Other customs commissioners came and went, but Herr Gustave Detring seemed to be permanent, remaining one dare not say how many years in that capacity. It was he who carried through the winter mail scheme, by which in stead of hibernating in dim, dull ignorance during the whole winter, the public got news by mails carried by relays of couriers overland to Tientsin from Chinkiang. But the journey was a long one through three provinces, the weather most uncertain, as was also the obstructive temper of the governor of Shantung through whose territory the men had to pass on their way north. One winter (perhaps the first one) this overzealous official arrested the couriers and detained them in his capital, in spite of protests from Peking and Tientsin. This was an example of that autocratic independence, within limits, however, of which the Chinese are so fond. As this was long before telegraphs had been introduced there was no resource but to "hope on, hope ever."
Probably it is not until one has to pay overland excess charges both for letters and for printed matter that one realizes what a modern well regulated postal system means, and also what an amount of rubbish is constantly sent around the world—heavy catalogues in which one has no interest whatever; circulars, programmes of entertainments of which we never heard, and for which we do not wish to be taxed; wedding invitations with superfluous coverings,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.