The latter figure does not take into account the fact that items posted locally for local delivery should be counted twice for double handling. There were 385,004 such items.
ARMY, AIR FORCE AND NAVAL MAILS
21. The British Army Post Office continued to handle all mails traffic for Army and R.A.F. establishments in the Colony, and to deal with transit mails for the forces in Japan and Korea.
22. Mails for H.M. Ships in Hong Kong, Japanese and Korean waters were handled by the Fleet Mail Office situated in the Naval Base Establishment, H.M.S. Tamar.
23. During the course of the year warships of the various United Nations engaged in operations in Japanese and Korean waters called at Hong Kong for leave, refits, etc. These included Canadian, Danish, Dutch and U.S. ships and their mails were handled under arrangements made between the Hong Kong Post Office and the Administrations of the respective countries.
CHRISTMAS POSTINGS
24. During the seven days preceding Christmas there were 1,084,000 letters posted; this was an all-time record and represented a 30% increase over the previous year. The heaviest inward mails, a total of 2,531 bags being received from Great Britain from two ships and 1,962 from the U.S.A., were received at the same time, 18/19th December, which tended to cause some congestion. They were, however, cleared under much better conditions than in previous years due to the provision of modern sorting equipment which made much needed additional working and storage space available.
25. The last London air mail to secure Christmas day delivery left London on 21st December and reached Hong Kong on the afternoon of 24th December.
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