THE  POST  OFFICE

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neither  be  suppressed,  transformed,  nor  replaced  at  a
stroke.  The  Imperial  decision  therefore  only  gave
final  sanction  to  a  new  and  vast  undertaking,  but
abolished  nothing  :  it  is  through  competition  and
long  and  persevering  efforts  that  the  two  older  systems
must  be  gradually  superseded  and  the  implantation
of  the  National  Post  Office  patiently  pursued.”
The  first  notification  of  the  extension  to  the  public  of
the  Customs  postal  facilities  appeared  in  the  Shanghai
newspapers  in  the  following  terms  :—
CUSTOMS  NOTIFICATION
Winter  Service
Postage  Stamps  and  copies  of  Postal  Tariff  may
be  obtained  on  application  at  the  Customs  Postal
Department.
(Signed)  J.  H.  Hart.
Shanghai,  16th  December,  1878.
This  winter  service  was  organised  by  the  Tientsin
Customs  Commissioner,  Mr.  G.  Detring,  in  1876,  so  as  to
maintain,  with  an  overland  courier  service  via  Chinkiang,
the  postal  communications  with  the  outer  world  necessarily
interrupted  by  the  port  of  Tientsin  being  ice-blocked.
Mr.  Detring  sent  to  Shanghai  one  of  his  Writers,  a
Mr.  Wu  Kuan,  who,  under  the  control  of  the  Shanghai
Commissioner,  supervised  the  overland  courier  service  to
the  north.  This  department,  which  was  called  the  Shu
Hsin  Kuan,  or  Post  Office,  was  opened  on  July  24,  1878,
and  started  with  a  staff  of  seventeen  men.
Under  instructions  issued  in  December  1882,  the  system
was  extended  to  all  treaty  ports  north  of  Fukien,  but  still
working  on  “  Postal  Department  ”  principles,  and  this
continued  until  the  issue  of  the  Imperial  Decree  in  1896.
Up  to  this  time  Mr.  Detring  had,  under  the  Inspector
General,  been  mainly  responsible  for  the  organisation  and
development  of  postal  work,  under  the  designation  of  Postal
Commissioner.  In  1896  Mr.  H.  Kopsch  was  appointed  the