494
Wright, the and put ont
second engineer, threw a mat around him,
the flames, the Chinaman, however, being badly burned.
Mr. Wright did not find out until a few minutes afterwards that there was a fire in the store-room, and by that t the flames had got a fair hold. By the time the pumps were got to work, volumes of smoke were issuing from the store-room.
The case of the low-pressure cylinder was soon destroyed and the heat be came so intense that the cargo in No. 3 hold became ignited. Shortly after two o'clock the efforts of the men at the pumps began to tell, and the outbreak was ultimately quenched.
It is estimated that damage to the amount of $5,000 was done.
LAUNCH OF A WEST RIVER STEAMER.
At about nine o'clock on Saturday morning the seventh vessel launched by the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company glided into the harbour in the presence of a large party of ladies and gentlemen, including Mr. and Mrs. Poate, the Hon. J. J. Keswick, Lieutenant Hobson, Colonel Wheeler, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Francis, Mr. David Gillies (manager of the Dock Company), Mrs. Inglis, and Mrs. Trevely The ceremony of launching and christen- ing
new vessel, which has been named the Samsui, was performed by Mrs. Poate. After the launch the company adjourned to the man- ager's office, where the health of Mrs. Poate and success to the Samsui was drunk. Mr. Poate responded, and proposed the health of the Chief Manager and Staff, to which Mr. Gillies responded.
an.
the
The Samsut is intended for the West River, and has been built at the instance of a syndicate comprising Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, and the Hongkong and Macao Steamboat Company, who intend it to not as a steam tow and passenger boat for lighters to follow as accessories. It is ex pected that she will be ready to start for the West River in a fortnight. Two of the lighters will probably be launched this week and the other two next week. The principal dimensions of the tow boat are:-Length over all, 135 feet; breadth, 21 feet 6 in. ; on deck line, 23 feet; depth moulded, 10 fest; draught of water, 7 feet. There are two sets of engines of 450 I. H. P., to drive twin screws. The cylin ders are 14 inches and 30 inches in diametre, with a stroke of 18 inches. The vessels is built
entirely of steel, and is designed for a speed of 11) knots per hour. The lighters, which are also completely built of steel, are each 125 feet long, 25 feet beam, and 7 feet deep, giving a
has been provided on the steam vessel for a large number of passengers.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
504. New Year, 1899, 824, 1898, 945. Inward, Christmas, 1898, 887, 1897, 702, New Year, 1899, 1307, 1898, 987.⠀
The establishment of penny postage; re- duction half ollos, viate the unito ng do 4 cents per half ounce, with the United Kingdom, its dependencies and Canada, has been estimated by my predecessor to probably cause a loss of $30,000 during the current year. It has certainly enhanced the volume of correspondence very largely, accentuating the want of space in the building, and heavily increasing the duties of an already insufficient staff.
[June 17, 1899.
creasing, and four to attend to the drop boxes, keeping the keys in their pockets and being res- ponsible for the clearing of them and the pro- per attendance of the Public at the windows. in another report their duties have been elaborated. At present there is no one to detail for these duties, and what is everybody's business.
+3
One more clerk is wanted for the Registra-
tiou Department; in the other report referred to his duties have been detailed.
The wages paid to the Post Office clerks on joining, $20 a month, are not such as to attract men who intend to remain in the service. Near-
On the 1st July last, Branch Post Offices were opened at Kowloon and West Point, which have ly all the applicants are boys from school. The proved & convenience to the Public: the Kow-brightest and best of them just stay long loon Branch more especially to Europeans and enough to begin to be useful and then, in the the Western Branch Office to the Chinese.
language of their letters of resignation, "having The question of accommodation is not again prospects of better pay and promotion," they brought prominently forward as expansion is to take definite shape in the near future.
The following table of revenue for the past 10 years shows almost exactly the increase in postal business that has taken place:- 1889......... $142,309,11 $20,818.15
1890.
Deficit. Surplus.
"1
1891..
1892.
148,459.98 142,770.03 157,699.03
5,458.16 2,605.02 3,450.73
1893.
167,596.77
14,309,81
1894.
#
192,172.42
8.8.0.27
11
1895..
244,449.71
50,209.44
245,280,33
56,999.16
11
268,616.49
61,530.20
19
"
387,179.99
95,618.47
1896. 1897 1898...
The deficit $20,000 of 1889 has become in 1898 a surplus of $95,000.
The working expenses of 1889 $43,164.80 rose in 1898 to $58,831.05.
In ten years, since the building of a new Post Office was first urged, this Department has paid into general revenue $278, 189.11. Revenue for the first 4 months of
1898, Revenue for the first 4 month of
1899.
Sale of stamps for the first 4 months
of 1898,
Sale of stamps for the first 4 months
of 1899,
$107,475.51
115,382.89
$7,907.38
$75,126.70
82,270,23
$7,143.53
go.
In the cases of clerks that have joined older and at higher wages the results have been satis- factory.
