XN000022-1977-08-18 — Page 3

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1977

A BUSY YEAR FOR POST OFFICE

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THE POST OFFICE HANDLED A RECORD 292.5 MILLION POSTAL ARTICLES OR SOME 800,000 A DAY IN THE LAST FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 1977.

THIS WAS AN INCREASE OF 6.4 PER CENT IN WORK-LOAD COMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS YEAR, ACCORDING TO STATISTICS RELEASED BY THE POST OFFICE.

THIS HIGHER VOLUME OF BUSINESS, ALONG WITH THE EFFECTS OF A RATES REVISION FOR OVERSEAS MAIL INTRODUCED IN JANUARY 1976 ON RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION CONVENTION, BROUGHT THE AMOUNT OF REVENUE FOR THE YEAR TO NEARLY $290.7 MILLION — AN INCREASE OF $40.2 MILLION OR SOME 16.3 PER CENT OVER 1975-76.

THE FIGURES ALSO SHOWED THAT AIRMAIL LAST YEAR FROM HONG KONG, INCLUDING LETTERS, POST CARDS, PRINTED PAPERS, SMALL PACKETS AND PARCELS, WEIGHED MORE THAN 2.8 MILLION KILOGRAMMES, OR ALMOST 25 PER CENT MORE THAN THE PRECEDING YEAR.

THE AMOUNT OF FOREIGN LETTER MAIL, FOR DELIVERY AS WELL AS FOR DESPATCH, REFLECTING THE WORLD-WIDE INTERESTS OF LOCAL PEOPLE, CONTINUED TO OCCUPY ABOUT HALF THE VOLUME OF MAIL, INCREASING FROM 133.8 MILLION ITEMS IN 1975-76 TO 137.7 MILLION ITEMS LAST YEAR,

LOCAL LETTER MAIL ALSO RECORDED A 10.1 PER CENT INCREASE IN TRAFFIC OVER 1975-76, FROM 135 MILLION ITEMS TO 148.7 MILLION.

PARCEL MAIL, HOWEVER, EXCLUDING AIRMAIL PARCELS WHICH INCREASED IN WEIGHT BY 25 PER CENT, WAS GENERALLY ON THE DECREASE. IT DROPPED IN THE CASE OF LOCAL PARCELS BY OVER 23 PER CENT FROM A HIGH OF MORE THAN 104,000 ITEMS IN 1975-76.

THE NUMBER OF PARCELS DESTINED FOR CHINA ALSO CONTINUED TO FALL, FROM 773,900 TO 555,800, WHILE OVERSEAS PARCELS FOR DELIVERY TO LOCAL ADDRESSES DROPPED SLIGHTLY IN QUANTITY FROM 526,900 TO 523,800 ITEMS.

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