staff being drawn from all sections to cope with the work, and the sorting offices worked to a very late hour on most days. The staff, however, once again rose to the occasion in the traditional Post Office manner.
51. A second "Christmas" pressure was experienced during the Chinese New Year and the amount of greetings cards posted in this period necessitated the internal arrangements for Christmas having again to be put into operation. It is obvious that with the growth of the habit of sending greetings cards allowance will have to be made in future for extreme pressure both at Christmas and the Chinese New Year.
52. The
DELIVERY ARRANGEMENTS
considerable development of Hong Kong, particularly in Kowloon and the New Territories, necessitated a complete survey having to be carried out of the delivery areas. No new Post Offices were built during the year, and the continued absence of adequate Branch and Sub-Offices, made delivery arrangements difficult with the expansion further afield of the population. Some 140 'beats' were inspected and it was found that a number of additional postmen were necessary to relieve pressure in some areas and so maintain an efficient delivery service. The additional postmen required have since been recruited and will, after training, be introduced into the revised delivery arrangements. It is evident, however, that the continuous building programme, including many multi-storey buildings and housing schemes, will need a continual check being made. Arrangements for this are in hand.
53. An up to date street index was compiled and was used to form a very comprehensive sorting guide for display over each of the inward correspondence sorting frames. This has proved of considerable assistance to the less experienced and learner sorters and saved time previously lost in seeking the guidance of the experienced sorters.
14