28
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 8TH FEBRUARY, 1868.
Mr. Tilley to Sir F. Rogers.
GENERAL POST OFFICE, 10th December, 1867. 3 SIR,-With reference to my letter of the 6th instant, in which I informed you that the Postmaster-General had con- cluded a new Contract with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for the conveyance of the India and China Mails, I am directed by His Grace to forward to you some copies of the new Contract.
In transmitting these papers, I am to call your attention to the following points, in which the new Contract differs from that now in force:
The Mails for India will, under the new Contract, be despatched from London en fixed days in every week, on the morning of every Saturday, for transmission via Southampton, and on the evening of the following Friday, for transmission vid Marseilles, and each Mcil will be conveyed to Bombay instead of alternately to Bombay and Calcutta.
The Mails for Ceylon, the Straits Settlements and China, will be despatched on every alternate Saturday and Friday, and the service, instead of te minating at Changhai, will be continued to Yokohama.
In like manner, the homeward Packets will leave Bombay on a fixed day in every week, and will leave Yokohama, Shanghai, Hongkong, and Point de Galle, on fixed days in every alternate week.
Mails for the several Australian Colonies will be despatched from London with every alternate Mail to Point de Galle. Those Mails will consequently be conveyed from Galle to Sydney, and from Sydney to Galle, once in every fourth week, instead of once in a calendar month, as at present.
In order to accelerate as much as possible the service between Marseilles and Alexandria, the Packet on that route will go direct, via the Straits of Messina, instead of by way of Malta.
With a like object of accelerating the China Mail Service, the Packets on the line between Point de Galle and Hongkong will no longer call at Penang, and the stay at Singapore will be limited to 12 hours of daylight.
The Postmaster-General requests that the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos will have the goodness to communicate with the Officers administering the governments of Malta, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, Labuan, Hongkong, the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, informing them of these new arrangements.
In connection with these arrangements, I am to observe that, although the Packet from Marseilles will not call at Malta, there will be a weekly service between the United Kingdom and that Colony via Southampton.
Further, with respect to Penang, which is also omitted from the new scheme, I am to state that the correspondence for that Island will be sent in the Mails for Singapore.
I enclose some copies of a Time Table showing the proposed movements of the India, China, and Australia Mail Packets for the ensuing year.
The Postmaster-General has already, in the letter of the 6th instant, above referred to, drawn attention to the effect which the new arrangements will have on the correspondence for Mauritius.-I am, &c.,
Sir F. Rogers, Bt.,
&c., &c.,
&c.
(Signed) J. TILLEY.
No. 17.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Circular from His Grace The Secretary of State for the Colonies, and its Enclosures, are published for general information.
By Command,
CECIL C. SMITH, Acting Colonial Secretary.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 8th February, 1868.
CIRCULAR.
1867.
DOWNING STREET, 21st December, SIR,I transmit to you herewith an Extract of a Despatch from Her Majesty's Consul at Baltimore, reporting that the Shipping Masters at that Port refuse to ship a White Crew on board any Vessel in which a Colored Seaman is serving, together with a copy of the Answer which has been returned to that Despatch.
It will be desirable that you should take such steps as may be necessary for giving publicity to the state of things disclosed in this correspondence, and for warning Ship Owners in the Colony under your Government of the course pursued by the Baltimore Shipping Masters.-I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
Governor
SIR RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL, C.B.,
BUCKINGHAM & CHANDOS.
&c.,
&c.,
&c.
Extracts of a Letter from Mr. Consul Rainals to Lord Stanley, dated British Consulate, Baltimore, 11th November, 1867, No. 25.
"Hitherto white and colored seamen have been shipped indiscriminately on board the same vessel, whereas now the shipping masters and the boarding house keepers have at a period when trade is extremely dull and seamen consequently plentiful, determined not to ship a white man on board the same vessel with a colored man, and their combined power in the matter cannot be counteracted by any means at my command, as through their medium alone can seamen be obtained.
In order to illustrate the practical result of such combination, I have the honor to submit for your Lordship's consideration a case of recent date.
The British ship R. B. Mulhall arrived here a short time ago with a mixed crew of white and colored seamen shipped at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, for a term of twelve months. Soon after her arrival, several of the men deserted (as is invariably the case here), but one colored man and two white men remained by her. When she was nearly ready for sea the Captain told me that the shipping masters positively refused to ship a white crew on board the vessel so long as the colored man remained there.
This colored man the Captain informed me was an excellent seaman whose services he was as anxious to retain as the man was desirous to remain by the vessel until the expiration of his term of service.
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