Apropos of an article under the} heading "Clearing a Parcel at. the Post Office," which appeared in these columns on September 8, further investigations have been made by a representative of the "North-China Herald" and the result seems to No parcel can be released by the Post Office until all Customs, Parcel Tax Bureau, Luxury Tax Bureau and Surtax Bureau examination and foralities have been complied with and all taxes paid at the duty receiving bank. indicate that the fault docs not lie entirely with the Chinese Post Office.
There are ranny factors involved outside the scope of that institution which tend to show the difficulties that must be surmounted before the postal authorities can take any steps to improve public facilities.
Our investigations show that} various Customs, tax and banking officials are stationed within the precincts of the Post Office by other than'the Postal Administration and with whom the Post Office has absolutely no connection or authority With reference to the complaint} that the Post Office does not notify the consignee of the nomic of the sender, ete, of parcels, it is only fair to' state that, under the existing International Postal Regulations—which are followed by all members of the International Postal Union, China included—all parcels are conveyed throughout the world under waybills from the country of origin to the country of destination by an entry thereon of number, name and destina ion only.
How Slips are Prepared Our inquiries show that there are no entries showing the nature of contents, names of senders or value, and, therefore, the particulars on the' "yellow notification slips" are copied and written tp from the entries on the waybills and prepare for delivery to the addressees befure the parcel mails convened have reached the post ofice, a practice which prevents undue lose of time in notifying the public as would occur it they were only prepared after the arrival of the large porce! mails at the Post Offies.
It is, therefore, im possible for the Post Office to do other than notify the addressee that parcel bearing a ewtain number and place of origin hay arrived in Shanghai.
Applications for parcels are taken in rotation and, considering that formalities, must be performed by the five tax collecting and duty payment departments referred to, a long wait ig inevitable before the parcel arrives at a point when the Post Office can begin to handle it bree paratory to release, If no such formalities were demanded by the departments mention ed, when they are, as stated, not under the control" of the Postal Adminstration, the Postal Adminis tration, the Post Office could deliver parcels over the counter within a few minutes after the application was received. ation Necessary Tt is apparent that this is the time for the public, the Chambers of Commerce and other institutions to take the matter up with the Nationalist Government and demand. a. unification of all the tax collecting [bureaux into one unit with a standard and uniform rate of taxation instead of devoting their energies to trivial natters as they are doing at present, Tt must also be remembered that in no other countly in the world are. ial and inter-port taxation and duties to pay on parcels and the formalities on posting or receiving @ parcel in any place but China is a simple matter. In practically every country of the world a parcel sent from the city to another is exempt from further duty once duty has been paid but in China porce! sent from Shanghai to Soo chow is liable to taxation hare and at the city of destination. Such is the existing state of affairs.
China ix endeavouring to put her house in order and surely it is due to a long-suffering public to receive consideration inthe matter of its dealings with the largest public utility service in the country, the Nutional Post Office,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.