HONGKONG.
463
No. 26
1900
REPORT OF THE ACTING POSTMASTER GENERAL FOR 1899.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government.
No. 49.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, HONGKONG, 10th April, 1900.
SIR, I have the honour to submit the following report on the Hongkong Postal Service, inclusive of the British Postal Agencies in China, for the year 1899.
I regret the necessity that has caused the Postmaster General to leave Hongkong before this report was ready to be sent in, as Captain HASTINGS would have been in a better position than I am to deal with the whole year.
Captain HASTINGS was appointed Acting Postmaster General on the 15th February succeeding the Honourable A. M. THOMSON who had been promoted to the post of Colonial Treasurer.
He was confirmed in this office by the Secretary of State for the Colonies under date the 18th May. I arrived and assumed the duties of Assistant Postmaster General on the 13th April, having been appointed to that office by the Secretary of State in the February previous. This office had been unfilled since Mr. NORTHCOTE went on leave, and the duties attached to it were, I am informed, satisfactorily carried out by the Chief Clerk, in addition to those of his own assisted by a clerk temporarily employed. Consequent on the retirement of the Accountant. Mr. DA ROCHA, on a pension, after a long and valued service of 34 years, Mr. REED, who had been acting was confirmed in that appointment on the 25th May, 1899. The Department was fortunate in obtaining so very competent and careful an officer to succeed Mr. DA ROCHA. The Superintendent of the Registration Branch was transferred back to the Police Department in December, after the investigation by the Executive Council of charges made against him by the Postmaster General, of insubordination and disobedience of orders.
His place was taken by Mr. P. V. REMEDIOS of the General Office-a most reliable and willing officer, and whose place it will be difficult to fill. I believe that under him the Registration Branch will cease to afford the public any of the past frequent causes of complaint. Among the Junior Clerks there were many changes, 22 clerks joined and 21 resigned or were dismissed. With the exception of two, oue with eight years' service and the other three years, all these latter were employed under a year.
Approximate statistics (Table A) of International and Local Correspondence received an despatched during the year, which is based on the statistics taken in October, give the following results:
INTERNATIONAL.
LOCAL.
Received.
Despatched.
Received.
1898.
1899.
1898.
Ordinary letters, ...1,456,930 1,646,200
Post cards,
44,670 65,020
other articles,...
Newspapers and 1.207,000 1,609,570
472,160
1899. 1,224,070 1,444,660 44,950 89,510
718,090
1898. 1899. 189,620 253,620 1,010 1,150
10,260 13,030 48,590 74,650
Despatched. 1898. 1899.
81,130 103,550
2.470 1,750
Registered articles,
228,720 209,450
113,570
166,160
9,750 5,690 19,690 8,100
Compared with the previous year it will be seen that there was an increase under each head in both International and Local Correspondence. I may mention that included in the total under the head Local-Received-there were 199,520 letters, etc., posted and delivered in Hongkong, as against 140,690
in 1898.
A Statement (Table B) of the number of Bags, Packets, Parcel Boxes and Loose Letter Boxes received and despatched will, no doubt, be of interest. It shows the respectable totals of 64,496 Bags, 3,633 Packets. 3,066 Parcel Boxes, and 2,290 Loose Letter Boxes, handled at this office.
By direction of the Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, special statistics were taken of the weight of mails despatched by British Contract Packets from London and Hongkong during the first 28 days of May; the result is appended (Table C). The total weight being-London-Letters 725 lbs. 14 ozs., Post Cards 1 tb. 10 ozs., Other Articles 10,086 lbs. and-Hongkong-Letters 576 tbs. 6 ozs., Post Cards 1 lb. 7 ozs., Other Articles 1,015 tbs. 11 ozs.
The usual statement of the monthly sale of Stamps at Hongkong will be found in Table D. The total amount received was $216,791.45 which was $16,404.32 less than the previous year. This falling off was due, not to any decrease in the volume of correspondence, for there was a large increase. but undoubtedly, and as was anticipated, to the adoption of the 1d. Postage rate on letters to the United Kingdom and the majority of the British Colonies. I have every reason to believe, however, that in the near future the still further increased correspondence will considerably reduce this loss if it does not entirely remove it.