339
390
no longer be two kinds of work going on in the same room at
the chief cause at present of delays, confusion
the same time
1) » osmom-
;
Ch. Tha
and mistakes.
The necessary employment of a Chinese deliver-
ing staff and of Chinese assistants in the office is another
obstacle in the way of the perfect working of the Post Office,
if any Post Office ever does become perfect, and that is an
obstacle which can only be surmounted by dispensing with the
services of the Chinese, and for a step like that the time does
not appear to be ripe.
Of the present clerical staff, unfortunately,
owing to changes during the past year or two, only about five
of the clerks are men who can be depended upon to do any work
they have to do in a thoroughly efficient manner. Much of the
discredit that falls to the share of the Post Office is due to
the presence there of a number of junior clerks who come to the Post Office direct from school, perhaps looking upon the Post Office as a place where they may gain a little experience of office work after which they seek situations in mercantile offices where they have better prospects of pay and promotion.
I consider that in a British Post Office like
this there should be more clerks of British birth, and that there should be a British clerk on duty in the Post Office all day while the office is open to the public. Many English
comed people who came to the Post Office windows express surprise
that at a Post Office in an English City there are times when
they