THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 25TH MARCH, 1876.
147
of Registered Letters sent (there being an increase in those received) may point to fewer valuable documents being despatched from China, or it may indicate increased confidence in the ordinary mode of transmission. Some remarks on Registration and Loss of Letters will be found further on.
10. On the other hand, certain fallings-off must be noticed, amongst which the most important is that of Revenue. The gross Revenue of the Department is less than that for 1874 by about £400. But Revenue is not altogether a trustworthy index of Postal activity; many matters of detail have been arranged, during the year, on a footing of greater efficiency, but also so as to involve greater expense.
11. One instance will shew what is meant. The masters of private steamers are entitled to two- pence a letter for all the correspondence they bring. It is the custom of many persons on the Coast, and especially at Manila, to send their letters inside sealed covers directed to this Office, and sometimes containing as many as forty or fifty. To pay the masters at two-pence per cover, whilst it was obviously unfair, much diminished the expenditure in gratuities, which are now calculated per letter.
12. The low rates of Exchange prevailing have also told against the Revenue, as must necessarily be the case when the accounts are kept at 4/2d., and the balance due to London remitted at little more than 3/10d. This depressed state of Exchange has been unfavourable to the purchase of Money Orders on England ( Appendix A), and in some instances complaints have been received that the proper change had not been sent, the fact being that the rate for the day left no change to send.
13. The Revenue of the Department was at its highest in 1872, the next best year was 1865. The following diagram shews its fluctuations for the past thirteen years. It must be remembered that the sums given are gross revenue, including the Imperial share, and local working expenses.
1802 1803 1804 1805
1806 1807 1808 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874
1875
S
193,000
|
193,000
192,000
192,000
187,000
187,000
184,000
184,000
182,000
182,000
181,000
181,000
178,000
178,000
170,000
176,000
175,000
175,000
173,000
173,000
170,000
170,000
167,000
167,000
164,000
164,000
140,000
140,000
85,000
85,000
14. It can scarcely be doubted that the present year will be marked by a further, and perhaps a considerable decrease of Revenue. The great simplifications of Postal rates to the Continent, lately effected, have cut down the profit left to this Colony on the collection and forwarding of continental correspondence to a very small percentage. But it is hardly to be expected, whilst Postage is every- where being lowered, that any one office can go on making the large profits of the old systems.
15. During the past year the Postal Treaty of Berne came into force almost throughout Europe, and the London Office suggested to the various Colonies a revision of their Continental rates viâ Brindisi. The Italian Post Office was willing to modify its transit Tariff, if the Colonies would adopt a different system of making up the mails, and would reduce their local charges. The matter was put clearly before the Executive of this Colony, and, whilst the change was strongly recommended, it was plainly stated that the loss to this Department would be considerable. The proposal was approved, and, in arranging the new rates, simplicity and liberality were more considered than the profits of the service. The result was a uniform nine-penny Tariff to nearly the whole of the Continent, and whereas a Registered Letter to Russia, weighing two ounces, would lately have been charged 15/4d., such a letter can now be sent for 3/6d. A nine-penny (quarter ounce) Tariff has since come into force for Postage to the Continent by French Packet.
16. The unification of Germany has made Postal Tables much simpler than they were, and if we look back to a time when Italy, as well as Germany, was subdivided into petty states, the immense improvement effected is at once perceived. It is to be hoped that ere long something like a uniform European rate by all routes may be established.
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