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No. 160.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16TH JULY, 1879.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Return, received from Mr. IIENRY DICKIE, of the quantity of Spirits distilled by the China Sugar Refining Company, Limited, is published for general information.
Spirits manufactured during the quarter ending 10th July, 1879, ...................
By Command,
Proof Gallons.
4,721
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 10th July, 1879.
No. 161.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
It is hereby notified, that consequent upon the departure of BARON VON SODEN, Consul for Germany, His Excellency the Administrator is pleased to recognize PETER KEMPERMANN, Esquire, as in charge of H. I. G. M. Consulate at this Port, provisionally and until further notice.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 14th July, 1879.
No. 162.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
The following Annual Report of the General Post Office, with Returns annexed, for the year 1878, is published for general information.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office. Hongkong, 15th July, 1879.
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, HONGKONG, 12th April, 1879.
SIR, I have the honour to report on the British Postal Service in Hongkong, China, and Japan during 1878.
2. The chief feature of the year has been the gradual consolidation of the work of the Department on the lines of the International Regulations agreed upon under the Treaty of Berne. In 1877 the public reaped the benefit of that Treaty in the form of a general and very considerable reduction of postage, in the year under review the community of Hongkong has enjoyed it in the shape of extension of the hours for posting. Letters are now received on shore until half an hour before the packets, British or French, leave for Europe, and a letter for any part of the world can now be posted on board either packet up to almost the very last moment. Moveable boxes have also been placed on the Shanghai and Yokohama packets of both lines.
3. Some Continental Post Offices are of opinion that the British system of late fees is indefensible, if not illegal. It may be doubted, however, whether those offices permit even ordinary posting up to hours anything like so late as it is the practice to allow in British Offices. Now, to take Hongkong as an example, if everybody were to be allowed to go on posting everything to the last moment possible, it might be practicable to keep the windows open for ordinary correspondence five minutes longer than they are kept open at present, and probably nine-tenths of the matter thrown upon Department during that five minutes might just as well have been posted three days before. Whereas by the imposition of a late fee the merchant and the banker gain half an hour to finish and close their important despatches. The question is simply whether the public prefers five minutes of promiscuous liberty gratis to half an hour secured by the payment of a small charge. There cannot be much doubt which of the two would be chosen in Hongkong.
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