CHINA MAILS
12. Despite the extreme difficulties of transit and the occasional use of sea transport to Amoy, Swatow and Swabue when available, mail exchanged with the China mainland con- tinued to rise to such an extent that it has been necessary to report that the position at the handling office of Kowloon has now become most difficult.
13. There is the additional complication that the rail route Canton - Hong Kong is now being used as an outlet for mail from the U.S.S.R. for onward despatch through Hong Kong.
14. No less than 75,971 or an average of 208 bags per day were handled over this route in 1953/54. Of this total 19,010 bags represented transit mail received from the U.S.S.R.
15. Our facilities for handling and transit were obviously heavily over-taxed and until additional facilities are available it will be a considerable time before the important ancillary services of registration and parcels can be introduced.
16. Normal services were maintained to Taiwan.
AIR MAILS
17. Although increased traffic was the general order, the most outstanding increases were in air parcel traffic which reflected the full impact of the commercial anxiety to send samples and goods by the quickest means regardless of cost.
18. Ordinary Air Mail items, at 10,703,936 showed a satis- factory increase of 720,000 or over 7% on the previous year, but air parcels at 76,625 exceeded the figure for 1952/53 by over 250%. The latter traffic was heaviest to Japan and U.S.A. despite fairly stringent import restrictions in those territories.
19. New closed despatches were received during the year from San Cristobal, Jesselton, Sandakan, Hamburg, Karachi, Frankfurt, Jan Smuts (Johannesburg), Salisbury, Willemstad (Curacao), Puerto Cabello, Lima, Mexico and Barcelona, whilst new closed despatches were made from Hong Kong to Seoul,
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