for repairs of offices etc. On the other hand the amount of the contribution from the Imperial Office is only $3,888. I think this should be pointed out to the G.P.O. with an expression of opinion that The Colony cannot be expected to add further to its deficit on this account.
I am not clear how far there is some arrangement in the matter of postage to make up for the deficit, and the matter is rather complicated by the fact that, before the colony took over the other agencies, it contributed to the packet service at Shanghai.
Whatever may have been the past history, it is clear that now Hongkong should not be called upon to bear the expense of any post office outside its own limits, but its own.
9. Write to G.P.O. and send them a copy of the minute down to "A".
C.P.L.
4 Feb....
W.
Registered No. 35.2
In any further correspondence on this subject the above Number should be quoted.
20291
Sir,
C.O. 1043
1692
GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON,
30 Jany 1890
I have laid before the Postmaster General your letter of the 16th of October last, enclosing a copy of a despatch from the Officer administering the Government of Hongkong, in which he recommends that the salaries of the Postal Agents at the Treaty Ports of China should be increased.
In considering the subject of this despatch, Mr. Raithes has been mindful of the wish expressed by Lord Knutsford, the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, that he might...