384  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
first  Postal  Secretary  ;  he  was  succeeded  in  1897  by  Mr.  J-A.
  van  Aalst  ;  and  he  in  1901  by  Mr.  T.  Piry,  to  whom  the
present  organisation  of  the  Post  Oifice  is  mainly  due.
Under  its  present  organisation  the  headquarters  of  the
Imperial  Post  Office  are  at  Peking,  where  all  postal  affairs
are  dealt  with  by  the  Postal  Secretary,  under  the  Inspector
General  of  Customs  and  Posts.  There  is  also  at  Shanghai
a  Deputy  Postal  Secretary  to  attend  to  supplies.  The
Eighteen  Provinces  and  Manchuria  have  been  divided  into
postal  districts,  now  forty-one  in  number.  Next  to  the
headquarters  staff  come  Postal  Commissioners—now  four»
at  Peking,  Hankow,  Shanghai,  and  Canton—exercising  direct
control  over  their  own  district  and  a  supervising  direction
over  neighboring  districts.  The  other  treaty-port  districts
are  under  the  Commissioner  of  Customs  acting  ex  officio  &amp;s
District  Postmaster  ;  and  the  inland  districts,  six  in  number,
are  under  District  Inspectors  stationed  at  the  respective
provincial  capitals.
Each  Head  or  Sub-Head  Office  has  under  it  a  certain
number  of  subordinate  offices  ;  these  are  of  three  kinds  :
Branch  Offices,  at  which  the  Imperial  Post  Office
maintains  its  own  staff  on  its  own  premises  ;
Inland  Agencies,  at  which  licensed  Agents,  who  are
usually  substantial  shopkeepers  of  the  place  and
guaranteed,  undertake  all  postal  business,  inclut'
ing  the  delivery  of  correspondence,  in  return
a  fixed  commission  and  certain  other  emoluments  »
and
Box  Offices—that  is,  small  shops  in  which  the
Imperial  Post  Office  places  letter-boxes,  cleared  a
certain  times  during  the  day,  and  where  the  owner»
under  license  and  guarantee,  is  allowed  to  sel
stamps  to  the  public  in  return  for  a  small  co0'
mission  :  ordinary  postal  business,  including  reg lS
tration,  can  be  effected  at  these  shops,  but  th e
owners  do  not  undertake  delivery.  Box  Ofh ceS
are  placed  in  all  large  cities  as  adjuncts  to  th e
Head  and  Branch  Offices  situated  there.

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