ENG-1965 — Page 242

COMMUNICATIONS

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most of the offices in the Colony. The inland parcel post service was re-introduced in April 1965. 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 pre-paid postage services, including postage franking machines. There are two mail deliveries a day (excluding Sundays) in all but the most remote rural areas.

Direct communication is maintained with as many foreign post offices as possible and individual despatches are made whenever the volume of mail warrants it. The thousands of mail bags handled daily by the Post Office are conveyed to and from ships and across the harbour by launch. The train service between Kowloon and Lo Wu remains the main link for mails to and from the People's Republic of China. A considerable amount of transit mail was again received from various countries during the year for re-despatch to Indonesia and created storage problems while it was being held awaiting shipping.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

The Telecommunications Division of the Post Office licenses and inspects installations, investigates interference and monitors transmissions to ensure that they comply with the terms of licence. The division also acts as adviser to government departments on telecommunication matters.

The official opening on 31st March of the first stage of SEACOM (South-East Asia Commonwealth Cable) provided greatly improved telecommunication facilities between Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. SEACOM, which will later be incorporated in the world- wide cable network, offers a large number of channels which can be used for telegraph, telex, telephone, facsimile and voicecast purposes. Its superiority over wireless channels is particularly marked in the overseas telephone service. Because of the greater clarity of speech over SEACOM, coupled with the semi-automatic working introduced, the number of calls from Hong Kong to Singapore and Malaysia increased by 72.8 per cent within four weeks of its inauguration. During the year Cable and Wireless Limited also carried out improvements in their existing services, provided new facilities and extended working schedules to meet growing demands.