THE  POST  OFFICE  39%
same  postal  relations  with  all  Union  countries  as  if  she  had
already  joined  it.  Under  these  Conventions  Chinese  mail
matter  for  abroad,  franked  in  Chinese  stamps,  is  handed
over  in  open  bags  to  the  foreign  Post  Office  at  the  foreign
mail  terminus  port,  and  that  Post  Office,  by  date-stamping
each  cover,  confers  on  it  the  right  of  admission  into  any
Union  country  in  the  world  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  foreign
Post  Office  hands  over  in  a  similar  way  its  incoming  correspondence ­
  for  transmission  through  Chinese  lines.  There
is  thus  between  the  Chinese  and  foreign  Offices  an  exchange
of  services  which  are  paid  for,  as  is  done  by  any  two  Union
countries,  on  the  basis  of  yearly  statistics  taken  during  the
first  twenty-eight  days  of  Mayor  November  of  alternate  years,
and  which  are  settled  at  the  established  Union  rates.  For
this  exchange  of  services  foreign  governments  have  made
ample  provision.  At  Shanghai,  where  a  reason  for  the
presence  of  a  few  of  them  exists  in  the  necessity  of  connecting ­
  with  various  national  and  subsidised  lines  of  mail
steamers,  there  are  no  less  than  six  foreign  Post  Offices—
British,  French,  German,  American,  Japanese,  and  Russian
—and,  to  utilise  fully  the  postal  facilities  of  the  port,
the  public  may  find  it  expedient  to  keep  supplies  of  the
postage  stamps  of  seven  nations.  At  other  ports  no  such
necessity  now  exists,  but  foreign  Post  Offices,  from  one  to
five  (the  American  not  participating),  have  been  established
at  twenty-five  ports,  not  including  French  Offices  at  Mengtsz
and  Chungking  for  an  internal  and  purely  Chinese  postal
traffic.  Of  these,  the  British  offices  were  established  many
years  ago  to  supply  the  need  of  merchants  when  no  other
postal  facilities  were  offered  to  the  public  ;  but,  except  at
Shanghai,  the  others  all  date  from  the  general  scramble  for
political  influence  of  the  past  dozen  years.
It  should  be  remembered  here  that  in  dealing  with
international  correspondence,  China  in  every  respect  conforms ­
  to  the  rules  of  a  Union  country.  In  April  1896,
shortly  after  the  promulgation  of  the  Imperial  edict  establishing ­
  the  National  Post,  China  addressed  the  Conseil
Fédéral  Suisse,  notifying  the  creation  of  the  Imperial