THE  POST  OFFICE

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cumbrous.  Stamps  were  not  sold  to  the  public
indiscriminately.  Any  one  who  had  a  letter  to
forward,  say  from  Tamsui  to  Tekcham,  took
it  to  the  Tamsui  district  Post  Office,  where  he
prepaid  60  cash  for  the  three  stages,  and  got
a  receipt  for  his  letter,  the  Post  Office  affixing
the  stamp.  The  letter  was  then  sent  on  to
Taipei,  and  thence  to  Tiongleck  and  Tekcham,
receiving  at  each  stage  an  additional  stamp,
probably  as  evidence  of  the  responsibility  of
the  affixing  office.
This  organisation  fell  on  the  cession  of  Formosa  to  Japan
in  1895.
These  are  the  postal  organisations  instituted  by  the
Government  of  China,  and,  except  in  Formosa,  for  the
transmission  of  official  despatches  only.  The  people  of
China  are  essentially  a  literary  and  commercial  people,  and
in  both  capacities  are  a  letter-writing  people  ;  and  for
centuries  past  they  have  attended  to  the  transmission  of
their  business  and  family  correspondence  with  no  more
support  or  interference  from  the  Government  than  is  given
to  any  other  commercial  undertaking.  This  they  did  by
“  Letter  Hongs,”  usually  established  by  a  remittance  bank
or  a  merchant’s  firm  having  its  own  business  connections
with  certain  other  places,  and  having  its  own  correspondence
to  forward,  undertaking  for  a  consideration  to  forward  the
letters  of  other  people,  and  gradually  extending  their  postal
operations  to  other  places  in  the  same  direction  to  which
their  ordinary  business  does  not  extend.  Under  this  system
very  strong  letter  hongs  have  been  developed,  utilising
every  means  of  conveyance,  and  meeting  in  every  way  the
wishes  of  the  public  ;  maintaining  fast  special  services
where  they  are  wanted,  content  with  slow  channels  where
economy  is  the  first  object,  keeping  open  until  after  midnight
'when  that  hour  is  more  suitable,  and,  most  attractive  in
China,  making  the  addressee  pay  a  portion  of  the  postage,
usually  half.  The  transmission  of  silver,  bank  drafts,  and
parcels  is  a  most  lucrative  part  of  their  business.  They  have