ENG-1989 — Page 334

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

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Postal Services

1989 brought many new milestones for postal services in Hong Kong. Mail traffic continued to increase and reached a new peak of 829.8 million items representing a 11 per cent increase over traffic in 1988. About 7 888 tonnes of letter mail and 4 463 tonnes of parcels were despatched by air, an overall increase of 16 per cent.

Speedpost, which caters for the needs of the Hong Kong business community, continued to grow rapidly. As one of the pioneers of Speedpost service, the Hong Kong Post Office is second only to the United States Postal Service among the top 10 Speedpost administrations in the world. The service is now available to 59 countries, including all Hong Kong's major trading partners, such as Australia, Canada, China, France, West Germany, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. During the year, over 2.9 million items were handled, an increase of 27 per cent over 1988.

Despite the growth in mail traffic handled, the Hong Kong Post Office has been able to maintain its high standard of service. Except for peak periods, such as Christmas, the Hong Kong Post Office delivers the majority of letters posted locally on the day after posting. Bulk postings or second-class mail take another two to three days to deliver. Two mail deliveries are made on each weekday in the commercial and industrial areas, and one delivery elsewhere.

With the airmail service, letters collected in Hong Kong are delivered to the airport to board departing aircraft on the same day or next day, depending on the time of collection and the availability of flights.

To keep pace with the expansion and development of new towns and to cope with the growth in demand for postal facilities, five post offices were opened during the year, bringing the total number of post offices to 111. Tsat Tsz Mui Post Office was relocated to make way for redevelopment. Tai Kok Tsui Post Office was moved to bigger premises to provide improved services in that area. Major renovation works were carried out at the King's Road Post Office and the Ma Tau Wai Post Office to bring the facilities at these two offices up to modern standards. To cope with the expansion in delivery service, the delivery office in Tuen Mun and the delivery section of Cheung Sha Wan Post Offices were reprovisioned in bigger premises.

The Post Office issued six sets of special stamps in 1989. The first set, comprising four stamps, a souvenir sheet and a stamp folder, was released in January to mark the Year of the Snake. This was the third in the current Lunar New Year series which started in 1987.

The second set, depicting the annual religious festival on the island of Cheung Chau, was released in May. Another set of four stamps featuring various modern paintings and sculptures by four Hong Kong artists was released in July. The fourth set, depicting the life styles of Hong Kong people, was released in September. The fifth set, 'Hong Kong Building for the Future', comprising six stamps, was released in October. It depicted major building or transportation projects completed or being undertaken in 1989.

The last set, comprising four stamps and a souvenir sheet, was issued on November 8 to commemorate the visit to Hong Kong by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales.

To expand the market for Hong Kong stamps and philatelic products, arrangements were made with the Macau and Singapore Post Offices to sell stamps and philatelic products on a reciprocal basis.

The Hong Kong Post Office places great importance on maintaining good relationships with its customers. To further improve this, a Courtesy Campaign was launched during the