C&C
536
discussed with the other parties interested, namely the Imperial Government and the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce.
As Your Excellency is aware, it was the represen-
tations made by certain British communities at the Treaty
Ports which induced the Imperial Government to relieve the
Colonial Government of the cost of maintaining British
Post Offices carried on at a loss. This burden, it is to
be presumed, would not have been undertaken unless strong
arguments in favour of the course adopted had been advan-
ced and their force recognised. Why, therefore, should
one of the few British Post Offices in China which more
than pays its way be doomed to extinction? That the time
must come when China shall attain to complete postal auto-
nomy is undoubted, but until then I am decidedly opposed
to the surrender of any privileges at present enjoyedfmore more
especially when, as in the present instance, such surren-
der involves most serious inconvenience to local business
firms British and others. The apprehensions of the
comercial community are voiced in a letter addressed to
no by the local Chamber of Commerce of which I enclose a
copy, and I have no hesitation in saying that the views to
which
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.