COMMUNICATIONS
277
Office was opened in a converted shop space to serve the western district until a permanent office is ready in a Government building. The other new office on the Island is at Beaconsfield House, a Government building in the Central district. This post office handles to a large extent, the postal business of the head offices of the Colony's main banking-houses and a new hotel.
On the Mainland, new offices opened were at Wong Tai Sin, Gillies Avenue and Choi Hung Chuen. The first is sited on the ground floor of a multi-storey block in one of the biggest resettle- ment estates. Its business derives exclusively from residents in the estate who have welcomed the new service. Gillies Avenue Post Office is in rented premises and serves part of the Hung Hom district. Choi Hung Chuen Post Office is in the Housing Authority estate of the same name on the eastern side of New Kowloon. The only rural office opened was at Mui Wo (Silver Mine Bay) on Lantau Island. This is also a temporary office to serve the area until a permanent office in a proposed Government building is ready.
Parcel delivery to private households was introduced on the Island in 1962. The whole of Kowloon and New Kowloon is now included in the scheme.
Normal post office counter business such as the sale of stamps, handling of foreign parcels, registration of mail, sale of money orders, postal orders and wireless licences is done at most of the offices in the Colony. There are also a number of special postal services used mainly by business houses, such as business reply, cash on delivery, private boxes, private bags and prepaid postage services, including postage franking machines. Mail delivery is carried out twice a day (excluding Sundays) in all but the most remote rural areas. In the more isolated parts, including most of the islands, mail is distributed by an authorized agent who is paid a monthly fee by the department.
Direct communication is maintained with as many foreign post offices as possible so that when there is sufficient correspondence, direct overseas despatches can be made, thus excluding inter- mediate offices and speeding up the transmission of letters or parcels. The thousands of mail bags handled daily by the Post Office are conveyed to and from ships and across the harbour in launches provided and staffed by the Marine Department. Six