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Enclosures 3.74.
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4.
Mr. Lewis recommends that letters from all the British Postal Agencies in China to the United Kingdom and the British Colonies should be prepaid at 5 cents per 1/2 oz. This will, of course, result in a loss of revenue to Hong-Kong for the present; but the Acting Post Master General, while estimating the immediate loss at approximately $20,000, is of opinion that this amount will very probably be reduced by the increased correspondence which may be anticipated.
5.
I agree with the recommendation of Mr. Lewis and shall be glad if you will be good enough to approach the Imperial Postal Authorities in the United Kingdom with a view to ascertaining whether they can be induced to relieve Hong-Kong of the share of the mail-subsidy apportioned for Coast Port correspondence forwarded through the Post Office of this Colony, and whether they would be prepared to make any grant towards the loss which will be incurred by this Colony if the suggested 5 cents rate is adopted.
The Acting Post Master General has further recommended the establishment of British Postal Agencies at Tientsin, Peking and Chefoo, in order that Great Britain may not fall behind other nations, which have already established Post Offices at these three Ports, in providing postal facilities for British subjects. This question is imperial rather than local, but there can be no doubt that the need of establishing these three agencies is pressing, and in this connection I have the honour to enclose a copy of a despatch addressed to me by Sir E. Satow covering a petition from British residents for the establishment of a British Post Office at Chefoo.
As it is impossible for this Colony
Page 684
was not in the original instruction to revise, so I kept the original text as is. However, to follow the instruction to output only HTML, the revised response is as follows:
683
Enclosures 3.74.
25/1/01 14/01
4.
Mr. Lewis recommends that letters from all the British Postal Agencies in China to the United Kingdom and the British Colonies should be prepaid at 5 cents per 1/2 oz. This will, of course, result in a loss of revenue to Hong-Kong for the present; but the Acting Post Master General, while estimating the immediate loss at approximately $20,000, is of opinion that this amount will very probably be reduced by the increased correspondence which may be anticipated.
5.
I agree with the recommendation of Mr. Lewis and shall be glad if you will be good enough to approach the Imperial Postal Authorities in the United Kingdom with a view to ascertaining whether they can be induced to relieve Hong-Kong of the share of the mail-subsidy apportioned for Coast Port correspondence forwarded through the Post Office of this Colony, and whether they would be prepared to make any grant towards the loss which will be incurred by this Colony if the suggested 5 cents rate is adopted.
The Acting Post Master General has further recommended the establishment of British Postal Agencies at Tientsin, Peking and Chefoo, in order that Great Britain may not fall behind other nations, which have already established Post Offices at these three Ports, in providing postal facilities for British subjects. This question is imperial rather than local, but there can be no doubt that the need of establishing these three agencies is pressing, and in this connection I have the honour to enclose a copy of a despatch addressed to me by Sir E. Satow covering a petition from British residents for the establishment of a British Post Office at Chefoo.
As it is impossible for this Colony