the
are
mense, Account
of detail to be
dealt with in this Office, where there is practically only the Assistant Postmaster General and myself to
dispose of anything beyond the commonest daily routine, makes me desirous of cutting down all detail
processes and making them as infrequent as they can be consistently with efficiency.
Should the proposal of the Government to take over the Chinese Postal Administration on the Coast of China be accepted, I shall recommend that the sale of Postal Stamps here be either discontinued or be very considerably curtailed, the only values kept, probably, being the $1 note. In any case, there will only be Hongkong to provide for, the stock can be kept down much lower, and a much smaller reserve will suffice.
In case of only one value being kept on sale, I would make Quarterly Requisitions with pleasure.
Postal Orders have been a great success at the Ports of China. They have enabled this Office to give what are really Money Order facilities at Canton, Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Kingpo, and Hankow. They have completely stopped the distracting practice of writing to Hongkong or Shanghai for Money Orders and never sending quite enough money to pay for them. But owing to the abnormal fluctuations of Exchange, they have been found unprofitable. I shall not be sorry, if we get rid of the outports, to get rid of this rather troublesome, and ... means to limit the sale of Postal Orders at the exchange of the day. Meanwhile, while the question of the surrender of the Ports is pending
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