Should the staff be increased as indicated the services of soldiers for sorting papers could be dispensed with. Missorting of papers is a chronic source of complaint. When it is con- sidered that four soldiers (not the same ones every mail) sort all the papers by the contract mail for every place North of Hongkong, mis- sorting is explicable. Soldiers sort the papers by contract mails because the staff is admitted- ly too.slender numerically to undertake it.
Another fruitful source of complaints is the loss of unregistered letters, principally by con- tract mails to Europe. On days of despatch of contract mails, for the last hour and more be- fore the mail closes, the Post Office windows are besieged by a crowd of coolies with boxes, bags, and packets of letters which are being dumped in a continuous stream on a table by the window, and books are thrust forward to be chopped.
As a matter of fact these letters are not posted at all. They do not pass through the drop boxes supplied for the reception of Postal Matter, nor are they presented at the registra
tion counter.
The chopping of the books is an attempt to obtain a quasi" receipt for unregistered matter. Registered letters are not lost. In the case of looked boxes there is some guarantee that the number of the letters sent have reached the Post Office (there is no proof as to what was put in). In the case of bags, and shesVÕS of letters handed in there is nothing to show that the identical letters sent have been received. frequently, the clerks do not accurately check In the hurry of mail morning doubtless,
search for dishonest practices on the part of messengers sent with letters.
The reduction in postage does not therefore appear to have prejudically affected the total of the sale of stamps. The increase $7,000 doubtless, however, represents largely enhanced transit obargos to be paid in the future. carrying capacity of 400 tons. Accommodation | Office could be materially improved at compar.is it, strictly speaking, part of their duty to
The internal fittings of the present Post the numbers with the chit-books presented, no
atively slight cost by the substitution of skole- ton presses with wire netting instead of the present wooden ones. They could be seen through, would be cleaner, would not obstruct light and air, and could be transferred to the New Post Office when built. Other sugges tions for economising space and facilitating despatch of mails have been made in another report.
THE POST OFFICE REPORT.
We make the following extracts from the report for 1898 of Commander Hastings, Post- master-General —-
Five of the Chinese staff were prosecuted in August last, two for removing stamps-impri- soned for 4 and 6 months respectively, and three for detaining letters, one was sentenced to 4 months' hard labour and two others to six months' imprisonment each with hard labour.
At present the Chinese coxswain of the Post Office launch a man on $10 a month who can neither write nor speak English receives and takes off the mails. Complaints are frequent
contract steamers.
""
The public in Hongkong have become accustomed to grand-motherly looking-after; for instance, if letters are too late they expect the book to be chopped too late" and the letters returned. The chopping of books is check on the honesty of the messenger and direct attempt, as previously stated, to get receipt without paying a fee.
Compared with the 1897 the amount of international correspondence shows an in crease of 734,460 covers, apportioned as follows:-Ordinary letters and postcards des- patched 285,460, received 292,000; news. papers and other articles despatched 70,880, received 8,010; registered articles despatched 13,170, received 64,040; total covers despatched 369,510, total covers received 364,950; grand total 734,460. Local correspondence shows a decrease of 26,930 covers, apportioned as fol- as to delay in the discharge of the mails from | entered on a certificate. Any person" wh lows:-Ordinary letters and postcards despatched 7,970, received 3,450; newspapers and other articles despatched 10,980, received 160; regis tered articles (increase) 120 despatched, received 1,490; total covers despatched 18,830, total covers received 8,100, grand total 26,930. By local correspondence is meant correspondence with the agencies where Chinese Post Offices are now established. The local deliveries (insular and peninsular correspondence) have increased by 3,790 covers. The monthly sale of stamps in Hongkong as compared with 1897 shows an increased sale of $51.756-27, an average monthly sale of over $19.400, as against a little over $15,000, in 1897. Parcels received and des- patched-Outward, Christmas, 1898, 1279, 1897
Vessels leaving are con- stantly missed and opportunities for the des- patch of mails lost. No log is or can be kept of the movements of the launch. Two launch officers are urgently needed, responsible men not boys. Men of this description could be obtained at an initial salary of $45 a month, lower wages would only attract incompetents or men who would merely utilize the situation to look out for better appointments. In view of the vast importance attaching to the safe carriage of mails the prompt creation of these appointments is strongly urged.
Six more clerks are needed in the General Office, two to attend to the Poste Restante work, which has increased and is largely in,
This is recognised and provided for in Sing- apore, as the following extract from the Straits Settlements Postal Guide indicates :- "Certificates of l'osting. In order to afford the public an assurance that letters, postcards, newspapers, and packets, entrusted to servants messengers for posting, have actually been posted, the Post Office grants certificates of posting at a charge of one cent for each article wishes to obtain a certificate of posting mus send, with the article for which certificates is required, an exact transcript of the address on the article, written in ink on a slip of paper, or in a book, with a one cent postage stamp afixed to the transcript. The clerk to whom it is pre- sented will compare the address with the trans- cript, and, if there is no discrepancy, will obliterate the postage stamp with the Post Office date stamp. The paper, or book, will then be returned as a certificate that the article has been posted. No additional responsi attaches to the Post Office in respect of articles for which such certificates are granted. Special receipts are given for registered and ins articles, and for all parcels."
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