articles,
22,100
27,000
2,700
3,000
51,800 47,200
7,600
Letters with value declared,
Registered Articles with Betura Receipt, Parcels,
200
1,200
130
750
170
130
260
130
2,280 890
2,477 894
197
4
(B.)-REPORT ON THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF SUBSIDIES.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, HONGKONG, September 1st, 1884.
SIR,-With reference to Lord DERBY's Despatch No. 174 of July 25th, on the subject of the arrangements to be made on the termination of the present mail contract, I have the honour to report as follows.
2. Lord DERBY's Despatch, which was referred to me by order of the Governor, raises three questions :—
(a.) Would it be possible to do away with subsidies, and to entrust the mails to the most suitable vessels starting on the voyage for China, paying by weight only, as is about to be done in the case of mails for the United States.
(b.) Could the mails be transported by way of Bombay and Calcutta.
(e) As to revision of the existing distribution of expense.
3. A memorandum from Mr. FAWCETT, the Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, which is quoted by Lord DERBY, expresses the opinion that carriage of the mails by all or any of the companies running steamers between England and China would afford the communities here more frequent and less expensive means of communication than at present. It would be a very important point to this Colony if such a result could be brought about, because the existing mail service is costing us £6,000 a year. But I am of opinion that whatever economy may result from the suppression of subsidies, frequency of communication will be lessened; and regularity of communication, which is at least as important as either frequency or quickness, will have a tendency to disappear.
4. In forecasting what would happen on the withdrawal of the P. & O. subsidy, an important element in the question is, what would be the movements of the P. & O. steamers themselves? It seems reasonable to suppose that what has taken place between Hongkong and Japan would be reproduced all along the line. That is to say the boats would start with fair regularity perhaps, but their movements and their ports of call would be entirely governed by considerations relating to cargo, so that it would be quite possible that a P. & O. steamer which had left Europe before the French mail might arrive here after it.
5. There are enough steamers, take them all together, to allow of a mail from Europe arriving in Hongkong every two or three days. Such a state of things would be indeed desirable if it could be counted on. The mails would be small, would be quickly dealt with, and there would be much less rush and impatience about their distribution than at present. But it is as useless to hope for this as it would be to believe that meteorologists will ever be able to arrange that rain shall fall only when it is convenient. The steamers would come in, as they do at present, three and four within a day or two, and then no more perhaps for nearly a fortnight.
2