POST OFFICE
(Contd.)
832
In September 1859 we have several references to the proposed changeover recommended by a committee of the Legislative Council whereby control of the local Post Office was to be transferred to the Colonial Government. The date for the change was eventually fixed for May 1, 1860 when the transfer duly took place, the Postmaster assuming the title of Postmaster General and being thereafter an officer of the Colonial Government and "no longer a deputy of Her Majesty's Postmaster General." It should be borne in mind, however, that the constitution of the Post Office, bound by international conventions and so forth, and having various Imperially subsidised mail contracts, makes its work still a matter of concern to the home Post Office. A good many years after the change-over, in fact, we have references in the records to the "Imperial contribution" towards the Hong Kong P.M.G.'s salary. But from 1860 the Post Office employees have been Hong Kong civil servants, and the department is part of the local government.
In the next instalment we shall consider the early postal charges, prior to the introduction of certain facilities as the years went by, and the gradual improvement both in speed of transit and regularity of delivery of mails.
It might be stated at the outset that postal agencies were opened at Macao and Shanghai about the time Hong Kong first came on the map postally in the early Forties, and in the old records there are frequent references to the accounts remitted from these centres. Later, various treaty ports established sub-post offices, and we have already seen that one was opened at Canton in 1847. How this came about is worth noting.
About 1847 the Hong Kong merchants had come to the conclusion that there should be a proper mail service to Canton and for this purpose they clubbed together and arranged with the owners of the steamer "Corsair" to carry their mail to and from the Chinese city. However, the Postmaster insisted that this steamer should not only carry postal packets, at the rate of twopence each letter, but should also deliver them to addressees at Canton. This was obviously rather difficult, and when the captain of the "Corsair" refused to deliver letters on the grounds that there was no Post Office at Canton, the Governor (Sir John Davis) ordered his prosecution, and he was fined £100 in legal proceedings which were taken in February 1847. There was an outcry, the merchants addressing a complaint to the Postmaster General in London. As a direct outcome of this the Canton Post Office was opened, in July following.
In May 1853 we have a reference back to 1849, when Mr. Murrow of Harrow, Stephenson and Co. had started a daily express service of vessels between Hong Kong and Canton, which also carried mails.
That pirates sometimes had a say in matters is disclosed by a reference in July 1855 to the "Post Boat" on the way from Canton to Hong Kong being plundered in the Canton River by freebooters who also took the mail, presumably a permanent loss.
During January-March 1897 correspondence took place with Messrs. Butterfield and Swire regarding the carrying by the Steamboat Company of all mail matter between Hong Kong and Macao and Canton.
Reference to the postage charges prompts some comment on the old rates. From the records we find that the rates between sailing ship and steamer carriage varied. Also, soldiers and sailors in the Services were permitted special facilities; for example letters could be forwarded unpaid, and the charges