C.0.
34090
Reco
Registered No.
468603.
Any reply should bear this number,
and should be addressed :----
The Secretary,
Red 7 0 19.
236
GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON.
"General Post Office."
6 December 1899.
Sir,
With reference to your letter of the 8th ultimo,
No.30651, transmitting a despatch from the Governor of Hong
Kong, with enclosures, relative to an alleged offer of
Foreign Post Offices at Shanghai to sell postage stamps to the
Chinese Imperial Post Office at a discount of 30% on their face
value, I am directed by the Postmaster General to state, for
the information of Mr. Secretary Chamberlain that the
allowance of a discount on the scale of postage stamps would be
contrary to the fundamental Postal Union principle of uniform-
ity in postal charges.
As it appeared from correspondence between the Postmaster
General of Hong Kong and the various Foreign Post Offices at
Shanghai that all of these had expressly denied having made any
offer of a discount with the exception of the German Post
Office, which declined to furnish any information, the
Postmaster General communicated with the Reichspostamt on the
subject.
That Administration now replies that it shares the
Under Secretary of State,
Postmaster
Colonial Office.