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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 30TH MARCH, 1878.
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22. Partly through the exertions of a Chinese resident, an ingenious and complicated system of stealing stamps was discovered, the details of which may not be uninteresting. It had been the custom for years to make up as much as possible of the Mails the afternoon before the departure of the Mail steamer, and the bags thus partially made up were left hanging in the Office. The thief had abstracted bundles of Chinese letters for Singapore from the still open sacks, and had picked off all the high value stamps, leaving a few of trifling value on each letter to keep up appearances. calculated that the letters, having passed the triple examination to which they are subjected before being made up, would not be looked at again; that the Singapore Office would deliver them without scrutiny as paid; or that at any rate the addressees, being Chinese, would make no complaints. He thus acquired a collection of obliterated stamps of various values. The next step would be, in obliterating stamps on newly posted letters, to purposely leave some clean (which, if detected, could always be ascribed to accidental omission) and to watch an opportunity of replacing these clean stamps with the obliterated ones already stolen. The only witness obtainable, who was doubtless an accomplice, absconded, and in the absence of legal proof the principal was allowed to resign his employment under Government.
23. The enquiry made into this case revealed a system of petty frauds on the Revenue, and on small Indian traders, either by abstracting unpaid letters and not accounting for the postage, or by collecting postage on what were really paid letters. There can be little doubt, moreover, that letters duly delivered to the servants of this class of addressees as paid have been charged by them as unpaid, and the so-called postage retained. Precautions have been taken against further dishonesty by Postmen, but it is not easy to guard against frauds by private servants. The Calcutta and Straits correspondents of the Indian community here will persist in putting their letters loose on board ship in spite of the heavy rate (18 cents per half ounce) levied here expressly to check that practice, which habit it is that renders these and other frauds possible, delays the delivery of Mails, and inconveniences everybody concerned.
24. The Postal service has lost an excellent and efficient public servant in the person of Mr. MARTIN, late Postmaster at Shanghai, who died there on July 2nd. Mr. MACHADO, now Postmaster at Yokohama, has been appointed to the vacancy..
25. The new Post Office Ordinance has been brought into force during the year, and a Postal Guide has been published. Hongkong was perhaps the only Postal Administration of any importance which did not issue this kind of useful handbook.
26. Complaints have been received from time to time that the local papers suppress, in certain cases, the names of vessels by which Mails are to be despatched, an innovation wrongly ascribed by the public to this Office as a device to compel the posting of letters. Whilst the views of the newspaper proprietors and of this Department must remain different on the question thus raised, it is necessary to acknowledge the ready co-operation always received in all other details of conveying intelligence to the community.
27. Communication with the ports of Hoihow and Haifong has greatly increased. Through the kind assistance of the Commissioners of Customs at Hoihow and Pakhoi it has been possible to extend some share of the increased facilities thus afforded to the latter place also.
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28. A tour of Inspection of the Post Offices and Agencies was completed in the autumn. serious complaint as to the working of the Department was received, the community of Amoy, which might reasonably have had a grievance, ignoring the disasters alluded to in paragraph 21 with the most perfect good humour. The Right Reverend Bishop RUSSELL stated that during an unusually long residence at Ningpo, in the heart of a Chinese city, he had never missed a letter, except once when a Mail packet was wrecked at Galle. And even then, of the two letters lost he subsequently received one unopened, and the other was returned to the writer.
29. A strong feeling prevails at Foochow, and has prevailed there for some years, that the service to that port should be subsidised. This involves very serious considerations, but it cannot be denied that the wish is natural when it is remembered how often during the past year the Coast Mail has just missed the French packet. It may not be amiss, however, to remind the Communities of the three Coast Ports that it is only by the courtesy of Messrs. DOUGLAS LAPRAIK & Co., that the British, French, American, Indian, and Australian Contract Mails are conveyed to and from those settlements, without remuneration to any person concerned.
30. It is to be regretted that the work of the Post Office should sometimes involve inconveniences to H. M. Consuls, and thanks are due to them not only for their cordial and unfailing support during the late inspection, but also for their constant co-operation and the cheerfulness with which the inconveniences referred to are borne. This opportunity may be taken to acknowledge the invaluable assistance rendered by His Excellency Sir HARRY PARKES in our not altogether untroubled Postal relations with Japan, an assistance for which the deepest gratitude must be expressed, as also the courtesy of Mr. MAYESIMA, the Postmaster General of Japan, who left nothing undone to aid, not only in the inspection of British Offices, but also in an examination of those of his own country.
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