The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-04-01

ton.
Our object is to offer the fullest opportunity for a variety
Of popular discussion and inquiry.
To Al inquiEers We shall endeasor to furnish iPform.-
which they may be Interested
Progrrs- Of the Postal Service ia EnsIHnd-
America nua Hnw wall.
No. II.
Mr.. EDIToR,-In my first letter, | wrote chiefly
Of the progress that has been made in the postal
service in other countries; | will now refer To
home matters. Our country post-ofhces. located
in every village and on nearly every plantation,
are an important part Of our postal system, as it
is through them that the domestic and foreign
mails are finally distributed to the people through
out the group. Country Postmasters are. for the
most part, storekeepers, whose places of business
are centers, lrequented by the residents of the
village. They are generally too poorly paid, but
as the office attracts visitors and customers, 1t is
an object to secure At, especially where there are
several store. aud rivalry in trade. But the post
Office business in them is sometimes too loosely
conducted, when "A little expenditure for necessary
office fixtures. and a little more system and
method in the III ,nagement would much improve
it.
TIE truth is, the Postmaster General. or q
deputy, should Uisif every country office, at least
oEce a year, to ascertain by personal inspection
how the Office il conducted, what is needed to i'm
prove it, and to endeavor to have all the Offices
conducted with more uniformity and system. As
many Of them are located from two to ten miles
from the steamboat landings, the head of the de-
partment eau, by personal inspection only, be
able to act knowingly, when applications are
made for appropriations to carry mails between
the landings and the Offices. Each country Office
should be provided with a schedule of the estab-
lIshed domestic and foreign rates on letters. papers
and parcels, with approved letter scales, date and
cancelling stamps, boxes for letters and papers.
with every necessary con Senience for the safe
keeping and prompt delivery OF mail matter.
They should also be supplied with correct time
tables of the arrival and departure of foreign
steamer mails, as this Information serves to
stimulate foreign correspondence. and thus to
increase the postal business.
Some of our country postmasters are commend
ably systematic and faithful with their ill-paid
duties. keep their offices in good order, and make
it a point to know every letter and paper that
passes through their hands. Still, there are 80
frequent changes among them, that for this rea-
son, if no other, it is important that annual
visits should be made by the head Of the depart
ment, to see that the service is properly conducted.
To show how easily mistakes may be made, | will
narrate an incident that occurred lately. l had
occasion to write to the tax-collector on i'm
portan: business, and sent my letter to the near
est post-ofice, to be conveyed by post to a village
eighteen miles distant. About a week later, |
received d letter from him. stating that | had for
gotten my promise, to send the information he
desired. | replied that it had been sent, and that
patronage, but by the GOOD viii Of feastf
ole" "c:-es4- l. -ers-pt
days later, a messenger was sent to notify me
that no letter had been received. Again | re-
piled. and a day OF two later a second messenger
came, with rather q sharp note. implying that
something was crooked. | Immediately jumped
on my horse, rode to the local post-ofice, and
found that the letter referred to had been duly
received and forwarded Somewhere. | then rode on
to the next ofice-they knew nothing about it.
So on to the third and fourth. At the last place,
the postmaster suggested that it might have been
sent to Honolulu, and that if | would wait till the
steamers mail came in, l would know. After a
few hours detention the mail arrived, and in
| company with the tax-collector, | went again to
the postoffce, where it was finally delivered,
marked with the Honolulu date stamp, 1t having
been missent. This apparently trivial error
caused a detention OF ten or twelve days in
| closing the tax books, the sending of two messen-
gers eighteen miles, and my trip the same dis
tance.-to say nothing of the worry and hard
feelings attending it. But [ was determined to
ferret out the matter, and succeeded.
Another slight error in the General Post-Ofice
at Honolulu sent a mail parcel of merchandise
to China instead of to Kauai, where it was
clearly directed, compelling the sender to dupli-
| cate the order. After several months had elapsed.
the original package found it's way back from
Hongkong. marked "missent." These are merely
one or two instances out of many continually &C.
curing, and will show how careful post Office
officials, should be. Both probably occurred by
carelessly putting the letter or parcel IN tho
the wrong bag. The value of the mail service
depends on The correctness and despatch with which
its tcork is done.
1t may be interesting to mention here that the
oldest postmaster in this Kingdom is Rev. l..
| Lyons, of Waimea, Hawaii. myself appointed
him about the year 1851 or 2, or over thirty
wears ago, and be has held the Office, without inter-
ruption. under six administrations. During this
long period, he has seldom been absent from his
post, and is frequently reused from his couch at
midnight, by the %pOstman's horn. to assert and
deliver the belated steamer mails. No one better
deserves a pension from the Hawaiian Govern
ment than Lorenzo Lyons, and though he may
never receive it, he is certainly sure of the
reward promised to the good and faithful SER
vant,' in the spirit land.
The OVERLAND NAIL-CARRIERs-are another i'm
portant branch OF the country mail service.
Every island is served by these weekly post
riders, and they have become indispensable to the
business OF the rural districts. In the absence
of the shrill whistle of the locomotive, nothing
sounds more welcome to the dwellers along the
mountain highways than the mailman's horn, as
he toots it on arriving. The service Is done by
contract, at so much per week or month, and Tor
IL. u.n.t nar II - narLhrLnni with reynla1itY :