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COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
Books and pamphlets account for over 65 per cent of exports of printed products, with Britain, the United States and Australia being the main customers, although China is becoming an important market. Hong Kong does not manufacture paper and has to import all its requirements.
Hong Kong's selection as the venue of the 1985 World Print Congress 3 and the associated World Print Expo '85, held in June, attested to its international status. The congress theme was 'Towards the 21st Century', and topics discussed by the delegates from 30 countries ranged from a global view of printing in the near future to financial planning for progress. Expo '85 was a display of the latest printing equipment and techniques.
Another important event in the industry during the year was the move by the government's Printing Department to new premises at Quarry Bay. The premises were opened by the Governor, Sir Edward Youde, on June 28. The department was established in 1952 to meet the printing requirements of the government, and output has grown from 190 tonnes then to around 4 600 tonnes now. The department has over 380 staff.
Postal Services
A milestone in the history of the postal service in Hong Kong was reached in January when the Governor officially opened the territory's 100th post office - located in Butterfly Estate, Tuen Mun. Three more post offices were also opened during the year, and Hong Kong by the year's end had 103 post offices in operation, including three mobile post offices.
Two mail deliveries are generally provided each weekday in the urban, commercial and industrial areas and one delivery elsewhere in the territory. Despite an increase of over nine per cent in mail traffic handled during the year, the Post Office continued to achieve its target of delivering most local letters no later than one working day after the date of posting and despatching airmail overseas within 24 hours. In the case of airmail postings made at the four main offices - General Post Office, Tsim Sha Tsui and Kowloon Central Post Offices, and the International Mail Centre - the aim is to have mail despatched on the same day if outgoing flights are available.
In 1985, a total of 564 million letters and parcels - a daily average of 1.55 million – were handled, representing an increase of 9.5 per cent over 1984. Approximately 3 754 tonnes of letter mail and 3 982 tonnes of parcels were despatched abroad by air, an overall increase of 19.2 per cent on 1984.
To meet the needs of Hong Kong's business community, the maximum permissible weight for parcels addressed to most major countries was increased from 10 kg to 20 kg, with effect from January 2. The limits on the maximum size of parcels were also increased. The Speedpost service, introduced in 1973, continued to expand rapidly and is now available to over 360 cities in 40 countries including all major trading partners of Hong Kong such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. During the year, 1 109 445 items, representing an increase of 40.2 per cent on 1984, were handled.
The Intelpost service, introduced in 1982 to the United Kingdom, is now available to 34 major destinations including Argentina, Australia, China, Denmark, West Germany, the Irish Republic, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Portugal, Singapore and the United States. It offers high speed facsimile transmission of high quality black and white re- productions of documents, handwritten material, drawings and personal messages up to A4 size (210 mm × 297 mm). These items can be accepted at the special counters in any of the 23 accepting offices, strategically located, and will be available for delivery within hours