C.O. 1070. 547 15 APR OF INSPECTORATE GENERAL OF CHINESE IMPERIAL POSTS, POSTAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE, PEKING. 27th October 1902.
Sir:-
1. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's letter of the 25th instant concerning postal matters, and to state in reply, that, as far as it goes, it is in accord with the wishes of the Chinese Imperial Post Office. The British Post Office asks for recognition of its penny postage and the Chinese assent provided such British Post Offices as are unnecessary are closed and there is an extension inland of British postal activity. I am glad to learn from the letter under reply that the proposal may possibly be favourably viewed by the British Postal Authorities.
2. But out of Chinese recognition of penny postage and British partial or complete discontinuance of postal work in China there comes a certain amount of additional work for Chinese post offices to be done for British correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, for which China incurs expenditure, and therefore it was proposed in addition that, in