THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  371
grafted  on  the  Customs,  which  was  called  upon  to  provide
men  and  funds  for  its  development,  and  a  new  burden  was
laid  on  the  shoulders  of  Inspector  General  and  Commissioners.
In  the  organisation  of  the  Post,  the  Customs  organisation
was  the  foundation  on  which  the  structure  was  erected  ;
the  Customs  district  became  the  Postal  district,  the  Commissioner ­
  of  Customs  became  the  District  Postmaster,  the
Customs  Accountant  became  the  Postal  District  Accountant, ­
  and  the  net  balance  of  Postal  receipts  and  expenditure
became  a  receipt  or  payment  entry  in  the  Customs  “Unclassed ­
  ”  account—and  invariably  a  payment  entry.  The
life-blood  of  Customs  energy  was  drained  away,  but  without
this  aid  a  Chinese  service  could  not  have  been  instituted  ;
without  it  an  exotic  organisation  would  have  been  formed,
having  its  roots  in  Western  practice  but  not  satisfying  the
needs  of  China,  and  with  it  has  grown  up  a  Service  which
has  grafted  Western  methods  on  Chinese  requirements.
An  enormous  mass  of  organising  work  was  thrown  on  the
broad  shoulders  of  the  Inspector  General  of  Customs  and
Posts,  and  on  his  lieutenant,  the  Postal  Secretary  ;  and
a  no  less  enormous  amount  of  organising  on  the  Commissioners. ­
  It  speaks  volumes  for  the  spirit  which  animates
the  Service  that  this  unaccustomed  work  has  been  cheerfully
undertaken  and  carried  through.  The  Commissioner,  as
District  Postmaster,  is  a  Postmaster  General  for  his  district,
which  in  most  cases  is  of  the  size  and  with  the  population
of  many  a  European  kingdom.  He  audits  the  accounts  of
each  post  office,  and,  with  his  accountant,  prepares  his
district  accounts  ;  he  exercises  a  direct  supervision  over
the  working  of  the  head  office  at  his  port,  which  serves  as
model  for  the  other  offices  in  his  district,  and  is  responsible
that  existing  instructions  and  new  procedure  are  properly
understood  and  duly  carried  out  ;  he  studies  the  needs  of  his
district,  and  himself  decides  on  opening  new  “  agencies,”
corresponding  to  the  fourth-class  post  offices  of  the  United
States  and  village  grocery  offices  of  England  ;  he  refers
to  headquarters  his  proposals  for  opening  “  branch  offices  ”
or  for  raising  the  status  of  an  agency  ;  and  he  is  the  medium