243
HONGKONG.
THE POSTMASTER GENERAL'S REPORT FOR 1886.
No.
Presented to the Legislative Council, by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, on the 14th January, 1887.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, HONGKONG, January 1st, 1887.
by
87.
SIR,-I have the honour to report upon the working of the Post Office in Hongkong and China during the year 1886.
*
2. The exchange of Parcels with the United Kingdom established towards the end of 1885 has worked with great regularity and smoothness, whilst the steadily increasing numbers of parcels forwarded show that it is appreciated by the public. During the year under review 3,136 parcels have been forwarded from Hongkong to London, whilst 3,516 have been received, making a total of 6,652 parcels exchanged, almost without a complaint of any kind. There have been, of course, as it was foreseen there would be, a few false alarms of missing parcels, and early in the year some parcels were damaged by an accident on the mail steamer. The damage, however, was trifling, and compensation was paid in the only case where real harm was done. By the last mail in the year several parcels were received in a damaged state from having been put into a box with a package con- taining pomatum, which had of course melted, and which should not have been forwarded, unless in soldered tin. As far as is known at present, even in this case no serious damage resulted to the con- tents of the parcels. With these exceptions the parcels have all turned out in good order. It is observed that books are now often sent by Parcel Post, presumably because they do not get knocked about as do articles which are forwarded in mail bags. The London Post Office complains of the insecure way in which many parcels are packed by the senders, leading to the breakage of their con- tents on the way, and also of the inaccuracy with which contents are described.
Thus a parcel stated by the sender to contain silk handkerchiefs and a gold ring is found on examination to contain six silk handkerchiefs, a tea cosy, a gold ring, a bead necklace, a puzzle and a pair of ivory solitaires. Perhaps this notice may tend to induce more care as to both of these matters.
3. The limit of weight for parcels to the United Kingdom and a good many other countries has been raised from 7 to 11 fb., whilst facilities have been provided for forwarding parcels to most of the countries of Europe, to Egypt, and to a good many British Colonies. Direct parcel exchanges with Malta and Gibraltar have also been established. Negotiations have been commenced with several of the Australian Colonies for the establishment of an exchange of parcels, and these are progressing favourably.
4. The number of Transit Parcels, as they are called (that is of parcels sent to or from Colonies and foreign countries through London) has not been great. Possibly the circuitous route, and the necessarily somewhat high charges may have acted as deterrents. The following return shows the exchanges of Transit Parcels for the year.
Reed.
Sent. Recd.
2
Sent.
Ascension.....
1
Denmark.
Sent. Reed.
6
Malta....
Austria
1
Egypt..
4
Norway
Belgium
Germany
153
Sweden
8
British Guiana........ 1
Gibraltar...
2
Switzerland.
7
Canada
5
Holland
1
Trinidad
•
Cape Colony...... 6
Jamaica
1
Victoria (Austr.)
..
Totals.......212
6
5. By far the greater number of parcels sent home contain presents of some kind, whilst the greater number of those sent out contain supplies, such as hosiery, clothing, &c. The largest parcel mail despatched was that of November 8th (the Christmas mail) by which 314 parcels, weighing 588 lb. (net) † were forwarded. The largest parcel mail received was that which arrived here on December 17th, with 246 parcels weighing 642 b.
6. A new mail service between Bremerhaven, Brindisi, Shanghai and Japan has been commenced by the packets of the North German Lloyds line. The fact that these packets start only once every four weeks, and that their departures from China coincide very nearly with those of the French mails
* Every week a sheaf of letters is received from various Post Offices representing that this or that Registered Article has not reached its destination. The same stereotyped answer is always sent, that it was delivered on such a day, and that the addressee signed a receipt for it. Nothing further is ever heard of these complaints, which generally arise from the senders' not having allowed time for the arrival of the corres- pondence. A case was recently noticed in which a person resident in France had registered a letter for Peking, and then within one week from the date of posting had complained of its non-delivery there.
With the boxes, these parcels weighed nearly half a ton.