By A.M.T. Cheung FRPSL
The above cover was posted at Western Branch Office (Backstamped 28 November 1910) and the Hong Kong stamps were subsequently cancelled at the G.P.O. There are three interesting features: -
The U.P.U. Convention of 1885, effective 1 April 1886, saw the introduction of an international special delivery service, in those countries, which consented to undertake this service. The service involved a fee of 30 centimes special charge and must be prepared in full, and in advance, by the sender. "Express articles upon which the entire charges which were payable in advance were not paid," were delivered as ordinary mail.
The U.S.A. is one of those countries providing this Special Delivery service and special stamps inscribed 'Special Delivery' were issued for this purpose since 1885. The denomination was US10¢.
Prior to 1 January 1923, U.S.A. did not allow special delivery service of incoming letters from foreign countries which were franked with the foreign countries' special delivery stamps, although it did allow special delivery service in the U.S.A. on incoming letters provided that they were franked with U.S. stamps bearing the correct special delivery postage i.e. US10¢ and properly inscribed with such wording as "Special Delivery".
1The Canadian post office at that time definitely carried a courtesy stock of U.S. stamps for those who would use the Special delivery service but did Hong Kong Post Offices carried a stock of U.S. stamps too?
Licensed Local Hongs were permitted by the Post Office to handle mail in private to China and other overseas countries such as the Philippines, the U.S.A. and Canada where there were many Chinese immigrants. Those letters were bagged and the total postage to be paid by the Hongs in the form of stamps stuck on a label attached to the bag
2. A special rate of 4¢ per half oz. applied to these "Clubbed mail" as mentioned on the bottom of the rate table illustrated on page 165 of Proud's Hong Kong Postal History. Perhaps the subject letter (over ½ oz.) was liable to this special rate being posted through a licensed Hong. The additional 10¢ was added in exchange of the two 5¢ George Washington stamps at the Western Branch Post Office, being the equivalent of the Special Delivery Fee required by the U.S. Postal Service.Finally, the above rate analysis is highly speculative, after all the sender could have simply overpaid 2¢ for a double-rate 16¢ letter and stuck the U.S. stamps himself. But at any rate, this is a most unusual letter and members who possess similar material and can give an alternative (more feasible) explanation please let us know.
