APPENDIX H.H.
ANNUAL REPORT
The year under review has been an extremely strenuous one for the staff of the Post Office and of its branches, Telecommunications and Broadcasting, and great credit is due to the loyalty and per- severance that they have displayed. Conditions throughout have been exceptional, but it is hoped that in the coming year it will be possible to evolve a more stable routine which will lead to greater efficiency of operation and improved conditions for those who have so nobly con- tributed their share to the rehabilitation of the Colony,
Post Office.
The Post Office is one of the few departments that carried on at least part of its normal function during the Japanese occupation, but due to the reluctance of the staff to remain in the Colony, and the impossibility of maintaining reasonable services with even neigh- bouring territories, the employees dwindled to a mere handful. The G.P.O. building likewise was sadly neglected by the Japanese.
On the reoccupation of Hong Kong it was therefore found that postal services had to be completely reorganised. The history of the last year has thus revealed a phenomenal increase in postal work from a virtually non-existent beginning to a peak in excess of that attained in any period of the Colony's existence.
This tremendous expansion has been reached despite a continuous shortage of staff and accommodation, and it has been apparent mostly in the field of Air Services. This administration now, for instance, utilises the planes of eight air transport organisations (B.O.A.C., R.A.F., Air France, C.P.A., P.A.L., Skyways, C.N.A.C. and C.A.T.C.) and it is clear that these services will ever continue to increase in jumbers and frequency. Considerable reductions in air mail postage rates have been introduced and others will be introduced when experience and new facilities make it possible.
The administrative staff, during the last few months, has there- fore paid particular attention to the problem of planning for the future, which will probably entail re-building of the present G.P.O. (constructed in 1911), decentralisation of Post Office work by the con- struction of branch Post Offices larger than the kiosks which were in fashion before the war and improved transport both land and marine. Such outlying Post Offices will greatly improve the facilities available to the suburban population of the Colony, and it is hoped thus to explode the current myth that mail travels much faster when posted at the General Post Office. New construction should also alleviate the complaints registered by members of the public concerning the
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