Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 36

xxxiv

HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE

33.-Requests should also state whether private letters or those for the writers firm are required, and to how many mails the request applies.

34. When the correspondence is required in Hongkong an address must be given to which it may be sent. Under no circumstances will it be delivered at the Post Office windows. If the applicant persists in applying for it instead of waiting till it is sent to him, his request will be cancelled.

35.-No notice can be taken of requests sent in after any mail is signalled with reference to that particular mail.

36.-Requests of a complicated nature cannot be entertained.

37.-Correspondence directed to care of boxholders in Hongkong must, without exception, be delivered as addressed.

38.-Every request is understood to refer to letters only; papers will not be intercepted unless special reasons be shewn to the satisfaction of the Postmaster- General.

39.-There is no charge for redirection of sufficiently prepaid correspondence. 40.-The marine officers are not allowed to deliver correspondence at Singapore. 41.-Letters for a firm will not be intercepted without the written authority of that firm.

42.--Correspondence from the Continent for Northern Ports by French packet cannot be intercepted, nor can that for Yokohama by any mail.

43.-No request is acted on for more than three months, at the end of which time the correspondence resumes its usual course. The period of three months allowed will give time to have correspondence directed as it is to be delivered. Should it be desired that the correspondence should resume its ordinary course earlier, it will be necessary to inform the Postmaster-General.

44. The interception of letters is promised only when possible. Sometimes it is not possible, and the omission in any case to intercept them must not be regarded as matter for complaint.

COMPLAINTS.

45.-All complaints, or representations of matters which cannot be adjusted locally, should be addressed to the Postmaster-General, Hongkong, and, if marked On Postal Business, will be forwarded free by any Postmaster or Agent.

46.-The cover of any correspondence about which complaint is made should if possible be forwarded with such complaint. Neglect of this generally renders enquiry impossible.

47.—When correspondence has been mis-sent 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.

48.-Private boxes may be rented in the offices at Hongkong and Shanghai. The fee is $10 a year payable in advance.

49.-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.

50. 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.

51.-The advantages of renting a box are many. It secures a quicker and more accurate delivery of correspondence. Unpaid letters are delivered to boxholders with- out the delay of demanding payment, change, &c., as they are charged to his account. The boxholders of Hongkong and Shanghai send bags down in the mail steamer to be filled by the marine officer. Boxholders are allowed to post their letters in sealed boxes*, and to mark their Postage Stamps. 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 accounts with small deficiencies of postage, when there is no time to

The boxes should be closed with some recognizable seal. Locked boxes cannot be allowed. A receipt book should be sent wita mch box, but as the receiving officer cannot undertake to count the correspondence sent, he only gives a receipt for One Box. No attention is promised to anything written in the book—To be Registered for instance.