Post_Office_1963-1964 — Page 7

FOREWORD

It is my privilege to report on the activities of the Post Office Department for the year ended 31st March, 1964.

2. The report shows a steady growth in the activities of the department and the efforts which have been made to keep abreast of the rapid develop- ment of Hong Kong and to plan for the future.

3. Perhaps the most gratifying development has been the provision of new post offices, seven additional offices being opened during the year, whilst planning or construction of a further twelve reached an advanced stage. Indeed, an additional four new offices were nearing completion at the end of the year under review and two of them had been opened at the time of writing this report. Planning for construction of many more offices throughout the Colony was also carried out by the Planning and Survey Section of the department as well as use of mechan- ized mail handling at the new loading and unloading point being constructed on the central reclamation. Possible use of mechanical aids in other fields was also studied.

4. An estimated drop of over 4,000,000 in the number of small packets posted to China, with an estimated postage value of approximately $5,000,000, resulted in a decrease of over $4 million in the revenue collections of the department. Expenditure, on the other hand, showed a saving of over $1,400,000 of the estimated figure.

5. The use of money order and postal order services, especially from overseas to Hong Kong, continued to be prolific, an increase in the value of transactions of over $6.5 million being shown in a total of nearly $49 million.

6. The overall total of letter mail despatched and received showed little change as also did the volume of registered mail traffic, but an appreciable increase both in air and surface parcel traffic was recorded.

7. The Telecommunications Division continued to give advice to Government departments on their telecommunications requirements and to carry out the maintenance of electro-medical equipment for the Medical and Health Department.