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HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE.
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fastened down, as coolies not infrequently waste some minutes in endeavours to find the pace. The Post Office will not give a receipt for the amount of Stamps put on any corresporace, nor undertake to see that servants affix the correct amount, nor receive unstamped pondence in covers with the money enclosed. There is no objection to receipting a chip ook for the correspondence of a non-boxholder if brought to the proper window, but is particularly requested that chit-books in cases or bags be not sent.
Private Boxes.
17.-Private Boxes may be rented in the offices at Hongkong and Shanghai. The fee is $10 a year payable in advance. This is a Government fee, and does not, as commonly supposed, go to the Postmasters.
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18. Each boxholder is supplied with an account book free, but must himself provide at least two stout bags (Shanghai firms require four) marked with his name in English and Chinese. Boxholders should insist on their coolies returning these bags to the Post Office as soon as emptied, or at any rate not later than next morning.
19. Each boxholder's coolie must be provided with a stout ticket or badge of wood, metal, or pasteboard, bearing his employer's name in English and Chinese. This will enable him to obtain letters whenever a mail arrives.
20. The advantages of renting a box are many. It secures a quicker and more accurate delivery of correspondence. Unpaid letters are delivered to boxholders without the delay of demanding payment, change, &c., as they are charged to his account. The boxholders of Hong- kong and Shanghai send bags down in the mail steamer to be filled by the marine sorter. Box- holders are allowed to post their letters in sealed covers or hores, and to mark their Postage Stamps (see paragraph 11). They receive free copies of all notices issued by the Post Office, tables of rates, &c. Many inconveniences are saved to them by the facility for charging their accounts with small deficiencies of postage, when there is no time to return a short-paid letter. This, however, is only done as an exception, when the letter cannot go on unpaid, no boxholder being allowed to make a practice of sending short-paid correspondence, or letters to be stamped (see paragraph 12). Boxholders are also allowed certain privileges as to posting local corres- pondence unstamped (see paragraph 103).
21.-As a general rule, requests to keep the letters of one individual out of the box of the firm to which he belongs or belonged cannot be complied with so long as his letters are directed to that firm. Otherwise the whole correspondence of that firm would be subject to delay. The same rule applies to complimentary boxes, which are set apart to facilitate the delivery of letters to a whole set of addressees, whose correspondence should not be delayed for the convenience of one person.
22.-Boxholders' books are sent out for settlement on the first day of each month, and should be returned promptly. In case of any book not being returned within seven days, the boxholder is liable to be supplied and charged with a new one, the old one being destroyed on its return.
23.-A box cannot be jointly rented by two or more persons or firms.
Requests for Re-direction.
24.--Requests for the re-direction of correspondence, or to have it stopped in Hongkong, should be in writing. The precise address of the correspondence must be given. It is useless to give such vague addresses as "letters addressed to me at Hongkong or elsewhere.” Requests should also state whether private letters or those for the writer's firm are required.
25.-The business of the Post Office is to deliver correspondence as directed. All detentions and diversions of it, therefore, must be looked upon as matters of favour, to be granted only when the business of the department allows of it, and when there has been time to communicate with the marine sorter, &c. Telegrams must be paid for by applicants. Requests of a com- plicated nature cannot be entertained. Correspondence directed to care of boxholders in Hong- kong must, without exception, be delivered as addressed (see paragraph 21). Every request is understood to refer to letters only, unless papers be specifically mentioned. There is no charge for re-direction of paid Union correspondence to Union Countries. The marine sorter is not allowed to deliver correspondence at Singapore. Letters for a firm will not be intercepted without the written authority of that firm. Intercepted correspondence can never be delivered until at least two hours after the local delivery. As a general rule, whatever can be done by a friend outside will not be done in the Post Office.
26.-No request is acted on for more than three months, at the end of which time the correspondence resumes its usual course.
27.-Persons visiting Hongkong, Shanghai, &c., for a few weeks, and intercepting their correspondence there, should, before leaving, cancel their request, or it will continue in force, thus subjecting the correspondence to delay.
Prepayment. Forwarding.
28.-There are uniform Rates of Postage to all countries of the Postal Union, by whatever route, but with certain exceptions given below. No extra charges can be made on delivery. No
• Union correspondence means that which is transmitted between any two countries of the Postal Union.