SUPPLEMENT TO THE HONGKONG GOVT GAZETTE OF 15TH JAN., 1887. 49
(B.)
No. 33.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, HONGKONG, June 16th, 1886.
SIR,-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 939 of yesterday's date, referring to me for an early report the Secretary of State's Despatch No. 57 of May 14, with its enclosures respecting the proposed new contract for the Eastern Mail Service.
2. This subject has been so long under discussion, and is presented by the London Post Office in so clear a light, that there appears to be no doubt as to the course the Colony should pursue. In recommending that the Telegram enclosed in draft should be forwarded without delay, I have the pleasure of knowing that I am in accord with the views of the Legisla- tive Council and of the Chamber of Commerce.
3. That draft Telegram deals with four points.
(1.) The best tender to accept.
(2.) The contribution of Hongkong. (3.) The Canadian route.
(4.) The hour of departure from Hongkong.
4. As to the best tender to accept, Lord WOLVERTON's lucid report leaves no question open. I am very glad to see that no experiments are to be tried in the way of leaving the mails to be conveyed, on any portion of the route, by chance
steamers.
5. As to the contribution of Hongkong, the Colonial Office has already raised the question whether, if the Imperial Government effects a saving, the Colonies should not share it. The Imperial Treasury replies, Ceylon, yes; Singapore and Hongkong, nb. Hongkong's equitable share of the loss was assessed at £12,000 odd, and the Colony has been allowed to pay only £6,000. Unless the saving to the Imperial Government amounted to lowering the expenditure by more than half, this sum could not be reduced. This appears to be a fair way of regarding the matter, and I think this Colony should be content to stipulate that it is not to be asked for more than £6,000.
6. As to the Canadian route, the Imperial Post Office confirms what I have held since first I looked into the proposal. The service would be slower by three days than that viâ Suez, and unless fortnightly, and timed to alternate regularly with the French packets, could not possibly replace those of the P. & 0. As an alternative route it might be of some service, but unless the homeward packet left 'ere within three days of the departure of the English and French Mails, even this small advantage would be lost.
7. The question of the hour of departure may seem a small one, but it is not so in reality, for it must be remembered that any inconvenience caused by an unsuitable hour will recur fortnightly till it is removed. It is better therefore to attend to the point now than to have discontent and memorialising by and by. It is very desirable that the P. & O. packets, like those of the Messageries line, should leave at noon. The hour of departure of the French packets cannot be altered, on account of saving daylight at the mouth of the Saigon river. Having consulted with Mr. McEwEN, the only member of the Chamber of Commerce I can get hold of this morning, I consider that a uniform noon departure of both mails would meet the wishes of the business and general community, and would do away with the long and fatiguing day now caused fortnightly by the later hour fixed for the departure of the English Mail.
I have &c.,
A. LISTER,
The Honourable F. STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
(C.)
Postmaster General.
No. 29.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, HONGKONG, May 26th, 1886.
SIR,I have the honour to enclose a copy of a letter addressed to me by Mr. H. Korscн, one of the Commissioners of Customs under the Chinese Government, and a special Commissioner for Postal purposes in China. Mr. KOPSCH enquires whether, in view of an extension to all the Treaty Ports of the Customs Postal Service which has been for some years in existence in China, and the intended establishment of a Chinese national Post Office, this Department will withdraw its Postal Agencies from the Ports of Hoihow, Canton, Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Hankow, and its Post Office from Shanghai.
1
2. I enclose a copy of the reply I forwarded to Mr. Kopscп, pointing out that these Agencies are in reality Agencies of the Imperial Post Office.
3. As His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government will probably think it necessary to refer this matter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for the consideration of the Imperial Post Office, I permit myself to offer a few words on this proposal.
4. It seems to me that one main consideration should be kept in view, namely the convenience and welfare of the communities at the various Treaty Ports, which perhaps include more of our fellow-countrymen than of any other nation, the convenience and welfare of their correspondents in other parts of the world, and the interests of trade. The experience of more than eleven years in dealing with the only organised Post Offices in the Far East (until the Japanese Offices were established) convinces me that it is desirable in these interests to accept the proposal of the Chinese Government if possible.
5. Extra-territorial Post Offices may be described as necessary evils, and evils which should be got rid of as soon as the necessity for their continuance is removed. The objections to them must be so well known to H. M. Government that I need not here recapitulate them. In China they have certainly been free from one disadvantage attaching to them elsewhere they have not, hitherto, wounded national susceptibility. But it is quite possible they may eventually do so, and that before very long.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.