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Lamma-Gung
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 Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:52 pm Post subject: Lamma Treasure: Historic Pillar Mailbox |
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According to a Lamma-zine reader, there are only 86 historic pillar mailboxes left in all of HK and one of them is still active on Lamma, a "Lamma Treasure" and endangered heritage, he calls it.
Does anybody know where it is (address?) and maybe even has photos of it? It's in Sok Kwu Wan South. These mailboxes have a "GR" inscription, with a small V in between. These denote George V Rex (i.e. King George V), who reigned between 1910 and 1936 hence the box must have been installed during that period.
Here's a picture and the recent SCMP article about them.
| Celine Sun, by SCMP, March 19, 2007 wrote: | Keep historic mail boxes in service, experts urge
The city's colonial pillar mail boxes are facing retirement after decades of service, but experts said the best way of conserving them is to keep them in service.
According to Hongkong Post, a total of 86 pillar boxes - cylindrical mail boxes built like a pillar which first appeared in the era of Queen Victoria - have been removed from streets over the past decade.
They were replaced either due to wear and tear or because they were too small to meet the growing demand, a spokeswoman for Hongkong Post said.
Three pillar boxes are on display at the Postal Gallery in Central and the Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Most of the other retired pillar boxes are kept in a storeroom in Kowloon.
"As more are to be removed, we are now talking to local museums to seek ways to preserve them," the spokeswoman said.
However, Lee Ho-yin, director of the University of Hong Kong's architectural conservation programme, said these iconic items deserved to be repaired and kept in use in proper places. "The significance of these pillar boxes has gone beyond its practical function, as they have become a part of Hong Kong's history," he said.
Of the 58 pillar boxes still in use across the city, the oldest belonged to the era of the King George V - from 1910 to 1936 - the Hongkong Post said.
Each pillar box was made in cast iron and directly imported from Britain. It also carried an embossed crown and had an engraved cipher on it to mark the era it was produced.
Cheng Po-hung, an adviser to the Museum of History, said these old pillar boxes had left him and many other Hongkongers with a lot of memories about the past.
"Unlike today's young people depending on e-mails, we used to contact our friends and family members by written letters," said Mr Cheng, himself a stamp collector. "It was always a kind of sweet expectation when I dropped a letter into the pillar box. I bet many Hongkongers of my age have similar feeling as mine.
"It would be sad if all of them disappear from our life one day."
He suggested the government put some of these old pillar boxes in housing estates, serving as a decoration as well as a letter container.
His view was echoed by Professor Lee, who also stressed the best way to preserve the boxes was to keep them in use, like many other items of historic value.
"They will remain alive while in use, much better than being visited as an historic exhibit in a museum."
A city needed to preserve some ancient buildings and facilities so people could understand its development history, he added.
"It would be hard for people to adapt if a city changes too fast. After our city lost so many things in a short period, I hope this would not happen to the pillar boxes again." |
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Lamma-Gung
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:56 am Post subject: Pillar mailbox |
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I got one of our off-duty policemen to take a picture of the historic Sok Kwu Wan pillar mailbox, originating from between 1910 - 1936. Many thanks!
This is just behind Sok Kwu Wan Main Street, close to the police station, one of only 86 of these mailboxes remaining in all of Hong Kong:
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F-X
over 100 messages posted
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject: Re: Lamma Treasure: Historic Pillar Mailbox |
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Those are pretty cool.
Note: The article says 86 have been removed in the last decade. Only 58 are still in use, not 86. |
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JAF
Joined: 27 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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| It was a shame when those whores of a thousand years at the PO (or whatever PC minded patriot in charge of colonial icon white-washing) decided that all the red mail boxes should be painted that awful green colour just before the handover ten years ago. Your picture of the antique box in SKW certainly looks rather sad. I guess they'd like to remove them all and display them somewhere with the old star ferry clock . |
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Alan
Discussions Forum Moderator
Joined: 05 Sep 2002
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Location: Tai Wan Kau Tsuen
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| JAF wrote: | | It was a shame when those whores of a thousand years at the PO (or whatever PC minded patriot in charge of colonial icon white-washing) decided that all the red mail boxes should be painted that awful green colour . |
The colour is not such a big deal. They're iron, they have to be repainted regularly anyway; more important that they're still standing and in use. At some future time they could go back to red. At least they didn't try to chip off the royal insignia.
It was quite amusing that it took months (or years?) for the PLA to remove the "Prince of Wales" sign from the tower in the naval base in Tamar.
The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club had it both ways, they kept the "Royal" in the English name, but dropped it from their Chinese version. |
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Lamma-Gung
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, we had to drop the Royal from the Official titles as well here on Lamma.com.hk.
Before, we'd have titles like "Official Royal Court Glutton" and "Official Royal Court Village Idiot". Now we've only got titles left like the "Official Court Village Idiot" (and a very reluctant one at that)...
But that royal insignia on the mailboxes is quite nice. Maybe we should design an insignia for our increasing number of "Court Officials" as well. There are many designers amongst the forum members, maybe somebody has an idea?
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Nancy
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Is the Sok Kwu Wan pillar mailbox still in use? I think it is nice; better than some slot in a post office wall. How can we get one in Yung Shue Wan? |
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Lamma-Gung
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Joined: 01 Aug 2002
Posts: 5631
Location: Yung Shue Wan
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| Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:32 am Post subject: |
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Yes, it's in use, otherwise the P.O. would have taken it away to storage, like the 86 other similar mailboxes they've taken out of commission in the last decade. Their goal is to get rid of them, not to install them in different locations.
They most likely won't ever re-install one, keeping them in storage till they'll destroy them, except maybe putting a few into museums.
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