Post_Office_1961-1962 — Page 7

FOREWORD

Ir is my privilege as head of the Post Office Department to report once again on its activities during the year ended 31st March, 1962.

The fundamental object of the Post Office has continued to be to serve the public whose instrument it is and it has spared no effort with the means placed at its disposal to meet all reasonable public demands and to plan for the future. At the same time its plans for extended and improved services have had to be adjusted to conform with the limita- tions imposed upon it.

The very large postings of small packets in China during the year, which reached an estimated total of 14,767,100, naturally affected the normal services of the department at all Post Offices throughout the Colony, especially at the counters. To this must be added the substantial increases in practically all classes of postal business, details of which will be seen in my report. Postal order business, for example, increased by over 60 per cent, the value of transactions reaching nearly $30,000,000.

The staff position continued to be difficult and shortage of personnel throughout the year made unavoidable the use of untrained or only partially trained personnel in the various sections. This did not at times enable the department to achieve the desired degree of efficient service. Plans were, however, put in hand for the setting up of a postal training school during the 1962-63 financial year and this will be brought into operation as soon as the availability of staff and accommodation permits.

For the first time in the long history of the Hong Kong Post Office the total of revenue and expenditure exceeded $100,000,000 at $114,866,555.66. The value of postal order and money order transactions added to this figure gave a total of a little under $150,000,000. This emphasizes the pressure under which the department operated through- out the year.

Air Mail traffic rose by approximately 5 per cent, and surface traffic, excluding the China packet traffic, by 194 per cent. Parcel traffic showed a substantial increase, over one million surface parcels being posted to show an increase of 15.7 per cent. Air parcels rose still further, a 25 per cent increase being recorded. Mail received for delivery rose by

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