No.488.
MF. 53777
12
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG,
17th June, 1938.
on
53799/37
Sir,
29 JULES8
With reference to Sir Andrew Caldecott's
despatch No.694 of the 16th of December, 1936, regarding
an increase in personnel in the Post Office Department,
I have the honour to inform you that, in face of
representations from the General Chamber of Commerce
and of numerous complaints in the press, I have had under
consideration the question of extending the hours during which the General Post Office is open to the public for
postal business. This extension has become necessary
owing to the increasing amount of business correspondence
conducted by air mail, and, in particular, the revised schedule of arrivals and departures of mail planes recently brought into operation by Imperial Airways Limited.
2. I have approved the introduction of a system
of shifts whereby the General Post Office will remain open
from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Extra staff is being engaged in
the first place on a temporary basis and, as explained below, its engagement will not cause an excess on the sub-
head this year; but since there is no reason to anticipate that the additional staff necessitated by this change can in future years be dispensed with, I have thought it advisable to submit for your covering approval particulars regarding the increase in personnel required to maintain
the new service.
६
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
MALCOLM MACDONALD, M.P.,
&C.,
&C.,
&C.
3.