HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE.
391
98.--Money Orders on the United Kingdom for even sums not exceeding £5 are granted by means of Postal Notes.
99.-Sums not exceeding $50 may be remitted between the Ports of China by means of Postage stamps, subject to a charge of one per cent. for cashing them, or Money Orders can be granted at Hongkong or Shanghai on Ports where there are Agencies of the Hongkong Post Office. Postal Notes.
100.-POSTAL NOTES of the values named below, payable within three months at any Post Office in the United Kingdom, at Gibraltar, or at Constantinople, can be obtained at Hongkong or at any British Post Office in China (except Hoihow) at the following prices, which include commission :-
1/- 1/6
5/
10/- 20/-
30 cents.
45
$1.50.
$3.00.
$6.00.
101.-The purchaser of any Postal Note must fill in the Payee's name before parting with it. He may also fill in the name of the Office where payment is to be made. If this is not done the note is payable (within three months) anywhere in the United Kingdom, at Gibraltar, or at Constantinople. Any Postal Note may be crossed to a Bank.
102.-Postal Notes should always be forwarded in Registered Covers. If this precaution is not taken NO ENQUIRIES WHATEVER can be made as to the loss or alleged loss of any Note. No refund can be made in any case.
103.-Postal Notes issued in the United Kingdom are not payable in Hongkong or China.
Miscellaneous Suggestions and Regulations.
104.-Unclaimed letters are advertised for 2 months (or 3 if for sailing ships) after which, if still unclaimed, they are returned to the country where they originated. Local letters are kept one month. 'l'elegrams are returned to the office which posted them after three days.
105.-The Post Office is not responsible for loss of, or injury to correspondence, even if regis- tered. (See, however, paragraph 36).
106.-Sealing wax ought never to be used on the outside of correspondence unless covered with tissue paper.
107.-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
Posted at
Sender's Name and Address.
EXAMPLE.
1 ordinary* letter.
Invoices and Bills of lading.
Messrs. Saddler and Thompson, 75, Great Tower Street, London, E.C. Foochow, on the 5th August, 1875, to go viâ Brindisi. William Green, Foochow.
108. Any complaint as to overcharge, delay, missending, &c., must be accompanied by the cover of the correspondence.
109.-When correspondence has been missent or delayed (both of which are liable to happen occasionally) all that the complainant need do is to write on the cover, Sent to, or Delivered at-
→, or Not received till the ―th instant, or as the case may be, and forward it, without any note or letter whatever, to the Postmaster General, Attention to this would save much writing and needless trouble.
Private Boxes.
110.-Private Boxes may be rented in the offices at Hongkong and Shanghai. The fee is $10 a year payable in advance.
111.-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 on both sides. Chinese Nankin makes the best bags for this purpose. They should be without strings, but have a couple of iron rings at the mouth for suspending. 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. The only safe way to empty a bag is to turn it inside out.
112.-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.
113. 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 officer. Box- holders are allowed to post their letters in sealed covers or boxes, and to mark their Postage Stamps (see paragraph 116). 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
* Or Registered as the case may be. Or 1 Newspaper, Book-packet, or Pattern Packet, according to the nature of the correspondence missing.