15 In order to bring Registration as near as possible to residents at the Coast Ports, where the Postal facilities, though the best this office can give, are not quite all that could be desired, a system has been devised which perhaps this mention may bring into more extended notice. Many firms on the Coast and elsewhere are in the habit of sending parcels of correspondence direct to this Office. Sometimes they enclose letters marked "To be Registered", but it is found that this direction generally escapes observation.
It has therefore been arranged that such letters may be enclosed in a red cover, directed as follows:-
LETTER FOR REGISTRATION IN HONGKONG
(Please return the receipt to-
-)
As there is no address on the red cover it cannot possibly be sent on beyond Hongkong, and its conspicuous colour calls attention to it the moment it is turned out of the parcel, ensuring its being at once put aside for attention. The contents, however, are not regarded as Registered till a receipt is actually issued.
16 Some letters would be more safely transmitted if the senders could be got to bear in mind that whoever presents a letter for Registration must ask for a receipt. It is of no use to write this or that on the letter itself, on a separate piece of paper, or in a Chit-book; there is no security that the officer who takes in the letter will have time to read anything of the sort. What frequently happens is this. An ignorant coolie is sent with the correspondence, and he gives it up without a remark of any kind.
About an hour afterwards he reappears and asks for a receipt. As he has not the slightest idea of the address, and as there probably would not be time to find the letter if he had, the general result is that it does not get registered at all.
17 A great deal of extra and needless trouble would be saved to this Office if non-mercantile residents here would only keep stamps at home as they would elsewhere. Why it should be the fashion in Hongkong to buy stamps one at a time, and that invariably just when the mail is going, it is difficult to say.
And the persons who do this seem to think that the Post Office is responsible for seeing that their servants put on the correct postage, post the letter, and bring back correct change. This opportunity may be taken of explaining that the Post Office has nothing to do, and will have nothing to do with affixing stamps to letters. That is the sender's duty, and there are boxes into which he can drop the letters when he has stamped them properly. If he chooses to delegate this to an ignorant servant, who perhaps never even saw a postage stamp before, that is his own affair.
18. The length of time required for sorting the inward French Mail still continues to occupy attention. Everything that possibly can be done to shorten the process is done, but in spite of this, the time taken in sorting has again crept up to two hours, if not a little more. The reason is not only that the bulk of the mail has been steadily increasing for some years, but also, and perhaps more especially, that it becomes more and more difficult to get any time for sorting free from departures of steamers for other places.
*
19 When the French Mail arrives on a fairly clear day, and the staff of this office have two hours before them during which no steamer is leaving for any other port, it is possible to confine attention to the Hongkong correspondence only, and then the mail might easily be sorted in an hour and a half.† But if only one steamer is leaving, say for Swatow, the whole correspondence for all China and Japan has to be gone over to pick out the mail for that port; officers have to be detached to make up that mail, and it not unfrequently happens that scarcely anyone is left to push on the Hongkong work. There is now a steamer for Canton every evening, Sundays included, and that alone often necessitates the sorting of the whole mail for China before the correspondence for Hongkong can be delivered. It is unfortunate also that the French Mail generally arrives within twenty-four hours of the departure of the return packet for Europe, so that all the time sorting is going on, a constant stream of applicants for Money Orders, Stamps, Registry, information, &c., has to be dealt with. It would be difficult to exaggerate the bewildering pressure under which work is done on such occasions. It would be very desirable if persons who have any little favour to ask of the Post Office, in the way of interception of letters, &c., would bear in mind that they might just as well ask it some days beforehand as leave it to the last moment. Unfortunately, that seems seldom to occur to anybody, and the mail gun is the signal for a flood of notes and verbal requests to be let loose on this Office just when there is least time to pay attention to anything.
20 Another impediment is the masses of Prices Current, Trade Circulars, &c., sent out here by firms which advertise largely, such circulars being evidently got up from very old Directories, as most of the persons addressed are either absent or dead. There is very little pleasure in dealing with this class of correspondence, as it may reasonably be doubted whether addressees who do receive the papers in question ever look at them. It is intended in future to let these articles stand over until there is time to distribute them.
21 What has been done during the year to expedite the delivery of the mail is this. Arrangements have been made, thanks to the courtesy of the Messageries Maritimes Company, for the mail to be disembarked off Green Island, instead of at the steamer's buoy, thereby saving nearly an hour. This, however, is practicable only in fine weather. The improved system of sorting mentioned in the last
*The outward French mail used to consist of 15 or 16 bags; it now consists of 80.
†On Sunday evening, April 8th, 1883, the French and Australian Mail and a mail from Manila were sorted in an hour and twenty minutes.
For this improvement, the community is indebted to Mr. Barefoot, late Assistant Postmaster General.
