WE wish to thank Raymond Kite for his letter about the quota system at the Registration of Persons Office (South China Morning Post, July 18). Mr Kite made a valid point, one that we are aware of and have been striving to improve in the face of resource constraints and increasing demand on services.

Mr Kite remarked that the 600 quota would leave a number of presumably qualified and trained staff under-utilised for long periods of the working day. This is not so, the quota system is an effective way to deploy the given resources, both staff and accommodation, to meet the demand in an orderly fashion.

On July 8, the office processed 680 applications, more than 10 per cent above its capacity. Another 80 applicants, who had prior appointments, were dealt with on the same day.