R 2-
CHINESE DELIVERY SECTION,
10. During the year this section handled 6,746,127 ordinary letters, 370,291 other articles and 10,091 Postal Hong packets as against 3,489,056 ordinary letters, 247,134 other articles and 5,693 Postal Hong packets in 1930. The large increases here shown are due to the fact that prior to 1931 the Canton and West River mails were handled at the Sheung Wan branch, where records were not kept.
11. The registered articles delivered amounted to 207,954— of which 101,402 were from the United States of America and Canada, and 106,552 from China and other countries—showing a decrease of 28,712 as compared with 236,666 in 1930.
12. 7,412 insured letters were dealt with as against 8,020 in 1930. The total number of Chinese private boxes was 317— an increase of 25 as compared with 292 in 1930.
13. The licences of 27 Chinese Postal Hongs were renewed, the same number as in 1930.
2
(B) Wireless.
TRAFFIC.
14. The total paid traffic for the year was 402,938 messages and 3,429,857 words which represent increases of 34.98% in the number of messages and 31.88% in the number of words as compared with the figures for 1930.
15. The total number of unpaid messages for the year was 38,314 which is 13.98% increase over the figures for 1930. The total number of unpaid words was 1,136,591 which is 4.94% increase as compared with the figures for last year.
16. The total increase amounts to 158,066 messages, 1,028,820 words or 32.83% and 24.36% respectively.
Full details are shown in Tables XII and XIII.
SERVICES.
17. The new direct service with Foochow was opened on 12th May.
18. Commercial radio telegraph services offering the usual telegraphic facilities are now in operation as follows:-
(1) Amoy.
(2) British North Borneo, direct to Sandakan and thence to all offices,
(3) Dutch East Indies, direct to Malabar thence to all offices and to Dutch Borneo, Borneo, American Continents, and Europe.
Australasia,