636622-1897-Chinese-Imperial-Postal-Regulations — Page 1

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 14TH AUGUST, 1897.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION—No. 324.

It is hereby notified that Her Majesty has not been advised to exercise her power of disallowance with respect to the following Ordinances :-

No. 3 of 1897, entitled-An Ordinance to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to

Probates and Letters of Administration in this Colony.

No. 4 of 1897, entitled-An Ordinance to amend The Vaccination Ordinance, 1890, No. 5 of 1897, cutitled-An Ordinance to amend the law as to Flogging.

By Command,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 11th August, 1897.

J. H. STEWART LOCKHART,

Colonial Secretary,

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.---No. 325.

The following is published.

By Command,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 10th August, 1897.

J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, Colonial Secretary.

No. 16.

POSTAL.

SIR,

NOTE.

INSPECTORATE General, POSTAL DEPARTMENT, SHANGHAI, 30th July, 1897.

I beg to inform you that a line of couriers, under the control of the Imperial Postal Authorities, has been established between Ichang and Chungking. The service is divided into two branches :

(a.) The letter post, to comprise letters, papers published in China, and such other papers

or light articles as the Postal Officer may see fit to admit; and

(b.) The parcel post, which will include parcels, heavy books or papers, Native closed mails,

and such articles as do not pay full letter rate postage.

The conditions under which this service will operate are as follows:-

1. The letter post will be despatched from either terminus, Ichang or Chungking, every five days. From Ichang to Chungking the mail will be carried overland by special couriers, who are expected to do the journey in about 17 days. From Chungking to Ichang the mail will come down by boat in about 5 days.

2. The parcel post will be despatched from either end every week by boat, taking whatever

time the boats ordinarily take.

3. Letters or parcels containing money, valuable articles, or anything likely to expose the

mails to attack and robbery must on no account be accepted.

4. Native closed nails posted at the reduced rate of 10 cents a pound will be forwarded by parcel post only; but, of course, such packages of letters on which full domestic postage at letter rate is paid are entitled to go by letter post.

5. For the prescut the rate of postage on parcels, as well as on all articles of mail matter, is

to be the usual domnestic rate without any additional charge.

In this connexion I have to request that you will please issue notices to the public, in Chinese as well as in English, and instructions to your Postal Officers. The public should be warned that con- cealing money or valuable articles in their covers endangers the mails and exposes the couriers to highway attacks. The Chinese especially should be taught not to mention on the face of their covers the nature of the contents. Parcels should always be accompanied by a declaration of contents when delivered to a Post Office, and should not exceed 4 lbs. in weight. Postal Officers should be directed not to send closed mails to Chungking itself, but to send all their mail matter for Chungking in the Ichang cover, in order to enable the Ichang Post Office to separate light from heavy mail matter and to make mail bags for Chungking according to the requirements of the journey.

I am,

Sir, Your obedient Servant,

To

THE COMMISSIONERS OF CUSTOMS,

J. A. VAN ÅALST,

Acting Postal Secretary,