CO129-301 - Governor Sir Blake - 1900 [9-12] — Page 370

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the town portion of the mail in bags in alphabetical order so

as to expedite delivery.

3. Mr.Wright informed me that he had

heard of instances

when letters had been late delivered, in

which the postmen said that they had offered the letters earl-

1

ier but that they had been refused, although the employer of

生

the persons or firms concerned, denied this. Notwithstanding

what was said by Mr.Wright as regards there being no very ser-

ious causes for complaint, it was evident to me that the staff

of the Shanghai Post Office is insufficient to cope with the

work in a really satisfactory manner, and that the officials

at present are working at too high pressure.

5. Mr.Solly, the Postmaster, informed me that since he had been in Shanghai he had only had one Sunday entirely free from work and during the period from 1-10 Sep- tember which included two Sundays his average hours of at- tendance per dien were over eleven. As regards the clerks the

so I could not ascer - attendance book was not regularly kept,

tain the actual hours worked, but from what I observed when in Shanghai, the hours were longer than men can be reasonably

expected to work for a continuance.

6. Notwithstanding the long hours kept

by the Postmaster it will be seen from my report on the ac- counts for which he is responsible that they were largely in

arrear and also very inaccurate.

7. The Poste Restante work is also in a

very unsatisfactory condition, there being no one in the office

to