REPORT ON THE HONGKONG POSTAL AGENCY AT AMOY.
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4) The Agent of the Hongkong Post Office in Amoy is appointed by His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong, and for nearly forty years the appointment has been held by the British Consular Assistant, on the recommendation of the Consul.
b) The present Agent is Mr. Mackinnon, the Consular Assistant here.
c) The Office of the Agency is a room on the ground floor of the Consular Offices at Kulangsu. There is also a branch office on the Amoy side, in charge of two Chinese clerks.
d) The work of the Agency is extremely heavy, and the wages paid by the Hongkong Post Office to the staff are very small. The Postal Agent, therefore, is forced to sacrifice practically half of his salary as wages to the Post Office staff. Mr. Mackinnon receives $75.00 (seventy-five dollars) salary as Postal Agent, out of which he pays $36.00 to the Post Office clerk, Mr. Simoès, only retaining $39.00 for himself. Mr. Simoès' salary as Postal Clerk is quite disproportionate to the onerous duties he performs, as he only receives $25.00 per month and he is required to attend to the receipt and despatch of mails every day, Sundays included, and at all hours. As he thus relieves the Agent of most of the heavier portion of the routine work, such as the sorting of mails, etc., the Agent supplements his salary out of his own.
e)