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5. As to the contribution of Hongkong, the Colonial Office has already raised the question whether, if the Imperial Government effects a saving, the Colonies should not share it. The Imperial Treasury replies, Ceylon, yes; Singapore and Hongkong, no. Hongkong's equitable share of the loss was assessed at £12,000 odd, and the Colony has been allowed to pay only £6,000. Unless the saving to the Imperial Government amounted to lowering the expenditure by more than half, this sum could not be reduced. This appears to be a fair way of regarding the matter, and I think this Colony should bé content to stipulate that it is not to be asked for more than £6,000.
6. As to the Canadian route, the Imperial Post Office confirms what I have held since first I looked into the proposal. The service would be slower by three days than that viâ Suez, and unless fortnightly, and timed to alternate regularly with the French packets, could not possibly replace those of the P. & O. As an alternative route it might be of some service, but unless the homeward packet left here within three days of the departure of the English and French Mails, even this small advantage would be lost.
7. The question of the hour of departure may seem a small one, but it is not so in reality, for it must be remembered that any inconvenience caused by an unsuitable hour will recur fortnightly till it is removed. It is better therefore to attend to the point now than to have discontent and memorialising by and by. It is very desirable that the P. & 0. packets, like those of the Messageries line, should leave at noon. The hour of departure of the French packets cannot be altered, on account of saving daylight at the mouth of the Saigon river. Having consulted with Mr. McEwEN, the only member of the Chamber of Commerce I can get hold of this morning, I consider that a uniform noon departure of both mails would meet the wishes of the business and general community, and would do away with the long and fatiguing day now caused fortnightly by the later hour fixed for the departure of the English Mail.
The Honourable F. STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
(C.)
I have &c.,
A. LISTER, Postmaster General,
No. 29.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, HONGKONG, May 26th, 1886.
SIR, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter addressed to me by Mr. H. KOPSCH, one of the Commissioners of Customs under the Chinese Government, and a special Commissioner for Postal purposes in China. Mr. KOPSCH enquires whether, in view of an extension to all the Treaty Ports of the Customs Postal Service which has been for some years in existence in China, and the intended establishment of a Chinese national Post Office, this Department will withdraw its Postal Agencies from the Ports of Hoihow, Canton, Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Hankow, and its Post Office from Shanghai.
2. I enclose a copy of the reply I forwarded to Mr. Kopsсn, pointing out that these Agencies are in reality Agencies of the Imperial Post Office.
3. As His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government will probably think it necessary to refer this matter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for the consideration of the Imperial Post Office, I permit myself to offer a few words on this proposal.
4. It seems to me that one main consideration should be kept in view, namely the convenience and welfare of the communities at the various Treaty Ports, which perhaps include more of our fellow-countrymen than of any other nation, the convenience and welfare of their correspondents in other parts of the world, and the interests of trade. The experience of more than eleven years in dealing with the only organised Post Offices in the Far East (until the Japanese Offices were established) convinces me that it is desirable in these interests to accept the proposal of the Chinese Government if possible.
5. Extra-territorial Post Offices may be described as necessary evils, and evils which should be got rid of as soon as the necessity for their continuance is removed. The objections to them must be so well known to H. M. Government that I need not here recapitulate them. In China they have certainly been free from one disadvantage attaching to them elsewhere-they have not, hitherto, wounded national susceptibility. But it is quite possible they may eventually do so, and that before very long.
6. The Hongkong Government maintains, under very great disadvantages, eight Post Offices in China. They are worked (except at Shanghai) by Consular Officers, whose Consular duties naturally have to take precedence. Able and diligent as most of these gentlemen are, their frequent removals, and the pressure of other duties inevitably stand in the way of the attainment of any very high degree of efficiency. By the time a Postal Agent has learnt his duties he is due for transfer to another port.
7. The Post Offices at most of the Ports, being in the Consulates, are too far removed from the business parts of the Settlements to be really efficient. Only this morning, in looking into a question relative to Swatow, I am reminded that a letter cannot be registered there without sending a messenger across a (frequently tempestuous) stretch of sea which under the most favourable circumstances it takes an hour to cross and re-cross.
8. Another great disadvantage is that the Hongkong Government of course cannot enforce any Postal Regulations in Chinese Ports. The residents send their letters by the mail if they think fit to do so; if not, and more generally, they send them on board the steamers. Too often the chief function of the Post Office seems to be to take the blame if anything goes
wrong,
9. The Customs Authorities propose to replace this very inadequate service with Post Offices at 23 ports (including all those at which this Office maintains Agencies). At most if not all of these Ports all the facilities this office can offer would be given to the public, and I cannot doubt that those facilities would eventually be much extended.
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10. The Customs would bring to the task very much larger staffs, officers on duty night and day, buildings in the heart of the business quarters, steam-launches, facilities for boarding steamers both on arrival and departure, the power of search, and, most important of all, the sanction of the national authority, which would allow of the making and enforcing of regulations, such as exist in most ports elsewhere.