General Post Office,
Hongkong, 31st May, 1904.
Sir,
I have the honour to draw attention to some points in connection with the Postal Department in Hongkong which are not suitable for an Annual Report.
2. The work of the General Post Office is principally hampered by want of space and many of the delays and mistakes are due to the impossibility of making more elaborate arrangements for sorting and despatching but constant change in the staff also militates greatly against accuracy as every new clerk requires careful instruction lasting over many months before he is of any practical use and as he not only works slowly and with doubtful correctness but takes up the time of some other clerk who is told off to look after him.
3. To show what a serious matter this changing is I would point out that in 1901 there were 21 resignations or dismissals in a Staff of 44, in 1902 eleven in a Staff of 50, in 1903 ten in a Staff of 50, and this year three in a Staff of 52.
4. There are now in the Office four clerks of under a year's service and seven under eighteen months, and even the best of these can hardly be relied on to carry out sorting or mail closing correctly.
5. The work requires certain qualifications such as quickness and accuracy in sorting and a capacity of attending to several things simultaneously and the class of clerk who is likely to possess or develop these is not sufficiently attracted by the pay offered to continue in the service.
6. The Honourable
The Colonial Secretary.