November 12, 1893. |
This is as effective a preventative as can be devised, unless the whole work of handling the letters for obliterating purposes be taken out of Chinese hands, which is not practicable.
When the accommodation is improved, it will become slso much easier to watch that no pil- fering takes place.
A. M. THOMSON, P.M.G.
- 17/10/1898. ·
CHINÁ OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
PROPOSED harbour OF REFUGE,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 22nd October, 1898.
989
(1.) Those at least comparatively well-to-do. (2.) Soldiers and sailors, &c. (3.) Poor Europeans.
ceipt of your letter of the 15th ultimo, regard-pay the present rates, and the second have the Sir, I am directed to acknowledge the re- The first is perfectly well able and willing to ing the formation of a Harbour of Refuge west privilege of sending letters at 2 cents, or id., of the Slaughter House for the accommodation already. of small oraft during the summer gales.
The subject has had careful consideration, but before coming to any decision in the matter Colonial Secretary's Office. it would be useful to know how a breakwater of Hongkong, 25th October, 1898.- Sir,-In continuation of my letter No. 1957 refuge of some 80 acres; how the expense of 400 yards in length would furnish a deep water of the 21st instant concerning the General such an undertaking is proposed to be defrayed; Post Office, please ses enclosed copies of two whether the shipping community would consent letters from Messrs Lauts, Wegener and Com- to the imposition of harbour or other dues to pany to the Postmaster-General, and also copy of a letter from Messrs Herbert Dent and Composition of adjacent Marine Lot Holders in cover the cost of the refuge; and whether the pany, of Canton, to the Postal Agent at Canton. connection with the project has been considered. This correspondence is sent with a view to I have the honour to be, Sir, your most illustrating that portion of Mr. Thomson's re-obedient servant, port already in your hands which alludes to the many ways of losing letters that it is impossible to discover and which consequently cannot be guarded against by the Postal Authorities.— I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
T. SERCOMBE SMITH. Acting Colonial Secretary.
R. Chatterton Wilcox, Esq., Secretary, Hong- kong General Chamber of Commerce.
Hongkong, 12th October, 1898. The Postmaster-General, Hongkong.
Sir-We beg to bring to your notice that at the 4th of this month we posted a letter ad- dressed :-Mr. L. Haesloop care of Messrs. Lauts and Haasloop, Swatow, for which we have got the receiver's stamp in our book. We guess that the letter was forwarded by s.s. Haimun, but till now Mr. Hassloop is not in the posses- sion of the mentioned letter.-We have, &c.
LAUTS, WEGENER & Co.
Hongkong, 17th October, 1898. To the Postmaster-General, Hongkong.
Sir-Bearer, our Portuguese assistant, bas misinformed us when answering our inquiry whether the letter which had been reported from Swatow as missing had been forwarded by him through the Post Office. We have received to-day notice from Swatow that the letter has been received after having been over-carried to Foochow and we therefore have to apologize for the untruth told us by our employé, who has to hand you this letter.-Yours, etc.,
LAUTS, WEGENER & CO.
Canton, 20th October, 1898.
T. SERCOMBE SMITH, R. Chatterton Wilcox, Esq., Secretary, Hong-
Acting Colonial Secretary. kong General Chamber of Commerce.
PENNY POSTAGE,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 28th October, 1898. Sir, I am directed to transmit for the consideration of the Chamber of Commerce a circular from the Secretary of State for the Colonies covering the report of the Duke of Norfolk on the result of the Conference on Postage within the British Empire.
7. The last class (beachcomber) is not one to encourage in the matter of writing home, as I should say nearly all their correspondence would consist in trying to obtain money on more or less false pretences from their relatives.
inducement to keep up a connection with home, 8-English residents here, too, require no
find one who has the intention of staying as it is quite the extraordinary exception to
Kingdom. after retirement anywhere but in the United
Imperial point of view as regards this colony, 9. I fail to see any advantage from an but if it is still considered by the Imperial Authorities that there is some advantage I do to the colony, which absolutely does not partici- not see why they should not make up the loss
pate.
10.-The ten cent rate, too, for a long time just about paid the expenses of the General - Post Office, and as this year there is a large increase of revenue, with corresponding busi- devote a portion of the increase to much needed ness, it is the intention of the Government to. improvements.
11.-If the rate is reduced there will be some difficulty in future in obtaining more funds for the Office in case they are required.
A copy of a report by the local Postmaster-fication, viz. :--That letters may be sent at 40. 12.-I therefore suggest the following modi- General on the proposed change in the letter per oz. once a fortnight per English mail, postage and parcel postage rates is also enclosed. via Gibraltar. I have no doubt an additional The Officer Administering the Government agreement with the P. & O. S. N. Co. could be will be glad if your Chamber will kindly give entered into to provide for this. its earliest atteution to the documents sent herein and favour His Excellency with an ex- pression of opinion as to how far and in what manner the contemplated reduction of rates will affect this colopy.-I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
T. SERCOMBE SMITH, Acting Colonial Secretary. R. Chatterton Wilcox, Esq., Secretary, Hong- kong General Chamber of Commerce.
