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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 25TH MARCH, 1876.
39. The most vexatious delay was that of an entire mail for Canton. The steamer Thales clearing for that port, opportunity was taken to send up an extra mail, which contained some important and valuable letters, and which on arrival one of the ship's officers took to the house of the consignee, instead of to the Consulate, handing it to a well-dressed Chinese who claimed to be the Compradore. From that moment it disappeared, nor could search or enquiry bring it to light. The conclusion was inevitable that the correspondence had fallen into the hands of one of the well-dressed thieves who occasionally visit Shamien. A fortnight afterwards, however, the mail was found, intact, in a box containing Municipal Records, nor was it discovered who had placed it there. Measures have been taken to prevent such mishaps.
40. Reiterated complaints from Shanghai, as to late arrivals of home newspapers and periodicals, caused a very careful watch to be kept on the Shanghai Contract Mails in their transit through this Office. The result was to establish beyond all doubt the fact that the superscriptions Via Brindisi, or Via Marseilles, on papers are no sort of guide as to the route by which they actually come. The inference is obvious. The posting is left till the last minute, and is left just one minute too long; the papers are posted late, and are sent on by the mail next after that for which they are directed. Perhaps no explanation will ever convince disappointed subscribers to periodicals that their corres- pondence is not detained in this Department. The facts are, however, as stated above, and the London Office has been requested to call the attention of the principal news agents to them.
41. By every mail more or less papers, books, and patterns are received entirely without covers, the latter having been wholly destroyed by friction in the bags. Persons who regularly forward such articles should be requested to use stout wrappers. On one occasion two whole sacksful consisted of a periodical called the Christian, which was being sent gratis to every Missionary in the world during three months. But the extreme flimsiness of the wrapper defeated the liberal intentions of the donor; very few of the numbers could be sent on, and most of them were left here unclaimed. Measures have been adopted to ensure the delivery of as many such books and periodicals as possible. Every fragment of a cover on which an address can be made out is sent to that address with a circular asking the addressee what he expected to receive, and in this way, and by advertising, some books and papers have been delivered.
42. The loss of a letter for London led to an enquiry as to whether or not it had been posted, and it was found that many letters were sent to the Post Office without receipt or chit book, in boxes which could not be called sealed, although, in several cases, the Heads of Houses where this was the practice were not aware of it. There has been a great improvement, but even now many of the boxes are so sealed that the seal can be pulled off unbroken and stuck on again. The safest plan is to seal on the box itself, without tape or string, and to make the Chinese servants remove the old wax before a fresh seal is applied.
43. A very common reply to representations of this kind is, "We have every confidence in our coolie, who has been with us many years." No doubt many Chinese are worthy of very great confi- dence, but too often opportunity makes the thief. The Postal Agency at Hankow possessed an infallible coolie, and when, in 1874, heavily stamped letters disappeared again and again, the Agent there could not and would not believe that the coolie stole them. On Mr. BRENAN's taking over the Office, however, he soon detected a system of plunder, and, on searching the man's box, found evidence of a series of thefts of postage stamps, the letters from which they had been removed having been destroyed as the simplest way of avoiding enquiry. The culprit was handed over to the native authorities, and measures were taken at all the Ports to ensure the safety of letters, and the obliteration of stamps as soon as possible after the posting of correspondence. The service is much indebted to Mr. BRENAN for his action in this matter.
44. It is often asked, "Is there any real advantage in Registration?" in a tone which implies that the questioner desires a candid private opinion, rather than what he deems a stereotyped official view. The London firm to which I alluded in paragraph 38 had ceased to register its letters, actually con- sidering that the only result was to draw attention to them!
45. It may not be amiss briefly to describe the general features of the Registration system. The Officer who registers a letter gives a receipt for it, thus there is no question but that it was posted, or as to who took it in. That Officer (who, in case of the loss of the receipt, is sufficiently pointed out by the Counterfoil which he has filled up) is now responsible for the letter, unless he can show how it was disposed of. He places it in a Safe till the mail is being made up. The addresses of all the letters registered for that mail are then entered on a list, a copy of which, for record, is simultaneously taken by means of a manifold writer.* The total entries must agree with the number of letters and the
The detail has been builuced at Hongkong during the past year.
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