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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PRESENT STATE'
to Nagasaki; and therefore some of the inconvenience which might otherwise have been experienced at Nagasaki has been averted; but much inconvenience, which I regret I'm unable to remedy, is still felt from the non-receipt of home mails at regular intervals; as it often occurs that two or three mails from home reach Nagasaki at the same time; owing to their having been delayed at Shanghai for want of an opportunity to send them across
27. In view of the reduction in the business of the Post Office agency at Nagasaki, the salary of the agent has been reduced from 100l. to 40l. per annum; the expenses of that agency have recently been in excess of the revenue.
28. At Hiogo the Post Office agency has been in existence so short a time that it is unnecessary to say more than that, from the representations made to me and from information gained on the spot, its establishment will, I feel sure, be a boon to the inhabitants of Hiogo and the adjacent ports of Kobe and Osaka.
29. At the ports of Swatow, Foochow, Ningpo, and Nagasaki, the Consulates are so much more distant from the anchorage of the steamers than are the merchants' quarters, that very few letters, except those to be forwarded by the mail packets from Hong Kong, are put into the post offices, therefore most of the letters for Hong Kong are placed loosely on board, and in many cases, I fear, are handed to the steamers' agents here, who distribute them without the agency of the Post Office, a practice which I regret to say all efforts to put an end to have failed; it is, however, right to say that the agents of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, of the Messageries Impériales, and of the Pacific Mail Company are exceptions.
30. At Canton and Amoy, although the Consulates are conveniently situated, the number of letters for Hong Kong which are posted is very inconsiderable; in fact at all the places mentioned in this and the previous paragraphs, the post offices are used chiefly for the receipt and delivery of letters to and from home, the sale of postage stamps, and in exceptional cases, for the registration of letters. I am satisfied that no possible alteration that could be made would induce the merchants to send their letters through the Post Office while the steamers are close at hand, and while they offer the advantage of a later receipt of letters than the Post Office can possibly give.
31. Under the provisions of Clause 3 of Ordinance No. 8 of 1862, correspondence sent between Canton and Hong Kong is exempt from the exclusive privilege of the Post Office, and it is therefore not to be expected that the public will pass their letters through the post when they can lawfully send and receive them otherwise free of charge.
32. The number of Chinese letters daily sent between Hong Kong and Canton is very large. Various offices for their receipt exist at both places, and on the passage they are taken charge of by a man who travels for the purpose, or by someone connected with the steamer who has a share in the enterprise; on arrival they are delivered and a fee of about 30 cash or three cents each is collected; no system of prepayment of postage exists.
33. It is not, in my opinion, desirable to interfere with the practice, as every means would of course be taken by the Chinese to evade the law if it were made incumbent upon them to send their letters through this office, so long as the rate of postage exceeded that charged by private offices, and were it reduced to the same level, the revenue would probably be more than swamped by the additional expenditure incurred. As regards the correspondence of foreigners, it is very doubtful whether or not they would avail themselves to any extent of the security the Post Office affords if the postage was considerably reduced.
34. The money order system is much used at Amoy. There is no office there, however, the place not containing inhabitants enough to justify the establishment of a Money Order Office yet, even if there were no difficulties in the way of doing so; but the Post Office agent procures money orders from this office for all who apply to him, remitting with his requisition the probable amount required to pay for them, and receiving back any excess in such remittances in postage stamps.
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35. It was suggested in the Chamber of Commerce here on the 9th August last, that, on account of the vast importance of the trade of Foochow and the great revenue which the Imperial Government derives from the duties on tea exported therefrom, and also because it sometimes occurs that the Foochow steamer reaches Hong Kong just after the homeward mail has departed, or in too short a time before her departure, to enable the merchants to do their business and save the mail, that steamers should be subsidized for carrying the mails to and from Hong Kong at the cost of the Imperial Post Office.
36. Whatever the claims of the Foochow community or those of their agents here may be to such an advantage, I look upon the matter as one of some importance to this Colony, and I feel satisfied that unless some step is taken to improve the mail service, much of the business which now comes to Hong Kong will, with the frequent and regular communication afforded by the four steamers running to Shanghai, diverge to that place.
37. There are two lines of steamers in existence between Hong Kong and Foochow, each