ENG-1962 — Page 313

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COMMUNICATIONS

south of Hong Kong Island were replaced by vans, and it produced useful experience for the introduction in October of parcel delivery to private households throughout the Island. Insured parcels are not included in the scheme at this stage. Vans are on order for Kowloon and as soon as they become available parcel delivery will operate there also. Night duties at the two main sorting offices were introduced experimentally for two months in April. The ex- periment was successful and as soon as the additional staff is available the system will be introduced on a permanent basis.

Normal post office counter business such as the sale of stamps, handling of foreign parcels, registration of mail, sale of money orders, postal orders and wireless licences is done at most of the offices in the Colony. There are also a number of special postal services used mainly by business houses, such as business reply, cash on delivery, private boxes, private bags and prepaid postage services, including postage franking machines. Mail delivery is carried out twice a day (excluding Sundays) in all but the more remote rural areas. In the more isolated parts, including most of the islands, mail is distributed by an authorized agent who is paid a monthly fee by the department.

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Direct communication is maintained with as many foreign post offices as possible so that when there is sufficient correspondence direct overseas despatches can be made, thus excluding inter- mediate offices and speeding up the transmission of letters or parcels. The thousands of mail bags handled daily by the Post Office are conveyed to and from ships and across the harbour in launches provided and staffed by the Marine Department. Six Government craft are engaged on postal business. The train service between Kowloon and Lo Wu remains the main link for mails to and from the People's Republic of China. The number of bags carried is given in Appendix X. This was the second full year in which the public sent postal packets by the million to China. There was a slight reduction compared with 1961, but in districts such as Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po postings remained high. At each of the offices serving these areas there was a daily average of 3,500 packets, many containing food.

For stamp collectors this was an important year with two new issues and an exhibition. The first issue was to commemorate the centenary of the first Hong Kong postage stamp and included