ENG-1957 — Page 326

COMMUNICATIONS

277

a Teleprinter installed in their office and during the year additional installations were carried out.

The overseas Radiotelephone services, worked in conjunc- tion with the Hong Kong Telephone Company, expanded, the hours of the schedules to some countries being extended and new services opened to the U.S.S.R. and the Yukon. New radiotelephone relay circuits were opened between Indonesia/Macau, Okinawa/Bangkok, and Okinawa/Seoul.

Traffic figures for 1957 were:

Telegrams transmitted

Telegrams delivered

Telegrams in transit

Radiotelephone, inward calls, minutes Radiotelephone, outward calls, minutes Radio pictures transmitted (98 pictures) Radio pictures received (10 pictures) Press broadcasts, words handled Meteorological broadcasts, words handled Harborphone calls with ships in harbour

920,300

1,098,700

433,800

543,600

429,400

...

29,397 sq. cms.

++

1,915 sq. cms.

41,924,000

564,000

45,439

=

TELEPHONES

The Colony's internal telephone service is provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Company Ltd., a public company operating under statutory control. Radiotelephone service is available to most parts of the world in co-operation with Cable and Wireless Ltd.

The system is fully automatic and service is provided from five major exchanges and a number of satellite exchanges. Construction of two more major exchanges in Kowloon, with a combined ultimate capacity of 32,000 lines, will commence in 1958 and is scheduled for completion in 1959.

During the year two new exchanges, one in the Western District of Victoria and one in Aberdeen, were brought into service, in addition to extensions to existing major exchanges. The Company's system now comprises some 53,000 direct exchange lines and 21,000 extensions, making