Post_Office_1961-1962 — Page 12

POSTAL SERVICES

27. The various categories of postings again showed an increase over the previous year.

28. The total number of letters and packets posted and delivered, excluding parcels, registered and insured items, reached a record total of 180,700,000, an increase of approximately 191 per cent over the previous year. This figure does not include an estimated 14,767,100 small packets despatched to China during the year, as it would not give a true picture of normal traffic.

29. Letter and packet mail received for delivery was estimated at 91,753,000 items, an increase of over 26 per cent. This was due to a large extent to the considerable increase in mail received from China.

30. The number of undeliverable letters referred to the Dead Letter Office showed a marked increase, the total for the year being 1,172,782 as compared to 832,936 in the previous year.

Surface Letter Mails

31. New direct surface letter despatches were introduced to the following places during the year as more traffic and suitable shipping outlets became available for these destinations.

Office of Exchange

Leopoldville

Damascus

Country Congo Republic

Beirut

Kuwait

Bamako

Dakar Abidjan

Syria

Lebanon

Kuwait

Mali

Senegal Republic Ivory Coast

32. In the reverse direction, despatches were received for the first time from Brussels, Seychelles, Dili and Suva.

33. It is gratifying to record that not a single violation of a letter mails shipped from Hong Kong was reported during the year.

Air Mail

34. The functions of the Air Mail Centre were increased during the year by the extension of duty hours to cover all-night landings and by the transfer of the air registered despatching section from the General Post Office. In the 23-week period to the end of the year during which the registration section functioned at the Air Mail Centre 592,630 air

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