Hon Acting Colonial Secretary.-The cost of transit of each letter to England by the English mail just now is nearly 10 cents. If the rate were reduced to 4-cents (equivalent to Id., the total loss to the colony in postage as estimated by the London Office would be $21,000. But it must be understood that the London figures are based on old statistics, and that our correspond- ence here has increased more than 25 per cent. over last year, so that the total loss to revenue would approach $30,000.
13. On the other hand, if the Imperial Gov- ernment insists on the scheme, let it remit a portion of the contribution which this colony at present pays towards the loss on the English mail subsidy.
14.-I may also add that the new rate would be awkward with our stamps on the decimal be expected. system, and that a number of mistakes might.
15. Some of the above objections also apply to the proposal re parcels, which if adopted would mean a loss of $4,000 more per annum.
A, M. THOMSON, Postmaster-General.
24th October, 1898.
Mr. H. L. Higgs, Present,
Dear Sir,-We beg to advise you that the letter reported by Messrs. Gibb, Livingston & Co. of Hongkong as missing has been found. The letter in question was duly received by us on the 10th instant aud was unfortunately mislaid. Post Office in China or from the Imperial Norfolk on the result of the Conference on
Apologizing for the trouble that we have caused both to you and the Hongkong Postal
Officials.—We are, etc.,
HERBERT DENT & Co.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
Hongkong, 3rd November, 1898. letters of the 21st and 25th ultimo, enclosing Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your
a report by the Postmaster-General on the com- plaints forwarded in my letter of the 16th idem, and in which you state that His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government will be glad to appoint three members of the Chamber to conduct an inqury (should the Committee still think it necessary after perusal of Mr. Thomson's report) as to the working of the Post Office.
2
Whilst thanking His Excellency for the opportunity offered, I am instructed to reply that the Committee are as much convinced as ever of the necessity for a searching investiga. tion into the working of the Department in question, but they consider that it is not the province of this Chamber to conduct it, and they respectfully suggest that the Government are more competent to find the remedy for the evils complained of and the reality of which is so manifest. I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX,
Secretary.
To Hon. Colonial Secretary.
|
2.-Again, a letter sent from any British
Chinese Post Office with Hongkong stamps thereon would bear only a 4 cent stamp, whereas the colony would have to pay almost 10 cents for its transit, thus practically giving a bounty to all non-colonial residents in the Chinese Empire who correspond with England.
3.-A distinction would have to be made letters from the Agencies, which are virtually against letters arriving from China, and if Id. Imperial Post Offices, be allowed, the Imperial Government should at the very least make up to this Government the loss they incur by trans- mitting the correspondence of residents in a foreign country.
4-Examining the question as to who in the colony would derive benefit from the proposed change I have no hesitation in saying that were the deficit in revenue made up by increased taxation, which it appears from the Estimates would be necessary, it would mean taxing the Chinese and Indian population for the benefit of the European firms.
5.-Leaving out the Straits Settlements, the bulk of Chinese and Indian correspondence is sent to Australia, Netherlands Indies, Japan, Canada, U.S.A., and India, none of which come under the scheme, whereas on the other hand (leaving out China, which is common to all) European firms probably send a great portion of their correspondence to England.
6.—The benefit to be derived would therefore be almost exclusively confined to Europeans, who form themselves into three classes, viz. :---
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
Hongkong, 3rd November, 1898. - Sir, I beg leave to acknowledge receipt of mitting for the consideration of this Chamber your despatch (No. 2,007) of the 28th ult. trans-
a circular from the Secretary of State for the Colonies covering the report of the Duke of Postage within the British Empire, together with a memorandum by the local Postmaster- rates, and requesting an expression of opinion General on the contemplated changes in postal thereon.
I am directed by the Committee to point out
for Hongkong among other Crown colonies, that, as the Secretary of State has already an- nounced that he has agreed on the penny rate the matter is practically removed from the domain of discussion. If, however, the Com mittee are mistaken in this supposition, and the question is still open to argument, they are of opinion that the Postmaster-General is best qualified to give an opinion and that the remarks in his memorandum seem to supply the infor mation required.
State and the report of the Duke of Norfolk The circular despatch of the Secretary of
the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant, are returned herewith as requested.-I have
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX, To Hon. T. Sercombe Smith, Acting Colonial
Secretary,
Secretary.
News from the Mekong River says that the French authorities have imposed on goods from Burma an import duty of fifty per cent. ad valorem. It is understood that similar duties will be imposed in French Laos as aginst Siam.
-Straits Times.