XN000022-1997-02-26 — Page 40

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The Post Office has introduced since January 1997 a local standing order service under which customers may place an advance annual order for mint stamps, definitive stamp sheetlets, souvenir sheets, serviced first day covers for new stamps and serviced souvenir covers for definitive stamp sheetlets. The 57,000 customers who have been registered under this service do not need to queue up at post offices on the first day of issue.

The Post Office has also introduced a number of measures to improve queuing arrangements for purchase of commemorative stamps. To shorten the waiting time for customers, the opening hour of 19 district post offices has been advanced to 8 am on the first day of issue. Philatelic products have also been pre-packaged in sets to shorten counter transaction time. In addition, the Post Office employs security personnel to improve crowd control on the first day of issue.

End

Government computer system

Following is a question by the Hon David Li, and a written reply by the Secretary for the Treasury, Mr K C Kwong, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

It is reported that the findings of a detailed study conducted by the Information Technology Services Department indicates that about 20% of the computer systems in the Government departments will malfunction when the year flips from 1999 to 2000. Will the Government inform this Council whether, as the major user of information technology, it has formulated any plans to address the above problems; if so, what the details are?

Reply:

We have adopted a two-pronged approach to the Year 2000 problem. The first is concerned with the operating systems and system softwares used in developing computer applications provided by outside suppliers, and the second with the computer applications developed by our in-house professional staff.

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