Į
1
15 In order to bring Registration as near as possible to residents at the Coast Ports, where the Postal facilities, though the best this office can give, are not quite all that could be desired, a system has been devised which perhaps this mention may bring into more extended notice. Many firms on the Coast and elsewhere are in the habit of sending parcels of correspondence direct to this Office Sometimes they enclose letters marked To be Registered, but it is found that this direction generally escapes observation
It has therefore been arranged that such letters may be enclosed in a red cover,
directed as follows:-
LETTER FOR REGISTRATION IN HONGKONG
(Please return the receipt to-
-)
As there is no address on the red cover it cannot possibly be sent on beyond Hongkong, and its conspicuous colour calls attention to it the moment it is turned out of the parcel, ensuring its being at once put aside for attention. The contents, however, are not regarded as Registered till a receipt is actually issued.
16 Some letters would be more safely transmitted if the senders could be got to bear in mind that whoever presents a letter for Registration must ask for a receipt It is of no use to write this or that on the letter itself, on a separate piece of paper, or in a Chit-book, there is no security that the officer who takes in the letter will have tune to read anything of the sort. What frequently happens is this. An ignorant coolie is sent with the correspondence, and he gives it up without a remark of any kind
About an hour afterwards he reappears and asks for a receipt As he has not the slightest idea of the address, and as there probably would not be time to find the letter if he had the general result is that it does not get registered at all
17 A great deal of extra and needless trouble would be saved to this Office if non-mercantile residents here would only keep stamps at home as they would elsewhere Why it should be the fashion in Hongkong to buy stamps one at a time, and that invariably just when the mail is going, it is difficult to say
And the persons who do this seem to think that the Post Office is responsible for seeing that their servants put on the correct postage, post the letter, and bring back correct change' This opportunity may be taken of explaining that the Post Office has nothing to do, and will have nothing to do with affixing stamps to letters That is the sender's duty, and there are boxes into which he can drop the letters when he has stamped them properly If he chooses to delegate this to an ignorant servant, who perhaps never even saw a postage stamp before, that is his own affau
18. The length of time required for sorting the inward French Mail still continues to occupy attention. Everything that possibly can be done to shorten the process is done but in spite of this, the time taken in sorting has again crept up to two hours, if not a little more The reason is not only that the bulk of the mail has been steadily increasing for some years, but also, and perhaps more especially, that it becomes more and more difficult to get any time for sorting free from departures of steamers for other places
*
19 When the French Mail arrives on a fanly clear day, and the staff of this office have two hours before them during which no steamer is leaving for any other port, it is possible to confine attention to the Hongkong correspondence only, and then the mail might easily be sorted in an hour and a half † But if only one steamer is leaving, say for Swatow, the whole correspondence for all China and Japan has to be gone over to pick out the mail for that port, officers have to be detached to make up that mail, and it not unfrequently happens that scarcely anyone is left to push on the Hongkong work There is now a steamer for Canton every evening, Sundays included, and that alone often necessitates the sorting of the whole mail for China before the correspondence for Hongkong can be delivered. It is unfortunate also that the French Mail generally arrives within twenty-four hours of the departure of the return packet for Europe, so that all the time sorting is going on a constant stream of applicants for Money Orders, Stamps, Registry, information, &c, has to be dealt with It would be difficult to exaggerate the bewildering pressure under which work is done on such occasions. It would be very desirable if persons who have any little favour to ask of the Post Office, in the way of interception of letters, &c, would bear in mind that they might just as well ask it some days beforehand as leave it to the last moment Unfortunately that seems seldom to occur to anybody, and the mail gun is the signal for a flood of notes and verbal requests to be let loose on this Office just when there is least time to pay attention to anything
20 Another impediment is the masses of Prices Current, Trade Circulars, &c, sent out here by firms which advertise largely, such circulars being evidently got up from very old Directores, as most of the persons addressed are either absent or dead. There is very little pleasure in dealing with this class of correspondence, as it may reasonably be doubted whether addressees who do receive the papers in question ever look at them. It is intended in future to let these articles stand over until there is time to distribute them
21 What has been done during the year to expedite the delivery of the mail is this Arrangements have been made, thanks to the courtesy of the Messageries Maritimes Company, for the mail to be disembarked off Green Island, instead of at the steamer's buoy, thereby saving nearly an hour. This however is practicable only in fine weather. The improved system of sorting mentioned in the last
*The outward French mail used to consist of 15 or 16 bags, it now consists of 80
†On Sunday evening April 8th, 1833, the French and Australian Mail and a mail from Manila were sorted in an hour and twenty muvites
For this improvement the community is indebted to Mr BAREF late Assistant Postmaster General
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