Morning journal and courier., 1891-08-22
The Chinese Postal Service. From the CornhiIl Mapazine1


 For many centuries public dispatches
 have been conveyed through China by
 means of department of the board of l war. Post roads, originally excellent but
 now disgraceful, radiate from Peking to | all parts of the empire, and at distances
 regulated by the nature of the country | are stations where a supply of horses is supposed to be kept-much as in Siberia for the furthering of official correspon- dence. Despite the badness of the roads
 and the generally dilapidated condition of the ponies (they are hardly big enough to | be called horses), surprising distances are
 on urgent occasions covered by this means.
 In theory the greatest speed is some two hundred miles day, and it is claimed that this is often actually attained. But in this, for China, rapid means of com | munication, the general public is not per mitted to share, any more than it may in England avail itself of the services of a queens messenger.
 nation of shopkeepers like the Chinese would remain, owing to this refusal of their government to convey their cores pondence, destitute of a postal service. They have, indeed, very complete sys- tenn of their own, entirely independent of the state. In every town of any size may be seen ten or a dozen shops with the sign Hsin Gnu, 'letter ofice," or postal estab- lishment, suspended outside. Their busi- nesu is to carry, not letters only, but small parcels, packets of silver and the like, usually to other towns in the same province, but also on occasion to other provinces. They are in fact general car riers, or, perhaps it would be fairer to say, they occupy much tn same position in China now as did the ''agents' at Har- wich or Dover, of the postmaster-genera at the beginning of the eighteenth centu- ry-so miscellaneous are the packages committed to their charge They have no fixed tariff varying according to weight, and there appears to be no limit, within
 reason, to the size of letters or parcels
 they will carry. The charge for letters is fairly constant, but in estimating the cost of conveyance of parcels the size and
 shape alone seem to be taken into account
 A rough calculation is then made, which the sender is at iberty-if he can-to abate. In fact, the transmission of par cells is regarded as being quite as much a matter of bargaining as the purchase of a pig. AS there is no monopoly, each post office triss to underbid it's rivals, and competition sometimes verges on the ludi- crous.
 Since the institution of female postofice clerks, in England, how many complaints
 (doubtless quite groundless) have there not been from would-be p1rchasers of stamps, who have been kept waiting at the counter while the postmistress and her assistant compare notes on last Sundays fashionss In China this deplorable state of things is reversed. There each post office has it's touts, who go round at very short intervals to each place of business to beg for the privilege of forwarding their letters. The bankers are the best customers. and as post time draws near post time is fixed at the open ports by the departure of the local steamer) you will see tout enter @ bank and interrupt the clerks with an entreaty to be allowed to convey the letters they have not yet copied. He is dismissed for half an hour, and meanwhile two or three rivals will ap- pear with the same request, The lucky