HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE.
995
21-No Postal Officer is bound to weigh correspondence, but he ought not to refuse to do so unless pressed for time.
Routes and Opportunities.
22.-All ordinary correspondence is sent on by the first opportunity of which the prepayment admila, unless especially directed, or apparently prepaid for some other route.
23.—First opportunity is taken to mean the steamer which may reasonably be expected to arrive first, but does not signify a sailing ship, as no correspondence is forwarded by that means unless specially so directed, or to a place tɔ which few steamers run.
24.-Correspondence specially directed for any particular steamer is sent by her (failing any request to the contrary) however many times her departure may be postponed, unless it is post- poned sine dic, in which case the correspondence is sent on by the next opportunity.
25. Correspondence from the Count marked við Brindisi or vid Naples is KEPT FOR THE BOUTE INDICATED even though that may involve a fortnight's detention. Unless this is intended, therefore, the safest direction is By first mail.
(b.) No late fee is ever charged on Coast correspondence, at whatever hour it may reach
the Hongkong Office.
26.-Firms at Coast Porta who wish to be sure that their Correspondence has caught the mail, should enclose with the letters a local Post Card addressed to themselves. On receiving this back again they may conclude that the letters were in time, unless the Card be marked Too LATE.
27.----lt is not necessary to pay postage on covers from the Coast containing stamped cor. respondence for the homeward mails. Letters &c., intended to be registered should be enclosed in a red envelope marked Letter for Registration in Hongkong, Please return the receipt to............. This envelope should of course be inside the general parcel. Its contents are not regarded as Registered till a receipt is actually issued.
28. It is sometimes possible to overtake the French packet at Singapore by means of a direct private steamer. When this can be done Coast correspondence which arrived too late is so sent on. 29.-Mails may also be forwarded to London and Ports of call by the Tea steamers leaving Foochow and Hankow, either direct, or to catch the next contract mail at Singapore.
30-Except by special request, only letters are sent in these mails. No unpaid or short paid matter is forwarded by them under any circumstances.
81.-Newspapers for China posted in the United Kingdom and paid only 1d. each instead of 140, which is the proper postage, are sent out by private steamers instead of by the contract mails.
Australia.
32. There are two routes to Austraha, viz., via Torres Straits, and via Colombo. The Torres Straits route is the best for Eastern Australia as far as Sydney, for New Zealand, Tasmenis, and Fiji. All correspondence for these places is thus sent unless otherwise directed. Correapon- dence for Adelaide and Perth may be sent by this route.
33. The route via Colombo is best for Western and Southern Australia. Each homeward French Packet connects at Colombo with the P. & O. steamer which leaves that port for King George's Sound, Adelaide, and Melbourne. There is obviously no advantage in forwarding corres- pondence to Galle by intermediate steamers.
Batavia.
84-The Netherlands India Packets leave Singapore fortnightly, and are fitted to the arrival of the outward P. & O. Mail from Europe. The French Packets for Batavia wait at Sin- gapore for the Packets from China and run fortnightly.
Cope, Natal, Mauritius, ģe,
$5.--Each alternate homeward French Packet forms the best opportunity of forwarding correspondence to Aden for the Mauritius packet. The other French packet carries mails for Zanzibar, Mozambique, Natal and the Cape via Aden. As the packets for these places leave Aden only once in every four weeks, there is little advantage in forwarding the correspondence by intermediate steamers,
India,
36.-Correspondence for India is despatched by each British and each French Packet, as also by the direct steamers for Calcutta which leave about the 16th of each month. The route is chosen in each case so as to ensure the quickest possible delivery. Paid correspondence for Bagdad, Bassora, Bunder Abas, Bushire, Cabul, Gwadur, Kashmir, Ladak, Linga, Mandalay, Muscat, and Persia may be forwarded via India at Union Rates.
Malta, Gibraltar, Cyprus.
$7.-Correspondence for the above stations is forwarded weekly, by either British or French Facket. that for Malta and Gibraltar is sent via Brindiai or Naples as the case may be.
The San Francisco Route, Canada, &c.
98. The route by San Francisco can be freely used for ordinary or registered correspondence for Union or Non-union countries. The making up of mails via San Francisco at Shanghai in left to the United States and Japanese Post Offices.
89.—When it is desired to forward letters to the United States by a sailing ship not notified no carrying a mail, all that is necessary is to post the letters in the ordinary way, marked with the name of the ship, and prepaid 10 cents per half ounce as usual,