ENG-1958 — Page 292

242

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

despatches constituted being increased from 77 to 90 and a reduction in transmission time to many places. Air mail despatches formed remained at the level of 74 destinations. Parcel despatches were increased by both air and sea, 36 and 95 destinations respectively now being served.

The Kowloon-Canton Railway is the main medium for the cir- culation of mails to and from China, the number of bags handled exceeding 100,000. One despatch of mail to various districts in China is made and one mail is received daily.

Surface letter mails were being received at the end of the year from 90 different places as compared with 76 in 1957, but air mails continued at the level of 69. The number of places from which parcel mails were received increased to 31 by air and 46 by sea.

A very considerable increase in the number of registered items handled was recorded, 4,056,255 items being handled as compared with 2,988,871 in 1957. Parcel traffic figures also rose to 1,107,353, the figure for 1957 being 956,179.

The exchange of Christmas greeting cards maintained its popu- larity, with a record total of 5,483,916 items being handled in the__ten days preceding Christmas. On 22nd December_alone over 800,000 items were posted. With the use of a temporary labour force, a better clerical staff position and a very good response by the public to a 'Post Early' campaign, all traffic was cleared on time.

The value of money order and postal order business rose to $10,609,527 for the year, the figure for 1957 being $7,058,074. This was mainly due to the higher value of transactions and the increasing popularity of the $3, $4 and $5 postal orders.

Revenue receipts totalled $33,630,238. In addition, revenue stamps to the value of $3,843,622 and Wireless Licences to the value of $1,729,987 were sold over post office counters.

Stamp Competition. The decision was announced in February 1958 to make a new issue of Hong Kong stamps of all denomina- tions in 1962, preceded by a special commemorative issue to mark the centenary of the first Hong Kong stamp of 1862. A competi- tion open to all comers was organized during the year and closed on 31st December 1958, with 214 designs being received from 48 entrants in 6 countries, including 84 designs from Hong Kong.