The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-07-17
The Hawaiian Post/omokI.

The report of the Minister Of the Interior, as
presented to the legislature Shows the number
Of letters that have passed through the Honolulu
Post Office for the two years ending March 3Ist,
1880, to have been 400 500, giving to each per-
son OF the entire population four letters per an
num-, or eight letters for the two years, covered
by the report. This is a mall number compar-
ed with the average allotted to each inhabitant
Of the United States, where in 1878 it was Is
letters, while in England the average is still
larger.
Those who can recall the pioneer days of 1910
to 1850, when there was no post Office here, and
foreign letters and papers were dumped on a
large table in the counting room of the con-
signees of the arriving vessel, to be promiscuous-
ly oYeT-hauIed and carried away by the eager
crowd standing around, and no questions asked :;
when inter-island letters went and came by the
hands Of some chance voyager or the captains of
the small schooners then plying among the eight
channels of Hawaii mel, sometimes reaching their
destination, but oftener never,-Or who have
watched the growth of our Post Office from its
small beginning in 1850, till now, when the pub
lie letter-carrier passes every country hamlet on
his route at least once a week-may we'll feel a
pride in the change that has taken place. For
this change we are indebted chiefly to the intro
duction of steamers and the establishment of
ulI4 . AOAECS.
Our inter-island letter rate of two cents was
copied in 1850 from the British system, where
one penny carries a letter to any part of the
United Kingdom and this small sum not only
includes the cost of handling and transportation,
but of its delivery also for there is no cottage so
remote from a British post Office, but it is reach
ed and the letter delivered without extra charge
for the delivery. The English people may justly
boast Of their postal service as the most perfect
IN the world, and one that gives entire ~satisfac-
= l.. - TL4wn - - -.
lese, there as there is none here and QUEEN
VICTORIA stamps her letters as does KING KALA-
KAuA. Our postal system, however, although it
has shown a moderate advance, is in some res
poets falling behind those of other countries.
The British post office owes much OF its pOpu-
larity to its perfect system of delirery, for it not
only receives letters, but searches for the person
addressed, wherever he may be, till found. If
he has removed from the place addressed, the
letter follows him wherever he may have gone.
An extract from a recent letter written by an
American visiting England will illustrate this
" The post Office officials generally pride themselves
upon the prompt and faithful discharge of their duties,
to whom letters are addressed; l have received smong
Liverpool. II was marked at that ofhce Not here, try
Manchester" There again, 1t was marked Try Edin-
ii reached me. At Geneva, in Switzerland, 1 received a
letter that had followed me about among several English
towns, TO reach me at last on the shores Of the Lake
Leman. In none Of these cases had 1 left any direction
and Thi i 4e istfSed 'Sn letter lPi tRst m had U oniy m mgiiH name m h and
- London " as the address
In Hawaii mel, the American system prevails
in this particular, and letters sometimes lie in
our city and country post offices for months
Honolulu letters being generally advertised once
but with no further effort on the part of the
post Office officials to have the letters reach the
persons addressed and if they have removed to
another island or country, it is seldom they re-
ceive these letters unless after much delay. The
British practice, If introduced here, would add
value to our post Office.
There are other postal innovations in which
not only England, but most other nations, are far
in advance OF US, and which, if adopted by US,
will make the service more popular and useful.
One of these is the postal ard-the greatest epis-
tolary convenience that has ever been adopted.
The penny postage, introduced forty years ago,
and for inaugurating which Rowland Hill was
knigbted, and received o national gift of one