beyond
the
power of Government
to cope successfully, so long China is without a Postal
Administration.
8.
But though this
Government is thus prevented by the inertness of a friendly power from directly and satisfactorily
undertaking certain duties which
it is right
and
it is
devolve upon it, it is
possible for the Government to
delegate its functions to another
party. This is the
only
way in which
large
sums
of money
which should
swell the Revenue but passes unskilfully
into private pockets, can, in
part, be diverted into the Government Exchequer, its proper receptacle.
9.
If negotiations with
the Chinese Government upon the subject of the establishment of a
Postal Administration in China
were in progress
or were
likely to be
entered upon at an
early date, the Hongkong Government might be
contented to wait; in the absence
of any signs of Postal resuscitation
a
question that once
occupied the attention of the Government,
I respectfully urge that the present
is the time to deal with the Chinese Postal Agencies in our
midst, and submit that the
Government should take the earliest opportunity of laying before the Legislative Council the draft Bill attached to C.S.O. No. 3464 of 1889, which has already been before the Executive Council. The longer this question is shelved, the wider will these illicit Post Offices ramify,
and
the more difficult will it be to deal with them.
The
changes to
be effected by
the draft Bill will be mild
compared with the revolution which