The air is thick with flying rumours, not about the war, which troubles us but Ifile, but about the Chinese Imperial Post. This service covered itself with glory at first, but it has now sadly gone back on us. It has always been more or less tied in a knot with the German post. What with the Ger mans carrying C.I.P. mails and the C.LP. postmen delivering the letters of the German service, we have never known where we were, or when or whether we haw all our mail' duly doled out. Such playfulness as postmarks with the date carefully omitted we got resigned to, and did not mind having to puss round the mail-bay for members of the community to choose their own letters and we learned in time thet no possible style of address in Chinese or English, no instructions to post-attices in Shangha', Lsingtuo or elsewhere, would avail to bring our mail the way we wanted it; we bad to take it as we could get it.
Some post-office officials have poured scorm on the dwellers inland, who once had their mails only once in ten days and who now complain even with three deliveries day. They do not know how often we sigh for the sweet simplicity of those days. when our own trusty courier brought in our pwn bags from the coast and we knew tut we had got all, all at once, and could have no more for ten more days.
Lately we heard that the postrottice would charge 1,000 cash for a dollar's worth of stamps though the street price is 725 cash for the dollar. No notice seems to have been given, probably so that we might not lay ina stock. We sent a dollar at once for a dollar's worth of stamps and received seven ten-cent stamps! This was 4 severe discouragement to the use of silver currency which is gradually coming in here; it also made our home-postage so heavy that we at once made other arrangements; which we trust may not result in the confiscation of our mail. But two days later we were told that runty-five cents of stamps were henceforth to be sold for the dollar. Later came another report making us think we were the sport of wild Bourses, and stamps were stocks and shaves, sayin ig that Mexican dollars would be and all others at a discount. One ikness in this arrangement is that we Chinese in charge of the post-office has ask us which are Mexicans and which are the others.
Now comes the sad news from you that the postage on your invaluable paper haz deen raised 600 per cent without notice, and thud ib will now cost Tls. 14 per annum to send us the "Daily News." This is not correct as this plice has the yood fortune to ho on the railway, and the pwrstaze therefore remains as before; but the uew regulation will cause a great deal of annoyance 2s well as expense wherever railway or steamer dos not go.
We are sorry, but the Englishman must grumble at something; and as the weather is good it must be at the post-ofthe.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.