692029-1876-Post-Office-Annual-Report-1875- — Page 4

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 25TH MARCH, 1876.

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27. The Agents of the French Post Office having complained bitterly of the way in which they were mobbed by Coolies at Pedder's Wharf, measures have been taken by the Police authorities to secure order during the landing of the Mails, and time has been saved by counting the bags as they are landed.

28. It has been found possible to keep the Post Office open, during an additional half-hour, for late letters, before the departures of the French Mails for Europe, and of the Contract Mails for Shanghai. 29. Considerable improvements have been made in the structure and furniture of the Office, but much remains to be done. A room, plainly furnished, has been provided where the Sorters can have their meals on the premises when press of business compels them to do so. It would be very desirable. if they could all reside, as some of the Officers of the Harbour Department do, in quarters near the Department.

30. In compliance with suggestions received from several sources, a balance, accessible to the public, has been placed in the front verandah, where those who wish to do so may weigh their letters. It should be borne in mind, however, that a Spring Balance is not capable of much nicety, and persons who like to load their letters to the very last square inch of paper should have them weighed by the Shroff. Many letters are sent on charged with a fine in consequence of this attempt to go as close to half an ounce as possible. They perhaps get slightly damp on their way to the Post Office, and the trifling increase of weight turns the scale. A letter on overland paper will, in a few minutes, imbibe enough moisture from newly printed newspapers, amongst which it may happen to lie in the letter-box, to make it over weight, if it were very nearly so before.

31. The new Post Office at Shanghai was occupied during the year, and has been found commo- dious and suitably fitted.

32. No inspection of the Northern Offices and Agencies having been made, it is not possible to speak of them in detail. On the whole the business has been well and carefully conducted, at some ports particularly so. Special mention must be made of the exact and diligent discharge of duty by Messrs. MARTIN and MACHADO, the Postmasters at Shanghai and Yokohama respectively.

33. The Postal service to and from Hiogo has been conducted under great difficulties, and has needed incessant watching. It must be admitted that on one occasion opportunity was not taken by the Yokohama Office to do the best for Hiogo, but the slip did not deserve the intemperate language of a Hiogo paper, nor will it recur. Just, however, as the service seemed to be gaining permanency, the transfer of the Pacific Mail Branch Steamers to the Mitsu Bishi Company upset everything, and all had to be begun over again. The assistance of H. M. Minister in Japan has already been acknowledged.

34. An attempt was made to comply with the often-expressed wishes of the residents at Pagoda Anchorage, by establishing an honorary Postal Agency there, but various causes prevented its success. Mr. Vice-Consul Carroll (who was absent at the time) on his return kindly resumed his good offices in distributing the paid letters for that settlement, as he has done for some years. No further facilities can at present be given.

35. The Coast Ports have been well served by the Steamers of Messrs. DOUGLAS LAPRAIK & Co., which have arrived here with almost the regularity of Contract Packets, the homeward Mail having been missed on one occasion only.

36. A great improvement has been effected in the service to Canton by means of Messrs. SIEMSSEN & Co.'s steamers. It would frequently happen that the Mail arrived here just after the Canton boat had left, especially on a Saturday or Sunday, and in the former case the letters would lie in this Office forty-eight hours. Messrs. SIEMSSEN & Co. kindly consented to give notice of the departures of their steamers for Canton, and thus, especially through the summer, it has repeatedly been possible to forward both the English and American Mails to that Port much earlier than could otherwise have been done. 37. There is no legal obligation to give notice of clearance for Canton or Macao, but such notice (however short) is always valuable to this Department, and generally beneficial to the community.

38. There have not been many complaints during 1875 of the loss of letters, though some few have been reported missing. No registered letter has been lost; a certain minute percentage of unregistered correspondence will always go astray in spite of all precautions. Nothing causes more errors than the use of sealing-wax, which makes letters stick together, and thus get missorted, tears out the addresses when they are separated, and leads to all sorts of inconvenience. During 1874-75 a firm on the Coast complained of an exceptional series of losses, which, strange to say, began to be reported at Hongkong as soon as the partner to whom the letters were addressed removed here. But in a case of this kind, where the lost letters all originate from the same London house, and are of no intrinsic value, there is the strongest ground for believing that they have never been posted.