which expression is therein given will receive full en-
dorsement at the hands of the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce,
should they be consulted.
No more convenient service than the present could,
from the Canton merchant's point of view, be imagined, and
what is offered in exchange is a service dependent on the
running of trains, whose hours of arrival and departure
will of necessity subserve the requirements of passengers
rather than those of Post Offices. It will be noted what
iz said about the private letter boxes for consignees'
letters, and if the maintenance of this system has been
worth contending for in the past it is surely worth con-
tending for now.
There is one point not touched on in the letter in
question, which I should like to raise personally. It is
this:
in the improbable event of the Chinese Government
agreeing to hand the railway-borne mails over to the
British Post Office, who is to defray the original cost
and upkeep of the powerful launch or motor boat necessary
to convey them from the railway terminus to Shamien?
Moreover, the existence of a daily French steamer service
between
537
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