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(No. 19.) SIR,
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PRESENT STATE
General Post Office, Hong Kong, March 19, 1870. I HAVE the honour to present to His Excellency Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, C.B., the tenth annual Report on the Post Office, being that for the year 1869.'
2. The alterations of any importance which have taken place in the postal service are as follows, viz. :--
3. The Imperial Postmaster-General consented to an application made by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company that they might be allowed to convey the Yokohama mails from and to Hong Kong direct, instead of viâ Shanghai as theretofore.
4. This change doubtless afforded satisfaction to the mercantile community of Yokohama, whose correspondence with the United Kingdom viâ Suez is materially expedited by the new arrangement.
5. The time allowed for the voyage from Hong Kong to Yokohama during the north-east monsoon is 170 hours, and in the south-west monsoon an extra allowance of 24 hours is made for the packets from Yokohama; but the service has not been satisfactorily performed hitherto. The packets nearly always exceed the time allowed, and in one case more than thirteen days were occupied in the voyage to Yokohama with a fair monsoon. Delays are attributable to various causes, the most important of which are that the direct course from Hong Kong to Yokohama has been little travelled, and is not yet thoroughly surveyed, and furthermore it traverses the region of typhoons and constant bad weather. On two occasions during the year, the homeward British contract packets started after their appointed time owing to the late arrival of the mail from Yokohama.
6. The practice referred to in the 15th paragraph of the last Report on the Post Office, under which mails brought to Yokohama by United States' packets were forwarded to Shanghai by British packets when time could be thus saved, and mails brought to Hong Kong by British packets were, under similar circumstances, forwarded to Yokohama by United States' packets has, under the new plan for performing the Japan mail service, necessarily come to an end.
7. The book and pattern post has been re-established between Hong Kong and the Australian Colonies.
8. A reduction has been made in the rates of postage chargeable on packets of printed papers and patterns, if under 2 ounces in weight sent between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. This alteration applies to all printed papers other than newspapers, and to price lists, printed circulars, and market reports.
9. The registration of letters and other descriptions of correspondence and the transmission of book packets, and packets of samples of merchandise at low rates of postage, between Hong Kong and each of the postal agencies in China and Japan, and also, between any two of such agencies, has been sanctioned both as regards articles sent in the mails by private ships, and those sent by the British contract packets.
10. Arrangements have been completed for the transmission of mails by the fast opium steamers plying between Calcutta, the Straits, and Hong Kong. These steamers are now classed as Indian mail packets, instead of as private vessels, and the correspondence thus conveyed is governed by the same rules as to rates of postage and conditions of transmission as govern the correspondence sent by the British contract packets.
11. The privilege granted some years ago to officers serving on board Her Majesty's ships of war abroad, of sending and receiving their letters at a reduced rate of postage, and which was subsequently extended to officers in the army serving abroad and in the Colonies ceased at the end of the year.
12. The route by Brindisi has been adopted since November last for the transmission of letters and papers addressed to the United Kingdom and to places beyond the United Kingdom. The adoption of this route has been urged by the Italian government on the grounds that accelerations have taken place in the Italian railroad services, and that improvements have been made in the harbour of Brindisi. The public nevertheless do not appear to have sufficient confidence in the facilities afforded, and only 308 letters and 71 papers have been sent in the eight mails despatched up to this date, and about an equal number have been received since the inauguration of the new route in London in September.
13. The Postmaster-General of the United States has discontinued the employment of the postal agents heretofore in charge of the mails conveyed by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's steamers on the line between Hong Kong and San Francisco, and their duties have been assigned to the pursers of these vessels; the French Post Office has also withdrawn the Post Office agents on the line between Hong Kong and Shanghai; the mails by French packets are now exchanged between this Office and the British Post Office at Shanghai instead of as formerly, with the Post Office agents on board those packets.
14. A reciprocal exchange of books, pamphlets, and patterns, in the mails transmitted