584
HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE.
name and address, as well outside as inside. If every letter were marked outside with the name and address of the sender, no letter need ever be opened under any circumstances. To sign letters merely James, or Harriet, or the like, is a practice which leads to the letter being destroyed if it cannot be delivered.
132.-Letters addressed to clubs, hotels, mercantile houses, &c., to be called for, should be returned to the Post Office as soon as it becomes evident they will not be called for. No refund of postage will be made after three months.
133-Unclaimed 1 tters are advertised for three months (or four if for sailing ships) after which, if still unclaimed, they are returned to the country where they originated. Dead Letters (e those returned from other countries to Hongkong) are returned at once to the writers, if their addresses be discoverable on the outsides. If not, they are advertised for 20 days, then opened if still unclaimed, and returned to the writers if they can be found. If not they are destroyed.
134. The Post Office is not responsible for loss of, or injury to correspondence, even if regis- tered. (See, however, paragraph 58).
135.-No Postmaster or Agent is allowed to give any information as to correspondence passing through his hands.
136.-Sealing wax ought never to be used on the outside of correspondence unless covered with tissue paper: as a means of securing the safety of the correspondence it is worthless. There is probably only one way of closing up correspondence so that it cannot be opened with- out detection, that is to use thin but tough envelopes (the thicker the envelope the easier it is to open) closed with gum, over which a stamp is applied in aniline or other soluble colour, which will fly (ie., spread about) if moisture or steam be applied to it. Sealing wax in this climate simply becomes a flat cake, the impression entirely disappearing.
137.-As a general rule, only clean Mexican dollars, or other current tender, can be taken at the Post Offices and Agencies, nor can change be supplied. At the Hongkong office, sovereigns are taken on request and change is generally to be had, but copper cash are not taken, nor are servants allowed to pay sums of ten cents or more in copper without a note from their employers. No postal officer is bound to give change, or to weigh correspondence, but he ought not to refuse to do the latter unless pressed for time.
138.-Every shipmaster who delivers correspondence at a British Post Office in Hongkong or China is entitled to receive two cents for every letter, and one cent for every other article of correspondence delivered by him, whether loose or in the mail. As a general rule, these sums are paid in Hongkong. No more than two years' arrears can be paid.
139.-The co-operation of the public is requested on the following particulars :-
(a.) Distribute your correspondence as evenly as possible between the two mails (English and French). The practice of posting by the English mail only perpetuates in- conveniences to the public which might otherwise be got rid of.
(b.) Post all correspondence as early as possible; and if there is much of it, do not keep all for the last moment, but send off as much as can be got ready, and keep back only what must be kept back.
(c.) Do not attempt, when one contract mail is closing, to post or register correspondence
for the next (see paragraphs 43 and 56).
(d.) Send circulars, newspapers, or prices current, to the post with the addresses all one way, right way up, and as far as possible divided into lots for the different routes, i.e., all those for the United Kingdom together, for the Continent, for Asiatic ports, &c. Do not mix up letters and printed matter in one confused mass. (e.). Do not post masses of circulars, for different steamers, all mixed up together. (f) Do not put off the purchase of stamps till mail day. As a general rule, they might
just as well be purchased some days before.
(g.) Do not send coolies with money at the last moment, expecting the Post Office to see that they stamp correspondence properly, and to return a memo. of the change. 140.-It must be remembered that continual attention is paid in the Post Office to extending the facilities accorded to all. But if individuals decline to exercise the small amount of con- sideration required to comply with the above suggestions, not only is the extension of existing facilities rendered impossible, but even the question is raised whether it is practicable to continue them as they are.
141. When correspondence is missing, time may be saved by at once sending information to The Postmaster-General, Hongkong, in the following form, or as near it as possible. If full information be not given, enquiries cannot be made.
Description Containing Addressed
l'osted at
**
EXAMPLE.
1 ordinary letter.
Bill of Exchange for £115.
Messrs. Saddler and Thompson, 75, Great Tower Street, London, E.C. Foochow, on the 5th August, 1875, to go viâ Brindisi.
Sender's Name and Address. William Green, Foochow.
* Or Registered as the case may be. Or 1 Newspaper, Book-pucket, or Pattern Packet, according to the nature of the correspondence missing.