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COMMUNICATIONS
A new telephone service was established with Bahamas, and schedules were extended to meet increased demands for service with Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, the United States and the Philippines.
New telex services were also established with Aden, Bahrain, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Surinam and Uruguay. A direct Hongkong-Karachi telex circuit was opened for both local and relay service. A semi-automatic telex exchange was set up, and incoming calls from all countries are now automatically connected. Facsimile or phototelegram service was instituted with Seoul and Taiwan.
Engineering services provided by Cable and Wireless Limited to the Government at Radio Hong Kong, Hong Kong Airport, the Royal Observatory and various other departments, were efficiently and satisfactorily performed. A comparatively recent commitment at the City Hall involves the maintenance of the sound equipment in the two theatres and the simultaneous interpretation equipment for international conferences.
A fully automatic telephone service throughout the Colony is provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Company Limited, a public company operating under a franchise.
Demand continues to be greater than supply and shows a con- tinual rise. The company recently sought the services of the British Post Office Consultative Services' Department whose representatives visited the Colony and submitted a report covering the telephone development for the next 15 years. This report has been accepted in principle and plans are in hand for its early implementation.
In September Government appointed an Advisory Committee on Telephone Services to keep under review the operation, im- provement and expansion of telephone services and to examine complaints and suggestions from the public. The committee, which will make recommendations to the Governor in Council, is chaired by an unofficial Legislative Councillor and includes four other unofficial members together with the Postmaster General and one other official member.