Department in my letter of the 30th of January last against granting any further aid from imperial funds, does not seem to the Postmaster General to have been conclusively replied to by your despatch, according to the 1889 Estimates, the Colony received from the Imperial Post Office a contribution of $3,888, while it pays for Salaries and other allowances only a total of $9,404 in connexion with the Consular Agencies.
As a matter of fact, this office pays to the Colony a yearly £4710 sterling, which (at 3/2 to the dollar) is equivalent to $14,484 Dollars.
Of that sum the Colonial Post Office now pays to the Agents at Canton, Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, and Ningpo $2,208 Dollars, and desires to raise the payment to $3,300 Dollars. It does not appear in the correspondence forwarded by the Governor what sum is paid out of the Imperial contribution towards the Branch Post Office at Shanghai, but it may be presumed that it would be covered by the residue of the $14,484 Dollars realised by the Imperial contribution.
As to the Agency at Hankow, for which a sum of $420 is asked as the Agent's salary, the Postmaster General is not aware under what circumstances the Agency has been established since 1867, and with reference to this matter of