OPY.
Enclosure
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19
DEC 12
Hongkong, 13th. October, 1911.
174
Sir,
We, the undersigned Subordinate Officers of the General Post Office, Hongkong, beg most humbly and respectfully to lay before you the following petition for your favourable considera- -tion and transmission to the Covernment with a view of obtaining some relief and amelioration of the conditions existing in this Department.
1.
Your Petitioners sheweth the t:-
The hours of work are long, arduous and uncertain, and not infrequently extend well into the late hours at night. Sundays and Holidays are no longer enjoyed when contract packets are expect- -ed, as often officers are tied to their homes in expectation of summonses to attend to sorting.
Even extras for contract mail sorting are now withheld from the newly joined officers. Loreover, ordinary office hours are extended beyond closing time in order to accompany the mail carts to the Canton steamers' wharves and supervise the transfer of the bags on board.
2. The Post Office is gradually becoming a close service and its subordinate officers are more and more rooted to the Department without hopes of promotion to the other Departments of the Govern- -went when vacancies occur.
It is perfectly right that in order to secure the efficient working of this Department the Head should endeavour to conserve as much as possible the homogeneity of its members and avoid the introduction of fresh materials, the elements for causing mistakes.
The time is not far distant now when the different rail- -ways, as they are completed, will be linking up this Colony with the great Chinese Empire and will necessitate the introduction, as in Europe, of travelling Post Offices and sorting on the railways.
In this respect Hongkong is analoguous to the Straits
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