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on the mainland, at Ma Tau Wei. Relief at Headquarters came at Christmas time with the transfer of the Airmail Section to the first floor of the main Post Office.
External services continued at the same level of 12 sea and 18 air mails daily, whilst the frequency of air despatches also remained unchanged.
The number of destinations served by direct air and surface letter mails remained unchanged at 74 and 77 re- spectively; but direct parcel despatches have risen to 31 destinations by air and 85 by sea, compared with 28 destina- tions by air and 75 by sea in 1956. The number of incoming letter mails also remains unchanged; but parcel mails are now received from 24 places by air and 29 by sea, compared with 22 places by air and 42 by sea in 1956, the decrease in the latter being due to the making-up of more closed mails.
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Registration and parcel services showed further increases to 2,988,871 and 956,179 items respectively, as against 2,941,485 and 844,810 in 1956.
1957 Christmas postings again beat all records with a total in the ten-day peak period of over 4,000,000, with a record recorded total of 681,000 in one day on 23rd Decem- ber. During this period additional temporary mail-handling labour was again engaged for the two weeks of heaviest traffic.
The popularity of the remittance service, as a result of its extension to Branch Post Offices, continues. The total of $7,058,074 for Money Orders and Postal Orders was over 41% above the previous record figure in 1956.
Revenue receipts at $32,483,784 were over 6% up on the previous highest.
Licensing. The Radio Licensing and Inspection Office, under the control of the Postmaster General, issues all types of radio licences, ranging from domestic broadcast receiving licences to amateur wireless stations' and radio dealers'