# 1841-1886
# 343
# OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
# 27
calling at Swatow and Amoy on both their up and down trips, one belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company and the other to Messieurs Douglas Lapraik and Company; the former run at somewhat irregular intervals, and the latter very regularly.
38. The estimated distance from Hong Kong to Swatow is 180 miles; from Swatow to Amoy, 120 miles; and from Amoy to Pagoda Anchorage, 175 miles.
39. The voyages are at present generally made thus: the steamers leave Hong Kong at say 2 P.M. and arrive at Swatow at about 8 A.M. the next morning, leaving Swatow for Amoy at 5 P.M. and reaching that port at 5 A.M. the next morning; they then leave Amoy for Foochow (Pagoda Anchorage) at 3 P.M. and reach there at 9 A.M. the next morning, giving a steaming time of about forty-eight hours, and nineteen hours in port at Swatow and Amoy.
40. The vessels generally remain at Foochow three or sometimes four days, and return to Hong Kong in about the same time as that occupied in the upward voyage, generally arriving back in Hong Kong on the ninth or tenth day after having left here, and they usually remain for five or six days discharging and loading for the return trip.
41. The prompt transmission from Hong Kong to Foochow of the mails from home is not of the same importance as the regular despatch of mails from Foochow to Hong Kong, whilst to the steamer owners it is most important to have a liberal allowance of time at Hong Kong after the arrival of the English mail, and the time of departure from Foochow is not usually of much importance, as the cargo carried from Foochow to Hong Kong is insignificant when compared with that carried in the contrary direction.
42. Under these circumstances, therefore, the payment of any subsidy would really be for the privilege of despatching the steamers from Foochow at times convenient to the mail services and to the requirements of the foreign merchants. At present, the vessels of Messrs. Lapraik and Co. notably arrive and depart at intervals of about the same extent as would be required of them for the mail service, but the owners of course now hasten or delay their departure as best for their own interests; the Chinese being large shippers, as I understand, the arrival and departure of English mails is not of much moment to them.
43. The arrangement I have suggested is that an offer be made to the owners of one or other or both the lines of steamers to give them half of the revenue derived from the local correspondence carried to and fro, conditionally upon all letters being duly handed over to the Post Office agents at each of the ports touched at, with a penalty of $20 for each letter otherwise conveyed save and except (such as are exempt by law), viz. the letters of the owners or of the consignees of cargo then on board the vessel.
44. Such an arrangement would, I am satisfied, materially increase the colonial revenue, experience having fully convinced me on a recent journey from Foochow that immense numbers of letters are systematically carried in Lapraik's vessels and handed over to the steamer's agents at each of the ports named, and I believe that many are almost as regularly brought here in the same manner and delivered by the agents to the persons to whom they are addressed.
45. As the payment suggested would not be sufficient to induce the owners of the steamers to accede to the above proposal, the Imperial Post Office should be called upon to contribute a further sum, in addition to the proposed payment from local funds, towards the maintenance, as suggested, of a regular communication with Foochow in connection with the mail steamers. The more especially so as the greater part of the correspondence to be forwarded to and from Foochow would consist of letters upon which the Imperial Post Office receives a large proportion of the postage.
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46. The bulk of the mails will be a matter of little or no consideration, as the mail for Swatow seldom exceeds one bag, and those for Amoy and Foochow seldom exceed three bags each.
...47. The terms of any contract should be assimilated, I think, where possible, to those contained in the contract made between the Postmaster-General of Great Britain and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company on the 19th November, 1867.
48. These suggestions are thrown out with a careful regard to all legitimate interests and the ever-growing wants of the public.