Post_Office_1958-1959 — Page 12

number of items posted reached a record total of 16,126,514 as com- pared with 14,891,674 in 1957/58.

49. Direct air despatches were introduced to Teheran, Kuching, Biak, Suva and Port Moresby. First and Second Class air mail services were extended to all destinations in the Chinese People's Republic, excluding Canton, from June 1958.

50. Direct air mail despatches were also received for the first time from Chittagong, Talara, Barcelona (Venezuela), Khartoum, Darwin, Phnompenh, Kuwait and Moscow. Also, at our request, to speed up delivery London introduced direct despatches to the Kowloon Central Post Office with effect from 2nd July, 1958.

51. The insured air mail service was extended to Switzerland on 4th June, 1958.

CHINA MAILS

52. The Railway remained the main medium for the circulation of mails to and from China, the number of bags handled being 98,441.

53. The U.S.S.R. continued to use the Canton/Hong Kong route as a main outlet for all destinations in the Far East and South Pacific; 77,304 bags in transit being received from them via this route. This showed an increase of 1,836 bags over the number handled in 1957/58.

PARCEL POST

54. Parcel traffic showed heavy increases both for air and surface transmission; the respective increases being 11,715 and 65,567 parcels. The total number of parcels handled during the year was 924,246, an average of almost 18,000 parcels per week.

55. New services introduced included direct air parcel despatches to Kuching, Saigon, Colon and Cairo. Direct surface parcel despatches were also made up on Limassol, Honiara, Kingston (Jamaica), Willem- stad, Valparaiso, Suva, Cristobal, San Jose, Kuching, Zanzibar, George- town and Paramaribo.

56. Examination of surface parcel mails received at Hong Kong revealed twenty one cases of violation; the major proportion on the Pacific routes. It is also a matter of regret that nine cases of violation of parcel mails shipped from Hong Kong were reported in the year under review despite the control maintained at time of stowage. Strong representations were made, in each case, to the companies concerned.

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