The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-17
THE CHINESE POsTOFFICE.
Curious Usages of Its service-The
Letter Shop

Curious Usages of Its service-The
Letter Shop
From the ST. James Gazette.
The Chinese government-so a recent tel
egraphic message from Picking informs
us-has requested Sir Robert Hart Of the
imperial maritime customs, TO reorganize
the postal system Of the empire. This
decision affords another proof that China
IS awakening at last to a proper con-
seriousness Of its backward state, and al
lows one to indulge the hope that efforts
viii soon be made in other directions to
bring the country more into line with
modern progress. The Chinese post, as it
stands, is altogether different from any
thing to be found in any other country
which pretends TO civilization. Tt is in
the hands of private individuals There is
| a special courier service for the convey
ance of imperial edicts and other official
dispatches; but this corresponds TO the
corps Of queens messengers which we have
in Great Britain, and is altogether distinct
from the postal system. An exception
must be made also In the case of treaty
ports, where the different nations have
| their own postofiiceS. the various COnsuls
being regarded as the postmasters for their
several countries. They take charge of
and transmit communications intended
for foreign countries, and they are re-
spOnsible with limited responsibility for
communications addressed 70 jewellers in
the district over which their Jurisdiction
extends. Foreigners living in the interior
or away from the treaty ports must make
| their own arrangements for transmitting
their letters and packages to the nearest
consul, who will see that they are for
warded. Save when a friend or neighbor
| is making a journey to that particular
/ place, the only course at their disposal
assuming that they do not care TO employ
/ "A special messenger-is TO intrust the mat
/ ter TO a native letter shop"
] These letter tn
/ numbers in every town Of the empire, and
not even the most insignificant village is
I without one or more. In Shanghai alone
| there are something like 200, and the rates
/ of transmission are kept low by reason
| of the competition. For this same reason
] the shopkeepers are very obhging, and
] the service they afford is, under the diff
/ cult nature of the circumstances singu-
| larly satisfactory. They cannot afford to
! risk their reputation by bad work, and il
| says much for the system, as It is carried
| out, that those foreigners who are under
! the necessity of availng themselves of it
| speak we'll of it in regard to security,
| though naturally they do not say much for
/ It in the matter of rapid delivery. The
/ letter shop men do not use stamps but
| their particular chop" or seal is always
| affixed TO the envelope or package-for
| packages of moderate size and weight are
carried; and they will insure the sender
| against loss. When given in at a "let-
ter shop" the contents of an envelope are
displayed before 1t is sealed and stamped
. ! CHARGES
for transmission of valuables are made on
| "a percentage of declared value. and as
| with letters, these differ according to the
distance to be carried. A receipt is given,
and the shopkeeper then becomes respon-
sible either for its safe delivery with I'M
! broken seal or for its return to the sender.
Owing, as we have limited. to the com
petition that exists in large cities and
| thickly populated districts, this is nee
| essary If the shopkeeper hopes to retain
his customers. In some parts of the
empire about two-thirds of the expense
of transmission Is paid by the sender. the
remainder being collected from the re-
ceiver; thus the shop is secured against
entire loss from transient customers. An
other feature much appreciated by ma
tive merchants is that of keeping an
open account with the shop. Charges are
entered against regular customers and
| settlements are made monthly. In case
of loss IL is seldom necessary to call in
the aid of courts, the force of COMPETE
ton being sufficient to ensure reaSOna-
bic settlement. The employees of the sew
| eral shops go from house 10 house seek
| ing customers In the northern prov
| inces, where horses are plentiful and
roads relatively good the letter carriers
| commonly use horses or donkeys, which
are supplied at stations about ten miles
| apart. Each messenger carries from sew
| enty to eighty pounds of postal matter
| and travels about five miles an hour
! When he arrives at a station a few min
utes only are allowed to change horses
and he is off again till the end of his
| route is reached, Wnen the bag is given
to a fresh man, who starts at once, no
matter what may be the hour of the day
| or night, and regardless of wind. rain
heat or cold, until he, too, has completed
his service and handed the parcel to a
! third messenger and thus it reaches its
destination. For short distances, and in
| all the central and southern parts of
| China, the messenger travels on foot at
! q rapid pace. This service would be la
BILE to highway robbery, but the robber
bands of each district collect blackmail
and for the sums paid them regularly
| they not only do not modest the messen-
gers themselves, but agree to keep others
( from doing So
There are two kinds of stamps known
among dealers as Chinese stamps The
first was introduced by Sir Robert Hart
! (who is TO reorganize the whole SYSTEM
and is used only in the customs service
| The other is a local Changhai stamp used
by a company carrying letters about the
city of Shanghai and to outposts where
| there are foreign ConSuls, chiefly on the
| YaugtZe river and to the ports of Ming
pc and Foochow in the south; Chefoo
Ten-Tsin and Pekin in the north These
two systems are entirely in the hands or
, foreigners.
The Chinese government and the Chinese
people have for some years been towing
with this question of postal reform. For
years ago, for instance, the Taotai Sbang
at ChefOO offered prizes for the four besT
essays on How TO Establish a Chinese
! Imperial PoStOtiice." There were abo.f
! fifty competitors, and the prizes We're
duly delivered. Some of the essayists
| proposed the enlargement of the courier
system; Others the use of the offices and
employees of the telegraph companies
where they exist. and still others sug-
gested plans closely modelled upon wes--
| ern systems.
One argument for the establishment of
| a government system was based on the
| large revenue to be secured that now goes
| into the hands of the English French
| American, japanese and German postal