XN000022-1975-11-30 — Page 2

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1975

BY THEN, TERMINALS AT THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT'S LICENSING COUNTER WILL BE ON-LINE'' TO VEHICLE AND DRIVING LICENCE FILES HELD ON THE DPD COMPUTER.

WHEN A PERSON GOES TO APPLY FOR A DRIVING LICENCE OR TO HAVE HIS LICENCE RENEWED, HE WILL BE ABLE TO GET IT IN A MATTER OF ONLY TWO TO THREE MINUTES.

WHEN THE SYSTEM GOES INTO FULL IMPLEMENTATION, DPD WILL BE WORKING ROUND THE CLOCK SEVEN DAYS A WEEK INSTEAD OF THE PRESENT SCHEDULE OF FIVE DAYS A WEEK.

OF THE DIVISION'S PRESENT COMMITMENTS, THE MOST WIDELY-KNOWN IS PERHAPS THE PROCESSING OF SECONDARY SCHOOL ENTRANCE EXAMINATION AND THE CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION EXAMINATION PAPERS.

THE ENTIRE PROCEDURE OF THE EXAMINATIONS, FROM THE ENROLMENT OF CANDIDATES TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS, IS HANDLED BY COMPUTER. THE SAME THING APPLIES TO THE ALLOCATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACES.

APART FROM THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, DPD HELPS ALLEVIATE THE WORKLOAD OF THE INLAND REVENUE DEPARTMENT BY TAKING CARE OF THE ISSUE OF TAX RETURN FORMS, DEMAND NOTES AND AMENDMENT OF RECORDS BASED ON INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY EMPLOYERS AND TAXPAYERS.

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THE POLICE ARE ALSO ASSISTED BY THE DIVISION AS DPD HAS RECENTLY IMPLEMENTED A SYSTEM OF DETECTION OF CRIMINALS BY MODUS OPERANDI'. THE SMOOTH ENFORCEMENT OF THE FIXED PENALTY PARKING SYSTEM IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT PARKING TICKETS ARE COMPUTER-PROCESSED BY THE DIVISION.

OTHER DEPARTMENTS ON THE DPD'S CURRENT LIST OF CLIENTS ARE CENSUS AND STATISTICS, CIVIL AVIATION, GOVERNMENT SUPPLIES, LABOUR, MEDICAL AND HEALTH, PUBLIC WORKS, PRISONS, REGISTRAR'S GENERAL, ROYAL OBSERVATORY AND TRANSPORT. THEY ALL TURN TO DPD FOR THE CONSOLIDATION OF ESSENTIAL STATISTICS.

+AS THE INFORMATION COLLECTED BY MANY DEPARTMENTS IS IN FACT OVERLAPPING, WE ARE PLANNING TO SET UP A DATA BASE, OR A COMMON FILE OF DATA, WHICH WILL BE ACCESSIBLE TO MORE THAN ONE DEPARTMENT,+ THE SPOKESMAN SAID,

+ IT IS ALSO OUR PLAN TO INSTALL ANOTHER COMPUTER IN 1977. IT IS GOING TO BE LARGER THAN THE EXISTING ONE AND WILL BE CAPABLE OF HANDLING JOBS OF A DIFFERENT NATURE, HE ADDED.

IN ADDITION TO THE DPD, THE TREASURY AND THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY ALSO HAVE COMPUTERS. THE COMPUTER AT THE TREASURY IS USED SOLELY FOR PROCESSING THE WORK OF THE TREASURY AND THAT AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY ASSISTS THE STAFF IN THE SPECIALISED FIELD OF METEOROLOGY.

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