1956. The final incident was when mail from Hong Kong to Makassar on 28th December, 1955, was pilfered at Probolingo (Indonesia) during offloading of cargo. Representations on this incident were made to the Indonesian Postal Authorities.
CHINA MAILS
25. The Railway continued to be the main medium for exchange of mails with the China Mainland, augmented where possible by occasional direct sea despatches to Swatow and Amoy.
26. The system of "through" mail coaches and consequent speeding up in transmission time undoubtedly contributed to the still further increase in mail to a total of 89,990 bags as compared with 87,158 bags in 1954/55.
27. The Canton/Hong Kong route is now regularly used by the U.S.S.R. as its outlet to the Far East and Pacific destinations, and this mail forms a heavy proportion of the total of 62,301 bags received from Canton.
28. Arrangements to use the air services operating within the China Mainland for letters posted in Hong Kong were finalized during the year, and for the first time since 1949, airmail was accepted in Hong Kong for transmission by rail to Canton and thence by air to Shanghai, Peking, Hankow and Kunming. The first despatch was on 21st November, 1955.
29. Normal services were maintained to Formosa (Taiwan).
AIR MAILS
30. The popularity of airmail continues to grow apace and it is being used more and more as the normal means of corres- pondence, as is evidenced by a still further increase of 771,291 in the overall number of items handled.
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