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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16тя JULY, 1879.
13. In a period of more than six months only 1645 articles of all kinds (mostly letters) have been posted at the two Pillar Boxes, or an average of only four letters a day each.
This does not even pay the trifling wages of the Chinese postman who clears the boxes.* The disturbing cause here probably is that so few persons keep stamps at home. Chinese, it need hardly be said, scarcely ever do so, and they like to see their letters weighed at the Post Office. In England, almost all but the poorest and most uneducated classes keep a few stamps in the house; amongst the non-mercantile European com- munity here few seem to recognise that stamps can be bought at any other time than just when the mail is closing. Some allowance must be made for the risk of theft, which is considerable, but the chief reason for this is too probably the habit of putting off till to-morrow what might better be done to-day which more or less infects the East. On mail mornings there really ought to be nobody buying stamps at the Post Office but people from ships who could not get on shore before. This may sound Utopian, but its neglect merely leads to crowding, loss of temper, delay, and disappointment. Some persons even carry matters further, and seein to expect that the Post Office will not only provide stamps, but also put them on. Very great trouble is experienced, nearly every mail day, from notes being addres- sed to individuals in the Department, containing money, and asking that stamps may be put on the letters enclosed, that the change may be returned in stamps of particular values, or with a memorandum of how much change, &c., &c. This opportunity is taken of saying that such requests are invariably refused, simply because it is impossible to comply with them. The drop boxes of the Post Office are receptacles for stamped correspondence, the stamps having been bought beforehand, and if sufficient are not affixed the responsibility is the sender's.
14. The Local Parcel Post, commenced during the year, has been successful, but only to a mode- rate extent. It is understood that the Agents and Commanders of Coast steamers are still troubled with numbers of small parcels, of which they had rather be rid, and here again use and wont struggle hard for existence. There is not the same reason for neglecting the Post Office in the transmission of Coast parcels as may be urged in the case of letters. The Post Office cannot compete with private firms at the Ports in quickness of delivery. But whilst an hour may be of the greatest importance in the delivery of a letter, it can seldom matter much in the delivery of a parcel, indeed, against the slight delay imposed by a Postal transit, may be set its absolute safety from loss.
15. Efforts have been made to improve and develope the local delivery of correspondence, and there is no reason to doubt that, as the facilities afforded become more generally known, they will be more generally availed of. To make the local delivery of this Office perfect, however, it should be inde- pendent of any interruption from the arrivals of mails. This would necessitate at least four additional Postmen, for whom it would be impossible to find quarters without building, as the existing quarters are not only full, but are also crowded.
16. Attempts have been made to do a little more than has hitherto been done for the Chinese business community in Postal matters. Postage stamps are sold at the Stamp Office Agency in the native quarter, where letter scales also are kept, but it is found that Chinese prefer to weigh letters with the delicate li-tang used for silver. A list of the day's mails in Chinese is posted up at the Stamp Agency every morning, and a translation of the Table of Rates of postage has been circulated to the principal hongs. There can be little doubt that these efforts are appreciated. It is believed that Rates of Postage have not been put into Chinese before, the Table now in use is appended as a specimen.
17. Negotiations have been carried on during the year for the withdrawal of British Post Offices from Japan, and this Department is now holding itself in readiness to hand over the business at a short notice. No slight is intended to the gentlemen of H. M. Consular service who have lent their able assistance in carrying it on, in saying that it will be a great relief to relinquish Postal Administration in Japan. For one Country to carry on the Post Offices of another Country successfully demands. three conditions ;-that the Country administered shall not concern itself in any way in the matter; that it shall have no means of conveyance of its own; and that the administering Country shall have a practical monopoly of the service. Directly these conditions cease to obtain, complications and in- conveniences begin to creep in, and can only be remedied by the institution of an efficient National Post Office.
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18. These remarks apply to some extent to the efforts made during the past year by the Chinese Customs Service to establish something like a Chinese Post Office. It has been supposed that such pro- ceedings would be viewed by this Department with great dislike and alarm. Such is not the case. thoroughly efficient Chinese Post Office would be a boon to everybody who is concerned in the matter, and Hongkong should be the last place to put obstacles in its It may be necessary to open new Agencies of this Office in Tientsin and Chefoo, but if such Agencies are opened it will be simply to render an existing service as efficient as possible, and certainly not to rival or suppress anything that others may have done or attempted. Whilst perfectly willing to undertake Postal duty, if necessary, either in China or Japan, the Hongkong Post Office is not anxious to discharge any functions but those strictly its own.
* Through the kind cooperation of the Heads of two other departments this postman never handles the letters. The Pillars are cleared by trust- worthy officers, and the correspondence placed in a locked box, which is not opened till it reaches this Office.
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