Private Boxes
35. There were 950 new private boxes installed during the year bringing the total number of boxes to 20,735. The demand for private boxes still exceeds the available supply and waiting lists are maintained. The income from rentals of private boxes and bag services was $832,754, an increase of $1,123 over the preceding year.
Remittance Services
36. The following shows a comparison of remittance business done during the year compared with the previous year:
Service
No.
Issued Amount
No.
Paid Amount
Money Orders
1972-73
65,802
$6,789,142
57,475
$4,973,421
1973-74
80,461
$8,994,491
82,632
$7,969,902
Postal Orders
1972-73
81,324
$3,063,083
1,187,679
$73,451,617
1973-74
77,337
$2,720,585
895,366
$66,284,861
The introduction by the British Post Office of a higher value range of postal orders was the main cause in the decrease of the number of postal orders paid.
Social Welfare Department-Public Assistance Scheme
37. Fifty-four post offices were involved in the payment to recip- ients of 493,457 cash coupons totalling in value $69,696,037. These figures compare with 171,591 cash coupons totalling $29,314,275 paid in the previous year, representing an increase of 187.6% in the number of payments and 137.8% in the value of payments.
Speedpost Service
38. Twenty-four contracts for speedpost service were signed with a total monthly contract price of $27,437. For the period 10th Septem- ber, 1973, to 31st March, 1974, charges collected in respect of this service were $176,841.
Business Reply Service
39. On the 31st March, 1974, there were 381 current business reply service licences, 81 having been issued and 44 cancelled during the year.
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