with the spirit of free trade and the view thus taken by the Chamber met even with the support of the Chief Justice. Thanks to the energetic remonstrance addressed to the Governor in Council by the chairman of the Chamber (J. Macandrew), the Bill was thrown out (February 5, 1863) by a majority. The introduction of postage stamps (December 8, 1862) was hailed by the community with little satisfaction. On the contrary, serious apprehension of inconvenience and confusion, supposed to be the inevitable consequence of the compulsory use of postage stamps, filled the mind of the community. This first issue of Hongkong postage stamps consisted of stamps of the respective value of two, eight, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four, and forty-eight cents, reckoned at twenty-four cents to the shilling. Some confusion did arise, at first, as the previous practice of keeping running accounts with the Post Office had to be discontinued; but the Postmaster-General (F. W. Mitchell) did everything in his power to smooth matters and the community quietly submitted to this very unpopular innovation. As regards the conveyance of mails, the Secretary of State gave satisfaction to the community by making an order (October, 1862) that thenceforth no contract mail packets should, under any circumstances, be detained, except on the authority of the Governor, acting on his own responsibility, upon occasions of special urgency. An attempt, made by the Superintendent of Native Customs (Hoppo) at Canton, to induce the Foreign Customs Service to levy duties on cargo shipped in Hongkong for England, by vessels which, after partially loading in Hongkong, proceeded to Whampoa to fill up, was successfully resisted by the Chamber of Commerce (December, 1860), through the energetic action of H.M. Consul at Canton (Ch. A. Winchester).
Several new commercial ventures, started during this period, gave expression to the enterprising spirit which animated the community, both native and foreign. The native boat-building trade particularly, rose, during the year 1850, sevenfold over what it was in 1858, and fishing junks increased from 2,000 to 2,500. In the year 1860 a movement was set on foot to
